We quit our team today

[ian]

You're good, relax.

If its a competitive team with tryouts I think you should expect walk ons now and then. Its good for the roster players to know that there are non-rosters who want their position. Id love to see my daughters team pick up another good player, might mean more pine time for her though. The coach has a responsibility to add good players if they are available. The coach has to see what the good prospects can do in a game. No big deal.

If its a rec league then its recreational. Be happy the pick-ups got to play the great game of SB.

Lots of teams out there. You did good finding a team with her friend on it. She'll have fun.

 

[JAD]

We're picking up Saturday with our old coach's new team. It's not the level of play we want long term but she can play with her best friend, who's a catcher. She'll be #1 pitcher and SS, her 2 favorite things. She's happy about that.

If she truly wants to pitch the three most important things are circle time, having fun, and working hard outside of regular practices and lessons to improve. My DD started in C-level TB at 10U, but she was the #1 pitcher, and that motivated her to work hard because she knew her team was counting on her. Being the #3 pitcher on a A-level TB team would not have provided the same motivation.

 

[grcsftbll]

Pitching is her passion for sure. She works so hard at it.

 

[grcsftbll]

Thanks for all the input.

The team we're picking up with Saturday is a B team that's had a hard time completing its roster. They only are able to play by picking up. They have no short stop at all & are short a pitcher also. I know the assistant coach really well (he coached my daughter in 6u and 8U & I'm still good friends with his wife) and I know how much he cares about his players. He wants her to come on full time but we want to play the more competitive tournaments and they're going to be playing the B/C circuit. But she'll probably get to pitch more Saturday than she has all season w/ her now-ex coach. We are definitely being wary and careful.

I get that most A orgs are constantly recruiting. I'm fine with that. If he'd brought an ace pitcher to a big tournament, I'd have been unhappy for the decreased pitching time for my own, but happy to have an ace pitcher to face tough teams also. We are all about team, always have been. But to bring pick up players to a scrimmage and sit your own was pretty much the straw that broke the camel's back. You should have been a fly on the wall. There was so much tension and so many angry parents, which he seemed oblivious to.

I do think we all did a pretty good job keeping it from the kids. They still had fun but my daughter was devastated to get just 3 at bats all day. She had to sit a lot too, and she's a starting infielder even when she's not pitching. He did that as a punishment, because I said on our message group that I didn't think we needed pick up players for a friendly. That she sat most of the first game is not a coincidence. Again, we're part of a team full of talented girls and part of being on a team is that sometimes you sit. We've had that discussion and she doesn't like sitting but she accepts it, cheers for her team, etc. It's not the sitting, it's a combo of him sitting her to punish me, and his sitting not just her but 3 other of our own girls most of the day so these other girls who aren't on the team could play. The 2 girls he picked up never sat once or had to skip an at bat.

So, we're picking up with 2 different teams over the next 2 weekends and we'll see how they are. Neither is going to be close to as strong as the one we're leaving but we just don't care. I would rather my kid play hard and lose than watch her team win from the bench. She is in 100% agreement on that.

It's funny because she loved this team too, and for the longest time said she never wanted to change teams again. But the coach made it such an un-fun experience, that by yesterday afternoon she was finally ready. I know she's only 9 but we like to let her be the guiding force in these decisions. Not that we leave it all on her shoulders, but we help her talk through the options and her opinion weighs in heavily on what we do. Initially she wanted to work really hard and earn more play time which I whole-heartedly supported. I love that attitude. But even the other parents on the team are baffled by his decisions when it comes to her. The #1 pitcher's dad caught us and tried to get us to stay. He told us, "She is GOING to get more innings. He has to pitch her more, she strikes everybody out!" But that assumes he is making logical decisions about his players, and not letting his inexplicable dislike influence him. It got to be pretty clear that it didn't matter how great she was playing or how hard she was working, it wasn't going to change anything.

Having a coach dislike my daughter and then let that influence his playing her has been a new thing and not one I've enjoyed. She's worked with many coaches, and they've loved her across the board. Good life lesson I suppose. There are a couple of others on the team who are in the same boat, also great kids and great players. Our #4 pitcher had yet to get a single inning in the circle even in a scrimmage. Things like that.

Anyway, sorry so long. I'm just so relieved to have that mess behind us. I'm one of the least drama-magnet types ever. I like peace! I just want to watch my kid play ball and know she's having fun. We were able to keep our annoyances in check when it was just us being annoyed. But when it started to affect her confidence ("I must not be that good since he sits me all the time") we just had to go.

 

[JAD]

So, we're picking up with 2 different teams over the next 2 weekends and we'll see how they are. Neither is going to be close to as strong as the one we're leaving but we just don't care. I would rather my kid play hard and lose than watch her team win from the bench. She is in 100% agreement on that.

The best way to improve is to PLAY against better competition, not necessarily to be on the best team. A good B-level team that challenges itself and plays in some A-level tournaments is a great gauge for improvement.

 

[grcsftbll]

That's exactly what we're looking for. We don't want to play a bunch of CAM tournaments, where she's going to strike out every batter just with a fast ball down the middle. We don't care how the team we choose is classified, so long as they're jumping in on at least some really tough tournaments where she will regularly face girls who can hit. I also want her facing good pitching, when she's up to bat. Her fielding and pitching are really excellent but her hitting needs some work. She needs to not get walked 12 times in a tournament if she's going to improve on that.

 

[quincy]

Good luck.

I think we all look for the same big things in a Team but have a different opinion on the little things. Unless you are lucky I think it is really hard to find the right team.

It doesn't need to be perfect but good luck finding a Team.

 

[BobInMadison]

Hard to say what is the "best" team for any particular girl.

However, if you are uncomfortable with a team and the coach, you are on the wrong team.
I don't know, or need to know, the other side of the story, or if the HC had a really good reason that he just didn't communicate to the players and parents. All I know is you and your DD were unhappy. Time to leave.

 

[MTR]

Just going to play devil's advocate here - if your DD is guest playing this coming weekend and will be the #1 pitcher and SS I would be wary of that team. That is exactly what the coach of the team you just left just did - right? Picked a girl up who played above his own players?

Glad I wasn't the only one noticing the hypocrisy in a couple of posts

 

[quincy]

It is a tryout.

DD got bumped for a quest P that was not going to join our Team. If they had any interest in joining our team I would have been OK with it.