14u playing time problems

[miker]

14u Rec playing time problems

Had an unpleasant confrontation with a parent last night regarding her daughter's playing time and what position she has been playing. I've got 12 kids on the team with 6 or 7 that are clearly better than the other 5 or 6 (like most rec teams). My assistant and I made a decision that we would rotate the lesser 5 or 6 through the bench and the outfield, except when a game gets out of hand one way or the other (and I'm not talking 10 runs, more like 7 or 8 either way), then we would rotate the whole team through the bench / outfield.

This has worked pretty well up until last night as we got behind in 3 of the 4 games we've played (see my pitching problems thread) or had 1 or 2 players missing. I'm just not sure how to keep everyone (ie parents) happy with 12 girls to try and play and try to win a few games at the same time. We have very little margin for error. I do have a spreadsheet that I use, but I never know who is going to show up, I try to enforce arriving 45 minutes before game time, but inevitably 2 or 3 come strolling in at 15 minutes till (the daughter of the parent that confronted me being 1) .

The confrontation was very discouraging to me as the mother was very accusatory ("you don't pay attention to my daughter enough") and offensive, as she and her husband we questioning my coaching ability ("and how many games have you won?"), which clearly has nothing to do with this situation. I told her I was doing my best with 12 kids and if she thought that her daughter should be playing over the 2 older girls I have been rotating at 2nd base that she should show it in practice and in the outfield, she missed our last practice on Sunday, no call no show. I also tried to explain to her that it was one game and pointed out that she had played the infield in 2 of the 4 games already. Last night was a hard fought close game and I thought it was important to get a win under our belts for the overall confidence of the team. Interesting to note, my daughter told me the girl in question wasn't even aware whether we had won or not...must not have been paying attention.

This is a rec league but functions as a pseudo travel team as we play other towns in our area, it's pretty competitive. I'm not even sure where to begin to straighten this out...any help would be much appreciated.

 

[fastpitch]

IMHO rec is really more about getting the girls playing time and developing skills. The win/loss record really should not matter at all.

 

[miker]

at what age is it appropriate to dedicate players to a position? My 1b, SS and 3B (and #1 catcher and pitcher) are pretty static. The rest change. That's how all the coaches around here do it as far as I can tell. These are 14 and 15 year olds playing on a rec team. I'm lucky if I can get half of them at a practice, and the ones that show up and work at home are the 6 or 7 better players. After the season starts I try to have at least 1 practice a week but like I said, 7 players is usually the max that show up. 3 or 4 of the 5 or 6 lesser girls are never going to be infielders, they just don't have it in them. Like a lot of rec players, they are playing for the social aspects.

I can't imagine that my team is so far from the norm in this, again, I wonder when can you dedicate a player to a specific position or 2?

eta: this was a reply to sluggers post, which is gone now for some reason. I wish I would've quoted it. Why did you delete it?

 

[miker]

IMHO rec is really more about getting the girls playing time and developing skills. The win/loss record really should not matter at all.

even with 13, 14 or 15 year old kids? These kids are never going to play softball outside of a rec league, our school team in this area only takes travel ball players. I'm all for making kids better players but at this age and this area, I'm not sure what they would be developing for...

 

[shockcoach]

Do you have a minimum playing time rule?

 

[miker]

Do you have a minimum playing time rule?

2 innings in the field, continuous batting order.

 

[shockcoach]

Then I'm assuming you're getting the girls in. As long as you've covered your arse, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[miker]

Then I'm assuming you're getting the girls in. As long as you've covered your arse, I wouldn't worry about it.

all rules are being followed, as to the fairness of the rules, that's not my call. This is an area league that each individual town program joins starting at 12u since most towns around here don't have enough in house teams starting at that age.

As I mentioned all the girls will get time in the dirt...in every game? No, contrary to what a lot of people post on here, I think winning is part of it, yes even in rec. Am I crazy?

Tonight, I will have eight girls at the game if I'm lucky, everyone will play everywhere because we will likely get blown out, not my intention but it's a definite possibility. There will be no one on the bench tonight, alas the girl whose mom confronted me will not be in attendance.

The president of our town league is an assistant coach on my team. I suggested to the mom to talk to him which she did, he made points about it's one game, more experienced girls will play more, more experienced girls will play more in the infield, when your child is the older of the girls on the team next year she will have her chance to play more and in the dirt..he must be nuts too.

 

[Coach JV]

I did it with 13 on rec last spring with no complaints in 16U. It is hard to rotate and keep parents and players happy.
12 is too many for a rec roster 11 is ideal. If you layed it on the line before season, roll with it, our rec season was
7 weeks of hell, now travel ball is upon us. All is good

 

[sluggers]

I thought I was a little harsh in my original post. The 16U rec league age group is the worst. You've got one group of kids who just aren't interested any more in playing the game. You've got another group of kids who would love to play travel ball, either for lack of talent or lack of parents willing to make the sacrifice (and I'm not saying it makes sense to play travel ball even if a kid has the talent for it).

So, you've got a very tough job. Perhaps no one told you that you had signed up for the worst job in softball.

But, here you are...if it were me, I would have told the parent, "Your kid isn't showing up for practices and games. If she shows up for practice and all the games, I promise she'll get one inning in the infield. But, if she doesn't, she'll play the outfield."

No, contrary to what a lot of people post on here, I think winning is part of it, yes even in rec. Am I crazy?

If you are coaching rec league anything, including rec league church adult softball, if you are out only to win games, then you have already lost.

What do you want these girls to get out of the season? For a rec league, you should be making the "good" girls play positions that they haven't played before so that they can increase their chance of playing on the HS team.

What do you think sounds better to a HS coach from one your better players:

1) "I played SS every game for my rec league team."
2) "I can play any position you want. I know how to play them all. I usually played SS, but I also played 1B, 3B, OF and even caught a few games. I'm a really good all-around player."