Stealing/recruiting players

[TopCatDad]

I have actually heard a coach tell a girl at a tournament that when she got tired of losing to let him know, that he had a uniform for her. So in my neck of the woods (AR), it's very common.

This happened to my dd during a game. She was playing 1st base and doing a good job at it. The other HC was the base coach and told her when she was ready to play on a winning team she was welcome to come play for them.(we were losing but hanging in there). We played the same team again later in the tournament and my dd pitched that one. Again the coach says the same thing when she was coming off the field exp. now that he knew she pitched. Unfortunatly for him we got to see the way he coached both games and one other game.....she said no thanks she would rather lose then play for him!

 

[CoogansBluff]

4. If we have to pick up a player, then that player is all in, and we'll treat them as if they have always been on the team. We'll use them in a way to maximize their ability to contribute. If they can hit clean-up, they'll hit clean-up. They'll play in the field. The goal is for us to play as many games as possible, and we'll use them to help us do that. On the other hand, if they are not someone who is going to be contributor, but just a safety net, we'll do our best to give them an at bat, or an inning or two, just to reward them for coming out and being there for us.

Not sure if I agree w/ you and Marriad on this, although I applaud everything else both of you have posted in this thread.

re: Pickup players - Position in the batting order doesn't matter that much, imo. But where they play in the field matters a lot. I don't want a pickup player to displace a regular player in the field or in the circle. I want their defensive roles to remain the same. If I'm missing a catcher or shortstop, then I'm looking for a pickup who can catch or play short. But if I'm missing my center fielder, and I have a chance to pick up the best shortstop in the county, she's going to have to agree to play center or I'll keep looking. To me, the goal of staying in the tournament longer doesn't warrant taking away field positions that have been earned.

I know a lot of people disagree w/ me. It's one of those issues that coaches have a lot of disagreement about.

 

[marriard]

Not sure if I agree w/ you and Marriad on this, although I applaud everything else both of you have posted in this thread.

re: Pickup players - Position in the batting order doesn't matter that much, imo. But where they play in the field matters a lot. I don't want a pickup player to displace a regular player in the field or in the circle. I want their defensive roles to remain the same. If I'm missing a catcher or shortstop, then I'm looking for a pickup who can catch or play short. But if I'm missing my center fielder, and I have a chance to pick up the best shortstop in the county, she's going to have to agree to play center or I'll keep looking. To me, the goal of staying in the tournament longer doesn't warrant taking away field positions that have been earned.

I know a lot of people disagree w/ me. It's one of those issues that coaches have a lot of disagreement about.

As long as you have a clear, communicated policy to both your team (before the season) and to the guest player & their parent then how you handle it seems fine to me. I've seen it handled poorly and it can really cause issues with your own team and also hurt your reputation in the softball community. Because we only bring in a guest player to make 9 players for a game/day or to cover for a pitching/catching injury our policy work well for us even when over a weekend players return (one tournament we went 9/11/10 over three day days).

 

[JAD]

Very rare is the team that forms at an early age and stays together for several season of travel ball! There is always going to be some level of 'churn' on a team - by players AND coaches. There are a couple of 'marquee' organizations in our area and there will always be parents who will do ANYTHING to get their kid onto one of those teams. We just had a pitcher who would have been our #2/3 leave to become the #4 on a marquee team. Her dad thinks it will help with her recruiting, but I think she will be lucky to see 20% of the mound time, and the time she does play will be in inconsequential games.