Women coaching softball

[BB875]

Momo, my examples above were TB except for the awesome HS coach I mentioned. I have seen a lot of rec coaches in my area (male or female) that are just not good. They do not belong on the field. I'm not saying all rec is bad softball, but in my area it is, period.

I have a good friend that coached as an assistant in a well respected TB club in our area at the 10U level. She now coaches for another TB club in her town. She told me the move was due to the fact the first club was male dominated at every level and they did not want her input on coaching. She is an outstanding coach in my opinion & we now both coach for a 3rd club on different teams & we are lucky to have her. Our GM makes a point to seek out good women coaches & it just makes sense to me. Many times my wife (we coach together) can relate to a problem a kid is having much better than I can. Teaching fundamentals is not a problem for me, but handing an emotional conflict or understanding what is needed to correct the situations is where she can handle the situation with ease. Don't get me wrong, my wife coaches the game & helps run practices. She calls pitches because I believe she is the best one to do it. I don't want you to think she is just there to handle touchy-feely stuff...

 

[rowdy]

Great coaches are great coaches. The gender is of no interest to me and is not a consideration when I am selecting a coach for our organization. The best coaches in the NCAA are not split into two groups, one for men and one for women so why would anyone else.

What I will say though and this is specifically directed at the comments that Screwball has made over the years is that the things you see as sexist or anti-women happen to everyone who coaches. Bad parents are bad parents and they say some hateful things to both male and females. It is what it is and as a coach you must get the reputation of not putting up with this type of trash. I don't care how good a player the daughter is she is done if the parents can't behave.

Your job as a coach is to develop young people to be respected, hard working members of the community. If you get fuzzy on this and start to measure your success by wins and losses you are headed for problems.

 

[absdad]

I just attended a game yesterday where the male coaches went off on the umps, and had the 'stereotypically' male verbally aggressive thing going on. Umps tell me when they saw female coaches or female adult players, they preferred umping and said "thank goodness." My perception is valid.

After yesterday, I do think some male coaches need to do some self-reflection and not blame me for my perspective.

Stereotype much??

One of my dd's tournaments this year, we played a team coached by an 'infamous' female coach. She typically goes through 15-20 (this year she went through 23) kids on her roster a year. This was her 4th year with a new team. I think she has to move to be able to get anyone to show up at tryouts. Anyway, they were undefeated in pool play, and we drew them for our first bracket game. Knocked them out 8-7, tagged out the tie run at the plate for 3rd out, ending the game. She was coaching 3b and walked to the PU and loudly exclaimed "you cost us this game! you're the worst blue i've ever seen!" and then turned and hollared basically the same thing to the FU. She is a total nutjob, and has a horrible reputation in this area. Umps do not like to officiate her games. Parents of other teams don't like to play her team because of her mouth, and attitude.

Moral of the story... are all women coaches bad? Nope. Just that one. No need to stereotype because she's not representative of women coaches.
Some of the best coaches are women. I could care less whether a coach sits or stands, it's how they treat the kids, and how they coach the game, that matter.

 

[8isgreat]

Last night I had a bit of a "standoff" with a male - he was trying to correct one of my players in the batting cage. Now, keep in mind his daughter is NOT on my team. He is NOT a coach. His daughter is a player on another team. Anyhow, he kept telling my player to change things that I had just fixedand she was hitting just fine (she had been under all of the pitches prior to him showing up). I tried to explain that men do not hit the same way women do (boys v. girls). He just didn't get it. Men use upper body strength -women use their lower body - hips, legs, etc. The way he had her hitting she'd be worn out before getting a hit.

That's my biggest complaint about male coaches - understanding the female form and how we do things MUCH more differently than men...

My daughter has never had a female coach other than me. And I've never been the head coach - thankfully I haven't had many problems with any of our male coaches - they do listen - but you'll get that one parent or "Assistant" that insists he knows EVERYTHING...

 

[chinamigarden]

Last night I had a bit of a "standoff" with a male - he was trying to correct one of my players in the batting cage. Now, keep in mind his daughter is NOT on my team. He is NOT a coach. His daughter is a player on another team. Anyhow, he kept telling my player to change things that I had just fixedand she was hitting just fine (she had been under all of the pitches prior to him showing up). I tried to explain that men do not hit the same way women do (boys v. girls). He just didn't get it. Men use upper body strength -women use their lower body - hips, legs, etc. The way he had her hitting she'd be worn out before getting a hit.

That's my biggest complaint about male coaches - understanding the female form and how we do things MUCH more differently than men...

My daughter has never had a female coach other than me. And I've never been the head coach - thankfully I haven't had many problems with any of our male coaches - they do listen - but you'll get that one parent or "Assistant" that insists he knows EVERYTHING...

Being a man myself, I can say the proper way to deal with this is not to try to educate the guy. That won't work, he could care less. Just tell him to mind his own business and to not disturb your players.

 

[Momo'sDad]

Last night I had a bit of a "standoff" with a male - he was trying to correct one of my players in the batting cage. Now, keep in mind his daughter is NOT on my team. He is NOT a coach. His daughter is a player on another team. Anyhow, he kept telling my player to change things that I had just fixedand she was hitting just fine (she had been under all of the pitches prior to him showing up). I tried to explain that men do not hit the same way women do (boys v. girls). He just didn't get it. Men use upper body strength -women use their lower body - hips, legs, etc. The way he had her hitting she'd be worn out before getting a hit.

That's my biggest complaint about male coaches - understanding the female form and how we do things MUCH more differently than men...

My daughter has never had a female coach other than me. And I've never been the head coach - thankfully I haven't had many problems with any of our male coaches - they do listen - but you'll get that one parent or "Assistant" that insists he knows EVERYTHING...

Earlier this year, a young female assistant was teaching our players to squish the bug. We didn't have a 'standoff' about it. I just told her that's no longer taught and then told the players not to think about that, because the pivot would happen as a natural result of a proper swing.

Another female coach has taught players to cup the ball (imagine holding a ball in your hand and then curling it towards your wrist as far as you can) prior to making a throw, which is completely different from what I was taught and what I teach. She's not wrong because she's a woman. She's wrong because that method impairs the throwing motion, so I have to correct improper mechanics.

A good swing is a good swing based on generating max bat speed at the point of contact. For you to say that 'boys use their upper bodies, girls use their lower bodies' is a pretty archaic and oversimplified view of good swing mechanics. I cannot say at all how that relates to the situation you witnessed with your player, but I would hope that you are also working to keep your knowledge and instructional techniques current.

Being too narrowly focused on generalized physiological differences between the genders can hinder one's ability to be an effective teacher which could prevent students from achieving their maximum potential.

 

[WinThemAll]

Last night I had a bit of a "standoff" with a male - he was trying to correct one of my players in the batting cage. Now, keep in mind his daughter is NOT on my team. He is NOT a coach. His daughter is a player on another team. Anyhow, he kept telling my player to change things that I had just fixedand she was hitting just fine (she had been under all of the pitches prior to him showing up). I tried to explain that men do not hit the same way women do (boys v. girls). He just didn't get it. Men use upper body strength -women use their lower body - hips, legs, etc. The way he had her hitting she'd be worn out before getting a hit.

That's my biggest complaint about male coaches - understanding the female form and how we do things MUCH more differently than men...

My daughter has never had a female coach other than me. And I've never been the head coach - thankfully I haven't had many problems with any of our male coaches - they do listen - but you'll get that one parent or "Assistant" that insists he knows EVERYTHING...

To demonstrate the difference in the Male and Female body do this. Using a folding chair or kitchen table chair, face the wall with toes against wall, take three steps back. Place chair (sideways) between the wall and you. Place your head against the wall, back should be bent at 90 degrees. Grab the chair seat and lift to your chest. Then try to stand up. Most males can't do. More females can.

All in the Family – The Chair

[video]http://youtu.be/DJ_ByifZvzI[/video]

 

[InTheCrowd]

Hogwash. Some of the best coaches i've seen in this game are women. There is absolutely nothing that stops a woman from starting a team, and holding tryouts. Personally I could care less what sex the coach(es) are. I want to know about their "experience" coaching. THAT is the only thing that matters IMO. If I had to guess, most coaches are men, because they played ball in school, college etc, and have dd's that they want to coach. Softball wasn't nearly the sport 15-20 years ago, as it is now. There just wasn't the level of competition. Give it another 10 years and men will almost certainly be the minority, as the current high level players, get older, have kids, and give back to the game.

I agree that there an evolution in the sport. I see more and more women coaching every year and most of them are former players. I think as time goes on, you will see less males coaching softball because former players will take over. Most male coaches that I personally know are former baseball players and their DD got into softball. Men haven't played fastpitch like today's college players. However, that doesn't mean a male is automatically an inferior softball coach.

Ironically, the worst softball coaches my DD's have had have been former players (females). And ironically, the best coach my youngest DD has had has been a former player (college). I do believe a former player has an insight into the game that a non-player doesn't have. I think they feel the "edge" of the game better. Can baseball experience translate over to softball? I don't know.

Just some thoughts...

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I basically had 4 coaches in the 60s and 70s. Three were men, one was a woman. I didn't think anything about it. Even then, most coaches were men.

Few women want to coach. Many remain single and don't have kids, or they have moved on professionally and don't have the time. I am the only one, out of all of my former teammates, that is still involved in the game.

 

[Michael N]

DD got on a team this year with a Female coach who has 20 years of experience coaching softball . I think she is pretty excited to have a Female coach as she has always had Male coaches . The fact that this coach has 20 years experience with 5 SIC championships and 2 state championships at the High School level has my DD hoping that the success will carry over to her new team