To Coach or Not to Coach that is the question...

[stonebeltkelsy]

Hi newbie to the forum here. I did a quick search and didn't find exactly what I was looking for so if I over looked a thread covering this topic I'm sorry. My daughter played for the first time this year (6u rec). While I signed up to run herd on the girls in the dugout this season due to some unfortunate circumstances also ended up subbing for the coach for a part of the season.

I'm looking at coach 8u (rec) next season. The league is fairly unorganized so the importance of a quality coach is magnified. I noticed this year that by the end of the season the girls who were really into it were beside themselves with frustration by the end of the season. During the last game they had taken to coaching the other girls while on the field. The girls who were "just there" did not get the extra help they needed to engage. (IE it's hard to no why you want to get an out if you don't know what and out is). The weather (we only got 5 out of 16 practices in- at least one of the others teams rescheduled practices ours did not) and the coach's emergency played a role I know, but several of the girls on the team will not play again because of the mishaps. That breaks my heart.

I was lucky as a player to have fantastic coaches. I would just like to see the girls get the same opportunity- get the fundamentals, develop a love of the game and have fun. Prior to this season I would have said I don't have the knowledge base to coach, as it is so much different than playing. But after this season- I think with effort and education I can do it and I want to do it well. The girls deserve that.

I am concerned about being a parent and a coach. While I helped at all the practices and games and it didn't cause an issue with my daughter- I wonder what are potential pitfalls I should watch out for with the dual role? Is 9 months enough time to prepare? What's the best way to prepare? I am already signed up for nysca certification (league requirement) looking in to asa now. Really any input/suggestions/etc would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I think that you are on the right path. And coming here, is good. I will tell you what to avoid, is the coaching info put out by LL. I watched it this year and it had as much bad info as it had good. (Little League)

Perhaps you could get those little girls, that you don't think are coming back, together with your DD (darling daughter) and have a play date, at a playground with a ball diamond. Then, set up some fun drills for them. Or teach them to slide and let them get wet and dirty.

You have plenty of time to prepare and it will be wonderful to coach your DD. There are many DVDs available with drills and you will need to update what you know about hitting and pitching (no squish the bug.) (no slam the door.) But there are a lot of people on here, that can help you.

And if you want to vacation in Tucson, I will help.

 

[canyonjoe]

I was lucky to have a great coach for my DD the first year. I later assisted with him in the next couple. I'm guessing that your DD is one of the better players. The problem with rec is that there will be a huge variance and ability and desire. I always worked with my DD either before or after practice on getting better in areas that we just couldn't cover in practice. What I found is that if the better players show a good attitude it rubs off. If they think they are great and are rolling their eyes at the little kids it's really bad.
As far as you, I would say you should absolutely coach these kids. You seem to want to learn and it will be a big help. I would also get parents to help on drills,etc. Just have it organized and you will see improvement. Really emphasize to them that they need to play catch with the kids on their own. You will quickly find the ones that do. Above all make sure you have some fun built in. I know we kept a core of 8 girls together for 4 year. We moved on to TB, but the rest still play. Our head coach is the reason why.

 

[David Carter]

You are exactly what the rec world needs....someone who cares enough to wonder if they are qualified, willing to learn and willing to help.

You have plenty of time; at this age it is all about fundamentals after that work mostly on those first three letters "FUN".

 

[WB Coach]

You are exactly what the rec world needs....someone who cares enough to wonder if they are qualified, willing to learn and willing to help.

Excellent point! My thoughts exactly.

 

[James Smith]

8U Rec. is a lot of fun, good luck.

You are going to have a big difference in talent and commitment, it is easy to get frustrated.

IMO, player safety is the #1 priority. Even from the OF DD needed to be careful how hard she threw the ball at this age, it is what we signed up for.


Be over organized would be my suggestion. Try different drills and if it works keep it on your list, if it fails take it off your list. You need to be willing to fail; everything you try to do is not going to work out but keep trying different things and keep it interesting.

At this age someone else helped my DD and I helped their kid. Like an 8YO is going to listen to her own father.

Edit: Keep track of it for me and let me know when they figure out the IF fly rule. I am thinking 35 but am not sure because it has not happened yet so I will need to see.

 

[stonebeltkelsy]

My daughter is decent. Not a super star by any means- she is to new to the game. We had a couple girls on the team that were amazing players especially for their age. My daughter has improved by leaps and bounds over the course of the season, she wants to play all the time, and most importantly to me she LOVES it. We have to restrict her practice time in fact because she won't do anything else, and would play ball until midnight if we let her. After she gets done practicing she wants to talk about it until she goes to bed. I want to support her but not let her burn herself out either. I'm so happy that she has taken to a team sport. There are so many valuable things she will learn from being a part of a team.
The girls that were frustrated had vastly different ability levels but all had desire. They would play their little hearts out and get stomped in the games. There frustration didn't come from errors other players made but from being completely detached from what was going on. With 3 adults on the field I feel they should be the ones to address the little ones sitting in the baseline so intent on throwing dirt in the air they have no idea that a line drive and a runner are coming right at them. I know it's playing in the dirt league (6u) and understand that there will be distraction, but as the coach(es) that's when you step in and help get them refocused- that's why you are on the field in this age group. Putting the responsibility on the other players is too much. Not to mention some of the things I saw were serious safety issues. They are little and need guidance.

Thanks so much for the input (keep it up by all means!). I was hoping to find some coaching clinic in my area but no such luck as of yet.

 

[stonebeltkelsy]

Thanks for giving me the abbreviations I would have been lost otherwise. And everyone teaches squash the bug around here it seems like and throw your hands at the ball. Any specific dvd's you suggest I start with?

 

[cmustangsfp]

Take the leap. If you care enough to want to do it right, you have already shown more care than most of the rec coaches. When one is forced to do something, they usually resent it. I have seen a lot of rec coaches be pressured into doing it (we may not be able to field X number of teams unless we get more coaches....). So order some vidoes and do it. Don't worry about teaching everything to 8U players. Unless you have an ultra competitive league, they probably won't be able to steal or slide, they won't have to worry about pitching (although it doesn't hurt to have them start learning stuff now - mine started at 7 pitching because she would attend her sister's pitching lessons and start doing the motions everywhere we went. We didn't want her to learn bad habits that she would have to unlearn later so we asked her pitching coach and she let her start taking lessons also. She played up in 10U rec this season and pitched in several games. She even struck some girls out. Anyhoo...... back to your ocnversation). So teach them how to throw, catch, run through first and if you really want to help us older girls coaches out, can you try to teach them to run without trying to see where they hit the ball? If you could get that out of them early we would appreciate it! Also try to incorporate fun drills into practice. Here are some we use:
1) Hit the bucket. Put an empty bucket at the pitchers mound, Make 2 liines of girls, one behind where SS would play and the other behind where 2B would play. Have one girl at the front of the line, the others in the grass behind them. Once the girl at the front throws her ball, she returns to the end of the line and then the next girl comes up to the spot. Have a coach on the 1st and 3rd base lines to catch the misses when they don't hit the bucket and to return the ball to the next person in line. Each line scores 1 point if they hit the bucket, first one to five wins. The girls love it. A variation on this as they get older is to set a ball on a T and do the same, except 1 point for hitting the ball off cleanly, 1/2 point for hitting the T and causing the ball to fall.
2) Race around the bases relay. 2 teams one starts at home, Team 2 starts at 2nd. one girl from each team runs around the bases once and tags the next girl and she goes round the bases. A varation on this is that they have to hand off a ball to complete the relay. Any missed bases or dropped balls and they have to go back. Use your parents as base watchers.

At 8U it needs to be fun or the girls will not stay tuned in for long. I, for one, do not use the old stand by of stationing all of the girls in a position on the field and hitting balls to them one at a time. This usually is very boring (to all age levels) and only teaches one or two girls something at a time. When I do get around to doing that I have players on the bases to teach situations and to try to mimic real game time scenarios. Hopefully it recreates the "pressure" of trying to beat a throw or trying to beat the runner. It also involves several girls on offense and defense and keeps more of the girls doing something.

If you use T's for Tee work you will inevitably have some parents say that Tees are for Tee ball, I want my daughter to play SOFTball. Just tell them that they still do tee work in college and it seems to work out good for them.

Also remember not to take the games too seriously. I have seen many girls run out of softball by demanding coaches at the 8U and 10U levels. These levels should be nuturing the enjoyment of the game, not the quality of a particular game.

 

[cmustangsfp]

I used the USA softball DVD's with Mike Candrea.