Rec ball priorities

[sluggers]

(NOTE: Please indicate if you are from California).

Exactly what are the priorities in rec ball? This is my rankings:

(1) Teaching kids the game.
(2) Player development
(3) Teamwork
(4) Fun (I separate "fun" and "joy".)
(5) Winning

(For some reason, my teams always won.)

 

[whatsup]

Player development and fostering in players a lasting love of the game.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

(NOTE: Please indicate if you are from California).

Exactly what are the priorities in rec ball? This is my rankings:

(1) Teaching kids the game.
(2) Player development
(3) Teamwork
(4) Fun (I separate "fun" and "joy".)
(5) Winning

(For some reason, my teams always won.)

1. Teaching kids how to win the game.
2. Developing players to win.
3. Show them how to win through teamwork.
4. Show them how much fun it is to win.
5. Did I say win??

I always start the year with a few wise words to my girls. "Winning is not everything..............it's the only thing".

 

[Cannonball]

As a point of disclosure, my child did not have a good rec experiece and so, this post.

Most often the point of rec ball is that a few select board members can make all of the rules for the league to fit their teams and to determine who gets the best players in the "draft." My dd was bigger than the other girls and threw very hard. So, they made up a rule that pitchers could only throw 3 innings in a game. Then, the made up a rule that my child could not throw with a full windmill motion. Then, they made up a rule that she could only throw one game in the playoffs. Then, they came up with a meeting to try to force her up a division in the middle of the season. Our coach got so angry at these "board meetings" that he took the team out of the league and we became a TB team. It was amazing that this team stayed together even when they were in high school. No tryouts and same girls. They were very good for a "drafted" rec team of players no one wanted.

I know that rec has it's place and that kids benefit. Still, walk around the rec games and look at all of the covert agendas going on.

 

[chinamigarden]

I had 2 goals every year I coached, and 2 expectations from each player. They never changed from year to year and they never changed from sport to sport or level to level.

My goals
1. The players have to develop, have to learn the game so they can play it properly
2. I want the players to want to play the next year.
If the kids were not ready for the next age group, or didn't want to play anymore. I would have felt like I let them down.

From the players
1. Pay attention, during practices, meetings and games.
2. Give full effort

If the Players/team did those 2 things, I could live with the outcome.

 

[HornetsCoach]

I would say the priority in a Rec league is to have fun, BUT that only comes through being able to play the game bydeveloping the players.

Its no fun to strike out, its no fun when a ground ball hits you in the face, its no fun when you throw the ball over the first baseman's head or run from first to third on a pop fly with one out while everyone screams "go back!".

The better you practice, the better the players develop, the more fun they are going to have. I always tell them, and its true, that when you look back on your playing career what you often remember are the neat or great plays you made, either in the field or at bat. And most of the time you don't remember if your team won or lost that game.

Winning, of course, is tons of fun, and can erase the bitter taste of jogging off third into the dugout because you thought you were out, but you were really safe, and you can't explain WHY you thought you were out.

The challenge in REC ball is how to balance winning with playing time, both on the field and in positions that "count". A solution I use is to tell the parents that the weekend games are going to be about trying to win, the weekday games are going to be about inclusion.

We would win more games with a different approach but this one seems to work in REC ball. If a parent doesn't like it I usually listen to them patiently and then say "hey, you know, I hear stamp collecting is a really rewarding hobby", then wander away.

 

[marriard]

I had 2 goals every year I coached, and 2 expectations from each player. They never changed from year to year and they never changed from sport to sport or level to level.

My goals
1. The players have to develop, have to learn the game so they can play it properly
2. I want the players to want to play the next year.
If the kids were not ready for the next age group, or didn't want to play anymore. I would have felt like I let them down.

From the players
1. Pay attention, during practices, meetings and games.
2. Give full effort

If the Players/team did those 2 things, I could live with the outcome.

In REC ball this pretty much sums up my feelings. I will add one more:

3. Make sure the OTHER teams are also having fun, developing and want to play next year

The coach who says "I teach my team to win because winning is the most fun" is also the coach that all of the other teams hate playing against and one of the major reasons many players do not return. It is not OK for your team to have 'winning is the only fun' if it is at the expense of the other teams or opposing players.

If your rec league is not returning over 80% of the registrants every year will not be successful long term.

I am in the middle of a 10U rec season right now where I have a dominant pitcher and a pretty good number 2 as well as 5 totally new players. Technically I could pitch these two girls every game and pretty much guarantee that we win all our games. That is not what rec is about though. Instead 5 girls have pitched, 8 girls have played 1st, 7 have played SS, everyone has played 2nd, SS and 3rd and we are a .500 team. They are all talking about next season already.

TB - different story - different goals.

 

[GOINGDEEP]

In REC ball this pretty much sums up my feelings. I will add one more:

3. Make sure the OTHER teams are also having fun, developing and want to play next year

The coach who says "I teach my team to win because winning is the most fun" is also the coach that all of the other teams hate playing against and one of the major reasons many players do not return. It is not OK for your team to have 'winning is the only fun' if it is at the expense of the other teams or opposing players.

If your rec league is not returning over 80% of the registrants every year will not be successful long term.

I am in the middle of a 10U rec season right now where I have a dominant pitcher and a pretty good number 2 as well as 5 totally new players. Technically I could pitch these two girls every game and pretty much guarantee that we win all our games. That is not what rec is about though. Instead 5 girls have pitched, 8 girls have played 1st, 7 have played SS, everyone has played 2nd, SS and 3rd and we are a .500 team. They are all talking about next season already.

TB - different story - different goals.

Maybe there is a difference in "Competitive REC" and REC? I only have experience in 4 years of "Competitive REC" with DD. ( when she was 6-10 ) Then we moved our whole time to TB.

This Comp Rec was set up like HS playoffs. The last year we played the league had 470 kids, our age division had 8 teams. ( you played each team 3 times. What ever team won their age division, had the first 5 choices on allstars. The other 7 girls were voted by all the coaches in a meeting.

The allstar team then played other allstar teams from the region. The winning region team then played 8 allstar teams from your state. The winning allstar team from your state then played 12 other state winners in a World Series.

So yes, winning was important to the kids and parents.


Side note***

The organization had 3 trips to the world series in 10 years, the last trip was my group in 2005. ( 10U ) Since then they have switched to a more "Rec" like you are speaking about. The last 5 years in a row they have not even made it out of Regions. They have dropped down to 250 kids registered. Myself and other coaches who coached in the "glory" days still feel the lack of competitiveness that they switched to killed the organization. What was once the pride of the community, is now a joke.

JMHO and 2 cents.

 

[marriard]

Maybe there is a difference in "Competitive REC" and REC?

The allstar team then played other allstar teams from the region. The winning region team then played 8 allstar teams from your state. The winning allstar team from your state then played 12 other state winners in a World Series.

I think the expansion of travel ball has been killing a lot of the 'competitive' rec you are describing. Also in the scenario described, to win the 'world series' it sounds like you would end up doing more travel than a lot of travel teams. I always felt that once you left your local county to play - it is travel ball.

 

[Momo'sDad]

I'm in Northern California and my primary goal is to use softball to help develop strong, confident young girls who will carry the values of teamwork and giving 100% with them wherever they go from here.