Rec ball priorities

[CoogansBluff]

The goal of rec ball, IMO, is to give them a good time.

I think that a rec player has two priorities --

#1- She wants to feel competent at playing the game. She wants to get a hit, catch a ball, make a play, see improvement. She wants to feel valued as a softball player and teammate.

#2- She wants to enjoy the company of teammates and coaches. She wants to be liked. She wants to make friends. She wants camaraderie. She wants to be part of a team.

Winning is very fun too, but less important to most rec players until those first two needs are met, IMO.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I assume that this team you'd like to keep together would have most of the all-stars and dominated the rec league? Just making sure I understand it. I'm hesitant to comment on other leagues because you have to see it first-hand to know what you're talking about. But I can understand that natural dilemma this causes. Uneven teams can cause problems, and so can splitting up kids and parents that strongly prefer one coach and core of players.

I have no problem trying to explain the best I can. Some things on this forum I don't get just because they are done different in other places around the country.

Yes, when we win the league I can pick 8 of my 12 Allstars. But remember, they had to first be coached from raw talent to the allstar level. So I wasn't given anything, I/we worked hard to win.

Yea, you played us and you probably were going to lose. But, there were 7 other teams in the age group who were pretty even matched. So every 7th game for the other teams was going to be ugly, not bad odds.

But one more time, they were allstars, because they put in the time to get that way. This group worked 10x's as much as the other teams. They loved it and we as a group and family of players had so much fun on and off the fields.

 

[Momo'sDad]

I understand where you're coming from, Goingdeep. In your case, the 1st-place manager gets to coach the all-star team and from the sounds of it, this is considered an honor in your town. Finishing 1st place is a tangible goal for your coaches, so even though it's rec ball, you guys are coaching to win. In that context as you have described it, your style does make sense to me.

I also understand your point about wanting to coach 'your players' from season to season. I feel similarly, but at the same time, I can understand why many rec leagues do not allow dynasties. Mine is one of them - no carryover allowed. Depending on the size of a rec league, this can require a really delicate balancing act. On the one hand, being able to coach players in multiple seasons can help them to improve more quickly, because you start each spring with a lower learning curve. Other teams have the same benefit if they have good coaches and if they remain together. In just 2-3 years, this can greatly improve the quality of softball being played in your rec league, because less time is spent fixing what other coaches may have broken. But for the kids that get stuck with the bad coaches year after year, you can end up not doing them much good at all.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I understand where you're coming from, Goingdeep. In your case, the 1st-place manager gets to coach the all-star team and from the sounds of it, this is considered an honor in your town. Finishing 1st place is a tangible goal for your coaches, so even though it's rec ball, you guys are coaching to win. In that context as you have described it, your style does make sense to me.

I also understand your point about wanting to coach 'your players' from season to season. I feel similarly, but at the same time, I can understand why many rec leagues do not allow dynasties. Mine is one of them - no carryover allowed. Depending on the size of a rec league, this can require a really delicate balancing act. On the one hand, being able to coach players in multiple seasons can help them to improve more quickly, because you start each spring with a lower learning curve. Other teams have the same benefit if they have good coaches and if they remain together. In just 2-3 years, this can greatly improve the quality of softball being played in your rec league, because less time is spent fixing what other coaches may have broken. But for the kids that get stuck with the bad coaches year after year, you can end up not doing them much good at all.

Yes sir, you got it pretty dead on. This little ( now 5000 residents ) town had great success in this competitive rec organization. It's was Dixie Youth in case you wanted to know. Soon as you cross the city limits there are signs of state wins and World Series accomplishments on the highway. At the ballpark there is a huge billboard with the names and team pictures of the Allstars that went to state and beyond. It's probably 20' by 20'. Big deal for such a small community.

This same group are the ones who blast past the big metro teams in the HS playoffs. Memphis is only 17 miles away, and we have to play those teams in Regional's.

But yes, keeping a good core is what makes a huge difference. You don't have to start from scratch each year, re-teaching from ground zero. Each year I could move on to more advanced plays and levels of skills.

But for the kids that get stuck with the bad coaches year after year, you can end up not doing them much good at all.

I love kids and ball. I always had an open door for anyone who wanted some help. ( my team or not ) My girls on several occasions held little clinics for the 4-8 YO to help them in throwing, batting, sliding, and catching when they were 10U. I'd bring hot dogs and drinks and we would work with the younger groups just for the fun. ( my girls really enjoyed that, thought they were big shots )

Rec was fun and convenient, but I have enjoyed the TB much more. The rec was a great building block, it gave us fields to use at any time and lights could stay on until midnight. ( town rules )

 

[YOCOACH]

GOINGDEEP, our rec league was the same as yours and my team, as well as several others did the hard practice schedule. I, and the other coaches that practiced often, would always have open practices and let all of the parents know in our division that it was so. If their girl was on a team that didn't practice often enough for them, then they were welcome to come to one of ours. Oftentimes we would end up with 20+ girls for practice. It was sometimes hectic, but I always went in with a practice plan and enough coaches to handle it. Although girls from other teams practiced with us and grew in their skills, they sorely lacked in the teamwork development with their own teammates. I tried to instill that when I had a group from the same team by practicing them together but it still wasn't the same without the whole team. I think the OP hit the nail on the head. IMO, rec ball is all about the development of skills. If you can do this and get them working as a team, everything else will naturally follow.

 

[left turn]

The rec programs I have seen must be differently organized than goingdeep's. If we had unbalanced, dynastic rec teams and a single team dominated each year it would sink participation rates. When I coached rec my single goal was that each player had such a good experience they wanted to come back the next year - that implies development, fairness and joy.

Henry Kissenger said "the reason college politics is so vicious is precisely because the stakes are so small." I see that on full display in rec and travel programs. There are some that get so wrapped up in winning they lose perspective and it becomes a poor experience for the kids and the parents. Or they get flushed with power and tilt the scales towards their kids, cronies and cliques.

A previous poster stated, "I tell my teams we are not there to have fun, we are there to have fun playing softball." This is spot on, and in a more perfect world would hold sway. However, many rec players never put on a glove or pick up a bat from the end of one season to the start of the next. To them rec softball is a purely social exercise punctuated with errors and at bats.

We really suffer because the player development is so haphazard and ineffective at the younger ages. It is tough for the player to have fun playing softball at 12U or 14U when they can't catch or throw.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

I think what we had was competitive rec. Now it's just "wreck".

What a lot of you are describing sounds like Church ball or Church League. ( at least that's how we would classify it around here )

 

[Coachmom]

I'm from Southern Californiia....Been coaching rec league softball off and on for the past 10 years. I've coached 12U rec for the past 4 years.
Our rec league does not allow us to keep players year after year. Coaches are not allowed to team up. Managers can only pick coaches from their players after the draft.
I no longer have kids in rec league but I still coach because I enjoy the game and it keeps me young
My goal is always player development first and foremost. Winning is secondary but I always strive to win. I believe winning comes as a result of player development. My team has had a tough season so far but they are still enjoying the game and getting better with every match.
I also believe in the idea of "having fun playing softball"... if we simply want to have fun we can have a party every weekend and forget about the softball.
My DD is playing 18U Gold ball now and even though coaching travel would be more competitive I really enjoy coaching rec ball because it's fun to see the incredible development that some of these kids make in such a short amount of time. It is very rewarding to me.

 

[HornetsCoach]

My REC league player's priorities are completely poisoned by all this happy talk.

At the end of EVERY practice I say "OK I only have ONE rule. What is it?"

EVERY time the same girl perks up and yells out "Have Fun!"

EVERY time I have to say "NO! No! That's not it! The Rule is "The coach doesn't pack up the equipment bag!"

I mean, every time. I don't know how much longer I can take it.

 

[YOCOACH]

A priority should be to coach more to the higher level standpoint. We don't need to dumb it down so much and expect so little. So you fail and are not perfect as a player, but you get on the right path.

As part of this, a priority should be to take the kids to college games or have get-togethers where a college game is on TV. The coaches should definitely go too these games, because they are the support system for many high schools. HS play is suffering due to lack of expectations.

My coaches and I would take our rec team to a Cleveland Indians game once a year and to several of the better high schools' team games as well as the local college games. I agree that the kids should be "coached up" to a higher level. The nice thing about my area is that the high school coaches are very active in both the rec leagues and TB teams around here. They work hand in hand with their local rec leagues by giving free coaching clinics for the new coaches as well as free clinics for the kids of all ages. We even have several HS coaches that manage a TB team they use as a feeder system for the HS team. The downfall to this is that during the HS season, they are not allowed to interact with any team or players except the ones on their HS team due to state rules. The other downfall to this is since they are using it as a feeder for their HS program, they pretty much limit the TB team to girls from their school district. My personal opinion is that these teams are not as competitive as other TB teams in the area which draw from all over the region.