East Short on Talent?

....Nice post Duke. I certainly meant no disrespsect to you brother. I agree, that there seems to be a "lack of motivation". Motivation starts with whats a kid thinks is the popular sport to play. Soccer has gotten real big and continues to grow. If 10 yr old has the majority of her friends playing soccer, then where do you think she's gonna want to play? Yep.
Your DD is one of the best ballplayers ever to come from NC. Was she just that doggone talented or did she work her butt off to get to where she is now?
IMO, a kid who has an older sister who plays fastpitch, is the very youngster that has to go to TB tourn. weekend after weekend. These younger DDs are the ones that will raise the bar as long as they are interested. How they can stay interested is to see their sister having a great time and mom and dad not screwing up by just being too damn hard on big 'sis.
First hand experience 101
Fishman

 

....you know, I've never really thought about it like you have pointed out 3B, but makes sense to me.
Marlin, going to fish the big rock in the a.m.

 

Sisters

Thanks. My DD is/was a very hard worker. She also had a lot of good instruction from a number of pitching coaches over the years, most notably Bev Smith. She was also fortunate in that she was a very good pitcher in 12U at 5'5". Through God's grace she added another 6" the next two years. If you watched the WCWS you saw that size matters. Her older sister is 5'5" and started too late to become an accomplished player. After getting cut in JV she became a runner and competed in XCountry @ App State. She could have easily grown resentful of the attention her younger sister garnered but to this day is her biggest fan . . . gain a real blessing from above.

 

Living the lie...

 

Both soccer and soccer on a stick require much less skills training to play them successfully. Yes they require stamina, but overall they are much easier to prepare for than fastpitch softball. To be successful in fastpitch, one must constantly pay close attention to details and train intensely to be able to react instantly and correctly with split second timing. It takes a special type of kid to devote themselves to do what it takes to be a successful pitcher, or catcher, or infielder, or outfielder, or hitter. Today's video game generation tends to follow the path that requires the least amount of effort to succeed. Therefore the simpler sports will tend to be their preference.

 

Losing talent

I know that in the east as far as high school there is to many sports to chose from. Rec leagues are drying up because parents don't want to help out just pay money and drop off the kid. I was involved in a rec league as a coach and board member and it was always the same ten people to do all of the work. Kids at a young age are introduced to soccer first and its easy for them and they stay with it. There is a reason why most girls that play softball are smart because a lot of the game is mental. A lot of the problem with middle and high school is they get coaches who really don't want to be there and don't know anything about the sport but the little bit of money is what they want. I am not talking about all of them because there are some dedicated coaches around and that is what it takes. I think the high school game for some has gone to a rec ball mentality, they don't look at it as a privlige and honor to play for the team. The talent is not getting to TB and if it does the team will not stay together long because someones parent will get mad and talk two others into leaving to go to another team and team jumping starts. Anyone who has been in TB long knows the story. There are organizations who will recruit girls while they are playing a game or they will try and get the whole team to join them. I have seen teams who play together for a while and get to winning a lot and all of a sudden the whole team breaks apart because someone else is promising their grass is a little greener and it is usually dead. The bottom line is they have to be introduced to softball early by people who know the game. Losing the Olympic games also hurt!!

 

Excellent Post!

 

less #'s playing in HS?? why?

it seems that rec ball has fallen off in places I know about, as far as the # of players / teams.

TB I assume is still thriving and growing?

has softball gotten really specialized with younger players going pretty much straight to TB and bypassing rec? any correlations?

 

ND

I think ND had about 22 on Varsity and 7 or 8 from the JV in Raleigh with them

 

Problems in the East?

I agree with most of the posts about this subject in reference to competition from soccer, lacrosse, etc., the "daddy ball" syndrome and lack of funding, but I can't help but feel that the problem all goes back to the emphasis that the local coaches put on softball. When there is a coach in the area that really tries to develop talent starting with the younger girls and showing interest in them throughout high school, that area thrives and the girls are successful.

I have never met Monte Sherrill, but it is obvious what he has done for the softball world everywhere that he goes. My DD played for John Roberts with the Rockets who finished 5th in 16U nationals and then went on to play for John, Ray Chandler and Ben McKinney on the 2006 Cards who won the 18U nationals and I know what a difference that those guys have made in the softball family as well. I remember the girls practicing for 5 hours a day in the summer at John's house and him being right out there throwing BP and working with "every" girl on skill development.

When my family moved to the coast my DD's freshman year, we had a coach here that took the same approach...the girls put on clinics, worked with younger girls on an individual basis and really developed the high school team into a top 10 team in the state for 3 years running. The coach left this year and left the team with 9 seniors that were expected to go to the finals and really make some noise in the state. The new coach came in with little or no experience (went to 2 coaches clinics over the summer) and ran rough shod over the team. 2 girls who were 3 year starters decided not to play for this coach and the other 7 were in turmoil the whole season...they finished around .500 and lost out in the second round of the playoffs.

In the history of the school there had only been 1 girl to go on to play softball in college, when the good coach came, in 5 years he helped develop 8 girls into college players so far, two went on to play D1. I said all this to say that it takes a concentrated effort from a coach (like a John Roberts, Ray Chandler, Ben McKinney, Monte Sherrill) that it is in it for the long run and has the best interest of "all" of the girls in his area...whether they play for his school / team or not, for the girls of that area to be successful.

Those of us that have been blessed with some coaching talent really need to take a look at the long term effect that we can have on the lives of these young people and their families if we do what we do for the right reasons, with our hearts in the right place.

Why is the talent level down in the East? The talent is there...it just needs to be developed.