the official “our High School Coach doesn’t have a clue about coaching” thread

[Tango]

Friends DD is a possible D1 3rd baseman. D1 pitcher decides not to play and good #2 moves. She is now the starting varsity pitcher topping out at 43 mph.

 

[sluggers]

Catcher Dads as well.

New HC told her not to shift to receive the ball after giving the sign. He said it is only going to confuse the pitcher. Guess he hasn't seen Paige Halstead catch. I wonder if he has seen a college game.

Are you sure this doesn't fall into, "Your DD is playing on a team, and sometimes when you play on a team you have to do stuff to benefit the other players on the team."?

1) College catchers are taught not to shift until the last possible moment. (Here is a whole Halstead video if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULF6znT6pko She shifts after the arm begins the forward motion.)

2) Shifting later in the motion does bother young pitchers. My DD struggled with it when she started pitching in college. (She finally figured it out.)

3) Your HS pitcher is not as good as a UCLA pitcher. The odds of most HS pitchers hitting the called spot are 50/50 on a good day.

 

[4KidsDad]

I, too, used to knock high school ball but not really any more.

The fact is, if the kid likes or loves the sport, then she'll play anywhere she gets a chance and HS ball is one of those opportunities to play, have fun, and compete as part of the whole high school experience.

Let your kid just have fun and do what she loves to do. It's not worth stressing any more because its her experience, not mine.

Now....if your DD is so hardcore that even she criticizes and complains, then maybe she should just stop playing and let another girl get a chance to enjoy it.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

HS ball can be frustrating, especially for Pitcher Daddies. You have to step and back and look at what is really happening on the field.

1) Don't make excuses for your DD. It is really easy to blame the coach, the weather, the umpire, the catcher, whoever. (True story: At a game last year, a batter hit a line drive off the RF wall. Pitcher Daddy blamed RF for not knowing a proper drop step.) Your DD has to adapt and learn how to win games. Saying, "Oh, honey, it is not your fault" is not helpful.

2) HS ball presents a different set of challenges than TB. Your DD hasn't adapted yet. HS ball isn't easy, especially in Texas.

3) The whole "pitch sequence" thing is a myth for TB and HS ball. Most TB and HS pitchers don't have any breaking pitches in the first place.

A kid with decent speed throwing over the black part of the plate and hitting her corners 10/10 times, will do great.

4) The use of "drop ball/rise ball/curve ball/screwball" is done to humor most pitchers.

Spot on!!

Take ownership.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

I readily admit that I am not a fan of high school softball. DD's program was extremely weak, making the entire process painful for the entire family. By "weak" I mean that her team had exactly one travel ball player on the roster (DD) and was consistently playing against other schools that had travel ball players at every position. That said, we tried to cope with it as best as we could. DD enjoyed playing with her friends but did get frustrated with the lack of effort exhibited by some of them (skipping practices with no good reason and no consequences). My biggest issue with the coaching staff was about what I would consider basic fundamentals. As an example, I remember one play when the team had a runner on third with less than 2 outs. Deep fly ball was hit. Runner went halfway home and stood waiting to see if the ball would be caught. When it was, she retreated to 3rd base. Meanwhile, HC was standing at 3rd base the entire time providing no direction at all. After the game she asked me for some input (as she often did -- she knew i was an experienced coach). I tried to be positive, but mentioned that particular play. Her response was that the players should know better. I don't disagree, but these are players with virtually no experience. The 3rd base coach needs to take that into consideration, and help the players along. A few games later, the same thing happened. Again, no direction from the coach. Extremely frustrating, but I knew at that point that there was not going to be much improvement. Thankfully high school softball is behind us now. We had all hoped for a positive experience, but it just wasn't there.

I'm going to laugh if years from now your daughter tells people that the HS softball experience was her favorite .

I hear you though. HS ball is especially taxing on the parents.

 

[FP26]

I'm going to laugh if years from now your daughter tells people that the HS softball experience was her favorite .

I hear you though. HS ball is especially taxing on the parents.

Lol! Anything is possible. Her and some of her friends in travel ball used to tell me that they looked at high school ball as "pre-season" for travel ball. It was travel ball that they enjoyed the most. At least at that time. Now a freshman in college, she seems to be enjoying that experience now. We just had an opportunity to visit with her this past Saturday. During dinner, we asked her about college practice, particularly the 6 am practices as we know she doesn't like getting up early. She seems to be adjusting well. I asked her if the early practices make her miss high school ball. She just laughed and said "funny joke Dad". It will be interesting to see how her opinion changes over the next few years.

 

[Cannonball]

In two more weeks, I will become ignorant, won't know what I am doing and most probably ruin some star athlete's career. Looking forward to it.

 

[Chris Delorit]

How disappointing so far. My DD makes varsity and is the main pitcher as a freshman. Now after 3 games it has become obvious that the HC has no clue how to call pitches much less coach the girls on offense or defense. He has continued to call curveballs over and over though my daughter has told him twice that it is her weakest pitch. He avoids her best pitches, he doesn’t know how to set up batters then strike them out. In last nights game my DD’s last two inning, it looked like he had started to figure it out and was striking girls out in 3 or 4 pitches. I mentioned it to my daughter after the game and she said that’s when she started throwing what was needed and not what he was calling.
I keep telling her she needs to go talk to him about this and try to convince him to try calling her using the pitches that she knows will work in the correct sequences. Then if he still doesn’t listen to either start shaking him off or just throw what’s needed.

Someone tell me things will get better.

CoachBroker,

Are you new to the school district, and/or is the HS coach new to the program?

Sure, there a fair share of misaligned softball coaches as there are in any other youth sport. But, there's also some very qualified coaches as well.

Your daughter's softball experience will surely get better if ... 1) She approaches her participation as a teammate on an 18 player roster, 2) She's respectful, listens and applies what the coaching staff is asking of her, 3) She works hard to continue to develop her skill set and 4) She resists developing any level of entitlement and disrespectfulness as a young athlete.

The only way she can change the program, is to help mold the shape of the program as an athlete. It's also a great opportunity to help develop valuable leadership qualities. One of those qualities is learning how to develop appropriate communication channels with adult coaches (which can be very daunting for a young person).

With the right attitude and support system, I'm sure she'll find happiness in her game during even the most challenging of situations.

Chris

 

[Doug Romrell]

In two more weeks, I will become ignorant, won't know what I am doing and most probably ruin some star athlete's career. Looking forward to it.

Cannonball, I can honestly say that you are the exception. And, there are few of them out there.

 

[dgh31]

4) The use of "drop ball/rise ball/curve ball/screwball" is done to humor most pitchers.

Maybe that's true for the kid who's got every pitch and every one of them has the same spin. I've seen those pitchers.

For someone who's worked hard at getting good with one of those pitches that is not true. Mixing up a drop ball/rise ball when you can actually throw both well is very effective and makes a huge difference.