Stinkin' thinking on a travel team

[Nimrod]

At the worst, they'll find someone else to share that opinion with.

Unfortunately, that opinion has been shared with the group. But hopefully strong leaders will step up. Maybe DD will be one.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Unfortunately, that opinion has been shared with the group. But hopefully strong leaders will step up. Maybe DD will be one.

Don't kid yourself that things will change. Your DD won't be happy until she, with your help, finds a new team where the coaches and players have the same motivation and goals as she does. Do your homework while finishing out this season and find a good fit for next year.

 

[grcsftbll]

Don't kid yourself that things will change. Your DD won't be happy until she, with your help, finds a new team where the coaches and players have the same motivation and goals as she does. Do your homework while finishing out this season and find a good fit for next year.

Unfortunately that might be true. On our team this year we had about 5 girls with spirit. The rest, really not. Even with almost half the team being upbeat at the beginning of the season by the end none of them were with any consistency. They still tried to rally but it just didn't work. Seems like a few negative kids can really kill the whole thing.

 

[Nimrod]

Don't kid yourself that things will change. Your DD won't be happy until she, with your help, finds a new team where the coaches and players have the same motivation and goals as she does. Do your homework while finishing out this season and find a good fit for next year.

I'm not expecting any change unless I initiate it and discuss it with coaches, but I haven't heard anyone here say that is a good idea. And I don't have DD's permission anyway.

Also there are several girls on this team with the same goals that DD has, and I believe the coaches have the same goals. If for example the head coach saw what was posted on a private message board he would deal harshly with that player imo.

I want to make clear that this is not a rampant problem among players. It's more like 3-4 incidents. But, I am not trying to minimize either. This should never happen on a 16u showcase team.

 

[cuzmail]

My DD loves her travel teammates and the team itself, but there is a problem. Some players have made negative comments such as, ''I hope we lose this game so we'll have the rest of the weekend free.'' This sentiment has been raised more than once in different ways. Once on a message board. Once during warmups, where a couple of others basically agreed. These are things that have been said before major tournaments, or before big games, not the 8th game of the day when it's only human to think that way. This is also a college showcase team. It calls into question why some players are on the team.

Choices are

DD can confront them, or let the coach know. She's fairly new on the team and believes such a bold move will ostracize her. Whether this is the right choice or not, realistically, it's not going to happen.

Parent can bring it up to the coach. DD doesn't want that because she fears people will suspect her as a tattle tail. I don't think she'll be suspected or hurt by it because I think it can be handled tactfully, but I also believe it's her team and not my place to intervene without her permission.

How would you handle as a parent?

You need to evaluate why they think this way.

Simply don't want to play?
Coaches creating an environment where the players would rather not be there?
Daddy ball?
Bad apple player bringing everyone down?
...etc

 

[Nimrod]

You need to evaluate why they think this way.

Simply don't want to play?
Coaches creating an environment where the players would rather not be there?
Daddy ball?
Bad apple player bringing everyone down?
...etc

Good questions. Among those choices, I think bad apple fits the best.

 

[djcarter1966]

Other thing is if this is 2 or 3 girls that are on the margins and not playing much that is one thing.

If it is the #1 pitcher, catcher and #4 hitter doing this all the time then it is another.

If everything else is going great I would urge your DD to be the positive influence and also as the parent I would stay out.

Final note...play on the field matter, that girl that said she wanted to go home dives for the ball and make the final out to get you to the next game, the other girl that wants to go shopping drives in the winning run, it shows me that while they would like to be doing something else on the field they are giving 100%. If they were the ones always making errors, loafing on the bases, etc or actually doing things on the field to jeopardize the team winning I would let my DD know that she need to be the leader and tell those girls it is not acceptable.

 

[#10's Dad]

My DD loves her travel teammates and the team itself, but there is a problem. Some players have made negative comments such as, ''I hope we lose this game so we'll have the rest of the weekend free.'' This sentiment has been raised more than once in different ways. Once on a message board. Once during warmups, where a couple of others basically agreed. These are things that have been said before major tournaments, or before big games, not the 8th game of the day when it's only human to think that way. This is also a college showcase team. It calls into question why some players are on the team.

Choices are

DD can confront them, or let the coach know. She's fairly new on the team and believes such a bold move will ostracize her. Whether this is the right choice or not, realistically, it's not going to happen.




This is more common than you think. We have ran into this something this year and what we came up with is you can only control what you can control. DD was bothered by her teams attitude and commitment and addressed it with the few players who wanted to be other places and then followed up with the coaching staff ,however she realized that all she could do was make sure she was giving 100% effort and attitude and try to lead by example and whenever the girls would start there I don't want to be here talk she just excused herself from those discussions. I would suggest to just focus on DD and give all you can for the remainder of the year then reevaluate the situation after the season and see if a change in teams is needed.

 

[Greenmonsters]

I'm not expecting any change unless I initiate it and discuss it with coaches, but I haven't heard anyone here say that is a good idea. And I don't have DD's permission anyway.

Also there are several girls on this team with the same goals that DD has, and I believe the coaches have the same goals. If for example the head coach saw what was posted on a private message board he would deal harshly with that player imo.

I want to make clear that this is not a rampant problem among players. It's more like 3-4 incidents. But, I am not trying to minimize either. This should never happen on a 16u showcase team.

This is the age when priorities change and other things become more important than softball for some. This is normal and fine, except when you have "several" on a small TB "showcase" team; in such cases, it is the surest way to implode a team and diminish a player's love for the game/motivation to keep working hard to achieve their goals. If the problem players aren't let go and replaced, the likely outcome is predictable.