When you quit your team mid-season

[radness]

Did you learn something from it?
Good / Bad

Looking back now
do you think that was the right decision to have left mid-season? (mid-way)?

 

[bmakj]

never done it, tempted to, DD was miserable on one soccer team she played for, wanted to quit with about 4 or 5 games to go, we made her stick it out. only time she really did not want to finish a season for a team. HC was a drunk we were pretty certain, used chaw on the fields with his little snapple bottle for spitting. was so confused when we called him (DD was 10) to tell him DD was not returning.

Left one softball team after fall season, we left after last fall tournament, 12u, where coach cursed at her, but were leaving anyway. DD wanted to stick it out (and we agreed) for her teammates. guy is no longer coaching thank the lord. nut job

 

[jacman]

We finished a fall season once, then switched in spring. It was a decision to stay through fall to honor her commitment. The coach was pleasant enough. DD got lots of time at short, but went there as one of three pitchers. Yet she pitched an average of only 1 inning per tournament (Yes, I counted.) Maybe it's because she was the only one of the three who wasn't being coached in pitching by the HC. What's more, the practices weren't up to what I would call a rec league standard in organization or even in teaching. Only team DD ever asked to leave.

 

[Vertigo]

Not sure if you mean left after the fall but before the summer season - as most travel softball teams expect a year’s commitment.

I did move dd from a 16U B team to an 18U A team after the fall season a few years ago as we had been with the former team at the 14U level and realized that the coach and most of the players didn’t have the same goal as dd did of playing in college. We knew at that point it was time to make the move.

Don’t regret it one bit - playing with the older girls (8 were seniors) when dd was a freshman really helped her with her skill set and exposure. They played in ASA “A” tourneys, showcases, and a “Gold” qualifier. It was a great experience for her, especially since the team folded after that summer (once the seniors graduated) and she was able to then make a 18U Gold team. Helped her start the recruiting process. Coaches really helped to promote her, as well.

 

[cdhboiler97]

We left a team in January and haven't looked back. We had many many conversations about what kind of message it sends our daughter about quitting something we started, but at the end of the day we had a coach who wouldn't communicate, ignored his team over the winter, justified his bad behavior and was not living up to the story he told and expectations he set when we joined the team. My daughter is thriving on her new team. Our only regret is the impact on the other girls and their families but we knew we had to do it. She is 14U and has goals she has set that requires more than what he had to offer.

 

[Quigs10]

"Quit" is too negative a term and not always defines why a player or family "leaves" or "left" or moves on from a team during the season. There are too many variables and reasons for someone to leave early. Doesn't mean they "quit".

Maybe they play multiple sports and have a better opportunity or are better in a different sport and they can't "commit" full time to both. Maybe they are told one thing when they join what the goals and schedule or time demands will be in the beginning of the season and what ends up is nothing like what they were told or promised when signing on. Whether thats more than they were told or not as much as they had hoped. But, if they were told one thing about the goals of the team and it turns out completely different, then that's on the coach and it's not the player quitting the team.

To me, parents are paying $$$ for a product (coach/team) and that product is advertised in a certain way. If that product is NOT what it was advertised, as the customer we have the right to move on due to "false advertising".

I don't call it "quitting" if a player/family choose to leave a coach that is degrading, abusive and destructive to young womens confidence and self worth. Sometimes you don't know these things or who the REAL personality of the coach is until you've been on the team for awhile. I've read soooo many horror stories and posts on this board about the unhealthy situations girls have been in. Why would you force your daughter to stay in an abusive or toxic environment?

 

[radness]

"Quit" is too negative a term and not always defines why a player or family "leaves" or "left" or moves on from a team during the season. There are too many variables and reasons for someone to leave early. Doesn't mean they "quit".

Maybe they play multiple sports and have a better opportunity or are better in a different sport and they can't "commit" full time to both. Maybe they are told one thing when they join what the goals and schedule or time demands will be in the beginning of the season and what ends up is nothing like what they were told or promised when signing on. Whether thats more than they were told or not as much as they had hoped. But, if they were told one thing about the goals of the team and it turns out completely different, then that's on the coach and it's not the player quitting the team.

To me, parents are paying $$$ for a product (coach/team) and that product is advertised in a certain way. If that product is NOT what it was advertised, as the customer we have the right to move on due to "false advertising".

I don't call it "quitting" if a player/family choose to leave a coach that is degrading, abusive and destructive to young womens confidence and self worth. Sometimes you don't know these things or who the REAL personality of the coach is until you've been on the team for awhile. I've read soooo many horror stories and posts on this board about the unhealthy situations girls have been in. Why would you force your daughter to stay in an abusive or toxic environment?

Hmmm i know of people who quit smoking and it was a good thing for them.

As to verbage, use whatever you like, define it however you want...with certainty others will too!

 

[Laphoneman]

We are struggling to stay on a team now head coach quit so we got another head coach to start the summer season the assistant coach is a daddy ball guy. I’m kind of aggravated with him. Because he bullies the coach and the girls. Tell them they are an embarrassment to their parents. So now he has bullied the head coach into quitting after 1st tournament. Now he has his daughter where he can keep her on the field and the only thing she leads the team in is errors.
this is 16u HS team and we are really good. We love all the girls even his daughter because she plays great when he is not there belittling her.
Hopefully the small organization will replace the head coach position soon.

 

[texasheat]

Because he bullies the coach and the girls. Tell them they are an embarrassment to their parents.

I would have been gone from that team immediately after hearing that. And not quietly. You are saint for hanging in there.

 

[flash277]

My DD recently left her team after playing the fall season, and it's for none of the reasons stated here. She had a real good team, real good coach, good family atmosphere, she left (call it quit if you like) be cause she just grew tired of the travel ball grind. She knows she's not going to play in college. She looked at the summer schedule (18u) and they playing 8 of 9 weekends in the summer, with 5 away tourny/ showcase (they 18u). I talked to her about the commitment she made at the beginning of season, but she wants to get a job for the summer(which she already lined up). Now if she just said she just wanted to hang out at the beach with friends all summer, she'd be honoring her committment. But since she got a job, working on getting a car ( she's 17) and gonna pay the bills on it, it was her call. She told the coach and he was good with it, he understood. At first I was upset about it, but it's her life, and for the last 6 summers all it was was softball. So if she wants to have two summers where she can work and hang with friends and not get up 6am for 7am warm ups and all day gaming, I'm good with that. I'll miss watching her play (she still play HS) but I won't miss all early morning all weekend games and long road trips (seriously man, 6 years enough for me too). I still umpire, so I'll get my fix it softball without the agita of watching DD play. And she's smart too, got a job at the beach! So so long travel ball, it was fun while it lasted, I've had great memories from it but I won't miss it a bit.