HS coaches say they like multi-sport athletes but......

[Cruz]

So do you actually think it is better for the team’s chances of winning in the long run to take this stance or are you trying to teach the whole “no I in team” thing? Or something else?

The coaches you mentioned that got burned would likely have gotten burned even with your rule and at least were able to benefit from those players before that point in time (perhaps actually allowing them to even make it to the regional tournament in the first place giving all the more “loyal” players an opportunity to participate in it)

As a coach of 17 years wirh only one losing season I would add to the communication thing being extremely important. I treat situations on an individual basis. If a player communicates with me and I know they have a great work ethic in my practices I am somewhat lenient and most likely won't sit them to prove a point. I may play them less if I can to be fair to those that did make practice. Miss a practice without prior communication and yes, you sit.

 

[_MIA_]

As a coach of 17 years wirh only one losing season I would add to the communication thing being extremely important. I treat situations on an individual basis. If a player communicates with me and I know they have a great work ethic in my practices I am somewhat lenient and most likely won't sit them to prove a point. I may play them less if I can to be fair to those that did make practice. Miss a practice without prior communication and yes, you sit.

Of course, you cannot just not show up.

 

[Cruz]

As a coach of 17 years wirh only one losing season I would add to the communication thing being extremely important. I treat situations on an individual basis. If a player communicates with me and I know they have a great work ethic in my practices I am somewhat lenient and most likely won't sit them to prove a point. I may play them less if I can to be fair to those that did make practice. Miss a practice without prior communication and yes, you sit.

I want to preach my belief that as a coach I am out to help the kids write their story. I have written mine, and I don't need the accolades, nor the feeling of absolute power to satisfy my ego. I am out to win games for sure however, I am out to bring out the best in my players both on and off the field. In my time as a coach I see kids practice outside of practice at a young age. That is a good thing to see in young athletes and as a coach I feel great when I know I had an impact in their thinking to do that.

 

[CrazyNani]

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.

Coach is a bully, bordering on abusive.

 

[Towny9]

So do you actually think it is better for the team’s chances of winning in the long run to take this stance or are you trying to teach the whole “no I in team” thing (which some may see as connected to the first motivation ..) Or something else? Whatever the answer, your team, your rules. Just curious as to the motivation. Honestly instilling the idea that choices often come with (negative) consequences might be the best answer I could come up with if I was going the “life lesson” route with motivation..

The coaches you mentioned that got burned would likely not have had those players for that game even with your rule and at least were able to benefit from those players before that point in time (perhaps actually allowing them to even make it to the regional tournament in the first place giving all the more “loyal” players an opportunity to participate in it albeit undermanned..)

Honestly, it’s a few reasons I feel the way I do. I will preface it by saying baseball rarely deals with kids missing high school baseball events for other sports or club teams in my area. The travel baseball scene largely goes dark during high school baseball season.

First, it’s hard to have one set of rules for some players, and a different set of rules for others. If the better players can miss practice for other sports and other teams, then why should anyone come to practice? Second, as you mentioned, kids and parents often want to have everything - we know as a dogs. This is not possible so choices have to be made and those choices have consequences.

Last, I would rather lose with kids who chose our team first, then win with kids who put us at second or third priority. It’s hard to tell Joey that he is not playing in the game even though he has never missed a practice and Sammy is starting, even though he only comes when he wants to.

Now I think coaches set up themselves up for failure with their practice schedule. If travel ball was a big deal during my high school season, I would probably not practice on Saturdays or have optional practices. That way you are not putting the kids in a tough decision in the first place. You also have to have some flexibility. One year I had a senior who got an internship at the local shipyard. It was going to be aYou also have to have some flexibility. One year I had a senior who got a internship at the local shipyard. It was going to be a great job for him after graduation. The problem was he had to work every weekend to keep the internship guaranteeing him the job after graduation. We worked it out to where he did a little extra during the week so he did not have to worry about missing Saturday practice. His teammates felt good cause he did the extra work and I felt good because it was the right thing for him.

 

[jdint]

Before DFP I would have never thought HS coaches cared so little about winning……

Coaches care about keeping their job. Actually, it's probably more the Athletic Directors wanting to keep their job. Sometimes the name on the jersey takes precedence over skill level in small town middle America. I'm not complaining, it's the way it is. Don't like it, don't get involved, cuz it probably isn't changing. It's one of those "life lessons" everyone talks about.

It seems to me that within the school solar system of sports, overlapping seasons could be worked out. Games take precedence over practice etc.. Especially when the games are post season for one sport, which seems to be a major source of conflict.

Travel ball/private lessons vs. school ball is a whole different can of worms. DD's school coach last year wanted the pitchers to attend their private lessons, whether it conflicted with practice or not. If this caused any issues I wasn't aware of them. The coaches didn't teach, or talk about pitching, and the team is more than a little dependent of pitching, so it made some sense. I'm thinking the coach allowing this is probably a rarity in most cases.

 

[_MIA_]

Coaches care about keeping their job.

I agree with this. I guess I am naive enough to think that running a program one can be proud of (both from a moral perspective and a results perspective) would be the best way to do this..Of course I also thought that academia was going to be free from politics when I entered it so I should know better to assume such foolishness

 

[Orange Socks]

The good ole days of getting 2 or 3 Varsity letters are long gone.

Big schools yes. Smaller schools in small towns no.

 

[ChrisSB]

Big schools yes. Smaller schools in small towns no.

DD is at a smaller school. The majority of girls on her team have lettered in 2 or more sports. It's also expected that if they're playing a HS sport that they go to that game over a travel game. One of the girls on DDs travel team has missed every Saturday of our fall tournaments due to volleyball games.

 

[canyonjoe]

I think coaches are fine with multi sport athletes, but in that season they want them to commit to that sport. they have 9.5 months to play the other sports. If I'm a coach and have 50 people trying out I want to pick players that want to be there. However, if for some reason you let someone join a team that you know will miss games in advance you have to honor that.