hey, starsnuffer,rec to TB

[nanotech14]

I was just wondering if you where going to answer my question? Where you born a TB coach? Or did you start out in coaching rec. ball? What if one of your parents knows more than you about softball? I just want to know way so many TB coaches think they are the holders of the holy grail of softball?

 

[NVfishing]

Probably because they are putting the time and effort into coaching everyone else's girls while the parent "coaches" come and watch a game and then critique.

 

[nanotech14]

Well, alot of rec. coaches get diffirent girls every year and that makes it hard to manage.Well with out the parents you have no team. My whole rant the other day is way give rec. coaches no credit for what they do and what they know about the game. TB coaches aren't the only ones that know softball.

 

[NVfishing]

Rec coaching is hard. You have new players every year. A lot of rec players are first timers. Rec coaches do what they can and some rec coaches become TB coaches. You've got to start somewhere.

I know a lot about softball. I'm just a crazy dad. I help out with my DD's teams when I can. I've seen good coaches in league and bad coaches in TB. I don't think there is a set rule on softball coaching. I think the only difference is that if your a bad TB coach you won't have a team very long. Rec coaches are hard to come by and anyone can coach it if they sign up to do so.

 

[2DDspitching]

I have coached both and still do. There is no doubt that coaching TB is alot easier than rec. or league. Lets be real here in TB you are hand picking the girls you want and it is usally based on talent regaurdless of what people like to post about kids attitudes or parents. The coaches that claim they base it on any thing other than talent are picking from a large group of girls with alot of talented ones and they use things like that (attitudes and parents) to help decide who to pick when girls are pretty equal in TALENT.

Now in rec or league you have to try and coach kids that are there to be with friends , have fun , parents want them to play , could care less about really learning how to play , and not only have no talent but not even any athletic ability at all. I have had to try and coach girls that could not even bend over to tie thier shoes. But that is ok with me because it is fun and that is why I still coach rec. and league ball. The kids you have are the ones that sign up and thats it , no picking and as a coach it is your responsibility to try and teach them and help all of them get better (not just the better ones). Now I'm not saying there is not any talented or athletic kids in rec. or league because they are there , you are usally lucky if you have two or three of them on your team.

I have coached or helped coach TB for 7-8 years now, coached rec. or league for 11 years and I am learning some thing new every day. But I would never look down at anyone coaching at any level or any league trying to help kids learn and get better at a sport I enjoy being a part of.

 

[chinamigarden]

One of the things I like about this forum is that, in general, the personal stuff is left out. If you have a specific question to ask a specific person. Ask them in a private message. Otherwise keep it off of the forums.

 

[Dusty]

Coaching rec is harder than coaching travel ball?? Are you kidding me?

I've been a rec coach for 5 years and an assistant travel coach for one year (fortunately, I got off this year and am just a travel parent). Yes, a travel coach presumably gets more talent than a rec coach but both the travel players and their parents join a team with entirely different expectation levels than rec kids & parents. A rec player who doesn't like the coaching she's getting is usually stuck with him/her until the season ends. A travel player who doesn't like his/her coach is free to go find another travel team to join and a travel coach who lets one key player get away like that can quickly find his/her whole team unravelling.

Most travel coaches I've encountered admit they don't know everything about the game or at least recognize that there are varying opinions about how to do certain things (ie- rotational vs linear hitting). While I'm sure there are plenty like the OP describes who are hell bent on thier way or the highway I'm sure there are just as many travel coaches who get assistant coaches from rec who are convinced they know more about the game than they do. I hired a high level private coach to work with my kids and picked his brain for as much as I could before my dd's played travel and when I became an assistant travel coach I saw plenty of things I thought the kids were doing wrong (mostly pitchers). I privately spoke to the head coach about them and while we did mutually agree that in some cases it was best not to try to reinvent the wheel on some of our pitchers mechanics, we did end up scheduling several private team lessons with my dd's personal coach.

There is a ton more to coaching travel then proper hitting, fielding and throwing mechanics. There's strategy, tactics association and tournament registration and keeping a dozen families that are spending a ton of dough and time to be with you happy.

 

[Momo'sDad]

I passively gave my daughter's rec coaches a little hell last year. Overall, I was a great team parent, but there were a few moments when I needed to have certain things clarified for me. Looking back, I still believe there were some things they failed to do, but most of the girls made solid progress throughout the season. In terms of game success, they were awful. It was a rough year for the girls and for several of the parents. The real proof of the quality of their coaching comes, though, when I look at last year's team picture and see that 10 out of 12 girls are back in the league again this year. When the girls are having that much fun after starting out the season 0-11 (they finally won a couple of games at the end), the coaches have definitely done something right.

Some rec coaches are the best.

 

[FPMark]

It's about experiance. Rec. coaches are, most times, parents that volunteer to coach their DD's team because there is no one else available to do it. They may practice once a week and play 12-15 games in the spring and 10-12 games in the fall (our local rec ball seasons). TB teams usually play all year with some playing 80-100 games. Add in 2 practices a week and you can see that it takes a lot of time and dedication to do this.

TB coaches take pride in learning all they can about the game, as well as learning how to teach the girls advanced skills. They have to, just to compete. With the cost of TB being 800-1200 dollars per year, and all teams competing to attract the best players, no one is automaticly placed on your team so results matter. A bad coach will not attract good players. So if you want to have a good TB team, you better have a successful record.

I'm certainly not saying that all rec. coaches are bad. Some are bad and some are very good. Some go on to become TB coaches and a few succeed. What I am saying is that to be a successful TB coach takes a LOT of time, dedication, a willingness to learn, and experiance. Much more than in rec. ball. Rec ball is about having fun teaching the game and TB is about pushing the girls to the highest level possible and having fun with success. I have been coaching softball for 10 years, 4 in rec, 6 in travel, and I still have a lot to learn.

Many people 'know softball' but not many can teach it at the highest level.

 

[starsnuffer]

I was born pretty ignorant, and the only thing I've really learned since then is that I don't know anything.

As for softball, I started out assisting in recreation T-ball, and then coaching rec 10 and under, which is when I got caught up in pitching, taking lessons along with my daughter and dabbling in mens fastpitch a bit. My experience in TB started when my daughter was 11 and I signed on as an assistant to the A ball program she played for (this program has several alumni who are now national team players). After that I was coerced into coaching and managing a B TB program, and that's what I've been doing the last few years. The nature and rules of B programs is that they are heavily invested in the recreation leagues that they are tied to. Because of this, I still coach rec ball (14u this year) and I'm also the T-ball division director for the league.

TB coaches are people, and so are rec coaches. They are not a different species, they just have different priorities. You'll have good people and bad people in either role.

As for the "knowledge" part of it, the only thing you can hope for is that the coach (rec or TB) realizes that in order to coach successfully, they should continue to be a student of the game, open to new ideas, willing to admit when they are wrong and take steps to correct this. The best coaches (which I am not) are not the ones that "know" everything, but rather the ones that are able to convey their thoughts to the whole of their team clearly and efficiently in a manner that has that team acting out the coach's motivation in the most timely fashion with a clear understanding of why it is they are doing exactly what they are doing.

Every year there are parents that claim to "know more then me" about softball. Parents are highly invested in their children out of devotion and love. Some parents are highly invested in their children in an attempt to make up for their own insecurities by living vicariously through the success of their children. Either way, it is the parent paying for the travel ball experience, and thus they must be viewed as a customer to the organization they are paying. That said, the coach is the one coaching the team, not the parent, irregardless of what either side may or may not "know".

As a side note, not just in softball, but in all things, the person who is most quick to claim to know something is best avoided when success is a priority. The people who can best be learned from are the people with sense enough to keep their mouths closed, listen, and attempt to glean knowledge from the other party, no matter how ridiculous the notion may seem on the surface. We all have things to teach one another.

-W