Level of emphasis?

I know most of the regulars here are involved with travel/HS and some college softball. I am looking for a sanity check on my level of emphasis on middle school ball. I take it seriously. Very seriously. Much more seriously than most of those around me. Administration included. I see middle school as the last boarding station for those about to be left behind. The kids whose parents can not, or will not, afford travel ball or some other above board means of development. Middle school is the soil from which the varsity crop will be gleaned. If not tended to, you will surely reap what you have sown. Now, having said all that, am I out of bounds or over exhuberant?

 

Exactly !!!

Coach Roger I started a thread over a year ago about why don't high school coaches get more involved with the middle school programs because of the feeder into their programs. I never got a response to the question...maybe the high school coaches think they are stepping on the middle school coaches toes. I don't know the answer, it just seems to me that it would be to the high school coaches interest to make sure that the rising middle schoolers would be groomed to the next level !!!

 

I worked a little with one of our middle schools last year and it went well, the other one doesn't want any help from us at all. So what do you do?

 

The good ones do (programs)

 

That's tough. It also depends if the middle school players go directly to a particular HS or are they divided among many schools. It also depends on the experience in coaching.

I believe most HS coaches that are faced with a resistant MS coach still watch their players that will be attending their school. They want to identify the quality of talent.

If you have a MS coach that is extremely difficult to work with, a word spoken with their AD usually greases the communication.

 

nobody is out of bounds for wanting excellence coach but i must disagree. In our personal situation MS was a nightmare. I came away from this thinking that perhaps it was the most irrelevant of playing opportunities and the intervening time has only served to reinforce that view. IMO you would be better taking those non TB kids and coaching them in a summer rec league. I know of many kids that for one reason or another didnt play MS ball that went on to have good HS careers or even play college ball regardless of the sport. Having said this I wouldnt stop the encouragement etc that you are giving to it.. but just know that public education is very much about everyone being the absolute master of their own little shoe box and a MS coach, if they are thin skinned, might not appreciate anyones efforts to assist.

 

you can tell

you can tell which schools have travel players and which do not in middle school. The school my dd goes to didn't have a windmill style pitcher, just bowling for dollars.....LOLThe local rec league wouldn't even teach proper windmill, just serve it up like ol dad...



Long time reader, 1st time poster!!!!!!

 

ours is a little different, i moved from varsity to middle school, imo middle school is the starting point, we teach in middle school and run the same practices as the varsity only difference is the teaching part, we do the fundamentals . if a player does not play travel ball then ms is were the teaching begins, so we can feed the vs program, some will never play vs and will only get to jv, but the ones who work hard will make the vs program. imo junior varsity is for the ones who will not be able to make the vs program and thats fine. the ones who excel and play all spring and summer , fall are the ones that usually make it.........after 6yrs varsity and 2 middle school just my opinion.........scott