All Conf. and POY selections

I think one of the things we can all acknowledge is that nepotism has been around since the start of time, and even absent the familial relationship, so had favoritism. It is a matter of character, which sadly this world lacks more and more each day.

The BEST coach my daughter ever had was her middle school coach, Buck Womack. His passion for the game, and his belief in girls that really, truly wanted "it" has inspired so many young ladies to continue on to bigger and better things. My daughter from the time she was in 7th grade played with his daughter, first on middle school ball, then all four years of varsity. Never, not once, did I see any version of daddy ball going on with him. When they stepped on that field dad and daughter disappeared and coach and player showed up. He pushed her, never coddled her, and if anything held her to greater levels of personal responsibility than other players. When she was named MVP, never once did I doubt she had earned it. She earned it in spades. This is a man of character, and his daughter is a young lady of character today as well.


Favoritism, as I said above, exists outside of the daddy daughter role, as well. I have seen players placed on a pedestal, with every error the fault of anyone but the person that made it; have watched games tossed away in order to 'showcase' that player. Yet no relationship existed.

While I do believe coaches should have a say in who is nominated for all conference, I think it should be minimalized. If I had my druthers, the opposing teams coaches would make and vote on 90% of those all-conference positions, and 2-3 wild card slot would be made available where a coach could nominate a player he felt was deserving for his team. Then let the stats and what the coach explains the player did for their team to earn the recognition stand for itself. All coaches vote, and it is what it is at the end of the day.

The recognitions mean less and less each year, as they are continually watered down when players that did not receive it based on talent and contribution are acknowledged, while players with that talent and contribution are left by the way side.

Just my 2 cents

 

Great post!

Great post!

 

All Coference Selections

I don't believe there is any perfect way to do it. We've all heard horror stories about Conference meetings. I've been part of 3 and the only time it got a little testy was over POY.

Our conference meeting this year went smooth. Coaches nominated their players and everything went as it should. We had several players nominated for POY. Each coach made his/her case and the vote was taken. While all the players were well qualified, the winner was well deserving.

As far as Stats go, no 2 coaches keep them the same. I've seen players with a BA of .500 or better that went 2 for 8 when I saw them play two games.

Conference Stats can also be misleading. Some coaches play their players every game, while other coaches sit or limit their top players against the bottom teams.

There will always be Daddy-Ball in sports. I would think everyone would agree that parents helped to build and grow youth sports. We all know there are a lot of great ones and there are some that should be shown the door.

The new NFHS requirements may put a stop to some of the Daddy-Ball and coaches who don't put the time in. Maybe - if all schools were following the new requirements, some of the ones in question would have been weeded out. In 2015, when the new Standard is planned to be fully implemented there will most likely be many people not willing to do it. The video is 7 hours and fee is already up to $50. Can you imagined what it is going to be in 2015, when every coach in every sport will be required to be certified? How many of the Part-Time Volunteer coaches or those who struggle to get enough to just be able field a team will be willing to do it?

The NFHS Coaching Requirement may be a story for another day, but it is coming and will be worth discussing.

 

Agree with your thoughts on the new coaching requirements, I dont know how all that will effect the overall group, my guess is the schools who have had the least success will drop further, and the schools with the most success will continue to have that same success, there is a reason they are continuously at the top, they work a little harder at it. But like you said this will be a worthy discussion when the time comes.

 

The recognitions mean less and less each year, as they are continually watered down when players that did not receive it based on talent and contribution are acknowledged, while players with that talent and contribution are left by the way side.

Just my 2 cents [/QUOTE]


I couldn't agree more, although my daughter is all conference again this year which of course I am happy with, the Centerfielder for Clayton High School was by far the best defensive outfielder in the conference and didn't get any attention. It seems at least in our case if you get it one year you will get it again and again until you graduate even without the stats to back it.

 

I couldn't agree more, although my daughter is all conference again this year which of course I am happy with, the Centerfielder for Clayton High School was by far the best defensive outfielder in the conference and didn't get any attention. It seems at least in our case if you get it one year you will get it again and again until you graduate even without the stats to back it.[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, there are many who focus on one side of the stats or only certain stats, on my daughter's team, they had undoubtedly the best defensive catcher in the conference with an average B.A but led the team in extra base hits and RBI with no recognition.
While the team leader in BA (who feasted on the bottom teams pitchers) was named all conference, even though she was responsible for more runs against playing a very poor third base, then she contributed to offensively, but she was a senior and team captain.

 

I couldn't agree more, although my daughter is all conference again this year which of course I am happy with, the Centerfielder for Clayton High School was by far the best defensive outfielder in the conference and didn't get any attention. It seems at least in our case if you get it one year you will get it again and again until you graduate even without the stats to back it.[/QUOTE]

I was just emailed about this thread and thought it was going to be negative LOL....Thank you for the kind comment about my DD she did have a great season in the field this year, but for the record the 4 girls from Clayton that received all conference nods all deserved it and I can't say anything negative about the process, her coach nominated her and she didn't get chosen, was she worthy? sure she was. Will it make a difference on the way she plays? Nope. She knows what kind of player she is and has the "oh well life goes on" attitude. It's a tough job trying to make everyone happy, but as we all know it's never gonna happen. Thanks to all the Coaches who put in the work. I haven't been on this board in a long time, but I think I will start giving it a look more often.

 

There will never be a perfect system for determining awards, because the only way to guarantee impartiality is to remove the people from voting that would be partial -- and that would include the coaches.

There are many, many honest coaches out there that would not nominate a player that they did not feel earned the award for that award. There are coaches out there that will nominate every member of their team because they see any awards earned as a reflection upon themselves. And there are coaches out there that will nominate a player that contributed to little to a team's successes, but that the coach still sees as the begin all and end all.

But honestly, maybe it is not the end of the world. Maybe it is a great lesson for these young ladies that we interact with and raise, cheer for, teach, help and learn from.

Almost a decade ago my daughter played in her first travel ball tournament ever. The absolute joy at EARNING that trophy at the end of the weekend was something that could not be taken from her, even years later. When her team won a state championship in 07 then again in 08, she thought nothing could eclipse that moment until she was named MVP in a 'world series'. The pride in those moments were not because of a piece of plastic, but because at the end of the of the day her team had fought, had battled, had literally left their sweat and blood on the field... and triumphed.

Over the years we have watched friends of hers never get an all-conference nod even though they pitched every win their team had achieved, instead standing by while the pitcher who lost each game received the nod instead. We have heard a coach give a speech at awards that went simply like this: "Defensive player of the year goes to my daughter, because I think "__" base is the hardest one to play." It did not matter that that same daughter had more than 2 dozen errors on the year, handing opponents nearly 3 dozen runs. We have watched as parents turned purple with rage and stood up in the yelled in the middle of an awards ceremony because their daughter "split" the MVP award with the TRUE MVP of the team.

The issue with awards is not only at the middle school and high school level. There is a collegiate conference in this state that appears to be fighting back against unjust nominations and awards. Last year, an unnamed coach nominated a player for all-conference that had a sound batting average against poor pitching but would only defend her field position on easy, routine plays after having racked up almost 3 dozen errors the year prior. This same coach threw every freshman and transfer player into the pot for the all-rookie team. While the favored player did not get the all-conference nod, because of lack of nominations to the All-Rookie team, several players were indeed named to the all-rookie team. This coach was infuriated that the first player received nothing and yet "those players that cost game after game" were voted in. The coach decided before the first pitch of conference tournament that only one player from their team would be nominated for the all-tournament team - guaranteeing her of receiving that honor. Like the entire season, the player did well against poor pitching, but floundered horribly on defense. However, as predicted, with only one nomination made and the team guaranteed at least once spot, the young lady received all tournament.

This last year, more of the same. A young lady nominated for all-conference did not receive the nod, this time simply because she had the misfortune of being behind two other players in her position with better stat lines. Yet again this year, a player batting only .143 on the season made the all-rookie team as DH. Once more the coach was infuriated and once more the decision was made to nominate only 1 player before that first pitch was thrown. Well the young lady performed very well offensively during tournament, she did not contribute a single out in 21 innings of play. This time, there was anarchy. While the team was guaranteed ONE place on the tournament team, it did not happen. Instead of placing someone on the all-tournament team other coaches felt did not earn it, another team that earned only one position....got two.

Coaches everywhere are realizing that the awards process have long been out of control.

But if we are raising our children right, if they are being taught well, these awards are not the begin all and end all of anything. These young ladies of ours are smart, and they see truth and they see the lies. It is our job to remind them that the true REward is having done all that they could to help their team succeed.

My daughter has won dozens of trophies over the year and then added to those another 16 in high school, and another 14 in the last three years in college. Most of them, whole or dismantled, are packed away in the attic. The only ones that grace her walls are the ones that were not given by nomination but earned through action: the 2 state championship plaques, her MVP of the 'world series', her three Academic All-American, her three ADA National Scholars and her tshirt from winning district championships in high school.

Oh, and that first trophy ever earned on a travel team, which still stands in the same place it has since the day it was earned. It will always remain the most meaningful of all to her.

 

I would be in favor of doing away with all of the awards mentioned other than the two State Championship plaques. Being that this is a team sport.


PS: Not meaning to take anything away from her other awards. She sounds like an awesome player.