Where are all the dads?

[PJR202]

A problem where I am is that the school has 450 kids, and we can presume slightly over half of those are girls. We have 6 sports with girls teams, plus band and cheerleading (school and club), and soccer has two seasons each school year (which IMO is complete BS). A good chunk of the bball and soccer girls play on travel teams, and a lot of those girls play softball.

So, 225-ish girls...probably half of which play no sports or extracurriculars. Last year our softball LL had 28 kids from 8u to 12u. My 13 year old MS player had a 7 year old teammate who stood on home plate when it was time to bat. I want any kid to play any sport they love (even soccer I suppose) because sometimes it's all they have to look forward to in life, but we are stretched so thin here it's ridiculous.

Considering it all, we actually have strong schools overall when it comes to wins in our state class. But it's a constant battle to get players and funding.

 

[Blue69]

Coach and Umpire Shortages? No one to blame but the Parents themselves. I am 75 years old and have been involved with Baseball and Softball 68+ years. I umpired a JUCO Softball game last nite. Great players, coaches, and fans. But I also have seen the opposite too many times. I have had parents try and fight me in the parking lot after a game and verbally trash me or my partner during a game. We lose umpires after 1 season because of the abuse. The reason I have done it is my LOVE of the game…yes the $$ helped earlier in my umpire career, but now I donate a lot of my time and $$. Parents also cause Coaches to quit. Google the Duluth East Hockey Coach. Rest my case!


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[radness]

It's perplexing to me because if my girls are involved in something, it's getting my full support. I offer help, donate my time and money, and I enjoy watching practices. And I just like spending time around my kids.

Even for the kids when at home, very few of them even have dad passing with them. One of the moms told me her kid's dad and step-dad both are of no help.

The moms do ALL the communicating with us coaches. It all just seems odd to me.

Yes have recognized that same thing,
it's perplexing when parents aren't involved in paying attention to their kids development.

It may be that some parents have no clue about the sport or how to be a coach. imo not an excuse to not be able to learn or at least be supportive in a positive way. Generally everybody has something they can offer to help sometimes it's just slicing oranges for the team. Which I always appreciated the parents who would do that as well as the parent who lines the field.

 

[radness]

I find it interesting the large number of rec players that have never played or seen a game of baseball/softball when they signup.

Remember my dad telling me when sailors were being trained in the Navy who had never seen the ocean befor. Then for the first time saw the ocean and a massive aircraft carrier that was floating on it. Later they learned what war is like.

 

[TomD]

At our local high schools lacrosse and spring soccer are more popular than softball, we struggle to recruit players. But reading this thread I'm seeing a bright side, we've never have a problem getting 3-4 coaches per team, the families who sign up for softball have parents who are fans of the sport.

 

[SeniorUmpireTim]

I can appreciate the concern and expression of appreciation for the coaches that give their time & expertise to this great sport of fast pitch softball. One very important aspect of the game though cannot go unnoticed. As am sure most involved in the game have heard and/or read of valued umpires falling drastically in numbers. Thru attrition, a significant number are retiring or quitting while not being replaced with much needed new umps. It's ever so important that we as coaches and parents demand of ourselves and others a display of respect towards the men & women in 'blue'. Let's face it, without them we have no (officially umpired) game(s). What do you say that we all make a concerted effort this season and beyond to welcome them on our fields and show the necessary respect they rightly deserve. Have a great season!

 

[bjenkins24]

My son is in baseball and my daughter is in softball. I coach her softball team and all the coaches are male in the league with 40 teams except 1. In my son's pony baseball they are always looking and begging for coaches. I don't think it's a softball thing. I think it's just a volunteer thing. It's a big time commitment and people are intimidated. I don't know though just some anecdotes!

 

[CoachDad1315]

I started helping with my daughters 6u rec team and am now hc of her 8u rec team. Last fall I took on a 6u and an 8u team. I do it for the extra time I get with my girls as well as being able to make a difference in the lives Of other kids. Parents have no clue how much time and money goes in to running a team. They think it is just time spent on the field. They have no idea the countless hours spent in preparation for games and practices, the hours spent watching youtube videos learning drills and the fundamentals of the game. It is so frustrating having parents bad mouthing me because my pitching isn’t always perfect (coach pitch), or saying I don’t yell enough or I yell to much. I do my best to pitch them a hittable ball. I am not trying to put the ball where each players swing travels every time. If I did that I would not be doing them any favors. 10u starts kid pitch and that ball definitely isn’t going to be in the perfect place for them. I explain this to them at the start of the season. I still have parents complain. Also getting parents to coach bases and help at practice can be very difficult.

 

[CoachDad1315]

As far as numbers of girls signing up we don’t have an issue with that. We had over 200 girls signup for rec ball ( t-ball- 16u) and over 100 girls for tb that is attached to our league.

 

[Jdeesso]

I started helping with my daughters 6u rec team and am now hc of her 8u rec team. Last fall I took on a 6u and an 8u team. I do it for the extra time I get with my girls as well as being able to make a difference in the lives Of other kids. Parents have no clue how much time and money goes in to running a team. They think it is just time spent on the field. They have no idea the countless hours spent in preparation for games and practices, the hours spent watching youtube videos learning drills and the fundamentals of the game. It is so frustrating having parents bad mouthing me because my pitching isn’t always perfect (coach pitch), or saying I don’t yell enough or I yell to much. I do my best to pitch them a hittable ball. I am not trying to put the ball where each players swing travels every time. If I did that I would not be doing them any favors. 10u starts kid pitch and that ball definitely isn’t going to be in the perfect place for them. I explain this to them at the start of the season. I still have parents complain. Also getting parents to coach bases and help at practice can be very difficult.

In my experience with coaching my DD and DS, I find those that have the most to say and chirp about coaching on the sidelines do the least and some look at coaches (8u and below) as babysitters. They have no idea what goes into coaching and the amount of time volunteers put in, from the league calls, field clean up, creating rosters, trying to recruit parents to coach, etc. Heck I’ve been on vacation getting on calls trying to figure stuff out.

I found one of the best time coaching was when Covid town regulations were lowered and baseball was one of the first and only sports going and parents were extremely appreciative of the coaches. Most parents wanted their kids getting out and doing anything even if they never played the sport before.


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