Little League Question

You have no idea who you are addressing. He is not a parent. He is not a coach. He doesn't get involved in the politics. He is not a whiner nor a complainer. He is simply the toughest player mentally and physically to ever play in your area.

He is loyal to all the players and loyal to all the coaches who have sacrificed their time to make the players better in the Boone area. The credibility that he has built in your area and on this board means something. If you respect Coach Pete Hardee, then you would respect WHSpitcher opinion as well. They're cut from the same cloth.

 

just wait.........

.................til all those LL World series games start coming on TV - ESPN actually here in a few days. It will be the best Americana, mom's apple pie, purest form of baseball, goody-goody, take me out to the ballgame, put me in coach I'm ready to play EVENT you have ever witnessed. You would never think there's a single problem involved w/ LL baseball to listen to the broadcasts.

play ball!!

 

The best coach

is the coach who's players are better at the end of the season than they were when it started.

 

Didn't mean it that way at all. By reading the post I got the impression they tried to work something out. That was my point. Having ran a multiple sport youth league for 7 years I am familiar with these problems. I found every situation requires a different solution however we have been through most of your issues. Our all-star situations were never perfect either. We did not let the coach that won the season coach the team just because he won the regular season. Sometimes we even hired a coach that did not have a kid involved. This year we even had some HS kids involved which went very well. We found some HS kids know the game better than some parents and everyone was happy.

As to walking away, not likely for me to do that. I've been traveling for 3 days. Good luck in your issues. Hopefully the kids win.

 

WOW... First of all I would like to state my name is Will Dicus. You apparently thought it was my father. Now that we have that covered Ill try to address each question as best I can. If you truly have a problem with batting practice in every practice then you also contradict yourself when you say we should use the highschool coach. Coach Hardees varsity practice is 90 percent batting practice. We take batting practice and field the balls like it is a game situation therefor giving us our infield and outfield practice as well. Sure there are a few practices where we go over stuff but mostly its batting practice. You have to hit to win. Ive got a small hint that you wouldn't say anything about the way he runs his practices though. He is the best coach Ive ever had and mark my words when I say I wouldn't play for anyone else. Im sorry that the optimist club didn't interview people from all over the state for this "high level" position. But remember one thing, it is not a job. It is volunteer work. Stop treating it as if it was a job. As for bashing my father over this, you are simply crazy. He put more time into that league this year than he did into anything else. He fundraised for a new sound system, he attended almost every little league and junior league game, he did field maitenence, kept the book, ran the scoreboard, kept the rules in check, and ran the league. If it's that easy, you do it. As for me, I stated in my first post, I used to not think this coach was very good. I also said I went by what I heard until I attended and took part in one of his practices. I think he is a first class guy and a very good coach. Now the sad thing in all of this, is your gaining negative publicity for what could be the best group of kids and team that has every come through a Watauga baseball program. Why? Because you only finished in second in the tournament? If you don't have any darker days than that, I am truly jealous. Don't be quick to assume things. I coached this group of kids along with my father when they were 11-12. This coaches son that you speak so lowly of, was also on that team because we felt he deserved to be. So don't use the excuse "he only made the team because his dad was the coach." When I read your post the only things I had a problem with was 1. publicly attacking a nice guy and nice program that supplies money for kids to play every year, and 2. publicly attacking a 13 year old child for simply playing the game of baseball. As for the parent meeting, parents don't decide the coach. Neither do players. If so, Bobby Cox would be running a 13-14 year old baseball team on his off days with the Braves. Im not trying to be harsh, I actually agree with you on a couple of things like the board should not select the coach. Im still a big fan of the best record teams coach should have the option. But that is not the way it is anymore. Nothing can be done about that. The last thing Ill address is the illegal substitutions. Innocent until proven guilty. I honestly don't know whether he made them or not. But I am almost positive that he didn't for one reason. If you were at the tournament this year you probably noticed that the tournament director warns the coaches before they do something wrong. Pitch count, ineligible pitcher/player, rules, etc. He might have missed one, but would not have missed the other and Im betting he didn't miss the one. The ump disallowing the homerun was a bad call. The call behind it was "you cannot assist a runner in running the bases in anyway." He shook the kids hand and then from what I heard gave him a small push from behind. Was it enough to be called assisting the runner? Probably not. But the umpire made a gametime decision and called him out for that rule. Please don't get me mistaken, the reason I have taken the time to respond to these is because 1. I don't want people to get the wrong view and this innocent man and his family, and 2. I care about this group of kids alot which is why I have stayed involved with them. Like I said before, the only problem I have is you openly bashing an innocent guy and his 13 year old son who did nothing to deserve it. Thankyou, and thankyou braves for your help. I appreciate it alot.

 

Good to see a young player involved. Our youth league had great success with that this year.

 

Excellent....

....post.

 

Perfect Example

There has only been one year I can say we were not better at the end of the year than we were at the start. And I can also say it was the most disappointing season I have been a part of. It was also the most talented team we have ever had. We once took 100 straight ground balls in practice without and error. We have a little thing in practice where every once in awhile after we take infield we see how many plays we can make in a row without an error. We made 100 straight. We stopped on 100. The next time we made 98 straight. We were loaded on the hill and at the plate as well. And quite frankly we stunk. Our guys believed they were good and believed they could just show up at practice go through the motions and then just show up and win. We started out slow going 8-2. Then we got on a roll because our conference stunk and we ended the regular season 21-3 and ranked #1 in the state. We still stunk. Our players were not getting better. They were staying the same at best. We lost in the first round of the playoffs that year and we stunk.

Its the worse job of coaching I have ever done in my life. I can honestly say we were not as good at the end of the year than when the year started. I dont think a single varsity player was better at the end of the year. We got caught up in "man we are pretty good". We worked to maintain instead of working to get better. Our players were not tough enough or gritty enough. In fact we had some soft kids with some talent. It was a lesson I learned and I will never let it be repeated. You work your butt off everyday to get better. If you are not getting better you are getting worse. And quite frankly if you think your really good you better back it up with an even better work ethic. And if you are really good but soft you aint worth squat in my book.

I went 16-8 one year and we were a hell of a team. We would battle you to the end and we were tough as nails. We had one legit play after hs kid on the roster. But everyone one of those guys worked hard and played hard. It was one of the most enjoyable seasons I have ever had. Every player on that team was better at the end of the season. I can honestly say how much I enjoy a season is not related to how many games we ultimately win. Its directly related to the type of kids we have and how hard they work and how they play the game.

I dont know if this has anything to do with this thread. But at least I feel better for letting that out. Its been over 10 years ago and I am still peed off about it.

 

Quality!!!!!

 

My Perspective

My son directed me to this forum. I hope that I do things the proper way. If not, be gentle. I have travelled to see my son play many AAU games and some of his practices. I am not an expert on the game by any means. Here are my observations about this year's experience:

There are things I agree and disagree with on both sides of this issue.

First, Will, you are a fine young man. Many of the players respect you. No, this year's coach should not be bashed publicly like this, even though it is done privately.

The frustation many parents and players had this year involved knowing who would better teach and coach their sons. Both candidates this year are probably fine men. It is a matter of good, better, and best. Will, your father is very knowledgable about the game of baseball. Many parents and players felt that the other candidate was better prepared to offer their sons the same quality instruction you recieved. That is not saying anything negative about this year's coach. It is a matter of degrees.

Will, you must remember that these boys are Little League players. What is not instructed in depth in high school needs to be taught at the lower levels of the game. I agree that the practices were not well organized this year, too. The observation of players all standing on one side of the field is absolutely correct. I do not think Coach Hardee would allow this to happen during one of his batting practices. In high school, 90% of practices may be batting. However, I bet you work on bunting, bunt coverage, cut-offs, and lots of fielding. Batting is half the game. My son said they never worked on pitching, which seems important. The players needed to know what the coach expected them to do in many situations. That did not happen. It is good to finish in the top two in the district tournament. I think many parents and players would have accepted defeat better if they had been better prepared to play in the field.

With regard to the selection of the coach. Everyone in the county associated with Little League knows that it is political, despite what you or the Optimist Club say. This year's coach has been the all-star coach every year at every level. (The lone exception was the year you and your father coached. You guys did a good job of teaching the game. I do not think you had any parental complaints as a result of finishing in second place.) He will be next year's coach as well. Again, many felt the other candidate was extremely qualified to coach this year's team. It was his last chance to coach his son in Little League, too. I think this year's coach would have learned much from the other candidate. Instead, he will continue as in the past.

This year's coach's son did play cather almost every out. When you had him, if I remember correctly, he recieved his one at bat and his three outs in the field. Is this playing favortism? You bet. But he is the coach and it's his son. Parents should just expect it.

Will, you have played a major role in inspire these young men. I hope that you will continue to be an important figure in their lives. I look forward to seeing these boys play the next four years at WHS. They are a talented group.