Daddyball (again)

[Il softball fan]

Seems daddyball is running rampant around this area. (illinois metro area east of St Louis) A guy I know started his own team a few years ago because he wanted to coach his daughter. Play mostly B level tournaments and do Ok. He was a good baseball player and is a pretty decent coach and his team is successful. He realizes the level they are and play the correct level and don't try to be something that they are not.

Another guy that I used to AC with started his own team and this was the first year for it. His DD is a pitcher and was not getting much playing time, because she was on a good team and just wasn't that good a pitcher. Throws hard, but not much control.

Well, try out time is here this year, and DD got texts and facebook messages from two girls that she used to play with. You guessed it, both of their dads are starting their own team, and having tryouts Aug 1st.

Is it just this area, or is this something that goes on all over?

 

[teammom2]

The grass is always greener on another team. Too bad that green grass dies and everything goes to hell like it does on a lot of other teams.

 

[BobInMadison]

Daddyball, and mommyball, can be found all over the place.

DD 1 was only on one tournament team. When she was a 14U player one of her coaches invited her to join a 16U team. The starting pitcher was HC's DD. To be fair, HC's DD was the best pitcher on the team. The second pitcher was AC's DD, who was the second best pitcher on the team. Both girls were really good, and both coaches were really good. These were coaches who really wanted to do something special for the kids.

Too intense for DD 1, who quit the team after a few months.

That team has disbanded by now, but before it disbanded DD 3, a 12U player, used to practice with the team.

Now the former HC for that team runs a summer program, completely free of charge, for local girls, ranging from grade school through HS. Coach's DD was at the session the other day, and she has already graduate HS, ready to pitch for a local juco.

As for DD 3, she has spent the past two years on a Mommyball team, put together by another one of the best coaches in this area, who wanted to have a good team for her DD 3. This same HC once coached my DD 1 on a rec league team, which the coach's DD 2 was on. (To make it even more confusing, the coach's DD 1 and my DD 2 have the same first name).

What about the established organizations? Generally coached by parents. For example, I know two local guys (by local I mean one lives a few blocks away) who are ACs for their DDs' teams in Illinois.

Without parent coaches who want a good team for their kids, softball would die. Fast.

 

[bullethead]

.....and one may actually go on to be highly successful. Not unlike, the paid profushinal coaching pool. Kind of like really good pitchers, when you step and look around, there just really aren't that many truly good ones (paid or un-paid).

 

[marriard]

Without parent coaches who want a good team for their kids, softball would die. Fast.

Up to 14U I would estimate 90% of team are coached by parents.... 5% are controlled by parent managers with a 'coach' in place they have control over and somewhere less than 5% are actually independently coached. Quality of coaching has been almost independent of this however.

It also depends on what you consider Daddyball. Personally I define it as a team where the coaches kids are getting massive UNDESERVED favoritism. Those teams rarely last long or constantly turn players over. There are some fantastic parent coaches out there who I could never accuse of daddyball - they do as good a job as possible balancing this.

In 10U/12U/14U worse than Daddyball is Ego Coach. This is where a new team forms with a coaching staff taking their talented 4-5 DD's and friends and form a team and then fill in with whatever they can find. Then you end up with lots of these top heavy teams playing mid-B ball. If they could get over their massive 'I am a great coach' ego and join with another similar team, they would actually have a GREAT A level team. But they can't.

Even in our org... we are probably going to have 3 teams in 14U this coming season. If the coaches could all get over themselves and work it out, we have the players to have a national level A team, a competitive B team and a young developing lower B team... but instead we will most likely have 2 'B' teams and a locally competitive 'A' team.

My DD's friend wants to play with my DD's team but her dad - who is a terrible (assistant) coach - doesn't want to give it up. So she is on a team with 4 decent players... and 5 girls who are barely decent rec-players.

It isn't DaddyBall - it is Kids Softball for Daddy Coach and that is every bit as bad.... if not worse.

 

[Il softball fan]

"In 10U/12U/14U worse than Daddyball is Ego Coach. This is where a new team forms with a coaching staff taking their talented 4-5 DD's and friends and form a team and then fill in with whatever they can find. Then you end up with lots of these top heavy teams playing mid-B ball. If they could get over their massive 'I am a great coach' ego and join with another similar team, they would actually have a GREAT A level team. But they can't."

That seems to describe a lot of the teams around my area.

 

[CoogansBluff]

Another guy that I used to AC with started his own team and this was the first year for it. His DD is a pitcher and was not getting much playing time, because she was on a good team and just wasn't that good a pitcher. Throws hard, but not much control.

What's the problem with this?

That's another team, another 10 spots for kids who want a better opportunity than what they've got. This dad might be a good coach. His daughter might get the experience she needs to put it all together and become really good. ''Throws hard, but not much control'' might become an ace down the road. And if she doesn't, well, she had fun trying.

 

[grcsftbll]

Most coaches where I live coach their own kids. I've seen a couple whose kids are grown and they're still coaching but that definitely seems to be the exception. From what I've seen this year (my first year doing travel ball w/ my daughter) team hopping seems to be more common. That grass is always greener thing teammom2 mentioned. My daughter picked up with a team this year for a couple of tournaments. The team calls themselves an A team but they aren't (it's an organization so that might be why). What was interesting to me was, as an outsider, watching the dynamics between all the parents and coaches. We really liked the coach. But there was a lot of discontent among the parents, all thinking the team should be be better than it is, and all seeming to blame one coach or another (and even the coaches blaming each other). My daughter's a strong player, and we got a bunch of calls from various parents on the team asking where she's going this year. So many seem to want to jump ship on the team, not really considering the fact that their daughter is part of the team and if they don't do well, their own child is part of why. I guess they think if they follow a stronger player, their own kid will suddenly do great? Because it can't be that they aren't developed yet, it must be that they just got bad coaching. It's an interesting phenomenon.

 

[BobInMadison]

Throws hard, not much control was the rap on my DD 3 for a while. So, in 10U she was on a LL all-star team. By far the fastest pitcher, but by the end of the first day she was about #3 or #4 on the roster.

First year 12U, the all-stars form their own TB team. DD 3 starts out #2 pitcher on the roster. By the end of the year, playing for 12u all-stars, she is the #1 pitcher on the roster.

Second year 12u, team even picks up a couple of new pitchers. DD 3 starts out #1 on the roster, almost loses that spot. By the end of the season she is starting every game. One tournament she pitched 20 out of 22 total innings for her team, and even had a 14 inning streak with no runs scored.

Some people say it's not how hard you throw, but whether you throw strikes. But, at some point a lot of the hard throwers learn to throw strikes. Or else they quit.

One local girl threw hard, gave up pitching because she couldn't find the strike zone. In her senior year in HS, the coach asked her to try again. Bingo! There's the strike zone! She was the starting pitcher for her varsity team.

 

[JJsqueeze]

Daddy ball is pretty rampant all over but I really think Marriard has it nailed, far worse is the egotistical fiefdom mentality that creates teams with 4 good players and surrounds them with warm bodies.