How does ASU keep all of those players happy?

[Amy in AZ.]

Last night, the announcers said that there are 15 players in the dugout that do not start.

Then, they showed the team members sitting there in t-shirts that don't even make it into the dugout. There might have been 15 women, there, too.

Did the announcers misspeak?

I would think that there are 15 total in the dugout and 15 in the seats. But, even at that, how does a coach keep that many girls happy, that aren't getting to play? They wouldn't be on scholarship. Can ASU even pay their transportation, etc.?

And he has 2 top pitchers in reserve, that aren't even getting mop up rolls. What is Coach Myers doing and how does he keep the numbers of players that he does? UofA was so short of reserves this year, that it was obvious that they were lacking players in Tucson.

 

[RedBirdDad]

That is odd. Who in thier right mind would spend 4 years on a team that had no intention of playing them? Even if they have intentions to play them, with that many girls they don't have the ability to play them. It seems like they are doing them a great disservice by getting them in the program and then not letting them play.

 

[EP Dad]

Extremely odd. We have a pretty good D1 hockey team up here and players that will eventually get playing time as Juniors and Seniors won't even stick around.

 

[obbay]

FWIW- they have 25 players on their roster, so 15 waiting in the wings sounds right.
ARIZONA STATE OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE - Softball

U of A has 20
http://www.arizonawildcats.com/sports/w-softbl/mtt/ariz-w-softbl-mtt.html

still it's a good question. maybe it's like the Movie "Rudy", where the players want to play so bad they just want to be there if that opening ever comes their way.

 

[sluggers]

Those are good questions. My DD#3's hoops team had 16 players. Only about 8 had any serious playing time. This was D3 basketball--the bottom 6 or so played only if it was a blowout. There were a few seniors in the bottom six. Of course, the coach really wanted them to stay on the team to help with practice.

I've attached "why kids play sports", which is based on a survey 4000 high school students.

Some kids enjoy practicing, some like the social aspect of the team, etc.

 

[Comp]

Every one of them is going to be able to say they played on the world series championship team, and probably all of them will get championship rings even though it looks like only 10 or 11 actually saw field time during the series.

 

[NVfishing]

I watched the same thing at the HS level this year. One team brought 20 players or more. Most sat in the dugout. Their JV team struggled and could've used some of those girls. Not sure why girls would want that?

 

[bobbyb]

Remember that thread that asked...would you rather be on the bench on a winning team or play on a losing team? Well it may be that there are a lot that would rather sit on a winning team.