Suggestions on how to dismiss a player from the team

[letsmow10]

Start thinking about this and embrace it. As your team ages up you will need to carry more players on your team and there should be no reason that a player does not get ample playing time. No one should be sitting the bench. DD's TB coach made it work with a big roster.

As you have started to experience with one of your players, there will be other things going especially when they get to HS. Last year DD played 18u-never once did all players show up to games or practices. High level Gold team. This happens to all teams. Camps, college visits, SAT's, college prep, Homecoming events(only Seniors allowed), death in family, weddings, you name it. Also, Pitchers will start to transition to PO's as well. Kids will quit, team hop, move away, etc. You said 14 B. There will be players that will want more and will leave your team for an "A" team for whatever reason especially if your team is not part of an established program.

14U-14 players
16U-16 players
18U-18 players

Thank you again for this sound advice. I will try to take a step back and have another conversation with the parents and see where we can go from here. Coaching at this age is new for me and definitely brings about more complex issues. Thanks to everyone who has taken time to reply.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[sluggers]

I would have a "temperature check" with the family to make sure they want to be there. Hey Family, lil Susie has missed a lot of practices lately, and you said you won't be able to make some upcoming tourneys. I wanted to make sure our team is still a good fit for you. If you are not interested in playing with us or only want to be a part time player I need to know so I can make arrangements. If you don't want to play with us or don't want to play softball anymore, no hard feelings. I would hope that you would want to continue to play even if it's on another team.

Sweet...where were you when I was coaching?

Is your day job selling ice in Antarctica?

 

[Orange Socks]

Sweet...where were you when I was coaching?

Is your day job selling ice in Antarctica?

I learned that people need communication and that goes both ways. People get weird with regards to having civil conversations. Setting the expectations up front and following through with set expectations is key in building trust. When DD attended tryouts years ago for a 14U team, we told the coach that I didn't think it was a good fit for us that included several factors. He said that's okay, we will be here, you know where to find us. One year later DD ended up in that very same program, but different age level and stayed for 4 years. They didn't get all butt hurt and bad mouth us. They treated us with respect and I remembered that.

 

[BillyB]

I would just get them all together and have a conversation about your thoughts and the issues of missing so many team events. Just a straight up open and honest question about reliablity and what/why is it being impacted overall? Then you can give them one more chance, or say because of reliability issues we have to move on. Professional and direct, so all are on the same page regardless of the decision.

 

[El Oso]

Thank you again for this sound advice. I will try to take a step back and have another conversation with the parents and see where we can go from here. Coaching at this age is new for me and definitely brings about more complex issues. Thanks to everyone who has taken time to reply.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

Bottom line, you are looking at this the wrong way. You should be looking for advice on how to get the kid back to being engaged, not for advice on how to get her off your team. You will make a much larger and more positive impact on her life (which should be the main reason you are coaching) if you get her re-engaged as opposed to kicking her off your team. Kicking her off is the easy thing to do and is what most lazy coaches will do. Getting her re-engaged is the hard path to take but it is so much more worth it. Don't be like most of these coaches and choose the path of least resistance. Choose the hard path and try to make a positive difference in a young lady's life.

 

[soonerfan1966]

Haven't read everything but have they paid yearly team fees or do you not charge team fees. How far apart were the 3 practices, if it's the same week then illness seems reasonable. Funny how everyone only wants to let the weakest players go.