I recently took the helm of a 14u town / B level travel team. Due to an awful season, the previous manager stepped down.
Unfortunately, a local town team decided that they were going to start a 1st year 14u team in addition to the 2 other 14u teams they already have. The kicker is that the manager of this team decided to move up his 12u daughter and build a team around her. Needless to say, he must be a good salesman as most of the girls I had depended on returning this year have jumped ship to go to greener pastures. This include e-mails from parents that were sent at 1 AM at the last minute when they had already said they were coming back.
I now have only 9 players after tirelessly recruiting players (I was able to get 4 girls that moved up from the 12u program and retain only 2 players from the 14u team I assisted on last year.) That is in addition to 3 girls I was able to get from out of town.
However, I still have 0 pitchers (I have one pitcher that can only pitch in the fall and does not have the endurance to go a full game yet). The pitcher that was slated as our #1 left to join the neighboring town's new team and others followed. It seems every time we bring in a pitcher to look at, they decide to go elsewhere. We have 3 more pitchers that we are going to look at within the next week.
Any suggestions? I am losing sleep, but I need to get the season started.
Unfortunately, a local town team decided that they were going to start a 1st year 14u team in addition to the 2 other 14u teams they already have. The kicker is that the manager of this team decided to move up his 12u daughter and build a team around her. Needless to say, he must be a good salesman as most of the girls I had depended on returning this year have jumped ship to go to greener pastures. This include e-mails from parents that were sent at 1 AM at the last minute when they had already said they were coming back.
I now have only 9 players after tirelessly recruiting players (I was able to get 4 girls that moved up from the 12u program and retain only 2 players from the 14u team I assisted on last year.) That is in addition to 3 girls I was able to get from out of town.
However, I still have 0 pitchers (I have one pitcher that can only pitch in the fall and does not have the endurance to go a full game yet). The pitcher that was slated as our #1 left to join the neighboring town's new team and others followed. It seems every time we bring in a pitcher to look at, they decide to go elsewhere. We have 3 more pitchers that we are going to look at within the next week.
Any suggestions? I am losing sleep, but I need to get the season started.