The Saga of Rebuilding a School Program: A parent-coach's journal

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Oct 5, 2017
214
43
Western Indiana
I am enjoying your story.
Five years ago I was asked if I wanted to take over a high school softball program that had 4 different coaches in 3 years. Yes, you read that right. One coach was fired from teaching before season began. It has been a journey learning a new community and all the families. We are still struggling to get numbers and committed players but I am having a wonderful experience teaching the game. There have been some ups and downs and some struggles but softball is coming back in our area, I think.

Our first year I was able to put together a coaching staff that works well together and is still together now. Two of the coaches daughters have graduated and they stayed on as assistants. We are a small school of around 300 from freshman to seniors on average. The first practice of the first year I was excited. We had 22 girls show up with maybe 6 softball players. I was amazed how many girls showed up that could not catch or were afraid to. One of those was the starting 1B from the year before.

So we started with the basics and we played the best players. That meant about 3 players that started the year before were relegated to JV. Wow! did that not go well with the parents. When we entered the state tournament that year there were 12 girls left on the roster. It was no longer a rec like team and more of a varsity level team with expectations. So 10 girls left the team of their own choice. We have never cut a player or tried to make a player quit. That was our 2018 season.

At the start of 2019 we had 20 players and they all made it through the season. That year was uneventful but a .500 season. With the future looking better.

Unlike you 2020 was a disaster for our program. We finally had a pitcher of quality (she moved in from out of state.) Our experienced players were ready to lead and there were 5 seniors that wanted to win. Three practices into the season and we were shut down. Honestly that hurt us a lot. The program has not had a lot of success and that could have been a pivotal season. Not only did we lose that season of high expectations but our younger players did not get any development, so that is what 2021 was all about and almost like we were starting over.
 
Jan 25, 2022
880
93
I am enjoying your story.
Five years ago I was asked if I wanted to take over a high school softball program that had 4 different coaches in 3 years. Yes, you read that right. One coach was fired from teaching before season began. It has been a journey learning a new community and all the families. We are still struggling to get numbers and committed players but I am having a wonderful experience teaching the game. There have been some ups and downs and some struggles but softball is coming back in our area, I think.

Our first year I was able to put together a coaching staff that works well together and is still together now. Two of the coaches daughters have graduated and they stayed on as assistants. We are a small school of around 300 from freshman to seniors on average. The first practice of the first year I was excited. We had 22 girls show up with maybe 6 softball players. I was amazed how many girls showed up that could not catch or were afraid to. One of those was the starting 1B from the year before.

So we started with the basics and we played the best players. That meant about 3 players that started the year before were relegated to JV. Wow! did that not go well with the parents. When we entered the state tournament that year there were 12 girls left on the roster. It was no longer a rec like team and more of a varsity level team with expectations. So 10 girls left the team of their own choice. We have never cut a player or tried to make a player quit. That was our 2018 season.

At the start of 2019 we had 20 players and they all made it through the season. That year was uneventful but a .500 season. With the future looking better.

Unlike you 2020 was a disaster for our program. We finally had a pitcher of quality (she moved in from out of state.) Our experienced players were ready to lead and there were 5 seniors that wanted to win. Three practices into the season and we were shut down. Honestly that hurt us a lot. The program has not had a lot of success and that could have been a pivotal season. Not only did we lose that season of high expectations but our younger players did not get any development, so that is what 2021 was all about and almost like we were starting over.

Thank you for reading!

Getting players with small schools like you and I are dealing with is difficult. So many sports to take one girls vs the next, and two thirds of the kids you convince to come out are either an average athlete that will need two seasons to catch up, or a terrible athlete whose friend is on the team. You can, with a high degree of success, immediately tell what you'll get by the first throw and catch session. My DD1 has invited several of her friends to come play HS. I try to subtly convince her not to, because her friends for the most part aren't athletic.

When the current HS coach took over the program in 2021, he carefully picked and chose who to invite out. There were only 5 players coming back, then my DD1 was a freshman. The only pitcher they had, moved to the next county over before the season started. But the kids he got were mostly solid athletes from other sports. His two best hitters last season had been a volleyball player and a cheerleader two years ago. Batted .450 and .540, respectively (and we have a very honest book keeper). The cheerleader was second in the state in homeruns for a short period of time, and tied a district record for 8 RBI in a game. Strong as an ox, rocket arm. She's an animal, and has one season left. She chased a ball from SS into RF one day and caught it over her shoulder for the third out, and the opposing coach at 3B gave her a standing ovation until she crossed back over the line. You hold your breath every time she's involved in a play from either side. They've taken their lumps overall, but they're getting better and we're sending them better players now. Both my girls are in HS now so I'll be covering HS more in the coming days.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
Imagine teaching a game without having the field, the diamond, pitching, etc.

This is actually not at all unusual. Most of our seasons, the first time a brand new player gets on a softball field is for her first game. Usually these are JV players, but it's happened to varsity, too.
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
You can, with a high degree of success, immediately tell what you'll get by the first throw and catch session.

Strongly disagree with this one, even at the HS level.

While it's true you can see the ones who will pick things up quickly almost right away, you definitely cannot tell which ones won't ever get it.

I've had girls who I considered asking to not play for safety reasons turn into decent players. I had a girl who cried the third day of practice as a Freshman because she couldn't figure out the very basics of throwing who became a varsity starter by senior year (she never was great, but she learned how to do everything and earned her spot).

The truth is softball is a sport where you don't need a super high level of athleticism to find a role on the team. And when you're in the situation you're in (same one I'm in, though I'm at a small school in a big city), you're not in a position to shoo people away because they don't stand out immediately. Find one thing they can do well, and get them to be as good as possible at that. You'd be surprised how finding that one thing can lead to them figuring out other things, too.
 
Jan 25, 2022
880
93
Strongly disagree with this one, even at the HS level.

While it's true you can see the ones who will pick things up quickly almost right away, you definitely cannot tell which ones won't ever get it.

I've had girls who I considered asking to not play for safety reasons turn into decent players. I had a girl who cried the third day of practice as a Freshman because she couldn't figure out the very basics of throwing who became a varsity starter by senior year (she never was great, but she learned how to do everything and earned her spot).

The truth is softball is a sport where you don't need a super high level of athleticism to find a role on the team. And when you're in the situation you're in (same one I'm in, though I'm at a small school in a big city), you're not in a position to shoo people away because they don't stand out immediately. Find one thing they can do well, and get them to be as good as possible at that. You'd be surprised how finding that one thing can lead to them figuring out other things, too.
I don't disagree at all. I just said you know what you'll get, meaning you can spot ones that will have a faster learning curve. We've had a few gems that showed up throwing like a toddler, but have really come along well. It's just hard to focus on players like that when everything is so far from where it should be.
 
Last edited:
Jan 25, 2022
880
93
This is actually not at all unusual. Most of our seasons, the first time a brand new player gets on a softball field is for her first game. Usually these are JV players, but it's happened to varsity, too.

We basically had that situation in 2020, but it was half the team. 2021 we got out there any way we could.
 

Cannonball

Ex "Expert"
Feb 25, 2009
4,854
113
First, welcome to the site. I would make a few suggestions. Learn how to use the search feature on this site. You can find threads on anything softball related. Ask questions! There are members here who have been there and done that and then some. Find some posters who have ideas that make sense to you and follow their posts. Did I mention ask questions? Again, welcome to the site.
 
Aug 1, 2019
962
93
MN
Great saga! Keep it coming. I'm in the midst of my own program building in the role of head of the softball association. Started from scratch. Providing support to the program outside the school season. Making headway in changing the culture that softball is what girls do only when there is nothing else to do. Small school, so I see some of the same things you talk about. Some of the other problems you describe I'm thankful we don't face so much. Still a lot to do, good luck!
 
Jun 22, 2019
258
43
We started a team when my kids were young because I took my girls to a HS softball game and their school got beat by 28 pts in 3 innings and looked terrible.

I told them, they could never play on a team like that, so we were going to start working now. My oldest was 8 and youngest twins were 6. Me and a friend got all the girls together and created a little league team. We lost every game the first year, won 4 the next year and then went undefeated the next three years in the rec league. By the time they were in 12U we started playing tournaments we added a girl and lost one, but basically the same team we started with when they were young.

In HS we were ranked in the top 5 in state 6 yrs in a row. The school built a new softball stadium, batting cages/concession stand and locker room. 4 girls are now playing college softball.

When we started we said we never wanted to be a laughing stock we wanted everyone to be concerned when they came to our town to play. We wanted our girls to be proud of themselves and proud of where they are from. I can confidently say we accomplished our goal and had a heck of a lot of fun doing it.

The teams coming behind them are all good…now that they are all young adults, I tell them look at what you created, look at the new stadium, look at the girls playing every weekend…you guys created a legacy. They all take pride in what they created by winning.
 

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