Thinking of starting a travel team, need advice

[InsidePitch]

I have been coaching for the past 6 seasons and was thinking about starting a Travel/tourney team. Aside from the formalities of starting a team, 503C, bank stuff. Do you all have any advice about when to do this. I'm sure it was last August but is February too late? I have two pitchers and my daughter catches. I know of several other girls who might and their parents might be interested. So, any sage advice besides....."DON'T DO IT!"

 

[DonnieS]

Really the only formalities that are in the 'have to' category are team insurance and a bank account. The 503C thing unless you are building an organization type setup, is a lot of effort, that I am not too sure is worth it. We have gone some 8 years with out it. Pitching, catching and hitters and a good place to practice, are the critical things to make sure you have in hand. A good set of catchers gear is important though serious catchers will already have theirs. You dont say what age group, but my suggest is if you are in the over 12 category, find out where the ASA qualifiers are in your area, get scheduled for them and then find a lot of tournaments to play where you wont spend your families into the poor house. Try to solicit a solid sponsor or two. The things you need to spend money on are a)insurance (Bollingers, USFA, USSSA, etc) but be sure that the insurance you buy covers you whereever you play, Bollingers only covers you for ASA and ASA will say they only accept Bollingers, but ASA lies - they will accept whatever you have, b) uniforms - usually one set of t-shirt type things for pool game play and then at least 2 sets of nice game day uniforms - shop hard on these c) advance tournament fees - most qualifiers (asa) are paid in advance, most others in our area (texas) are pay on the day of the game and d) balls, T's (crucial - buy the best - the heavy duty, around 110 a set ), portable pitching machines are what I have liked (Jugs Small Ball, Jugs Lite Flight) for use in pre-game warm up, foldup-nets for soft toss hitting, and e) a good set of catchers gear - but you said your kid catches so you are good there.

Set up rules for your group, stick to them, do not make brother-in-law, best friend deals (you can have my dd but her best friend has to play 3rd base), do a team roster form where you get contact info, email info, etc. I send out all info via email, I have had people talk about playing with us and say well we dont use email (i cut them) or we dont check email very often (i cut them) or I need phone calls (I cut them with extreme prejudice). Your time is going to be stretched big time and the last thing you need to do is be making 13 phone calls every time the weather changes and you cant practice - and dont put it on the team mom or other coaches - it needs to be efficient for you or you will say 'forget it' among other things. Be very willing to learn new things - join NFCA (nfca.org) and read their stuff, try to learn new things and strategies every year. Find the best teams/coaches in your area and copy their good ideas but always lie and say it was your idea.

Regarding "Dont Do It", forming this team and working with these kids for the last 6-8 years is one of the best things I have ever done in my life. Hopefully it will be for you too.

 

[SnocatzDad]

If you can get a decent non parent coach for the team that would probably double your chances of success. Sources for that might be local former college players, HS coaches. If like most start up travel teams you have to stick with a parent coach, if at all possible make the head coach/manager not be a pitcher's dad. If the head coach manager is a pitcher's dad your chances of success are about half what they would be otherwise. IME parents of the team will always question when the head coach pitches his own daughter. They might accept their kid being benched without question from a non-parent coach or even a parent coach of a non-pitcher, but it's hard for people to trust when it comes to thier kids.

I'm sure your thinking not me, not my parents, I'm blessed with a great group. Here's the reallity the season starts with Mom and Dad saying "I completely trust the coach", a month later it's "I trust the coach" a month later it's (after a long pause)"i trust the coach", by the end of the season it's "we're leaving this guy is an idiot". And it won't be based on whether the coach was or wasn't an idiot, it will be based on the growing tension on having to trust someone else to make decisions on their kid when the coaches kid is also on the team.

IME "we're leaving this guy is an idiot" is usually followed by either A. hitting the tryout circuit, or B. Trying to start a new travel team around their daughter.

 

[DonnieS]

If you can get a decent non parent coach for the team that would probably double your chances of success. Sources for that might be local former college players, HS coaches. If like most start up travel teams you have to stick with a parent coach, if at all possible make the head coach/manager not be a pitcher's dad. If the head coach manager is a pitcher's dad your chances of success are about half what they would be otherwise. IME parents of the team will always question when the head coach pitches his own daughter. They might accept their kid being benched without question from a non-parent coach or even a parent coach of a non-pitcher, but it's hard for people to trust when it comes to thier kids.

I'm sure your thinking not me, not my parents, I'm blessed with a great group. Here's the reallity the season starts with Mom and Dad saying "I completely trust the coach", a month later it's "I trust the coach" a month later it's (after a long pause)"i trust the coach", by the end of the season it's "we're leaving this guy is an idiot". And it won't be based on whether the coach was or wasn't an idiot, it will be based on the growing tension on having to trust someone else to make decisions on their kid when the coaches kid is also on the team.

IME "we're leaving this guy is an idiot" is usually followed by either A. hitting the tryout circuit, or B. Trying to start a new travel team around their daughter.

That all being said, I was the coach, pitching is my younger dd's main position and short stop was my older dd's main position - though the older has moved on.

 

[SnocatzDad]

Donnie, I'm not passing any judgement on pitcher's dad's who start teams, just stating that IME the tension between that parent and the other pitcher's parents is more often than not a problem on new teams and a cycle that I see repeated over and over that I would try to avert up front if I had the opportunity. Those tensions run high even when a non-parent coach is making the decisions, but that ususally helps keep it managable.

 

[Coach JV]

Donnie, I'm not passing any judgement on pitcher's dad's who start teams, just stating that IME the tension between that parent and the other pitcher's parents is more often than not a problem on new teams and a cycle that I see repeated over and over that I would try to avert up front if I had the opportunity. Those tensions run high even when a non-parent coach is making the decisions, but that ususally helps keep it managable.

I happen to be a coach whose DD is a 'shutdown pitcher' I have no problem putting her on the bench either.
Last season we were burdened with 5 pitchers and lots of questions from their parents. To resolve, we pitched
the bottom 3 pitchers in seed games on 2 consecutive tournaments. We lost all those games as these girls
got shelled. We pitched our top 2 pitchers in elimination those weeks and finished 3rd and 2nd respectively.
Never had another inquiry of 'my DD should pitch more' The experience is a major commitment of your time and energy,
but the rewards are well worth it. I will continue as a travel coach when my DD enters high school. When starting travel,
you use much more strategy as the competition is more fierce. GOOD LUCK!

 

[DonnieS]

I happen to be a coach whose DD is a 'shutdown pitcher' I have no problem putting her on the bench either.
Last season we were burdened with 5 pitchers and lots of questions from their parents. To resolve, we pitched
the bottom 3 pitchers in seed games on 2 consecutive tournaments. We lost all those games as these girls
got shelled. We pitched our top 2 pitchers in elimination those weeks and finished 3rd and 2nd respectively.
Never had another inquiry of 'my DD should pitch more' The experience is a major commitment of your time and energy,
but the rewards are well worth it. I will continue as a travel coach when my DD enters high school. When starting travel,
you use much more strategy as the competition is more fierce. GOOD LUCK!

Great idea. But usually the bottom pitchers parents have at basket load of excuses as to why their kid's games were lost - so now the stat I care about is did you win the game you pitched. Top pitchers not only play good defense but they inspire the defense behind them to step up - the defense knows that the games aren't going to be lost in the circle and so they try harder.
The two high school games my kid lost last year in the circle were against the #1 ranked team in the state 1-0, 2-1. After both games, she was crying because she was pissed at herself for what she saw as mistakes - she didnt blame anyone. That is a pitcher - that is an athlete.

 

[MrGreen]

... she was crying because she was pissed at herself for what she saw as mistakes - she didnt blame anyone. That is a pitcher - that is an athlete.

That's exactly the way a pitcher is supposed to act. Good stuff!

 

[SnocatzDad]

Those are great points. I've often heard pitchers lament that they pitched good enough to win, but the defense let them down. Other than dropped 3rd Strike the pitcher has their share of blame on any error made by the defense because they allowed a ball to be hit, or walked the batter on. A better pitcher might look at a game they lost (or won) where 21 outs were fielded and realize they have some work to do. IMO when you put 15+ balls in play odds are one of those is going to make someone look like a monkey.

 

[Coach JV]

My daughters last tournament, she lost in KC overtime 4-2 on defensive miscues.
It was the last game of 2009, and yes, she was in tears when she came off the field.
She is a natural leader and the girls do rally around her more than my 2nd pitcher who is also very good,
but is quiet as a mouse.
In 15 innings over 3 games, my dd had 21 k's and gave up
2 earned runs over 3 elimination games. This is why I refer to her as a 'shutdown' pitcher.

A pitcher pitches because she likes the game and wants the ball. A pitcher needs to lead
and also needs to be mentally tough. Every pitcher throws a mistake on occasion that
gets driven to CF. This is the pitch that needs to be erased from the memory bank immediately.

A finesse pitcher will give up alot of pop-ups and weak grounders. This is how those monkeys are made.
A pure power pitcher mows down the majority of the lineup and makes the game go fast