Who's Coaching Your Kids??

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radness

Possibilities & Opportunities!
Dec 13, 2019
7,270
113
Who's coaching your kids?
In an era when anyone can coach a travel ball team...
Should your kid be coached by just anyone?

A post about paying attention!
* :) kinda hesitant to post this topic, not intending to kick anyone in the leg, in the hopes of resolve and the spirit of softball....here goes :)


To keep some perspective want to recognize that different area's have different # of teams. Which may affect perspective and approach to this topic.

In Southern California
Anyone can coach a team has taken over. For years it has grown to where now can obviously see cause and effect happening. So many teams to play on about 10 to 15 teams in every 30 mile radius. Every age bracket. Maybe fewer 10u, but still atleast 5 to 10 every 30 miles.
How about your area?

To put some #'s to it.
30ish % Probably should not be coaching.
Or need assistance to learn.

What occurs is
A bunch of parents who are on a learning curve to figure travel ball out. Are being lead around by a bunch of self titled coaches. Who are themselves trying to figure it out.
( which is ok to figure things out if actually taking the time to get educated)
But really are not offering a good situation as far as practices, or schedule, communication, game knowledge...not even common sense coaching ability.
So the effect is low level softball.
Lack of game knowledge.
Lack of skills building.
Lack of prepairing young players for the next level.
Lack of _______________...
You name it.

Ok so,.... This sounds really harsh....no.... Not saying all coaches do a terrible job!!!
*THANK YOU TO COACHES WHO PUT SO MUCH TIME INTO THEMSELVES LEARNING TO BE BETTER COACHES!

However this is a situation that families are having to navigate thru to find good coaching for their kids!!

Unfortunetly the unknown and learning curve is like a giant fog, cant see thru it. Dont know what else is out there.
How would families stuck in this fog manage to forge thru it when they have no clue they are stranded in it?

Watching softball be affected by this is difficult.

BIG QUESTION???
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO HELP?

This may be one of the strongest reasons i like to post here on DFP.
That perhaps, hopefully, some of the people reading will gain a piece of knowledge to help them navigate, and to find a better coaching situation for their kid and to
HELP GROW SOFTBALL

*Any thoughts , suggestions , feedback appreciated!!!!
* Have you stepped out of the fog?
What feedback can you offer please!

HELP GROW SOFTBALL
 
Last edited:
Apr 26, 2019
222
43
Good post. Our team has some good coaching with coaches that played college/junior college baseball or softball.

We have one parent that is a youtube "trained" aspiring coach. His main interest is his DD but wants/tries to coach the other girls as well. Sadly, he is usually wrong. 😂
 
Oct 29, 2018
28
3
It strikes me (pun intended) that baseball around us is much more organized. Limited travel teams all affiliated with the rec league. Very strict rules on tryouts and amount of pitching time and playing time. Baseball like most boys sports gets a lot more participation and funding and research. I think rec baseball is about 10-20 years ahead of rec softball and same with travel. That might be optimistic. Because there is an MLB. So maybe it's 100 years ahead. I don't know the answers. But I think it begins with looking at how other sports do things correctly.

Soccer has similar problems with too many teams, money grabs, overzealous and overly competitive parents running their kids into the ground. There is more education nowadays about multiple sports and taking breaks, but people don't want to hear it or don't agree.
 
Oct 29, 2018
28
3
Also wanted to add - I think part of the regulation comes from the Little League. I don't think there is a unifying "league" in softball to make rules you are perhaps suggesting. USSSA, USA, PGF, etc. Same issue with soccer. Multiple organizations spring up, offer tournaments or leagues, not much training or universal rules. Soccer is still better than softball, however, because there are usually professional coaches at least affiliated with programs at early ages.
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
@Momof3 ... Interesting. I would say it is the exact opposite around here. In fact, I will not umpire baseball in the summer BECAUSE of the total lack of organization.

Softball around here has been primarily USA (or unaffiliated rec leagues), but USA doesn’t do a darn thing to accomplish that (they take a share of all the fees for providing name recognition and the basic structure for organizing; they provide no labor, guidance, or even really support of any kind). It is a local not-for-profit complex that holds things together, despite having to compete with three park-district backed facilities and two state of the art privately owned complexes within an hours drive.

It hinges on a central organizing force. While that can be founded on USA, USSSA, Little League, etc., it is driven by local people. They are the critical element. Your neighbors, your friends, YOU.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
If a coach has a team, that means there are kids to coach.

It isn't like there is a huge pool of ready-made coaches who are missing out. Especially in younger ages, the coaches are coaches because someone had to step up or wanted to step up. Without those people - good or bad at coaching - the kids don't get to play. And this is where the next generation of good coaches come from. Like everything you do for the first time, you have to start somewhere.

It is like the "why do they still let XXX umpire..." - well because there are so few options.

Sure - it up to the org to provide some level of training and resources or for the coaches to develop themselves as a coach. And some will take it and some won't. It is not a paying job and even if you just did the very minimum it is still a massive time commitment.
 
Oct 2, 2018
205
43
Georgia
Biggest help is finding an experienced coach who will mentor the inexperienced coaches. Paying experts to show you how to run a practice, what drills/stations to run every practice, and how to coach the basics like proper infield footwork, baserunning, bunting/hitting, and overhand throwing.
Having enough bodies willing to help run stations in practice is another big key in the 12u and under ages.
The basics are not flashy but I feel like most teams should spend 90% of time there
 
Aug 25, 2019
1,066
113
When I coached my DD's rec team for three years with my friend, whose DD was on the team, we had zero help from the organization. We both were new at coaching and basically taught ourselves how to be good (at least competent) coaches. It would of been nice to have some training or clinics, but we got the job done, and won 2 of 3 District championships. (Wasn't really us, we had one great pitcher)
 
Apr 1, 2017
535
93
As for coaches ... unfortunately NO team ever formed because twelve kids got together and said “We need a coach.” The vast majority formed because a coach said “I need a team.”
Funny, that’s exactly how I started..... had a group of friends ( including my daughters) that wanted to move from rec to travel. In a moment of weakness I said yes... Honestly, first year was a mess. Since then, I’ve tried to learn, and have also found parents more qualified to be “head coach”. I handle being manager and assistant coach and doing the fun stuff like scheduling and paperwork.
 

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