Too many coaches

[Westwind]

Little humor...
Maybe the coaches need coaches ....
They can coach eachother!

Hey I know you are kidding here but you are seriously touching on a really important idea!

We, the softball community, spend a lot of time trying to develop players. Players come and go. We spend almost no time developing coaches. Developing a good coach could have an impact on the game for decades.

I think mentoring other coaches is one of the most important jobs experienced coaches have!

 

[YoungBuck]

The town I grew up in won the state high school tournament regularly (and still does)... averaged about two players for every one coach. If managed well it can work !

 

[hb_hound]

Hey I know you are kidding here but you are seriously touching on a really important idea!

We, the softball community, spend a lot of time trying to develop players. Players come and go. We spend almost no time developing coaches. Developing a good coach could have an impact on the game for decades.

I think mentoring other coaches is one of the most important jobs experienced coaches have!

WW gets it, for the love of the game, pass on the experience to help develop younger coaches.
Some of the best coaches I have ever met encouraged other coaches and even players to attend their practices. They did not "lock down" practice because they were afraid of the "competition". My DD and I have learned a lot from coaches like this, it has helped us both improve our game

 

[Laphoneman]

A sure way to start weeding out volunteer coaches is put them behind the screen in the cage and tell them to rotate 10 inside and 10 outside and make sure they are right over the edge of the plate. Usually they quit after 1st or 2nd batter. Then I ask the next least experienced volunteer. They usually tell me later they didn’t realize it was that hard but if there is anything else they can help with and I say not right now, but I will let you know.

PS. If they are good at cage pitching keep them around you are going to need them. Give them a break and put someone else in there to weed out.

 

[CloudofDust]

I think the message is getting a little lost in this thread. The problem isn't having too many qualified coaches...it's having too many parents on the field, acting as coaches, and not really understanding what they are doing. This, in turn, is not allowing the coaches with the knowledge and experience to teach the team.

I appreciate all the responses and have addressed the problem. The number of coaches for the last few practices has been reigned it and we're back on track. Mentoring coach(es) is all part of the plan and is continuing to happen. Just like with players, coaches that want to learn the game and how to teach the game are open to feedback. Those that are only seeking to improve their own DD and not help the team are the problematic ones and the ones that I will kindly ask to back off. Fortunately, we don't have many of those.