What is the goal of HS varsity softball?

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Apr 28, 2019
1,423
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I know, a rather open ended question here.

Is it to field the best possible team the school can form, or is it so upperclassmen can play at a better level than JV?

Should the players be trained by the HS team to play at a high school level (more basic), or should the goal be to teach them in preparation for playing on the college level?
IMO the goal should be to improve the skills of the girls that make the team. Especially the girls that take the time and make the effort to get better. You know the ones that work hard outside of team practice and bring a lot of energy to team practices.
The kids that just show up to practice and expect to start when clearly they aren’t taking the time and making the effort to improve should take a back seat.
Having said that if your in a position where you need players and are forced to take kids that really aren’t where they should be skill wise you need to get them there.
If you have the luxury of having 3-4 coaches there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to give all players quality time during practice.
If your stretched thin with a coach or two then obviously you need to focus on the starters and do what you can with the younger/less skilled players.
Honestly the goal should be based on your talent level. Obviously this fluctuates season to season so you have to be realistic with goals.
The #1 goal should be to field the most talented team possible regardless of age/grade.
# 2 Make practices fun and challenging full of competitive drills.
# 3 Win your conference
# 4 Win conference tourney if applicable
# 5 Go as far as possible in States.
 
Dec 15, 2012
102
18
Goal of any HS sport is to win a championship. The challenge is what type of players do you have and what type of conference do you play in A vs AAAAA. High school ball in my opinion is a combination of managing and developing players ( there is a difference!). Softball is a tough sport to simply pickup..... You can teach a Softball Player how to play Volleyball, but teaching a volleyball player how to play softball in the 9th grade is tough to do!
A better question is what does a player expect from High School Softball? The best advice I received from an upper classmen’s Father was simply to enjoy the experience playing for your school and use the experience to get BETTER. If your daughter is playing high level travel ball, you very likely will have players of varying skill and knowledge. Coaching nay also be different than what you are used to. HS ball is different from Travel Ball and you have to adjust your expectations. I’ve seen many a player and parent have miserable high school experiences. The key is use the practice time to further hone your skills!
 
Sep 10, 2017
52
8
Southeast US
Goal of any HS sport is to win a championship. The challenge is what type of players do you have and what type of conference do you play in A vs AAAAA. High school ball in my opinion is a combination of managing and developing players ( there is a difference!). Softball is a tough sport to simply pickup..... You can teach a Softball Player how to play Volleyball, but teaching a volleyball player how to play softball in the 9th grade is tough to do!
A better question is what does a player expect from High School Softball? The best advice I received from an upper classmen’s Father was simply to enjoy the experience playing for your school and use the experience to get BETTER. If your daughter is playing high level travel ball, you very likely will have players of varying skill and knowledge. Coaching nay also be different than what you are used to. HS ball is different from Travel Ball and you have to adjust your expectations. I’ve seen many a player and parent have miserable high school experiences. The key is use the practice time to further hone your skills!

This is true. We had to temper our expectations a lot. My DD’s HS team is not good at all, for a variety of reasons. The thing is, there are a LOT of very good HS teams in our area and region, and it’s hard to swallow that we get run-ruled more than we win.
However, she is getting to play 100% of the time and her ability gets noticed, so it’s not all a loss. By mid-season I just had to come to grips with it being what it was - chance to keep working and play with friends while representing her school. She also got to play a new position and learn some things about that.


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