- Apr 25, 2019
- 288
- 63
I'll start by saying that this is only my opinion but......high school coaches say that they like multi sport athletes, but do they really?
Case in point. My DD just finished up her volleyball season. She is a sophomore and plays primarily on JV. She's tall and athletic but never played organized volleyball until her 8th grade year. Even then, her organized volleyball was only school ball. No club or anything like that. She plays for fun and for school pride. Welp, the volleyball coach makes it extremely hard for my DD to continue doing that. The volleyball coach knows that my DD plays high level travel ball and was one of 2 freshmen on the varsity softball team last year. At the beginning of the season, my DD was very transparent in the fact that there would be some weekends that she would not be able to play due to tournaments, camps, organizational practices, etc. At the time, it was "oh, no problem. We will work around that. Thanks for letting me know." Throughout the season, was a very different attitude. My DD was attending an SEC camp and was going to miss a JV volleyball round robin. My DD reminded the coach of the camp a week ahead of time. Well usually, the team gets Fridays off from practice. This particular Friday, the coach called a practice because, "I gotta find a new JV middle blocker because (insert DD"s name here) is going to a softball camp during MY volleyball season." Needless to say, a few girls got pissed but the majority were fine because they know that my DD is looking to play softball at the D1 level.
Fast forward a few weeks, volleyball practice was cancelled so my DD used that time to take a few cuts with some of her softball teammates. Well after that BP, my DD was riding with a friend and got into a little fender bender doing about 10 mph. Even at that low speed, my DD was exhibiting some concussion symptoms and the trainers did not want her playing for a few days. The coach found out that my DD was practicing softball and when the trainer told my DD not to play, the coach makes a comment along the lines of, "well maybe if you weren't practicing softball during MY season, this accident wouldn't have happened." Like....huh??? Even after my DD was cleared to play again, if practice was cancelled for a day, the coach would make it a point to tell the girls that they were not to do anything but rest and were not allowed to practice any other sport.
My DD's travel team was playing the PGF Show Me The Money a couple of weekends ago and had to miss a JV tournament that weekend and was benched the following game. Funny part was, she was not told that she was benched until it was her turn to rotate into the game. 8 minutes had already been played in the game BEFORE she knew she was benched. She stands up to rotate in and was told to sit back down and that she was not playing. It was an away game and I had to hustle to get to the game ontime only to learn that she was not playing.
Another instance, my DD missed a test due to a doctors appointment. Well, her 7th hour PE period is with her volleyball teammates and it was a Friday where they did not have practice afterwards. They were hanging out in the locker room until they could be dismissed. No practice, no drills, no lifting, nothing. Well my DD asked if she could go do a make up test and was asked by the coach, "Is this the last time my season is going to be interrupted?"
My DD wants to continue to play volleyball but being a 2025 grad, this is a critical year for her. She WILL be busy almost every weekend. At this point, she is so frustrated that she may quit and go run cross country instead. I don't know. I'm sure not every coach is like this but man, it makes it tough. We want to be open and transparent but we get retaliatory responses and actions in return. I get that these coaches have a program to run and that they are trying to win but don't talk out of both sides of your mouth when it comes to multi sport athletes. You like multi-sport athletes, but only as long as they stick to their respective school ball seasons. Got it.
End rant
TLDR....DD plays volleyball for her HS but despite being transparent about her softball schedule gets snide comments and retaliatory actions against her.
Case in point. My DD just finished up her volleyball season. She is a sophomore and plays primarily on JV. She's tall and athletic but never played organized volleyball until her 8th grade year. Even then, her organized volleyball was only school ball. No club or anything like that. She plays for fun and for school pride. Welp, the volleyball coach makes it extremely hard for my DD to continue doing that. The volleyball coach knows that my DD plays high level travel ball and was one of 2 freshmen on the varsity softball team last year. At the beginning of the season, my DD was very transparent in the fact that there would be some weekends that she would not be able to play due to tournaments, camps, organizational practices, etc. At the time, it was "oh, no problem. We will work around that. Thanks for letting me know." Throughout the season, was a very different attitude. My DD was attending an SEC camp and was going to miss a JV volleyball round robin. My DD reminded the coach of the camp a week ahead of time. Well usually, the team gets Fridays off from practice. This particular Friday, the coach called a practice because, "I gotta find a new JV middle blocker because (insert DD"s name here) is going to a softball camp during MY volleyball season." Needless to say, a few girls got pissed but the majority were fine because they know that my DD is looking to play softball at the D1 level.
Fast forward a few weeks, volleyball practice was cancelled so my DD used that time to take a few cuts with some of her softball teammates. Well after that BP, my DD was riding with a friend and got into a little fender bender doing about 10 mph. Even at that low speed, my DD was exhibiting some concussion symptoms and the trainers did not want her playing for a few days. The coach found out that my DD was practicing softball and when the trainer told my DD not to play, the coach makes a comment along the lines of, "well maybe if you weren't practicing softball during MY season, this accident wouldn't have happened." Like....huh??? Even after my DD was cleared to play again, if practice was cancelled for a day, the coach would make it a point to tell the girls that they were not to do anything but rest and were not allowed to practice any other sport.
My DD's travel team was playing the PGF Show Me The Money a couple of weekends ago and had to miss a JV tournament that weekend and was benched the following game. Funny part was, she was not told that she was benched until it was her turn to rotate into the game. 8 minutes had already been played in the game BEFORE she knew she was benched. She stands up to rotate in and was told to sit back down and that she was not playing. It was an away game and I had to hustle to get to the game ontime only to learn that she was not playing.
Another instance, my DD missed a test due to a doctors appointment. Well, her 7th hour PE period is with her volleyball teammates and it was a Friday where they did not have practice afterwards. They were hanging out in the locker room until they could be dismissed. No practice, no drills, no lifting, nothing. Well my DD asked if she could go do a make up test and was asked by the coach, "Is this the last time my season is going to be interrupted?"
My DD wants to continue to play volleyball but being a 2025 grad, this is a critical year for her. She WILL be busy almost every weekend. At this point, she is so frustrated that she may quit and go run cross country instead. I don't know. I'm sure not every coach is like this but man, it makes it tough. We want to be open and transparent but we get retaliatory responses and actions in return. I get that these coaches have a program to run and that they are trying to win but don't talk out of both sides of your mouth when it comes to multi sport athletes. You like multi-sport athletes, but only as long as they stick to their respective school ball seasons. Got it.
End rant
TLDR....DD plays volleyball for her HS but despite being transparent about her softball schedule gets snide comments and retaliatory actions against her.
