More Fun with HS!

[dbronstein]

I'm going to ask a dumb question since my DD isn't at this age or level yet. To all the people complaining about how bad the HS coaches are and how they are messing up your DDs, why are your DDs playing HS ball?

CoogansBluff has the right idea, although rather than wait until the coach starts teaching something you don't like, the players should make it clear at tryouts. They have their private coaches and if the HS coach isn't willing to leave them alone, then it's better for everyone that they don't play. Seems simple enough.

 

[riseball]

Unfortunately most HS practices and too many TB practices are social affairs consisting of players going through the motions of drills intended to teach or correct mechanics. These are by and large unsupervised with little to no emphasis on proper execution. Because of this lack of supervision most players will develop poor mechanics. Correction back to proper mechanics can usually be accomplished within a week or so, not a month or more. That is if they had proper mechanics to to begin with. The problem is rarely what the coach is teaching but more often than not a players poor practice habits.

 

[riseball]

40 percent of HS coaches are not teachers....

Based on what? Yet another OLIF stat pulled from your backside? Once again you are passing off your SWAG as factual information.

 

[KCM]

And TB coaches cause more problems in HS....please what the____?

 

[FrozenRope]

Recurring theme? OILF states some ridiculous statistic with no reference to any factual information. The best part is, she does it time and time again..... and when called out, she just fades to black. Nothing...nada.....zip. I keep telling myself...."Ignore her and she'll go away"....but it's NOT WORKING!

 

[obbay]

Thank you all for the Excellent responses! I think I have whined about this coach before in other threads, but just to help color in the picture a few more facts:

A kid can speak up for herself by HS.

change that to a kid should be able to speak up for herself in HS and I would agree. my 15 y.o., 120 lb girl finds it difficult to speak up to a 6'-4", 220 loud mouthed man who is in a position of authority, but she does try.

Coach is a football coach and a friend of the AD. When DD#1 had him as a coach, (at a friend's request) I wrote a letter to the AD complaining about the softball coach, requesting anonymity, which I was assured. After this letter, DD#1 spent the remainder of her HS career on the bench. he treated his players with disrespect ,making fun of one girl's weight and nick-naming her BK because she "would run faster if she was running to Burger King". parents had a meeting with AD complaining about this, the coach said he never said that, case closed.

I could go on for hours so let me cut to the chase- DD#2 is playing HS ball because she wanted to give it a shot. then she wanted to make Varsity to prove that she could. now she's on the team and she really likes the team, there's a good chemistry. It is fun! Also the senior Pitcher has been wrestling with the same pitching coach problems for 4 years so DD has someone to comiserate with. Also, the "Pitching Coach" has no qualifications other than he had a daughter who was a good pitcher in HS years ago. He has no students because he is not a real pitching coach. He also is not a teacher.

This coach is not a winning coach. he chooses the easiest possible schedule before the season starts so that the team wins enough games to make it to the post-season state tournament at the end of the season, in which they are always one-and-done.

While reading your responses, I realized that this coach is not about coaching, he is about control. He doesnt want players to be great, he just wants them to do what he says. he is also not a teacher, he is a part time landscaper who worked in the deli department in the grocerystore until it looked like one of his players would be promoted to become his boss, after which he quit.

 

[iMlearning]

hs practices

We were so happy when our TB coaches called a last minute practice yesterday. They normally shut down for HS but some of the girls requested it. All the girls showed up except for the few college girls and they all had similar stories. DD has had virtually no instruction since in HS and has spent most of the time off to the side catching with no coaches around and has done very little hitting. It was awesome having a good TB practice on a beautiful day. I hope they do more.

 

[PA SB Dad]

While reading your responses, I realized that this coach is not about coaching, he is about control. He doesnt want players to be great, he just wants them to do what he says. he is also not a teacher, he is a part time landscaper who worked in the deli department in the grocery store until it looked like one of his players would be promoted to become his boss, after which he quit.

Don't you love KARMA! Big Picture - the UNIVERSE is self-correcting!

 

[obbay]

But if you prefer to complain on a board....

I agree with what you're saying about communication, and I think DD will learn a lot about life while shes on this team.
I started out asking for advice- which I have received- but I can't help slipping into the complaining mode. I know there are others who have HS issues and that I'm not special. I have received some good info here that I will share with DD and it all revolves around teaching her to communicate.