When DD's HS doesn't care about softball

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Oct 10, 2018
305
63
This is DD's first year playing HS ball. Last year (8th grade) made the HS team but ... covid. So this spring she was *super* excited. As spring got closer, we started to hear about Lacrosse and Baseball teams having "unofficial" practices and scrimmages - but nothing for Softball. We drive up to the school to practice pitching and see them out on the fields. I reached out the JV and V coach to see if maybe there was something going on she could attend - silence.

The season officially starts in 5 days and not one word from the school. DD is so disappointed.

Her TB went dark over 2 weeks ago and she's just been putting in the work to get ready on her own and it's so sad. I thought maybe she could reach out to a couple of the girls and they could set up their own practice but she doesn't really know any of them yet as this would be her first year. Sigh. sorry for the rant, but you guys are the only ones who would understand. Is anyone else facing this issue?
 
Jul 22, 2015
851
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It can be really tough for players who care about softball to play HS. Most teams I've seen have far fewer girls who are serious than those who are just there for something to do. She has to know that HS ball isn't travel ball and it never will be. Enjoy it for what it is and work hard but, unless she's really lucky, she will be one of the few who are really serious improving and winning.
 
Mar 10, 2020
734
63
see them out on the fields. I reached out the JV and V coach to see if maybe there was something going on she could attend - silence.

The season officially starts in 5 days and not one word from the school. DD is so disappointed.

Her TB went dark over 2 weeks ago and she's just been putting in the work to get ready on her own and it's so sad. I thought maybe she could reach out to a couple of the girls and they could set up their own practice but she doesn't really know any of them yet as this would be her first year. Sigh. sorry for the rant, but you guys are the only ones who would understand. Is anyone else facing this issue?
There is more to the story if teams are practicing and coaches arent responding to you. Not covid related.
 
Oct 10, 2018
305
63
There is more to the story if teams are practicing and coaches arent responding to you. Not covid related.

? I don't understand. I know it's not covid related. Losing last season was. The school shut down the day the rosters were supposed to be announced but the coach told DD she made the team - starting pitcher for JV and back up for V. The spring teams "unofficially" practicing now; lacrosse, baseball and I think field/track, none of the others AFAIK.
 
Nov 8, 2020
402
43
Kids HS is pretty similar, the baseball team has been playing games for a month. The softball team is kind of sort of starting to get things going. The head coach quit in January and the school didn't really look for a replacement. The JV coach got the JV girls from last year organized in early March but the Varsity was left out and they may have just canceled the freshman team.
In late March a player who graduated last year said her dad was going to coach the team, the rest of the league started playing games in February so they're a good 2 months behind. Last I heard they couldn't even find the uniforms from last season, league play is going to be ugly, hopefully they can opt out of league games.
And it's not like this school void of softball talent, there are girls on this year'd squad committed to play at Florida, Kentucky.... the last couple graduation classes have sent girls to Alabama, Arkansas, Cal, Washington.... they just don't seem to have softball as a priority this year

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
113
Right Here For Now
A lot of time this is due to the AD. I coach a HS team as well as TB and my Co-HC and I continuously asked for a list of players that signed up to play so we could start conditioning early. A list was handed to us on day 1 of the official start of the season. It didn't matter to him that soccer and many other sports were holding practices out of season. But God forbid we do the same.
 
Oct 10, 2018
305
63
I think you misunderstood the OP. The softball team wasn’t practicing, he is saying the school is not even running a softball program this season.

I think the team is running this season - who knows? There was a sign up for tryouts that opened 2 weeks ago but with only 4 days until the start of spring sports there hasn't been a word.

The school isn't super competitive but does send a girl or two to college most years. There is some talent. I don't know the upper classmen's families but I know of at least two other girls who play high-level travel.
 
May 29, 2019
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It's HS ball, take it for what it's worth. Some regions/schools have competitive programs and take it seriously. Others just see it as an extracurricular activity, nothing more. My DD attends a private HS with a former college coach as HC. Our public school district has an awful softball program that is hiring a new, inexperienced coach every two years.

If your DD eats/sleeps softball but is surrounded by a bunch of teammates playing just to get a physical education credit, it may be rough for her. If that's the case, then use HS ball as practice reps for travel ball.
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
If you know one of the coaches, perhaps you or DD could reach out to one of them. If not, the AD's name and number are listed on most school's website. Perhaps a direct call simply asking for information may help. There are a lot of potential reasons for this to happen.

* Perhaps they didn't receive enough interest at sign ups and decided to not field a team. If this was the case, someone should have at least contacted the interested players to let them know.
* Perhaps there is an issue with the coach. Quit... Was fired... Etc. In most cases an interim coach is named and things proceed as normal, but a lot depends on timing.

Sometimes things happen that are completely unexpected. DD only ever tried out for a few TB teams and was offered spots for all of them except for one. Going into 14u she tried out for a team approximately 50 miles from us. She was excited about this team and the coach seemed interested. She waited for a call after the tryouts, but one never came. She was very disappointed but moved on. At a tournament the following summer, we noticed that team was playing on another field. During warmups, that same coach came running over and apologized to DD. Apparently he had a heart attack the day after tryouts and didn't get to call any of the people he was interested in. By the time he healed up enough to get the team together, he just decided to stick with more local players assuming everyone else was already committed to other teams. I'm not sure why no one else reached out to tell us about this, but it is long over at this point. Ultimately he was interested in DD joining his team and he is still coaching to this day. I was glad to see the coach survived and DD was happy to hear that she would have been offered a spot if the incident didn't happen.
 

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