So I ask...is it really worth it to pay more for college softball graduates?

[maksoftball]

That is, 2 college softball graduates teamed together to coach a 14U (99) softball team. They started last year, and placed 13th out of 117 teams (USFA though...but still good for 1st year, yes??). They have indoor/outdoor facilities also. They plan on playing all venues (ASA, USFA, PGF, etc). So...it's...are you ready for this?? $225/month. And it's possible we will have to contribute more $$ if we play more tournaments/games. They did say we will be actively fundraising so that will be huge help.

Anyhow, I have not paid more than $125/month but every team DD's been on has been daddy ball. And we didn't have access to indoor/outdoor facilities...and we didn't have the young women with lots of softball experience. These women are obviously extremely active and a positive influence on the girls.

So what do ya'll think? We are going to tryout Saturday morning...I want to see how DD interacts/reacts to the coaches and the atmosphere...if it's positive, and she loves it...it might be worth it.

BTW, it's a tough drive...there is no straight highway/freeway to this part of town. 17.5 miles from our house...would take us 35-45 minutes to get there due to traffic (lights/construction/one lane roads/etc). Helps that I have a mid-sized sedan (smaller side) so not gas guzzling. LOL.

 

[maksoftball]

Let me add the flip side of this...there is another team in which DD knows 6 of the girls on the team and all of the coaches. They are also affiliated with an indoor/outdoor facility...$175/month. Difference? All 4 coaches have daughters on the team. LOL. One of the parents was a softball pitcher in college...she also give lessons. And only one of the 4 coaches' daughters pitch (which is better than most daddy ball teams...but still 4 coaches with dd's on team? Yikes).

 

[howellhandmade]

What kind of access do you have to the facilities, and are they convenient enough to make them usable? Indoor facilities maybe aren't as big a deal in Houston as in PA, but I pay $70/month for a membership indoor pitching/hitting space. We use it a lot in the winter and some in the summer, just to get away from the heat and the bugs. Going with a team this year that has two recent grads coaching. The HC seems like she should be a great influence on the girls, and I don't mind paying a little more for that and for what I hope will be a reduction in issues. We'll see.

 

[glf0845]

How many months do you have to pay?

 

[sluggers]

These women are obviously extremely active and a positive influence on the girls.

My wife and I were/are the main positive influence on my children. The idea that some person trained in throwing and hitting a ball is going to spend 5 hours a week and instill some greater moral purpose is a fantasy straight from Hollywood. (E.g., Joe Paterno, and all the other disgraced coaches.)

The *ONLY* thing you should focus on is: (1) what do they know, (2) can they teach effectively, (3) can they coach and (4) will it be relatively painless to spend 12 months attached at the hip to them. Everything else is just sports babble.

Also, the idea of women playing sports is likely not such a big deal in 2012. You may think it is unusual because you were from a different era. Again, focus on what the coaches are going to teach your child, not on intangibles.

So what do ya'll think?

If they are charging about $2500 per year per kid, then the only kids they will attract will be good. So, winning shouldn't be an issue.

What you should be watching for is how they instruct the kids. I'm assuming they are relatively young...the problem with most young coaches is that they don't know how to teach. Teaching is not an art...it is a science. There are ways to teach that work. Do they demonstrate something over and over again until the kids 'get it'? Do the coaches get frustrated? Do the kids look like they are having fun?

E.g., sometimes young coaches take something that worked with 18-23 YOA women and try to apply that with 12YOA kids and it doesn't work. E.g., college coaches called my kids worthless pieces of **** on more than one occasion. (They were women enough by that time to not let it get to them too much. ) But, you can't do that with young kids.

As to coaching, you need to understand their philosophy. The problem with young coaches is that they don't know how parents think. I've seen young coaches do the "earn playing time" approach and keep their best 9 on the field while the other 3 or 4 kids rot. (Which is not the same as "competing for playing time".)

Finally, are you ready for this? The reality is that your kid has to produce. No excuses...if she walks 4 batters in a row, don't expect her to get the ball again for a while. If she takes a called 3rd strike, expect her to be moved down in the order. She will have to produce...if she doesn't, she will end up spending more time on the bench than you or she wants.

 

[howellhandmade]

I'm not the OP with the young women coaches, but my daughter is going to be playing for a similar staff this coming year. Sluggers, the coaching attitudes you project on the young women are just as likely, in my experience, to be shared by grizzled men. The four dads who coached my daughter's team last year were well-intentioned and dedicated, yet made a mess of the team by being negative and inconsistent. Perhaps the young women have actually studied coaching, including sports psychology, which is more than could be said of the dads who seemed to think that the only reason a girl makes a mistake is that nobody has pointed it out loudly and forcefully enough yet. As far as the positive influence thing goes, nobody said anything about moral purpose, but, again, some dad coaches aren't exactly peaches in this department either. As a parent learn not to expect too much but you always hope that coaches -- and teachers -- will do more good than harm. I'd be just as happy for my daughter to play for a Ken Krause, but there don't seem to be that many of them. Obviously you have more experience with young female coaches than I do, but I'm willing to give them a chance.

 

[redhotcoach]

Just a couple quick thoughts. DW played D1 ball, she will tell you herself, she doesn't coach because she would "lose it" with some of the girls. So if they are positive coaches great, but just cause they played high level, it doesn't make it so.
Howell, the most negative hard to play and get along with coach (by far) I know is a woman. So negative doesn't just come from daddy.
One of the worst, most uncoached teams we consistently play is coached by 2 young D1 player grads.
Me/us coaching a daddy ball team know more about teaching softball then a good friend who is a college coach.
I know now 2 ex mlb players that teach hitting, both teach horribly, I am currently trying to break a girl of spinning on her back foot because this top level player had her doing it for a year.
My summary: playing D1 ball is a great point on these girls resume! It isn't the whole kitten kaboodle!

 

[redhotcoach]

Howell, sorry, I better understand your good post after I re read it. Don't think you mean woman are more postive then men.

MAK, for that kind of money they should provide references, call players parents, and ex player parents.

 

[ElmoBlatch]

kitten kaboodle!

That's funny.

 

[howellhandmade]

Howell, sorry, I better understand your good post after I re read it. Don't think you mean woman are more postive then men.

MAK, for that kind of money they should provide references, call players parents, and ex player parents.

You're right, I don't mean that anyone should assume that young women are going to be good; I just mean that we shouldn't assume that they're going to be bad. We always have to be careful to separate correlation from causation. I think patience correlates less with age than with personality, and that teaching excellence correlates more with intelligence and motivation to teach than with years in the field. Last year one of my daughters had a math teacher fresh out of school who was absolutely brilliant. She was engaging, kind, had multiple ways of explaining everything, my daughter decided she LOVES math and has been doing workbooks and internet worksheets on her own over the summer. She's also had teachers who had years of experience but who could give a hoot and had the patience of a rattlesnake. Hold on, I'm not denigrating all the master teachers with 40 years of experience, and I'm not saying that you don't pick up tips and tricks as you go along. I'm just saying that it's important to be fair.