Wonderful advice for TB Coaches

[Rolling Hard]

Big 10 teams in the Midwest seem to be made up of California and Texas kids that fit this mold. The University of Illinois and the University of Iowa have so much local talent that slips through their fingers or goes unnoticed who live within four hours of campus.

The University of Illinois should be competitive in every sport they field. They should be recruiting in state first and not giving up athletes to other states. Not just talking about softball but I’m talking about softball, lol.

Yeah some of these prospects can look pretty good at batting practice or in a skill / highlight video too. But again, they are big, strong and fast. You would hope some coach along the way would figure out that their shortcomings are not physical. But rather in their approach or vision/mental side of hitting and work with them.

 

[ang2bmd]

Of course! Money plays a role in everything!

It is as expensive for an Illinois resident to attend as it is to go out of state and pay out of state tuition. Illinois is one of many state schools with constant money problems. They have very little flexibility in offering money.

The two best pitchers to come out of the state recently went to Michigan and Stanford. The best hitter went to Alabama this year.

IL has a couple of nice midwest verbals in the 22 class. One heck of a hitter from mojo-fischer and a speedster from a gators team in Indiana. Kid can fly!

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[ang2bmd]

Big 10 teams in the Midwest seem to be made up of California and Texas kids that fit this mold. The University of Illinois and the University of Iowa have so much local talent that slips through their fingers or goes unnoticed who live within four hours of campus.

The University of Illinois should be competitive in every sport they field. They should be recruiting in state first and not giving up athletes to other states. Not just talking about softball but I’m talking about softball, lol.

Seems like IU may be learning as they're 21 and 22 class include several kids from the Bandits and Indiana Magic Gold programs.

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[Westwind]

Oh yeah! And good on IU! The state of Indiana has some great softball going on. Some very nice players.

Went to a couple camps at IU. I liked the coaches, both before and after the last head coaching change.

Merry Christmas all! Next year will be better!

 

[whiporee]

The idea of girls learning to compete is fine, as long as there are measurables they are competing for. If a coach is going to make everything an eye test or instinct, then expecting girls to learn to compete is actually counter-productive. Without defined competition -- and that means girl against girl, one one on competition -- then any talk of earning a spot is reductive.

If a coach doesn't lie out specifics of what needs to be done to win a starting job, then all the work a bench player puts in could be for naught. If a coach is going to trust experience, or instinct, or a gamer, or a winner, or anything like that, then the girls on the bench only have a chance of the coach decides to give them one. So teaching them to compete really means teaching them to try their best and hope the coach someday gives them a chance.

I've no problem with what she said, mostly because she's a D1 collegiate coach. Her players are at the pinnacle, but more importantly, she knows how ands when to rotate them. And they aren't paying to play. If a TB coach wanted to have a roster that big, then it's only fair to hold weekly tryouts for every position to give every paying player a real chance to earn a starting job. Otherwise you're just taking money on a false promise.

 

[CMMom1740]

The idea of girls learning to compete is fine, as long as there are measurables they are competing for. If a coach is going to make everything an eye test or instinct, then expecting girls to learn to compete is actually counter-productive. Without defined competition -- and that means girl against girl, one one on competition -- then any talk of earning a spot is reductive.

If a coach doesn't lie out specifics of what needs to be done to win a starting job, then all the work a bench player puts in could be for naught. If a coach is going to trust experience, or instinct, or a gamer, or a winner, or anything like that, then the girls on the bench only have a chance of the coach decides to give them one. So teaching them to compete really means teaching them to try their best and hope the coach someday gives them a chance.

I've no problem with what she said, mostly because she's a D1 collegiate coach. Her players are at the pinnacle, but more importantly, she knows how ands when to rotate them. And they aren't paying to play. If a TB coach wanted to have a roster that big, then it's only fair to hold weekly tryouts for every position to give every paying player a real chance to earn a starting job. Otherwise you're just taking money on a false promise.

This is a good post. Too many times, TB coaches are so tight-lipped about their decision-making process. As an example, DD was the starting catcher on her TB team (splitting the job with two others, but catching more innings than the others) up until she got hit in the glove hand by a wonky pitch and dislocated her thumb. She was out for a few weeks and then cleared to come back. During that time period, HC rostered another catcher (leaving the team with three catchers plus one backup) and DD saw virtually NO playing time. DD tried to talk to him about it at least 2-3 times to ask what she could do to earn more time and he blew her off each time with non-answers. It was obvious he had lost faith in her, but the "why" was completely unclear. Because she got hurt? OK. Players get hurt all the time; do you always replace them while they're out?

COMMUNICATION. I think saying something like, "Well, you've had an increase in the number of passed balls lately and the other catcher has not, so I'm playing her more right now" could be VERY instructive and light a fire to improve. Sitting around scratching your head wondering what you've done wrong seems counter-productive to me. JMHO.

 

[Strike2]

This is a good post. Too many times, TB coaches are so tight-lipped about their decision-making process. As an example, DD was the starting catcher on her TB team (splitting the job with two others, but catching more innings than the others) up until she got hit in the glove hand by a wonky pitch and dislocated her thumb. She was out for a few weeks and then cleared to come back. During that time period, HC rostered another catcher (leaving the team with three catchers plus one backup) and DD saw virtually NO playing time. DD tried to talk to him about it at least 2-3 times to ask what she could do to earn more time and he blew her off each time with non-answers. It was obvious he had lost faith in her, but the "why" was completely unclear. Because she got hurt? OK. Players get hurt all the time; do you always replace them while they're out?

COMMUNICATION. I think saying something like, "Well, you've had an increase in the number of passed balls lately and the other catcher has not, so I'm playing her more right now" could be VERY instructive and light a fire to improve. Sitting around scratching your head wondering what you've done wrong seems counter-productive to me. JMHO.

That's not being "tight-lipped"...that's being an a-hole.

I realize that the line is often thin and blurry, but this seems pretty clear. Not specifically because she was displaced, but that's certainly part of it. That situation was made worse by the coach not having enough respect for your DD to offer honest feedback. The good news for catchers is that the overall demand exceeds supply.

 

[BT3100]

“The Game Knows”: How This Former College Softball Player Kept The Faith While Riding The Bench

By Jordan Patterson “The Game knows.” Throughout my career as a college softball player at the University of Alabama, I heard that statement hundreds of times. From teammates, from coaches, and even from family. There was always a part of me that wanted to believe that the Game really did know...

risenews.net

 

[Bullseye]

If a coach does a good job of selecting players it should be harder to designate the starting 9. Undoubtedly in the coaches mind there is another variable at work making this decision. Not stats alone.
Have never seen any competitve team have 2 sets of starting players. One on the bench while others are playing.
Any player who's starting position is the bench is held back by the coach making a pre-determined decision and the player on the field gaining experience. In a competitive setting without a coach offering equal starting time there will only grow a larger gap. The player on the bench has already started the season as 2nd string. Stats were not part of the coaches decision.

 

[whiporee]

“The Game Knows”: How This Former College Softball Player Kept The Faith While Riding The Bench

By Jordan Patterson “The Game knows.” Throughout my career as a college softball player at the University of Alabama, I heard that statement hundreds of times. From teammates, from coaches, and even from family. There was always a part of me that wanted to believe that the Game really did know...

risenews.net

It's a good story and a good sentiment, but let's be fair.

Jordon didn't ride the bench much in high school or in her travel ball days. She was a scholarship athlete at her dream school, playing for a championship coach in a corrupt, evil program (sorry, my inner Gator slipped out there) championship program. That doesn't happen unless you're a stud. Maybe there are bigger studs, but she wasn't being a good teammate for the years leading up to her enrollment at Alabama. She was playing enough to impress recruiters and coaches, and given the unfortunate amount of success Alabama has had over the years, she probably was considered one of the best players in her class. Once arriving on campus, she wasn't the best one there, but the key point is she arrived on campus. She accomplished the goal. There wasn't trying to advance her softball career any further because (besides Gainesville) there isn't anywhere further to go.

That's a different situation than the vast majority of TB girls will run into.