Assistant Coach

[Wellphyt]

I'm always asking my assistent coach for input. I also try and get parents involved at practice. I've coached players with parents with extensive travel ball coaching experience who can't manage their daughter on my team because they are managing their older daughter's team. I always get those parents involved. I've found that the parents with extensive coaching experience are the ones that will do whatever you ask them to do and never complain. The reason is that as a coach themselves they appreciate what goes into coaching a team.

I put my ego in my back pocket and figure out a way to get them on the field. As long as they respect you; which they will if you know what you are doing, they will humble themselves and help in anyway they can and never try to upstage you.

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've had some amazing coaches and parents who are capable of running portions of a practice as good or better than me. I feel like I'm a pretty good coach, but I'm not equally strong at teaching all aspects of the game. Some apects of the game I find more interesting than others because of my technical nature. For instance, I like running fielding, throwing and hitting drills. However, I don't enjoy hitting full infield practice. I always try and find a coach who is really good at hitting infield. I turn that portion of the practice over to them while I roam in the field observing. If I see something that needs correction I jump in. Most of the time I'm just encouraging the players, making sure they are all moving on every play and are thinking ahead.

I have a parent who is really good at hitting fly balls. I'm good at it too, but he's better. When he's at practice, guess who hits fly balls to the girls?

 

[TheRogue]

I've been both. I enjoyed being HC, and I enjoy being AC. Good and bad for both. I think a good HC delegates when he/she can. To me, there's nothing worse than having your AC's being glorified practice ground ball hitters, if they have knowledge of the game and can share it. IMHO, most HC's take on way too much responsibility and won't let it go, from practice plans or lineups all the way to what color uniforms and getting parent t-shirts made up. By divy-ing up tasks, and giving your AC's authority on specific items, life should be much simpler and less stressful.

A good AC should be able to step in and more or less run the team if necessary, and be willing to do so, but not have such an ego that they really want to do it. A good AC should be able to be honest and upfront with the HC....but always in private, NEVER in front of parents or players.

As you work up the pyramid towards the top of the age groups and skill levels....most coaches on a staff have been HC's themselves before. It's a dynamic that I have seen work very well, because there's a ton of knowledge to be shared. I've also seen it implode when egos can't be satisfied and people forget the real reason they should be there...for the girls.

My .02

 

[arowley1977]

On my team I am the Head Coach and I make all of those decisions without input. Depends on the team I guess. My assistants help at practice, do the book, and coach first base and the bench. I do the line-ups, batting order, fielding changes and tell the girls where they need to shift to.

 

[quincy]

As a quick follow-up to the fall Team is that a few parents just needed to be asked to help, they did not want to interfere so they were sitting around. They were extremely happy to help and contribute.

 

[coachtucc]

my AC does whatever I ask him to do. He coaches 1st...does OF practice etc. I show him on my index card what the practice is and what we are doing. He is not a yes man...he gives me ideas and we don't always agree but I have the final say! Sometimes on a Sat practice a parent who pplayed college baseball will help out by working with the OF which frees up my AC to work with the IF while I rove!!

 

[Steve Huff]

Depending on the how experienced the AC is, below are some of the roles:

- help run drill stations;
- set-up and breakdown above;
- 1st base coach;
- warm-up players before game
- sounding board for ideas, opinions, rules and is a sanity check for manager
- hopefully bring some expertise or new ideas to the team
- help in dugout both on offense and defense
- overall, support and implement the manager's decision(s), regardless if she/she agrees with them or not;
- loyalty, has lots of energy, and motivates the players and other coaches;
- if fun to be around since you will be spending lots of time together.

Keep in mind, its not a democracy and ultimately the manager has to make the key decisions and set the direction of the team. However, you need to make sure to give your AC some responsibilities so they feel part of the team and take ownership of their role.

It's a fine balancing act and difficult to get right. But once you do and all the coaches are on the same page, the team runs a lot more smoothly.

I have one assistant coach who manages and moves the outfield in game situations as directed. I have another that handles pitchers and catchers during games. If I have one, I have another that is just a bouncing board for feedback and remind me that it is only a game.

And I forgot that we have a set of 30 preset practice plans that he and she has, and they know what every drill and exercise is in that practice including execution and equipment. We spread the players over 3-4 coaches for those drills. We have individual drills first, group drills (infield, outfield), then team drills last which include intense situational base-running for conditioning.

 

[02Crush]

Quincy - I understand your frustration, that is why I enjoy being the head coach a lot more than being the assistant coach. It's not easy being the assistant coach because you have little control of the most important aspects of the game: drafting players; setting the line-up; setting the postions; pitch calling; giving batters signs; game strategy; setting practice plans and schedules; and have final decisions making on everything.

The downside to being the HC: admin stuff; dealing with difficult parents; keeping your ACs happy and involved; and you are the point person for criticism and are constantly being second guessed by everyone no matter how good a job you are doing. If parents have never been the head coach, its difficult to understand all of the things that we deal with on a weekly basis.

What keeps me coming back each season is my three primarly team goals: 1) teach softball fundamentals; 2) field a competitive team each week (not necessarily a winning team); and 3) make sure everyone is having fun and enjoying the game. If I can at least accomplish these three things, we will likely have a successful team and season.

I agree SoCalSoftballdad! It is hard not being 100% in the loop on what is in the head of a HC. However...There are way too many unseen headaches the HC deals with which earns them the right to do and control more. That said....I show up 45 min early to every practice (3 times a week) and I just asked my coaches to start showing up a little early. I travel for work each week so I see there is not excuses if this cannot be done. I do make a practice agenda and hand it to my coaches at the before practice. I take a few minutes to go over it with my AC's and tell them what I need for the for that day. I have begun making a coaches handbook explaining what I expect in all situations of play (runner on 1st, runners on 1 and 3rd, etc) for each position. Some have asked why...I explain so I can allow my coaches more insight into what I am thinking about each play. I give them the chance to be involved and know what I expect. Honestly, if they do not know they can ask as I am pretty open. However, if they do not review what I give them then there can be no complaints. I still make all final decisions. BTW, I feel that it is very lame of your DD's coaches do not show up somewhat early and set the field and get prepared for practice. I would be going nuts too if I worked with this.