Coaching difficult players U14

[YOCOACH]

I maybe a jerk but if I help out with a team, I inform the coach that I will not work with anyone that does not work hard. I simply will send the kid to the other coaches station if not getting the desired effort. They seem to figure it out pretty quick and normally the kid that was removed from the group gives great effort the next practice. I make sure that I praise as much as possible and joke around between drills but business when doing drills.

I agree. The only problem is the entire team is filled with the kids giving little effort accorcing to the OP. Personally, I would schedule not just 1 but probably closer to 4 or 5 scrimmages over a 2 day weekend against much better teams and let the kids get their butts handed to them. After the last game, I'd hold a little team player meeting telling them those are the types of teams where every player works hard. Those are the types of teams they will be playing come tournament season and those will be the exact same results they will have if they continue down the path of not showing effort, the willingness to learn, execute skills and work on their own at home. Granted, some players may just be in it for fun but getting your butts handed to you 21-0 four to five games in a row pretty quickly shows them that this isn't rec ball anymore.

 

[tomorrow]

I agree. The only problem is the entire team is filled with the kids giving little effort accorcing to the OP. Personally, I would schedule not just 1 but probably closer to 4 or 5 scrimmages over a 2 day weekend against much better teams and let the kids get their butts handed to them. After the last game, I'd hold a little team player meeting telling them those are the types of teams where every player works hard. Those are the types of teams they will be playing come tournament season and those will be the exact same results they will have if they continue down the path of not showing effort, the willingness to learn, execute skills and work on their own at home. Granted, some players may just be in it for fun but getting your butts handed to you 21-0 four to five games in a row pretty quickly shows them that this isn't rec ball anymore.

This plan might run off any players that are actually putting in effort. Games like the one described puts a lot of pressure on pitching staffs since they never get off the field.

 

[Tango]

I agree. The only problem is the entire team is filled with the kids giving little effort accorcing to the OP. Personally, I would schedule not just 1 but probably closer to 4 or 5 scrimmages over a 2 day weekend against much better teams and let the kids get their butts handed to them. After the last game, I'd hold a little team player meeting telling them those are the types of teams where every player works hard. Those are the types of teams they will be playing come tournament season and those will be the exact same results they will have if they continue down the path of not showing effort, the willingness to learn, execute skills and work on their own at home. Granted, some players may just be in it for fun but getting your butts handed to you 21-0 four to five games in a row pretty quickly shows them that this isn't rec ball anymore.

In my personal experience if they get hammered and are not invested, they will just fold the tent and be worse or stop playing. I understand that an entire team can be difficult but I would let them know not with me in a hurry. That is just the way I do it and do not know another way that works for me. I have to keep my sanity also. LOL. Find your way is the best advice I can give.

 

[KrisHur]

In my personal experience if they get hammered and are not invested, they will just fold the tent and be worse or stop playing. I understand that an entire team can be difficult but I would let them know not with me in a hurry. That is just the way I do it and do not know another way that works for me. I have to keep my sanity also. LOL. Find your way is the best advice I can give.

Agreed. I've seen at least one team implode after fall b/c the parents said the coaching was terrible or the team was terrible b/c they lost too much and sometimes by wide margins. Meanwhile the quitters were the starting players and the parents just could not see the holes their precious DD's glove and bat.

 

[Tango]

Agreed. I've seen at least one team implode b/c the parents said the coaching was terrible or the team was terrible b/c they lost too much. They will never look at the holes in their DD's glove or bat.

My DD did tell me last night that she looked for a shirt that said, I am not mad, my face just looks that way. LOL

 

[schwabach]

My DD did tell me last night that she looked for a shirt that said, I am not mad, my face just looks that way. LOL

Otherwise known as RBF. It's actually a good look for a pitcher.

 

[quincy]

Have you thought or even have any player(s) that can be Team captains, they are old enough. Push some the responsibilities to them.

 

[Tango]

Otherwise known as RBF. It's actually a good look for a pitcher.

LOL. Not to get off topic but my DD will battle like crazy on the mound. Just the definition of a competitor but absolutely to nice. Always smiling and removes turtles from the road so they will not get ran over. Her hitting coach told her last week, we need a Bulldog and we have a Poodle. Now he is hammering her and she starts laughing. She will fight like crazy on the mound if the other team is good.

 

[gdc03120]

I have had struggles with this for a LONG time, coaching a 16U rec team solo with players of varying ages (it's more like a 14U team but the league is 16U - it is what it is). I've never been able to satisfactorily find one method that works better than another. The weekend-long rear-kickings will probably run off a lot of people if you don't frame it correctly. Some girls would use it as motivation, others would look at it as "if this is a sign of the future, I'd rather do anything else." I do everything I can to make my practices challenging but competitive and fun - keep the girls moving and active so they don't have a lot of time to gripe or complain, etc. But I'm also firm and fair with them and tell them when I need more effort from them and I praise them when they are doing a good job as well.

 

[radness]

I don't know if it's amazing or not or just horribly realistic that people are overlooking just asking the players why they want to be on the field.

Just because a coach wants to do XYZ doesn't mean the players are out there because they want to develop their skills.

Ask the players why they're out there.

There are plenty of posts on DFP where people are complaining about coaches pushing players.

HOW ABOUT
Stop pushing each other in directions that people don't want to go.
Ask the people/players the direction they want to go and lead them.

If you don't want to go where the group wants to go. Leave the group.

Plenty of other places where people may appreciate your efforts to guide them in their skills development.

This may seem harsh abrupt or like a totalitarian dictator exclaiming the way it's going to be. But the reality of it is not everybody plays softball for the same reason.