- Jun 14, 2013
- 4
- 0
Hi everyone-
Maybe this should be in the Parent forum, so excuse me if I'm mis-posting. My wife and I are at our wits end with softball this year. My daughter is on an 11u travel team this year, it's her third year of playing travel ball. She's always been a little bit of a marginal player, but in the two years that she played 10u, there were two mixed teams (instead of an A/B), so there were always some other players of her level or worse than her on the team. This year, our coaches decided to have a 12u A team, an 11u team, and a 11/12 mixed team. We were a little surprised, and happy, when my daughter got picked for the 11u team.
She's definitely at the bottom of the team talent wise, in hitting and fielding. She has been improving some as the year has gone on, but is still lagging the other girls. As the year has gone on, her role has been getting smaller and smaller on the team. In the past years, she has always been OK sitting on the bench 2-3 innings per game, but this year her self confidence is getting crushed. She has been the bottom of the batting order all year. There have been games where she has sat 3 out 4 innings (we were slaughtered by the other team, which makes it especially odd that the coach wouldn't put her in), say 4 out of 6 innings, and on average sits at least 3 out of every 6 innings. She plays mostly right field, with the occasional bout at 2nd base.
She has been coming home from games crying, she feels like the coach treats her like she is a burden on the team, rather than a player. He will usually give encouragement to players if they have a tough inning in the field or a tough at bat, but rarely to my DD. She's getting to the point where she doesn't want to play anymore. I don't want her to quit, and I know that she will be a decent player on next years 12u B team if she sticks with it.
Softball used to be her favorite thing in the world, now it's a thing she's starting to dread. My wife and I are considering talking to the coach, but I don't know if that will help. I don't understand why my DD is on this team, instead of the mixed team, where she would be a valued starter (even though they're losing most of their games badly). I feel like the coach made a mistake drafting her for this team, but obviously it's too late to do anything about that.
She's never been a complainer, always been fairly happy with her role on the team, but this is starting to really affect her.
Does anyone have any advise on what to say to her, and or the coach? We've been paying for private batting (and some fielding) lessons, to try and increase her level, and it's helped a little...
HELP!
Thanks!
Maybe this should be in the Parent forum, so excuse me if I'm mis-posting. My wife and I are at our wits end with softball this year. My daughter is on an 11u travel team this year, it's her third year of playing travel ball. She's always been a little bit of a marginal player, but in the two years that she played 10u, there were two mixed teams (instead of an A/B), so there were always some other players of her level or worse than her on the team. This year, our coaches decided to have a 12u A team, an 11u team, and a 11/12 mixed team. We were a little surprised, and happy, when my daughter got picked for the 11u team.
She's definitely at the bottom of the team talent wise, in hitting and fielding. She has been improving some as the year has gone on, but is still lagging the other girls. As the year has gone on, her role has been getting smaller and smaller on the team. In the past years, she has always been OK sitting on the bench 2-3 innings per game, but this year her self confidence is getting crushed. She has been the bottom of the batting order all year. There have been games where she has sat 3 out 4 innings (we were slaughtered by the other team, which makes it especially odd that the coach wouldn't put her in), say 4 out of 6 innings, and on average sits at least 3 out of every 6 innings. She plays mostly right field, with the occasional bout at 2nd base.
She has been coming home from games crying, she feels like the coach treats her like she is a burden on the team, rather than a player. He will usually give encouragement to players if they have a tough inning in the field or a tough at bat, but rarely to my DD. She's getting to the point where she doesn't want to play anymore. I don't want her to quit, and I know that she will be a decent player on next years 12u B team if she sticks with it.
Softball used to be her favorite thing in the world, now it's a thing she's starting to dread. My wife and I are considering talking to the coach, but I don't know if that will help. I don't understand why my DD is on this team, instead of the mixed team, where she would be a valued starter (even though they're losing most of their games badly). I feel like the coach made a mistake drafting her for this team, but obviously it's too late to do anything about that.
She's never been a complainer, always been fairly happy with her role on the team, but this is starting to really affect her.
Does anyone have any advise on what to say to her, and or the coach? We've been paying for private batting (and some fielding) lessons, to try and increase her level, and it's helped a little...
HELP!
Thanks!
