Reflections on coaching the HS class of 2022

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Jan 22, 2011
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The class of 2022 started playing t-ball the first year I was the vice president of the local rec league. Congratulations to all those young women!

Seeing Varsity Softball Senior Day photos online this week of 4 players who played rec for me has my allergies acting up. There are a fair number of college graduates I’ve helped coach, but realizing players I have coached in rec and travel whom my daughter has played with are graduating HS this spring and will be going out into the world has put me in a contemplative mood.
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I started my journey as a coach the Saturday of Easter weekend 2005. I knew I was going to have a daughter the end of August and my wife was an athlete, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to learn more about softball.

Almost exactly 17 years ago my best friend said there was thing called summer tournament softball and asked if I wanted to help with a 10u-C team. I said sure and started this crazy, satisfying softball journey. For the past 17 years I have been involved in softball in some fashion, as a coach, a board member, umpire, Dad, field crew volunteer, and fan.

My best friend gave me great advice during my coaching journey that my job was to teach my players to “Win the game of life using softball as a classroom and laboratory.”

I am eternally thankful to my friend and three other coaches who took an unathletic softball novice under their wings the summer of 2005 to teach me about softball, and more important, being a positive influence on the lives of youth. Letting the players know you believed in them and cared for them as people more than as players. You are good friends and have taught me a lot about life.

Thank you to people at DFP, too numerous to name, who have shared their experiences, advice, expertise, their daughters’ triumphs and failures. I’ve had the honor of meeting several of you in person. One in particular, @Eric F , who I started following online in 2013 and drafted behind him in his journey with his daughter while they cleared a path ahead for me and my daughter. Maddie is going to do great things.

There are many successful women out there that I’ve had the honor of being a small part of their journey. A Doctor, nurses, a navy pilot, a navy veteran, at least one mom, a financial aid counselor, speech pathologists, at least one teacher, a girl who was so smart as a 9-year-old I think she was doing physics problems in her head taking into account temperature, wind, and air resistance when deciding whether to swing, and many others.

Congratulations to all the young women I have been blessed to be called “Coach” by. Go out and win at the game of life. Use what your coaches have taught you. Don’t be afraid to take chances, but also talk to your former teammates and coaches if you are struggling. In the immortal words of an old TV Show, “Let’s be careful out there.”
 
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LEsoftballdad

DFP Vendor
Jun 29, 2021
2,838
113
NY
I've had a similar ride over the last 9 years into the softball world. When I found out my wife was having a second girl, I pulled a Peter Griffin and asked if they could check again. I wanted a son I could teach the game of baseball. I wanted to play catch with him and teach him to crush the ball. All that went down the drain when I learned I was having girl #2. I couldn't be like my dad and keep going until I had a son. It took him until #7 to get his son, but I knew we couldn't afford to keep going that long. So, I accepted the fact I wasn't going to have a baseball player.

Fast forward a few years, and my daughters discovered they liked sports. My oldest decided, on a whim, to try softball, while my youngest played soccer, which I loathed. I was more than eager to help coach her LL team, so I volunteered and fell in love with the game. Thankfully, a year later, daughter #2 decided to try softball and drop soccer. I was one happy dad.

We've had our ups and downs in the game, and there were even a few times I thought she'd give it up. But, here we are nine years later, and the light of my world #1 is getting ready to graduate. Sadly, only my daughter and one other 2022 stuck with softball out of the original 15 LL girls, but they're both amazing young women. I like to think they'll be the most successful group because they stuck with sports while the others all eventually stopped playing any sports. The other young lady is our school's valedictorian and headed to Johns Hopkins to study biomedical engineering. And while she won't be playing college ball, she's going to play club to stay involved in the game.

I've missed a lot of golf outings, BBQs, boat trips, and other things over the years because of softball, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the whole wide world. I've had opportunities to spend time with the two loves of my life and forge a relationship than most fathers will never have with their daughters, and I credit that to their softball journeys.

I love you, my Goose, and I can't wait to watch your softball journey continue in college. Love, Dad.

Now my allergies are acting up.
 

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