Is the disorganization just something we need to get used to?

[_MIA_]

And then it's the rest of us that are called control freaks because we communicate and organize too much. Oh well...

depends on the person..there is a reason my wife pays the bills..I know my limitations

 

[Nimrod]

The main reason we decided not to stay with her previous team is because we didn’t feel the coaches were skilled in developing any of the players, including their own daughters. Good people, just not good coaches/teachers.

What were you seeing to make you feel the players weren't developing? Was it inefficient practices? Teaching incorrect mechanics or fundamentals? Team performing worse at the end than at the start?

 

[Sparky Guy]

In 10U you get a lot of first time travel managers/coaches. Many of them come from rec ball where a lot of things are already done for them. The biggest mistake that most of them make is you need to be 6 months or more ahead of your current date when planning practices, facilities, tournaments, travel, hotels, uniforms, equipment and the 100 other things that need to be addressed with running a travel team correctly. AND still be flexible enough to change when things go south at a moments at a tournament due to rain.

The most common off-field management style of a 10U team is reactive due to in-experience instead of being proactive.

One of the other things that happens with the new manager is they do not have a long-term development plan for the team. It turns into the confusion of trying to plug the holes in the boat as they show up. The first thing I did when I took a 10 team was to make a list of specific skills needed for each position a player had to learn. Then I made a list of specific skills the kids needed to be able to work on as a team. I would pick 3 specific skills and work on them until they got them right. If we only got thru two of them at a practice we only got thru two.

I did 10U for several years without a kid on the team. The one thing I may have been guilty of was over-communicating. I had an email or group text sent out almost every day. No parent could ever use the excuse they didn't know.

 

[FifthOfJune]

.

 

[Agcy]

There are pros and cons with every team and their level of organization is one aspect. We stuck with out travel ball coach because he was an awesome coach; from on field demeanor to the way he ran practices to his catcher workouts to the way he coached hitting. BUT, his communication and planning was terrible; every spring/fall we would beg for the season's schedule so we could make plans, on weekends that we were playing, we wouldn't know the hotel arrangements until Thursday, etc. We learned to work in those parameters and accepted it only because his coaching was a near perfect fit.

 

[The Man In Blue]

In 10U you get a lot of first time travel managers/coaches.

 

[The Man In Blue]

I've found that whatever makes someone a good teacher sometimes inhibits good organization and planning. I'm also a "type-A" get out front of things kind of person. To a degree, you need to learn to go with the flow. You can also volunteer to help with some of the admin work, which will put you closer to the "boss" and allow you to influence events.

When I coached, I found great people to put around me to make up my deficiencies.

I found that I can be good at logistics OR I can be good at coaching, but I did not have the time and/or energy to do both. So I found people who would fill in the gaps. Or, I found other people to coach and I filled in the gaps. That also applied in my professional life as well. The person who can do it all is rare.

 

[CrystalBall25]

We just had whole thing with one of the teams in our organization that parents on a team had to provide a breakdown of what they paid because there was no accounting of money but when they asked for the same, could not get it. Definitely giving me a bad feeling. Going to be looking elsewhere for my daughter.