Teenage Girls, Softball and Bullying

[Hollyrockartist]

Did you add writting childrens books to your artistic resume? Your post is relatively Seusian in it's construction.

Yeah, you know I have a bestie on the board who uses such comparisons...he is my HERO!!!

 

[fivepotsogold]

Principle of our Middle School told us that the "bullying" along with the drama overwhelmingly lies with the female population. Apparently it is supposed to get better Junior Senoir years.

Saw problems in LL, Travel, and on the Middle School team.

The bully here happens to be a 9th grader like my daughter. Another pitcher. Let's just say apples don't fall far from trees and we'll leave it at that.
Travel team is actually great this year.

All we can hope for is that "bully" goes to Varsity ...
but in the event she doesn't we can only hope the new coaching staff deals with it instead of letting it go as the kid is a pretty good athelete.

All it would take would be benching the kid a couple of games .. but no one willing to do it!

My younger DD has one like this on her U13 soccer team ....

I don't know how boys are now ... but when I was a kid ... they got in a physical fight and 15 minutes later on the same team in the sandlot ...
That is why I never really hung out with the girls! LOL.


Learning to deal with it is a lesson for life .....

 

[Sparky Guy]

Hey Bishop, my point was about raw talent on a high school team. I think high school is an overall environment, if that makes sense. Not just a 12-player team (like a travel team). So I think seniors do deserve some favor over freshman, for instance, just to put in place an order of orderly succession. And considerations like school grades, behavior, overall academic/sports environment come into play.

I know there's a huge gap of misunderstanding and distrust between travel and high school ball....I think in part because they are really trying to accomplish different goals but don't always realize it.

Rich you are way off the mark here. This is HS. It is a training ground for REAL life. There is competition in real life. If you don't measure up you don't make it. The because they are seniors thinking is the type of mindset that has helped foster the entitlement attitude that many of the younger people feel now days.

 

[Sparky Guy]

Interesting thread. It makes me wonder if I am alone in believing that girls will create drama even where no drama exists, and that in doing so, it actually prepares them better for life then if all of these situations were diffused by coaches/adults.

It seems to me that a better question to ask would be, "Where do we (coaches/parents) draw the line where bullying is concerned?". Do we expect all of our players to get along and respect each other while they play for us? Probably, but do those expectations continue off the field? Is creating a "cult of respect" amongst the team better for the girls then taking a more liberal view to how drama happens and the lessons learned from being subjected to it? I don't have good answers, but I'm curious as to what other people think.

-W

Here is what I have found that has worked for me as a coach. I tell the girls at the very first practice that I will not tolerate any type of name calling, bullying, drama or any other type of BS when we are together as a team. I tell them they do not have to like or be friends with every girl on the team, but they WILL respect each other. I give them no choice or chance to "work things out." I have done it for them before it starts. In the last 6 years I've only had to address one girl about it. I told her to stop the nonsense or she was off the team. The BS stopped immediately.