More Fun with HS!

[JJsqueeze]

I don't have girls playing high school softball but all the stories I read or conversations I have are mostly negative. I get that these are mostly from families that have played a lot of travel ball so they are used to being able to choose the right fit and it is an adjustment to be able to flow with HS. But I don't understand all the stories of coaches wanting to change girl's mechanics for hitting or pitching. If you have a good hitter or pitcher in HS I would think you would recognize that they didn't just arrive there by accident and you have no hope of changing anything meaningfully in a few months that took years to develop. Do HS coaches actually think they develop players
Or do they think they pretty much are just trying to take the players they have and manage them? I would think that for a school where you don't get a steady stream of TB players then the focus would be on development, but if a coach knows a girl has been playing competitively for years why don't they just use common sense and realize that the girls mechanics are probably pretty set by 15-16 if they have been playing since they were 10.

 

[KCM]

I sure am glad my daughter has good HS coaches. The manage the team and do not try to change girls that have current private coaches.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Yes. We develop players and manage them. Today, most of the players are not from TB,

Once again you show your "little pond" experience in your approach to softball. When you get into the larger urban areas the majority of the players are from travel ball at the larger schools. Rec ball above the 14U level is virtually non-existent in my area.

How many students are there in your school?

 

[mann]

Yes. We develop players and manage them. Today, most of the players are not from TB, and the ones who are, simply are on a team their dad started. So the coaching is inconsistent. Dads who start teams are reluctant to let kids take private coaching, as my assistants tell me all the time. Usually some other parent teaches the skill inside the team. (FYI: Only three moms have been a coach of a TB or rec team in my entire tenure.) These coaches turn over regularly, and you wonder if any information stays in the TB org, like it used to.

Once the season starts, most kids are not going to lessons. Most are not going to lessons during field hockey season either, as they can barely do TB and any HS sport. Today's lessons are all about form, form, form. They do not and cannot prepare the player for playing.

Even my high level players stop lessons during the season. So this is all overstated. One of my pitchers stopped because her coach was in college as a coach... Another stopped because her arm was falling off as it was.

To me it is about results. If the method you use gets results, is safe, repeatable, and you are a role model for others (Ie you can talk about why you do it), you can stay as you are. But private coaches can be just as good or bad as team coaches.

The only time as a rule, that varsity players call me for a tune up is when their swings start to fail them during the season.

HS sports are in decline, and its one simple reason, the policies of hiring a TEACHER ON STAFF< RATHER THAN AN EXPERIANCED COACH. period.


These same "teacher coaches" try to teach girls how to hit, even though they have NO CLUE.

I am standing 10 feet away, I see it.


I did play a team yesterday that was an example of what a good program should work like.

the travel ball coach had two other assistant coaches, these were the HS school coaches. Two 6A high school coaches who cared enough about the program to work very closely with travel ball.
It takes this type of cooperation to build HS ball.

Another example would be a HS coach who is also a travel ball coach at the 14u level, and has built relationships with other travel ball organizations for his older players.

 

[chinamigarden]

Our School district's contract requires that the job be posted for staff before it can be posted to the general public. My dd plays 3 sports 2 of them are coached by non teachers, and the volleyball coach is a teacher. She went to a Div I school to play and her HS coach is a legend, she won 4 state championships as a HS player and she is the worst of the 3 coaches my dd has. She has no idea how to teach her position and the other positions she has even less understanding of. How to motivate or encourage players is beyond her ability. Classic case of a gifted athlete having no idea how to teach kids who aren't as gifted as she was. My dd's basketball coach is a truck driver and he is the best coach of the 3, he took over the varsity job just this year. But he has been building the local youth girls basketball program for the past 7 years. The softball coach, won a state championship for the HS a billion years ago and for that will never be out of the job. He is just old enough now to not mess around with the players who have success, so overall I have no complaints about what he says or does to my dd's batting or pitching.

Life is a mixed bag, you won't have opportunities in life to pick the new boss, or to decide how things change at college or jobs. Dealing with less then perfect coaches is part of learning how to deal with life. Let your dd's figure it out. And if it takes a month to get her swing back, that month is nothing compared to the lesson she learned.

 

[Doug Romrell]

HS sports are in decline, and its one simple reason, the policies of hiring a TEACHER ON STAFF< RATHER THAN AN EXPERIANCED COACH. period.

Agreed, but I would also add....

In most situations, I think the justification for HS sports is no longer there. For me, the main reason is that the private sector currently provides, or would provide, these sports better, and with more choice, in terms of who the athlete chooses to play under.

 

[riseball]

Agreed, but I would also add....

In most situations, I think the justification for HS sports is no longer there. For me, the main reason is that the private sector currently provides, or would provide, these sports better, and with more choice, in terms of who the athlete chooses to play under.

Many moons ago were it not for HS sports there would be little in the way of opportunities especially in rural areas. Over the last century times and you have to wonder if it is still appropriate? Tradition and school spirit is all fine and good but I think the cost vs benefit is not what it used to be. When it becomes obvious that the private sector provides a superior service and that same service provided by the public sector requires protection to remain viable, it is foolish cling to tradition and stay the course.

 

[Sparky Guy]

And if it takes a month to get her swing back, that month is nothing compared to the lesson she learned.

Unfortunately, the HS girls can not afford the month to get their swings back. That is half of the travel season. The travel schedule is highly compressed for them. Tournaments start the 1st or 2nd week in June typically and end with nationals at the end of July. I would not want one of my players struggling for half the season trying to undo what someone else screwed up.

I think that is why so many parents/players are sooo adamant about HS coaches keeping their hands off of their mechanics. The summer is too important to try and relearn correct mechanics.

 

[CoogansBluff]

There are only two things that would prompt me to have a talk with a HS coach. I try to respect the coach's right to run the team as he or she sees fit.

First reason is some type of abuse, misconduct, unsportsmanlike behavior, etc.

The second is mechanical changes that cross a certain line.

Important not to confuse mechanical and strategical issues. If coach wants my daughter to bunt every at-bat, or take the first strike every at-bat, or throw nothing but fastballs, that is the coach's call. If coach insists on a fairly minor mechanical change, like cutting the stride in half, OK. If the coach has DD doing what I consider to be useless or counterproductive drills, I'll live with it.

But if coach is trying to make a significant mechanical change, like hands before hips, or squish the bug, and gives grief when DD does not do it, then I would have a friendly talk w/ coach that went something like this:

"My daughter has hitting and pitching coaches who teach her mechanics. What they are teaching her is at odd with with you are teaching her. We believe she needs to hit and pitch the way that her private coaches are teaching her. We respect your right to decide if you want her on the team under those conditions.''

 

[chinamigarden]

Unfortunately, the HS girls can not afford the month to get their swings back. That is half of the travel season. The travel schedule is highly compressed for them. Tournaments start the 1st or 2nd week in June typically and end with nationals at the end of July. I would not want one of my players struggling for half the season trying to undo what someone else screwed up.

I think that is why so many parents/players are sooo adamant about HS coacThe township should do a better job of keeping the grass dry.hes keeping their hands off of their mechanics. The summer is too important to try and relearn correct mechanics.

i guess I've either never seen a good hitter ruined by a
Coach in a short period of time. Or I don't think that in the grand scheme of things it ends up being as important then learning how to deal with people