Too Many Travel Ball Teams as a Player

Trooper, I have seen some parents who absolutely ruin their kid and built them a rep. for ever. Many people will attest to playing with a great kid whose paretns have lost perspective.

 

kanwj wrote:
Trooper, I have seen some parents who absolutely ruin their kid and built them a rep. for ever. Many people will attest to playing with a great kid whose paretns have lost perspective.
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I have seen some (SOME) parents, but not many as Scal was saying who ruins kids. Now what you perceive as ruining a DD may be different in the eyes of others. Different DD's react differently than other DD's. Some parents idea of working with there DD's to get a maxinum effort may be wrong in the eyes of others who think they may be ruining this kid. I have seen some parents who brag that there DD is the next coming of Mickey Mantle, but when they get out to tryout they look more like Mickey Mouse. Granted there are some parents who do not know what they are doing, but think they do. Kanwj, I know what you are saying, because there are some coaches out there that ruin kids. They think because they are a coach or hitting instructor for a day that they have the knowledge of a Charlie Dobbins.

 

Hate to be negative.......but with 25 years in education....I can bear witness to the fact it does happen.

 

erms wrote: Hate to be negative.......but with 25 years in education....I can bear witness to the fact it does happen
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erms, I guess you are right.

trooper wrote: I have seen some (SOME) parents, but not many as Scal was saying who ruins kids. Now what you perceive as ruining a DD may be different in the eyes of others. Different DD's react differently than other DD's. Some parents idea of working with there DD's to get a maxinum effort may be wrong in the eyes of others who think they may be ruining this kid. I have seen some parents who brag that there DD is the next coming of Mickey Mantle, but when they get out to tryout they look more like Mickey Mouse. Granted there are some parents who do not know what they are doing, but think they do. Kanwj, I know what you are saying, because there are some coaches out there that ruin kids. They think because they are a coach or hitting instructor for a day that they have the knowledge of a Charlie Dobbins.

I work with my DD where we practice 4-6 days a week for 2-3 hours. I don't make excuses as other parents do as it gets dark to quick to practice with her. She starts and when she is playing and makes dumb mistakes, I get on her. One parent told me that I need to leave her alone and let her play her game. Well thats fine, my daughter starts (its from hard work and long practices) while his daughter rides the bench for lack of athleticism and finds excuses such as, they play daddy ball, they don't know how to coach. So yes, I get annoyed when someone is blaming other parents who ruin there DD's instead of looking in the mirror and think they may be the problem themselves.

 

I don't have all the answers for sure, but I will offer this advice. Your DD is much more precious than the game of softball. So be cautious about how much of HER life YOU devote to softball. It's not always her choice. She will do whatever it takes to please you. That makes your responsibility even more crucial.

And everything I just said about how precious your DD is applies to the DD of everyone else. Never, EVER, put someone else's DD down. They are as precious as your DD. Try to foster care and concern between teammates. They all try hard in their own way.

Enjoy these few years--they go by too quickly!

 

Just a quote of what you wrote and I can assure you it's in every arena of life.....travel ball included.

Thanks that it sounded good.

 

Pheak, very well said. Especially when a DD is working her way back from an injury. Sad to say though there are those who will kick a DD even when she is down.

 

I have seen some parents not let their daughter have friends who were not into or on certain teams. I have seen parents treat this as a job. One of my daughter's friends parents perfer she hangs with a girl on her team who is drinking , and have sex at an early age as opposed to my daughter. Luckily we have our daughter coming and talking to us about the friendships and decisions. It is a game and I love it, but it is only a game. Some teams are better playing teams. Some teams are just as good people and that is what matters.

 

We should remember that this is a COMPETITIVE sport. That means one first competes with one's self to be as good as one can be. Hopefully, most girls in the higher levels of travel ball have already accomplished this by knowing they have to work to improve. Positive (most of the time) reinforcement by parents can help teach this lesson during this process.

The next level of competition is the competing against other players for roster spots and playing time. This is where conflicts arise. Not so much with the players, but with the parents.

Most of the time, the kids know pretty quickly who the best players are and if the parents would stay out of it and keep their opinions to themselves, there wouldn't be a fraction of the controversies. Comments about "Betty Boop's" error or "Minnie Mouse" not being able to throw strikes, plant the seeds of controversy. This doesn't make your player better, it just teaches her that you can blame others for a failure you are a part of.