Travel Ball inquiry response vibe

[_MIA_]

First thing. Yelling at young girls at that age level for a error on defense is not acceptable. Even more so considering the errors that were made had nothing to do with lack of effort. I could understand some yelling at the 14u level for lack of effort or hustle.

Agreed.

Now if he was pulling a pitcher for walking a lot batters that would be acceptable.

Of course. This was 2nd and 3rd base. The little girl who was pulled completely had the run all the way across the diamond to get back in the dugout...I was cringing.

In regards to the scene that the coach made. Since I was not there and don't know all the details of the rules or how much of a scene the coach made. I don't have any advice to offer.

Both the HC and AC were screaming at the umpire, enough so that I could clearly hear it from my perch 20 feet behind the LF fence. Remember, these are 7-9 year olds. The kids were fine after the game until the coaches made a scene then some of them
started to cry...I don't care what the rules are or if they were broken. You question it and then when given your answer you move on.
Tread carefully.[/QUOTE]

 

[_MIA_]

There may be history with the players you don't know. I'd be pissed if a championship game was called over with 4 minutes left. If he was right and that was only supposed to be for pool play he had every right to be upset and to try to get them to do things right. If he was screaming and throwing things, that's not cool no matter what. But sometimes the coach has to fight for his players, especially when it's something like that. JMO.

Could be history but if so either don't put them there to begin with or at least wait until after the inning to change them. With regards to the end of the game, the HC and AC were both screaming. I agree about questioning the ump but once you do and get your answer you move on. If you don't like the way the tournament was run, which seem to be a recurring theme with the HC, then don't enter anymore tournaments at that park.

 

[grcsftbll]

Well, there's really no reason to scream at umpires, ever. That's definitely a red flag.

 

[CMMom1740]

If this is his "best" behavior in front of the family of a player he's courting, imagine what he will do when you've committed. I will no longer deal with coaches with anger issues. Occasional frustration with players, sure, but outright screaming and throwing a grown-up tantrum, no. I admire a coach who protests a call, LISTENS to the explanation, and then shuts the hell up (whether he/she agrees with the call or not). All of this times ten for little girls; they don't have the ego strength to stand up for themselves at that tender age.

 

[FP26]

I have never understood the yelling/screaming thing. I guess some people feel they can influence others through fear. And with younger players, I am sure that is possible, although not something I condone. But I have never seen an umpire influenced in this manner. DD has been very lucky to be involved with two organizations that included good quality coaching (in my opinion, of course). She spent one year with a team that neither of us talk about very much. This particular coach would constantly yell at players, umpires, or anyone else that came in contact with him. Since DD is a pitcher, his rants with the umpires always baffled me. I am not trying to throw stones at umpires, as I respect what they do. But it always seemed that as soon as this coach was done "venting", the size of the strike zone would immediately shrink. I cannot honestly remember any of his rants resulting in a positive outcome. It is absolutely not necessary or even possible to agree with every call an umpire makes. They are human, and ultimately will make the occasional mistake. We just all hope these mistakes are rare. There are ways to discuss those calls and express your displeasure without being disrespectful and causing a scene.

 

[_MIA_]

If this is his "best" behavior in front of the family of a player he's courting, imagine what he will do when you've committed. I will no longer deal with coaches with anger issues. Occasional frustration with players, sure, but outright screaming and throwing a grown-up tantrum, no. I admire a coach who protests a call, LISTENS to the explanation, and then shuts the hell up (whether he/she agrees with the call or not). All of this times ten for little girls; they don't have the ego strength to stand up for themselves at that tender age.

Agreed. I had my fair share of coaches who were "yellers", but luckily there were all when I was older (>16 years old) so it didn't really bother me much. The coach behaved himself in the practices she went to and in pool play but once
the bracket games, and in particular the championship game, rolled around....This was the first tournament that these girls played which was kid pitch (they played MP previously) and had regular softball rules, e.g. could take first on a dropped third strike, etc. and his energy would have been better spent teaching them then yelling at them.

After every game the coach came up to me and asked me what I thought...I shut my mouth but if we do decide to play with them I am going to talk to the guy. Not sure it will matter but the guy seems to respect me already
as I already helped him out in practice doing some stuff with the girls which he seemed to like (through them windmill BP, worked some different infield drills, etc). He asked me if I played I said I played in college, which I did, so maybe he will respect my
opinion..probably not

On a brighter note my DD said she likes kid pitch better than MP and said she wanted to play D1 softball..lol. I told her to pump the brakes on that and just worry about making it through 10U

 

[_MIA_]

I have never understood the yelling/screaming thing. I guess some people feel they can influence others through fear. And with younger players, I am sure that is possible, although not something I condone. But I have never seen an umpire influenced in this manner. DD has been very lucky to be involved with two organizations that included good quality coaching (in my opinion, of course). She spent one year with a team that neither of us talk about very much. This particular coach would constantly yell at players, umpires, or anyone else that came in contact with him. Since DD is a pitcher, his rants with the umpires always baffled me. I am not trying to throw stones at umpires, as I respect what they do. But it always seemed that as soon as this coach was done "venting", the size of the strike zone would immediately shrink. I cannot honestly remember any of his rants resulting in a positive outcome. It is absolutely not necessary or even possible to agree with every call an umpire makes. They are human, and ultimately will make the occasional mistake. We just all hope these mistakes are rare. There are ways to discuss those calls and express your displeasure without being disrespectful and causing a scene.

To me, with young kids, all it will do is make them play scared, which you cannot do. Older kids may be able to handle it better in that regards IMO, although I doubt it helps. I had plenty of coaches who yelled and screamed when I was older
and while it never hurt me, it never helped either.

 

[corlay]

Here's my advice:
8U "Travel" is always going to be a rough road. There will be wide disparity in skill, commitment, and desire across the players and parents. I honestly wouldn't advise joining a year-round travel club at 8U. At this age, keep the "season" limited to spring summer, and let them be kids and/or engage in other sports the remainder of the year. Year-round Travel softball and other sports in the off-season is a strain on families, and can contribute to burn-out. Remember: it's a marathon, not a sprint. Also, I wouldn't commit to a team at this young of an age that requires significant travel time to practices (45min or more). Save this for 14U when you know she's serious. Find a team that has a concentration on fundamentals and fun, if you can. Play a schedule that the team can be reasonably competitive, but lose the focus upon winning, if you can. If 8U pitchers don't exist in your area, then wait until she is ready to join a 10U team. You can certainly work with her on your own to instill proper throwing, catching, batting, etc. mechanics. But I wouldn't be wasting so much time/energy chasing down a "good" 8U travel team at this point.

 

[_MIA_]

Here's my advice:
8U "Travel" is always going to be a rough road. There will be wide disparity in skill, commitment, and desire across the players and parents. I honestly wouldn't advise joining a year-round travel club at 8U. At this age, keep the "season" limited to spring summer, and let them be kids and/or engage in other sports the remainder of the year. Year-round Travel softball and other sports in the off-season is a strain on families, and can contribute to burn-out. Remember: it's a marathon, not a sprint. Also, I wouldn't commit to a team at this young of an age that requires significant travel time to practices (45min or more). Save this for 14U when you know she's serious. Find a team that has a concentration on fundamentals and fun, if you can. Play a schedule that the team can be reasonably competitive, but lose the focus upon winning, if you can. If 8U pitchers don't exist in your area, then wait until she is ready to join a 10U team. You can certainly work with her on your own to instill proper throwing, catching, batting, etc. mechanics. But I wouldn't be wasting so much time/energy chasing down a "good" 8U travel team at this point.

Thanks. She is going to be playing basketball this winter and I have told each coach she has tried out with that this is a non-starter. If they don't want her to play basketball then she can't play with them. 8U around here isn't kid pitch and she has played machine pitch for 2 years already so she is going to be playing up to 10U. Skill wise she is ready but she needs some polish on her situational stuff. Playing more games will take care of a lot of situational stuff and really that is what I am looking for. Don't need a super team just a team that has coaches which don't act like idiots and kids she has fun with. I can teach all of the skill stuff myself but she needs to play some more games as there are some things you just need game reps for. For example she needs to learn to be ready and react on every pitch when she is playing infield (or outfield for that matter). When I am hitting her infield she knows the ball is coming to her so she is fine but in the games sometimes she reacts to slow. Just stuff like that. She could get away with it in 8U rec because the "speed of the game" was so slow.

 

[grcsftbll]

Mine went to travel in 8U and we don't have any regrets about it. She was so bored with rec ball. In my county rec ball is very, very low level. Her last 8U rec team half the team had never played before. I can't even imagine having kept her in rec for another year or even another 3 because some people also say 10U is too young for travel.