Wonderful advice for TB Coaches

[Ksphenom]

Players better learn to bring the "A" game as we know coaches will find better players and its to late at that point. They'll get better players via transfers, and recruiting classes. Make yourself so good the coach has no choice but to play you. Don't leave it to him or her to decide your future. I know that the talk in this post is cheap but doesn't make it less true.

I remember when my DD sat for the first time in 430 games. Her role was to be the best teammate no matter the role. She nailed it. It was a mental test from the coaching staff to weed out the parents and kids that can't handle that adversity or at least at point in time. Softball is adversity. They also moved them to spots that weren't their primary spots that the players were usually playing.
It worked as two families quit that week.

 

[Westwind]

Maybe Heather Tarr and the other college coaches should support High School ball more... that is where real competition for playing time can occur.

You have hit on one of the reasons I always say that high school softball is more similar to college softball than travel ball is.

I think the playing time decisions are made for more similar types of reasons in hs and college.

 

[chinamigarden]

 

[flash277]

Players better learn to bring the "A" game as we know coaches will find better players and its to late at that point. They'll get better players via transfers, and recruiting classes. Make yourself so good the coach has no choice but to play you. Don't leave it to him or her to decide your future. I know that the talk in this post is cheap but doesn't make it less true.

I remember when my DD sat for the first time in 430 games. Her role was to be the best teammate no matter the role. She nailed it. It was a mental test from the coaching staff to weed out the parents and kids that can't handle that adversity or at least at point in time. Softball is adversity. They also moved them to spots that weren't their primary spots that the players were usually playing.
It worked as two families quit that week.

So your DD sat one game and handled it real well?......How about sit her for about 5 games, 10 games, heck, sit her for the whole season, see how she handles that mental test.

 

[Greatdaytobeawildcat]

So your DD sat one game and handled it real well?......How about sit her for about 5 games, 10 games, heck, sit her for the whole season, see how she handles that mental test.

I sat 219 games in college (played in 1). No one is mentally tougher than me!

 

[clarity]

From the NFCA Convention

TB Coach asks Heather Tarr: What is one thing Travel Ball coaches can do to help you.

Heather Tarr's response: Carry bigger rosters and teach your girls how to compete for playing time.

I practice this. I preach this. I love this. Let's help her out.

What if she phrased it as, "Please help me make sure that travel players get half as many at-bats as they do now before they reach my program."

 

[radness]

Quick Google search
Coach Tarr Huskies for 2017 & 2020 had 20 players listed on roster.

Most top tier nationally competing travel rosters have that. Some even more.
Right now i can think of several teams in calif that have 22 on there rosters.

Perhaps if she commented on a 'minimum' for a roster her comment may have better reasoning?
in other words~
How many players on a roster does it take to 'compete' for a spot?

Maybe she was speaking to rosters with only 12 ?!

 

[wheresmycar]

Cannot is way too absolute ,sometimes seems more apt. If a player WANTS to be on a team and has been displaced, she will compete to get her position back. In my experience, it is mostly the parents that get frustrated with the playing time and short circuit the process by jumping teams.

Real competition is absolutely part of travel teams, in my experience. YMMV

Duh, parents are spending a lot of money. Think about forking out thousands of dollars to travel cross country to an "elite" tournament, and your DD only gets one or two at bats the entire tournament... It won't take many of those before you start looking for a "better fit" for your DD.

 

[marriard]

From the NFCA Convention

TB Coach asks Heather Tarr: What is one thing Travel Ball coaches can do to help you.

Heather Tarr's response: Carry bigger rosters and teach your girls how to compete for playing time.
I practice this. I preach this. I love this. Let's help her out.

All this does is show how stupid the sports system in the USA is.

It is a load of BS. It is a sport. It is meant to be fun. You are mean to be able to play the game. There is meant to be a place for you to play the game if you want to. Every other country gets this - I am not sure why the USA does not. You should be able to play until --YOU-- want to stop - not because there is nowhere left for you to play.

Not saying there isn't a place for the big roster/cutthroat team - but it should NOT be the default.

And like most college coaches (nothing against Coach Tarr) it is self-serving. It would make HER job easier. And lets face it - basically, NONE of the players Coach Tarr is recruiting has EVER sat on a bench - certainly not in the two years before they attend her school.

Same for the 'over pitching' and 'over playing' comments college coaches make - they are just annoyed that someone got to use the player up physically before they did.

And the 'more competition, less showcase' and 'mutil-sport athlete' BS crowd - it is YOUR recruiting system. People are just playing within it.

Sopabox off...

 

[JumboJack]

18 is too many for a TB team. That’s 9 subs for every game. You could have 18 players that are equally talented and all hustle the same amount and all have great attitudes. There would not be enough playing time for them to be happy.

Spend thousands and thousands on TB, travel out of state and get 2 or 3 at bats over the weekend. That makes a lot of sense.


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