starting a travel organization - need input

[Coach-n-Dad]

I'm with Wookie. If you have your DD's best interest in mind, do NOT coach her team.

I coached my DD's team her 2nd and 3rd year playing. Since I have stopped caoching her team, I have all the time in the world to work 1 on 1 with her pitching, hitting and fielding.

I think I am in heaven

 

[jay]

It * appears * that there is already a travel program in your town (ie, you recently moved up to coaching travel ball).

Then why "spearhead" a new one?

That's my first question. Too many towns have MULTIPLE travel programs that water down player quality and cause unnecessary competition (and tension between girls and families).

If I'm wrong, I apologize, and wish you best of luck. If I'm right, that would be my first question: do you really need to start a new program?

-great question that i've asked myself multiple times. basically, there is a ton of talent in my area and few travel ball options. the options that do exist have their favorite six or seven girls and the three stragglers that play once in awhile. i've got a very even talent pool that will allow all the girls to play (and win). the cool thing about this one is that there is a direct affiliation with the high school. we've developed sort of a 'collaboration agreement' in that we implement the high school program's fundamental philosophies way up front, get to use their facilities, then hand-deliver to them a 'turn-key' JV softball team. that's the plan anyway. my daughter does play on the team but, quite honestly, i would still want to do it anyway. the high school coach is taking away a lot of the red tape and putting me in a position where i can 'just coach' rather than be a professional bureaucrat. thanks for all the great feedback and questions guys. this board is priceless.

 

[SoCalDad]

the cool thing about this one is that there is a direct affiliation with the high school. we've developed sort of a 'collaboration agreement' in that we implement the high school program's fundamental philosophies way up front, get to use their facilities, then hand-deliver to them a 'turn-key' JV softball team. that's the plan anyway. my daughter does play on the team but, quite honestly, i would still want to do it anyway. the high school coach is taking away a lot of the red tape and putting me in a position where i can 'just coach' rather than be a professional bureaucrat.

I ran a similar type of TB program with HS affiliation when my first DD about 10 years ago. For the first 5 years the program ran great. We coached using the HS philosophies and we supplied the HS with turn key talent. Our TB and HS teams were very successful. In year 6, when my DD was a senior, the head coach decided he just wanted to teach history and he resigned from coaching. The new head coach had very different ideas about coaching and did not want any outside input. She terminated our use agreement and implemented new offensive and defensive strategies. Needless to say the HS program went through a steady decline the next 5 years she coached. Finally the AD had the sense to remove her from coaching and the HS team has seen a progression of different head coaches in the past 5 years. This year, however, the program has taken a turn for the better with the appointment of a head coach who has very similar ideas of linking our TB and HS programs. Will be interesting to see if we can rekindle the success of my first DD as my second DD starts JV ball this coming school year.