- Jun 1, 2015
- 501
- 43
0-13. That will cause the parents to feel they need to help the coach. LOL. I don't know if this is a school team or travel ball team but no team should be 0-13. And also any team with 15 players should have at least 1 or 2 ACs. I mean there has to be a couple of parents out of the 15 kids that can hit GBs or throw front toss. Cant imagine running a effective practice with 1 coach.
This is essentially summer rec-level ball. I've probably mentioned it in other posts before - we're basically lower than travel ball (we play other town teams during the summer) but more organized than pick-up softball. Unfortunately, a lot of the issue comes from the fact that 13 of the 15 girls I had all come from the same school/town, where their athletics program is MISERABLE. And nobody cares about it whatsoever. The varsity team went 0-the entire season, and their modified team had 1 win. So many of these girls (I hate to say it) aren't used to winning or being successful, and when they get defeated (we're talking even down 4-0 in the second inning), they cave in because that's what they are used to doing.
As for getting ACs, I'm better off trying to find the needle in the haystack. Said parents are only concerned with showing up and leaving. Luckily, given that I'm the only coach (and a male coach at that) with a team of teenage girls, I MANDATE at least one parent MUST stay at each practice or I'll cancel the practice. I don't care if my ball-field is visible from a US Route or anything, I want transparency. I've had one or two parents offer to step in at ONE practice here and there - for a lot of them, it's work schedules (the girls often carpool to practices/games). I've tried doing group work/stations for hitting, etc, but then just because it splits them up, doesn't mean I can watch who does what. Even my girls said at the end of the season we need an AC to be at practices/games, instead of just a willing dad looking to stand in the 1B box at games. However, trying to get that is near impossible. Their HS is lucky to get HS coaches, let alone find anyone willing to do anything they aren't getting paid for, sadly.
Trust me, this is why I buzz my hair in the summer before I start coaching - at 32, I don't need the gray showing any earlier than it is already. =X