I recent had a cabal of parents get very upset with me for wanting/pushing the girls program to be better and the girls to be able to compete better.
I have been heavily involved in the softball program in our town for years, often being the spring and fall coach (the girls president is the summer coach). We are in our last year of 12U and other towns are passing us and we have real difficulty competing. In the past year I have been talking to the girl’s president and other coaches - advocating that we should be better and we need greater focus and more and longer practices. We are a small town and we will seldom beat the big towns, but we can be better. I feel a sense of urgency. When I ran practices I expected them to work hard and learn new skills. I pressed them to improve and their experience with me was much different than the languid laid back approach of the other coaches.
Also near the end of the season, I introduced the concept of slap hitting and drag bunting and encouraged the speedy girls to pursue it over the winter. I told them they could hugely improve their on-base percentage.
The parents actually asked where could they find mediocre travel teams to play. They said the girls just wanted to have fun and didn’t want to work too hard. They didn’t want to have more and longer practices. And to top it off, they were unhappy about me introducing the basics of slap hitting and drag bunting and encouraging them to find a coach.
I am stunned and confused. I had really worked to improve their skills because we will be moving into a more competitive travel league next year and I didn’t want them to get trounced. I understand fun, but I thought we would have more fun if we were able to compete better.
My daughter and I have worked year round for the past 4 years and she has made some pretty significant improvements. She is the only player to really focus on pitching and has done very well. Two years ago she was rated the 11th best player in travel evaluations. Now she is arguably in the top three, especially with the value she brings as a pitcher.
If we leave the program, there will be a lot of hard feelings. If we stay, it will continue to be frustrating. I wonder what good it does to play in a travel program that is indistinguishable from recreation. I just don’t see how playing poor competition makes anybody any better. Terry Collins, Mets coach, said, “To be the best, you have to play the best.” (I understand that irony...
) I don’t believe my daughter can approach her potential unless she can play against better teams.
Have other coaches had this problem? How have you handled this?
I have been heavily involved in the softball program in our town for years, often being the spring and fall coach (the girls president is the summer coach). We are in our last year of 12U and other towns are passing us and we have real difficulty competing. In the past year I have been talking to the girl’s president and other coaches - advocating that we should be better and we need greater focus and more and longer practices. We are a small town and we will seldom beat the big towns, but we can be better. I feel a sense of urgency. When I ran practices I expected them to work hard and learn new skills. I pressed them to improve and their experience with me was much different than the languid laid back approach of the other coaches.
Also near the end of the season, I introduced the concept of slap hitting and drag bunting and encouraged the speedy girls to pursue it over the winter. I told them they could hugely improve their on-base percentage.
The parents actually asked where could they find mediocre travel teams to play. They said the girls just wanted to have fun and didn’t want to work too hard. They didn’t want to have more and longer practices. And to top it off, they were unhappy about me introducing the basics of slap hitting and drag bunting and encouraging them to find a coach.
I am stunned and confused. I had really worked to improve their skills because we will be moving into a more competitive travel league next year and I didn’t want them to get trounced. I understand fun, but I thought we would have more fun if we were able to compete better.
My daughter and I have worked year round for the past 4 years and she has made some pretty significant improvements. She is the only player to really focus on pitching and has done very well. Two years ago she was rated the 11th best player in travel evaluations. Now she is arguably in the top three, especially with the value she brings as a pitcher.
If we leave the program, there will be a lot of hard feelings. If we stay, it will continue to be frustrating. I wonder what good it does to play in a travel program that is indistinguishable from recreation. I just don’t see how playing poor competition makes anybody any better. Terry Collins, Mets coach, said, “To be the best, you have to play the best.” (I understand that irony...
) I don’t believe my daughter can approach her potential unless she can play against better teams. Have other coaches had this problem? How have you handled this?
