Wanting to play travel ball instead of high school season

[CoachJD]

Our HS coaches start in September 2-3 days per week working with the girls and go all through winter. Our season starts in March and ends late June. Head Coach probably puts over 1,000 hours a year into the sport.

Here coaches are not allowed to gather their team during the school year/out of season. We can do open gyms, stuff like that, but no actual, official team events.

Even with the limitations I have, with all the different teams, individual lessons, open gyms, and the other things I mentioned (and some I haven't), it's easily 1,000 hours a year.

 

[FP26]

Did some quick calculations. Based on the current pay scale at our school and the estimated hours I put in during the season (and I am ONLY including time spent at the school/at the fields for practices and games, not any time I put in at home on record keeping, scheduling, watching videos, creating practice plans, etc. Also not including any of the time put in during the other nine months of the year.), the pay for a varsity level head coach is right around $10/hour.

This year I tried to get the coaches (everybody else; I've never taken the coaching stipend) at our school paid more. The absolute best I could do was getting very small raises in subsequent years for coaches who continue coaching. What they get now is a joke, and it almost entirely explains why it's so hard to find coaches and the ones we do find aren't interested in putting in the hours needed to develop quality programs.

I was officially on the staff for one season as an assistant coach. When making that calculation, I was paid approximately $4 per hour. When factoring in all the other time I spent working on things outside of school property, it was more like $2 per hour. I didn't do it for the money (obviously), but I'm quire sure the school could attract better coaches if it paid more.

 

[radness]

High school i went to was in an exceptional league. Sunset leadue div 1. All the teams very talented.
About 5 years ago volunteered at a high school in a city near by.
Coaches were having a baby so...prompted me to help somehow.
Well that was more than eye awakening...had heard h.s. players talk about bad h.s. teams. Why it wasnt a great experience. Actually poopy seasons.
That season seeing the absolutely terrible h.s. teams. Players who were only out there because its an elected p.e. class.
Players who didnt/wouldnt try.
Players who had never played befor against players who have college goals
Not eye awakening...
It was Shocking.

Do i think everyone should have the opportunity to play h.s. sports...
YES.
Do i think everyone should?
That can only be answered by identifying AND acknowledging the level in the league. The level at the high school. The players talent level and goals.... AND ~what other options are available!

Reading through dfp are reminders that everyone comes from a different situation.
Possibly its hard to have a perspective that is beyond what we have experienced.

From my gathered understanding of h.s. situations i came to these conclusions.
Seeing those low caliber team situations.
Would NOT have played in high school if that was what the season looked like.

Say this knowing i put in many volunteer hours with our local rec league as a h.s. student.
Also knowing there are options in h.s. to do other things.
While i could keep training in softball outside of high school.
Hopefully growing more for travel ball, and future goals.

Perhaps there is no one size fits all h.s. situation. Allowing folks to make the decision whats best for themselves maybe most appropriate.

 

[BT3100]

Here coaches are not allowed to gather their team during the school year/out of season. We can do open gyms, stuff like that, but no actual, official team events.

Even with the limitations I have, with all the different teams, individual lessons, open gyms, and the other things I mentioned (and some I haven't), it's easily 1,000 hours a year.

Exactly. Our teams aren't allowed organized activities, but they voluntarily get together all fall and winter.

 

[GoRight]

I wish my daughter would be excited to play HS ball, but she isn’t. This is her senior year. She would 100% continue travel ball if she could. At our high school it seems it’s more a popularity contest and who you know. It really depressed her in 10th grade. Last year for 11th grade there was no season. Not sure what will happen this year. I will encourage her to go out for the team.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[_MIA_]

If you were to only base your opinion on what is written here, it would seem like half the HS coaches don't like to win..hard to believe regardless whether or not they know how to actually coach. I know nothing about field hockey but I am sure if I was coaching I could figure out who were the best players, and gave us the best chances of winning, after a month of practices and some games...I mean not knowing anything about field hockey I would just spend the month of practice playing intrasquad games (with various team makeup permutations) and keep track of the outcomes..

 

[CoachJD]

If you were to only base your opinion on what is written here, it would seem like half the HS coaches don't like to win..hard to believe regardless whether or not they know how to actually coach. I know nothing about field hockey but I am sure if I was coaching I could figure out who were the best players, and gave us the best chances of winning, after a month of practices and some games...I mean not knowing anything about field hockey I would just spend the month of practice playing intrasquad games (with various team makeup permutations) and keep track of the outcomes..

I have absolutely made mistakes in roster construction, lineup construction, positions, etc. in my time as a coach. Some players surprise, some disappoint, and sometimes I might give one player or another a longer leash than I should have. I am sure players/parents have criticized some of my moves (I bet I'm criticizing them after the fact, too), and they might have been right.

But it's insane to think at any point I wasn't doing what I thought was either giving us the best chance to win that game or helping to develop to win games later. The idea that I would just play bad players in key spots because reasons is just silly. Why would I do that? Because they're my favorites? Why would I want to watch my favorites repeatedly fail when there's an obvious better option?

The only coaches I've gone up against who I felt weren't really trying to win were the few who were clearly mailing it in because the team was barely a team. They were babysitting. But those teams would probably lose to a good 10U team, so I'm pretty sure that's not what we're talking about here.

 

[_MIA_]

I have absolutely made mistakes in roster construction, lineup construction, positions, etc. in my time as a coach. Some players surprise, some disappoint, and sometimes I might give one player or another a longer leash than I should have. I am sure players/parents have criticized some of my moves (I bet I'm criticizing them after the fact, too), and they might have been right.

But it's insane to think at any point I wasn't doing what I thought was either giving us the best chance to win that game or helping to develop to win games later. The idea that I would just play bad players in key spots because reasons is just silly. Why would I do that? Because they're my favorites? Why would I want to watch my favorites repeatedly fail when there's an obvious better option?

The only coaches I've gone up against who I felt weren't really trying to win were the few who were clearly mailing it in because the team was barely a team. They were babysitting. But those teams would probably lose to a good 10U team, so I'm pretty sure that's not what we're talking about here.

Unless there is some sort of monetary benefit, it makes no sense to not put your best team on the field which is why I have a hard time believing what I read on here without actually seeing the proof that their kid isn't playing because the coach is playing favoritess...

 

[BT3100]

Unless there is some sort of monetary benefit, it makes no sense to not put your best team on the field which is why I have a hard time believing what I read on here without actually seeing the proof that their kid isn't playing because the coach is playing favoritess...

Exactly. Parents aren't allowed at HS tryouts and they aren't encouraged to attend HS practices so how can people tell if their kid is better than the kid who the coach picked over her?
They can't, so they rely on what their kids say.. most kids won't tell their parents that the other kid was better during tryouts lol

 

[Towny9]

As a high school AD I hear it all the time from parents. The best line so far was a mom last year who said “even my daughters boyfriend thinks she should be playing”.