What's your philosophy on scheduling, especially the tournaments where the competition is definitely stronger than your team but you have 3 pitchers , 2 of which are more experienced but not overpowering. Do you stick with that or try and find easier tournament....we have a solid infield but OF are all freshman with very little experience. I'm a believer in you play tough teams to make you better in the long run......your thoughts
Scheduling for HS Teams
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- Jun 20, 2015
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age group? and sure playing against tougher teams will make you better, but nobody likes to get teeth kicked in every week.
- May 17, 2012
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Playing the best competition is good but there is something said for actually winning games. You want to be north of .500 at the end of the season playing the best competition when possible.
To take this to an extreme I would not take a "B" level team and play "A" level teams while losing almost every game in the hopes that we would be better for the season-ending "B" tournament.
Softball is funny with all of the showcases, exhibitions, and pool play games that "don't actually matter". I am old school in that we are keeping score so it matters a little.
Win some games.
I once heard a philosophy on scheduling that I try to use as much as possible and it is the 1/3 rule.
Schedule 1/3 games vs better opponents
Schedule 1/3 games vs similar opponents
Schedule 1/3 games vs lesser opponents
This gives you good competition for 2/3 of your schedule and then 1/3 games you should win.
Just an opinion.
Schedule 1/3 games vs better opponents
Schedule 1/3 games vs similar opponents
Schedule 1/3 games vs lesser opponents
This gives you good competition for 2/3 of your schedule and then 1/3 games you should win.
Just an opinion.
We don't play tournaments, but I try to do something similar to IndyHScoach.
This year, however, is weird: My overall team is going to be the weakest it's been in a while, but my pitching should be the best it's ever been. Do I schedule for her or for the team? If I schedule for the team, she's going to dominate quite a bit (and, unfortunately, that means some of these teams won't play us again. It's already happened with one team that only will play us at the JV level because their varsity has no shot against her). If I schedule for my pitcher, we're going to lose a lot of games.
So what I ended up doing is scheduling a lot of unknowns. I only have two games (out of 27) where I know with 100% certainty we're going to lose. I have 7 more that should be a challenge (ok, two should NOT be a challenge but for some reason we struggle against them). We have about 10 games against teams we've either never faced or haven't faced in so long that both teams are completely different now. I think most of them will be games where if the pitcher pitches well, we'll win.
Challenge your players, but don't beat them into the ground with "tough competition" they can't handle. Will it make them better? Probably a little bit right up until the point they all give up on the season.
This year, however, is weird: My overall team is going to be the weakest it's been in a while, but my pitching should be the best it's ever been. Do I schedule for her or for the team? If I schedule for the team, she's going to dominate quite a bit (and, unfortunately, that means some of these teams won't play us again. It's already happened with one team that only will play us at the JV level because their varsity has no shot against her). If I schedule for my pitcher, we're going to lose a lot of games.
So what I ended up doing is scheduling a lot of unknowns. I only have two games (out of 27) where I know with 100% certainty we're going to lose. I have 7 more that should be a challenge (ok, two should NOT be a challenge but for some reason we struggle against them). We have about 10 games against teams we've either never faced or haven't faced in so long that both teams are completely different now. I think most of them will be games where if the pitcher pitches well, we'll win.
Challenge your players, but don't beat them into the ground with "tough competition" they can't handle. Will it make them better? Probably a little bit right up until the point they all give up on the season.
I've been at 3 different high schools over 8 years and had 3 tactics at each with the same end goal. All in the same district.
The first - 2 years - Very weak school only better than one other in our district. Only a couple of my players with more experience than weak REC ball, some with no experience and no pitching at all. The goal was just to keep them from getting hurt, teach them the game, get them some experience and hopefully start to be a little competitive against teams that have been slaughtering them. To achieve those goals and build the program I did not try the schedule any games against tougher teams yet. But they were starting to win some games and be competitive in others ... Had I stayed there I would have toughened up the schedule for the 3rd year and beyond.
The second school - 1 year - Very strong program, 3 Pitchers and only 1 player who wasn't currently playing travel ball ... They were already playing the tougher teams and if there was a tougher schedule available I would have jumped at the chance. These gals could have handled it and would have grown from it.
The 3rd school - 5 years - Hadn't won a district game in over 10 years. Not enough players to have a JV team and no feeder program ... No pitching ... Gals coming to tryouts that didn't know which hand to put the glove on, some never having ever played softball ... The ones who have played didn't have more than weak REC ball experience (not one player with travel ball experience). The initial goal was much the same as the first school ... The difference here was that there was a pre-existing bad chemistry caused by years of lack luster coaching, no discipline and no accountability ... I started the first year with 18 and before mid season I had cut them down to 12 by eliminating the dugout cancers ... We had to play our in-district games and then the out of district games were already against weaker teams. The first year we were starting to be competitive against the weaker teams but still getting run rule slaughtered in-district games. The second year I kept the same schedule and we started beating the out of district weaker teams and began to be competitive against the weaker in-district teams. For the 3rd year I made the out of district games tougher and we were beating them, started beating the weaker in-district teams and were more competitive against the tougher in-district teams, beating three of them ... In each year afterwards; I would make the schedule a little bit tougher than the previous year to challenge the athletes and the program to be a little bit better ... If you stand still you go backwards IMHO.
The first - 2 years - Very weak school only better than one other in our district. Only a couple of my players with more experience than weak REC ball, some with no experience and no pitching at all. The goal was just to keep them from getting hurt, teach them the game, get them some experience and hopefully start to be a little competitive against teams that have been slaughtering them. To achieve those goals and build the program I did not try the schedule any games against tougher teams yet. But they were starting to win some games and be competitive in others ... Had I stayed there I would have toughened up the schedule for the 3rd year and beyond.
The second school - 1 year - Very strong program, 3 Pitchers and only 1 player who wasn't currently playing travel ball ... They were already playing the tougher teams and if there was a tougher schedule available I would have jumped at the chance. These gals could have handled it and would have grown from it.
The 3rd school - 5 years - Hadn't won a district game in over 10 years. Not enough players to have a JV team and no feeder program ... No pitching ... Gals coming to tryouts that didn't know which hand to put the glove on, some never having ever played softball ... The ones who have played didn't have more than weak REC ball experience (not one player with travel ball experience). The initial goal was much the same as the first school ... The difference here was that there was a pre-existing bad chemistry caused by years of lack luster coaching, no discipline and no accountability ... I started the first year with 18 and before mid season I had cut them down to 12 by eliminating the dugout cancers ... We had to play our in-district games and then the out of district games were already against weaker teams. The first year we were starting to be competitive against the weaker teams but still getting run rule slaughtered in-district games. The second year I kept the same schedule and we started beating the out of district weaker teams and began to be competitive against the weaker in-district teams. For the 3rd year I made the out of district games tougher and we were beating them, started beating the weaker in-district teams and were more competitive against the tougher in-district teams, beating three of them ... In each year afterwards; I would make the schedule a little bit tougher than the previous year to challenge the athletes and the program to be a little bit better ... If you stand still you go backwards IMHO.
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Kinda hard to have best pitching staff ever and have a weaker team. Tune up your bunt coverage. Great pitching can carry a team pretty far.
- May 29, 2015
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I appreciate the caveat you put on there, as I HATE this adage. To believe "playing against tougher teams will make you better" is living with blinders on.
Playing competitively against tougher teams will make you better.
Too many lower level coaches who aren't good at their job but believe that they just need to go get curb stomped on a weekly basis and they will magically get better.
This is about how we do it. Rebuilding program here, and two seasons ago was a nightmare of absolute throttling by nearly everyone. Last season coach found some more evenly matched games and ended up winning those plus a few more that were semi-unexpected. There's a team in the region who always has a .600+ record, but they really weren't much better than us. I looked at their schedule and stats on the state website and saw they schedule like 50% lesser teams. Of course it all comes out in the district stats and tournament, but at least they're learning to win some.
HS kids are kids, and losing sucks. Most of them have no college ball aspirations. I would suggeting letting them play hard and have some fun.
