Big fish in small pond

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Mar 10, 2020
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I no longer have a dog in the fight and I'm not trying to be offensive but reading your OP gave the tone of condescension with some sour grapes mixed in for emphasis. Perhaps that is why you are being questioned.
It was meant to be direct.
Not sour. Upfront.
Concur there is an under tone of condescension that comes from few other posters.
It was time to be brought up.
Edit: This is a rare time I've written such a long subject matter. Put it on here because it made a difference in our daughter's travel ball experience. This softball website has this predicament to.
 
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Jun 8, 2016
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This site is moderated. If you want to apply for the job I am sure they will consider your application ( not sure, is that sarcasm or condescension? )
 
Oct 3, 2011
3,478
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Right Here For Now
There is a bulk of your post that are different discussion points. The reasons why you hopped 4 organizations in 4 years are all excuses blamed on the organization. Understand one organization folded. I will point out it is foolish for people to listen to excuses without looking at the bigger picture. There could have been more reasons behind the scenes of why you did not fit in and left year after year. Families that team hop are classified as such coaches should be too.
I agree to a certain extent. But the reality is I prefer to stay with the players I develop and want to see them continue to develop all the way to the point of them achieving their softball and college goals. When I didn't have that opportunity, I took.who wanted to stay with me and moved on. And yes, it was due to the organizations. The only caveat to that was last year in which the players were folded into a team that was also a developmental team by my standards, with a great coach I've known for years, have a good repore with, that we've coached HS ball with together for years and I fully trust. This year our organization expanded and in order to do so, I dropped back and took a new 14U team full of very talented players that joined us. All of the other discussion points I mentioned were in specific response to some points you made in your OP. Some of us are only in it for the players and their development, live in areas with a plethora of colleges and see no need to worry about "National" teams or anything else for our players to do so. For many of us,, it's not about our egos. To paint a majority of us with such a broad generalized brush stroke is not only disrespectful but just plain ignorant on your part. If you have a beef with specific members, then call them out and deal with them. Otherwise, leave the rest of us out of it.
 
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Apr 8, 2019
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And then there's the other aspect of it all. You have those coaches that are big fish in small ponds because 1) they don't feel the need to go to nationals in order to 2) get their players recruited to play at the college level, 3) coach for the love of the game, 4) only want to help their players reach their full potential and 5) see them achieve their dreams of playing college ball at their dream schools. Let's face it, few players, compared to the number of players in a particular area are going to move on to play P5 Major D1. Most of my past players have found and played for their dream school within a 3 hour drive of home. The players I have now, with the exception of 1, are all looking at staying within a 4 hour drive and a majority are looking at staying within a 1 1/2 hour drive. Why? Because we have 5 major D1 schools within that 4 hour drive radius, approximately 18 mid-major D1's, 25+ D2's and a slew of D3's. The other one is looking to go to a particular Major D1 that's in South Bend. She doesn't care if she plays for them are not; she's going and has the grades and ACT scores to do it.

I used to chase the nationals circuit until I realized that I was spending my parent's money needlessly. I didn't feel the need for my team to place in the top 25 and have bragging rights and most of the coaches and parents of those top 25 teams that are on here, don't feel the need to mention it either unless it's to make a very specific point. Once I realized that my ego didn't need stroking, I quit the chase. Now my team fees are $800 for the year with 1 fundraiser and we play 11-12 tournaments, get 2 new uniforms, batpacks, catchers' bags and helmets every year. Also, I realized there was no reason to run all over the country to have my players recruited. I currently have 23 past players, girls I've worked with in hitting or taught and worked with catching playing in college. Total, I've had over 40+ in a 20 year career and can easily see another 15-20 go play within the next 4 years. So, can someone explain to me why I should make my team fees $2500, make my parents spend thousands in travel and hotel costs to have their daughters play in the top showcases across the country only to play for a college within a 3-4 hour drive from home?

Oh...I'm also one of those coaches that is now on my 4th organization or team in 4 years. Why? Because the one I was with for 8 years folded. The next one was a 10U team that was moving up and I preferred to stay with the team but the organization wanted me to stay down and take another 10U team so I moved on. The following year, after a successful season, I had several players leave and was unable to fill the spots due to the President of the organization giving the go ahead to 4 other coaches to try and start their own 14U teams from a very limited/tiny talent pool. So I ended up taking that team to another organization and combining with them. Now they moved up to 16U and I took a new 14U team. So I wouldn't put too much stock in that "statistic" either. Some of us move on from team to team or organizations simply because we have no choice if we want to continue to coach and teach the game.
You had me at $800 a year.
 
Mar 10, 2020
734
63
This site is moderated. If you want to apply for the job I am sure they will consider your application ( not sure, is that sarcasm or condescension? )
Don't have a complaint about the forum.
The post is about a pitfall in softball and occurs on these threads. Directed the observation to some of the posters here was being upfront about how I read there ego pumping posts.
Bonus you stepped up and called yourself a wiseass. See you stepped down again and deleted your post. Calling yourself a wiseass is a wolf in sheep's clothing. See it as being a jackass.
It's a discussion forum was brought up.
Didn't expect everyone to like it. With all your analytics you know there's a probability people don't like you there's that probability people didn't like this post.
Didn't outright slander anybody you stepped up on your own.
 
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Mar 10, 2020
734
63
I agree to a certain extent. But the reality is I prefer to stay with the players I develop and want to see them continue to develop all the way to the point of them achieving their softball and college goals. When I didn't have that opportunity, I took.who wanted to stay with me and moved on. And yes, it was due to the organizations. The only caveat to that was last year in which the players were folded into a team that was also a developmental team by my standards, with a great coach I've known for years, have a good repore with, that we've coached HS ball with together for years and I fully trust. This year our organization expanded and in order to do so, I dropped back and took a new 14U team full of very talented players that joined us. All of the other discussion points I mentioned were in specific response to some points you made in your OP. Some of us are only in it for the players and their development, live in areas with a plethora of colleges and see no need to worry about "National" teams or anything else for our players to do so. For many of us,, it's not about our egos. To paint a majority of us with such a broad generalized brush stroke is not only disrespectful but just plain ignorant on your part. If you have a beef with specific members, then call them out and deal with them. Otherwise, leave the rest of us out of it.
Concur there is a lot to tangle with. Decisions have to be made. Without families having a resource to make those decisions. Came up with parameters that worked. Those parameters happened to come with pointing out there is a flaw a particular breed of coach. Posts of complaints about players on teams problems. Parents concerned with their kids in a certain coaching situation. We were able to avoid the pitfall.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Bonus you stepped up and called yourself a wiseass. See you stepped down again and deleted your post. Calling yourself a wiseass is a wolf in sheep's clothing. See it as being a jackass.
I didn’t delete anything..it is still there (post 18).

You aren’t related to @mydogeaston by any chance are you? 😂
 

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