I am enjoying your story.
Five years ago I was asked if I wanted to take over a high school softball program that had 4 different coaches in 3 years. Yes, you read that right. One coach was fired from teaching before season began. It has been a journey learning a new community and all the families. We are still struggling to get numbers and committed players but I am having a wonderful experience teaching the game. There have been some ups and downs and some struggles but softball is coming back in our area, I think.
Our first year I was able to put together a coaching staff that works well together and is still together now. Two of the coaches daughters have graduated and they stayed on as assistants. We are a small school of around 300 from freshman to seniors on average. The first practice of the first year I was excited. We had 22 girls show up with maybe 6 softball players. I was amazed how many girls showed up that could not catch or were afraid to. One of those was the starting 1B from the year before.
So we started with the basics and we played the best players. That meant about 3 players that started the year before were relegated to JV. Wow! did that not go well with the parents. When we entered the state tournament that year there were 12 girls left on the roster. It was no longer a rec like team and more of a varsity level team with expectations. So 10 girls left the team of their own choice. We have never cut a player or tried to make a player quit. That was our 2018 season.
At the start of 2019 we had 20 players and they all made it through the season. That year was uneventful but a .500 season. With the future looking better.
Unlike you 2020 was a disaster for our program. We finally had a pitcher of quality (she moved in from out of state.) Our experienced players were ready to lead and there were 5 seniors that wanted to win. Three practices into the season and we were shut down. Honestly that hurt us a lot. The program has not had a lot of success and that could have been a pivotal season. Not only did we lose that season of high expectations but our younger players did not get any development, so that is what 2021 was all about and almost like we were starting over.
Five years ago I was asked if I wanted to take over a high school softball program that had 4 different coaches in 3 years. Yes, you read that right. One coach was fired from teaching before season began. It has been a journey learning a new community and all the families. We are still struggling to get numbers and committed players but I am having a wonderful experience teaching the game. There have been some ups and downs and some struggles but softball is coming back in our area, I think.
Our first year I was able to put together a coaching staff that works well together and is still together now. Two of the coaches daughters have graduated and they stayed on as assistants. We are a small school of around 300 from freshman to seniors on average. The first practice of the first year I was excited. We had 22 girls show up with maybe 6 softball players. I was amazed how many girls showed up that could not catch or were afraid to. One of those was the starting 1B from the year before.
So we started with the basics and we played the best players. That meant about 3 players that started the year before were relegated to JV. Wow! did that not go well with the parents. When we entered the state tournament that year there were 12 girls left on the roster. It was no longer a rec like team and more of a varsity level team with expectations. So 10 girls left the team of their own choice. We have never cut a player or tried to make a player quit. That was our 2018 season.
At the start of 2019 we had 20 players and they all made it through the season. That year was uneventful but a .500 season. With the future looking better.
Unlike you 2020 was a disaster for our program. We finally had a pitcher of quality (she moved in from out of state.) Our experienced players were ready to lead and there were 5 seniors that wanted to win. Three practices into the season and we were shut down. Honestly that hurt us a lot. The program has not had a lot of success and that could have been a pivotal season. Not only did we lose that season of high expectations but our younger players did not get any development, so that is what 2021 was all about and almost like we were starting over.