What would you do?

Sounds like you have made up your mind and only want to vent a little, that's fine. No coach EVER wants a player to be "happy" riding the pine, it's called competition. Every coach I know wants that player to say, "I'll show him/ or her!" That only makes the whole team better. Have you ever heard of this: A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. ? Maybe the coach is sitting a player for the wrong reason, maybe not. If you look at sucessful coaches in the area(WNC), you will find that it is their way or the highway. Coaches at Alexander Central, Fred T Foard, St. Stephens, Hibriten, Bandys, N. Iredell, and many more have a proven system that works or will work in the case of N. Iredell. I am not choosing favorites, merely stating the facts. As far as a player to learn the system, well that depends on how long they buck the system.

**It is KEY for parents to stay out of HS AND TB coaches ears and faces about playing time! You only hurt your DD. I'm sorry things didn't or haven't gone well with the situation you wrote about. You must buy into a system, support the system, have your DD to support the system and make the best of it. In the end, it only hurts the DD. Best of luck on your decision, I hope it's what the DD wants and not what mom or dad want. Too many parents burn bridges of teams not allowing the DD to learn about life. Life is not fair, high school is not fair, travel ball is not fair, softball is not fair. Nobody can change your mind, it sounds pretty made up. I just hope that when things don't go your way next time, you wait at least 24hours before approaching your DD's coach about it. Best of luck to you as I will not respond again. I do wish you luck!

 

I coach HS and travel ball. If a TB pitcher goes down with an injury I'll recruit another. If my HS pitcher is injured the whole team is up the creek. Don't be selfish this is the team first concept that fewer and fewer people understand.So NO travel ball tourneys during HS season. 3 hs games a week plus 5 games on the weekend is a whole lot of ball!!! Be ready to hit the TB tourneys in June.

 

It dose not surprise me that the HS coach's are sticking together on this. I still believe it to wrong for a HS coach to tell one of their player that they can't play TB during the HS season after they have already made their HS team. Do not think that this is something that should be discuss with the players prior to attending the tryouts? Conditioning would be a great time to let the players know this so they could decide what they want to do rather then letting the coach tell them what they can't do. After the fact is to late

 

Communication

Maybe you should communicate with the high school coach before you select a travel team. Many coaches will even recommend your DD to a team or point you in the right direction. None the less communication is the key. It is not the coaches responsiblity to tell the players during conditioning due to the fact they have not made the team yet. If the parents or their DD were paying attention to the high school team before she got there then you would know the rules. And I am not a high school coach but I am a travel coach. Communicate with your DD and make sure what her goals are for the future. If she wants to play ball in college and is not concerned which school or which level then go all out. If she knows which school she would like to attend (for course study) then find out if she can play at that level. It might pay you to save your money and not play TB. Trust me on that one I learned the hard way. After spending well over $5,000.00 dollars in two summers I learned that mine wanted to go to a specific school and I even knew he couldn't play at that level. So please communicate with your DD. Her opinion should be the one you listen to.

 

Ok don't want to get into the HS vs. TB disagreement YET again...there is a place for both but i will disagree on one point by both sides...you CAN get better riding the pine...don't believe me ask my kid (youngest)...here's the scenario
Through no fault of her own (it was her hair brain coaches fault- ME) her 12 & under travel team disbanded...out of respect for my family a friend of mine took her up to play on a 14U team that her sister was playing on even though the perception was that she was not that good....she sat..and sat..and sat....and learned..she watched..she asked questions..she absorbed EVERYTHING that went on so when she did get her chance to play she took advantage of it....and then she sat..and sat...until she got the next chance...now by the end of the year she was playing pretty regular and had learned more than i had taught her in 4 yrs. (her words and yes it stung) because she SAT...and when the older and younger girls split up now she was one of "horses" and guess what it wasn't handed to her she earned it along with alot of respect not only from other people but from herself...
Now Stitches as far as the issue of playing TB while in HS i will say this about it...if you are REALLY interested in improving your DD then she should be playing at least 16U or 18U because more competition means more learning and better playing...ok now try finding a 16U or 18U tourney in the spring..pretty much non existant except in GA because the play HS in the fall...so if you're playing 14U and HS what's the point...collecting trophies???...she's playing against 18U in HS so why not in TB?? always play up if you get the chance, it irks the fool out of me to see 14U teams full of freshmen in HS running around collecting WFC, ASA, NSA or any others trophies...play up..the competition will only make the kid better...
and i agree w/ for the girls...if you want to go to college be ready for a BIG dose of humility and ask the college if you can play TB while the season goes on...hell some won't even allow it during the summer..
Half our varsity team is sitting on the bench at ND (JV), we encourage as many players as possible to play travel at all times but if your coach doesn't allow it you must abide by those rules or don't play
..just my 2 cents

 

long posts hurt my head!

.....hey parkdaddy, when you have kids, as you do,who are in the 100 percentile of ballplayers and they are 2 years younger than the kids they're watching,.....then they say to themselves BAM!, "I belong here" because they do, then yes, a little time on the bench might be a awake up call.
But if your own were not really good, and you knew they needed a boost, what would you do?
Fishpal

 

rise above or fall behind

cheeze, that would maybe not make me a happy camper but, it's still his/her team and, for this season, those would be the rules we would have to live by.

Now, everyone can sit around with their lip stuck out or, we could make the best out of it. Work on getting grades up to the max, set up private lessons (heck of a lot cheaper than traveling every weekend!), work at practice on the weak points of your game and enjoy a little time with your friends from school... be a kid!

My DD is a sophomore in high school and she will benefit from the lessons I learned going through all this with my son on his path to college baseball. The first and foremost lesson is that it better be fun! If the fun goes, the love for the game will soon follow and once that's gone it's over. Secondly, realize there is a time for everything. School ball has it's place as does travel ball. They each serve a purpose and it's not always directly related to the actual playing of the game. With kids sitting on the bench or being on the jv team instead of the varsity, one can quickly identify the ones that want it from the ones that expect it. The "want its" will see this as an opportunity and will work harder until they achieve their goal in the long run. The "expect its"? They will often learn only one lesson... how to quit.