HS softball

question ??

If a hs coach wants to put your freshman DD on the varsity, would you ask about playing time then ??? jmho but if a freshman does not get at least half the playing on varsity, she would be better off getting most the playing time on jv.

 

hey i can pretty much guarantee you playing time if you play TB especially on the jv team but i'm sure varsity will get ya first. So to all those kids being "disrespected" by their team for being on jv or sitting the bench on varsity, transfer to Parkland, if you have any talent whatsoever we've got a place for you. LOL oh oh would this be refered to as recruiting...sheesh i can't win for losing

 

Last year, my DD was a freshman and she was trying out for the HS team. Our HS is small and small school politics are played quite a lot. At try-outs, the coach talked to each of the girls, one on one, about their position and what they wanted to do with the HS team. Our DD was trying out for the catcher position and the coach told her that the only catching time she would probably see would be on the JV team. Nothing else was said. When DD came home she told us about the conversation. I ask her what her response to his answer was and she said "Nothing". We talked about what it meant to her to play softball, at whatever position she could. She went back the next day and told the coach that she would play whatever position that the coach thought would help the team. She started at 1st base the whole season and made All-County.

I tell you this because DD is a starting catcher on a 16U showcase team. The HS coach admits that she is a better catcher than the present starting catcher. But, to put the best defensive team on the field, my DD fit best at 1st Base. So, there are other factors to look at, besides the common HS politics, as to why your DD is not playing where you think she should be playing. I admit, I was a bit flustered at first but I got over it. It was a learning experience for me too.

I was helping out running a couple of the hitting stations during try-outs and I was there the day that the coach let the girls know who made Varsity and who made JV. Yes, there were tears shed and some hearts were broken but the one thing that I did not see was that fierce sense of competition. When girls who thought they had a shot at Varsity were told they were on JV, they just hung their head and walked away. Not one of them came to the coach and ask "Coach, what do I have to work on to get to the Varsity?" Not a single one of them!!! It was very saddening to watch.

If I had another DD that had to go through HS try-outs, I would tell her:

"Work hard and hustle everywhere and all the time."

"Never ever give up."

"Ask the coach what you need to work on to improve."

 

What time frame exactly are you talking about with #3...conditioning? Are you talking about after the official start of practice (mid Feb.)?

 

:

1). DO NOT approach your hs coach about playing time E-V-E-R!!!!!!!!

2). Playing travel ball doesnt automatically put you on the starting varsity team roster.

3). Not coming to conditioning or being lazy during conditioning will often get your butt on the jv team, if you even make that.

4). Playing travel ball doesnt mean you know it all, yet!!!! You dont need to try and teach other players to play the game, and especially, you're about to find out that how things are done in hs sometimes are extremely opposite of how you've been taught in travel ball, let it go and do what you're told.

and most important:

5). Dont start off telling your hs coach that you have three or four tournaments scheduled during the hs playing year and you've committed to playing them and will not be at the saturday practices for hs due to this.
guess what????? you've probably just been put off the team, as most hs coaches want a total committment during the hs season and could care less about travel ball until the hs season is over. I cant tell you how many times i've heard other hs coaches makes this statement: "I don't interfere with the travel ball season, your tb coaches will not interfere with my hs season, not even for practices!!"

what i'm trying to say is use your head, keep quite, do what they ask, even if its not what you've been told is the right way, and enjoy your hs experience as much as you've enjoyed your tb experience.


A High School coach I know does playing time discussions this way, "sure we will discuss playing time with you, just bring DD uniform with you.

 

Don't know hes probably talking in the off months. I've already noticed some at our HS with the "right of entitlement " attitude bagging conditioning. well No. 1 not only are you missing a vital part of the game, but your planting that seed in the coaches head whether rightly or wrongly that maybe this kid won't work, or be what he wants.....Like I tell my daughter....NO they are NOT MANDATORY, But YES they are mandatory if that makes sense..

Back to the"right of entitlement" with out the work. Happens everywhere

Great practice. i LOVE these parents who leave little susie in the car and BELIEVE everything little susie tells them then runs half cocked to rail at the coach. either bring the kid or don't talk.

 

THE STINK EYE! OHHHH NOOO!!!

i hope that this little bit of common sense will save one or two tb players from getting the stink eye from their new hs coach....[/QUOTE]

That's not a good way to start the next four years!

UNCCDAWG... wait until after tryouts and some of the pre-season practices. Your DD will have a better feel of where she stands by then. If it looks like she will have marginal time in the starting roster, then ask (nicely) to meet with the coach along with your daughter, better yet would be have your daughter have the meeting. Find out then what the coach's plans are for her. As cheeze said, NEVER mention playing time! It's better to say "opportunity to contribute", and "chances to gain experience". Most HS coaches don't (or shouldn't) have freshmen on varsity unless they plan on utilizing the girl's talents as a integral part of the varsity team.
We went through this with our son and baseball. He was left on jv his sophomore year while three of his classmates were put on varsity... where they rode the pine most of the season. With the egos and testosterone that is prevalent at that age, my son was not a happy camper! But... he pitched every important game, never missed an at bat and was at short every game he wasn't on the mound. He worked harder at practice, and on his own, then those other three and in the end he became only the second baseball player from his high school to become a D-I player. Those other boys... two never got a sniff from recruiters and the other one is at a DIII school... it's not where you are, it's where you are going!

For many players, high school is the first time where they have to really make the team, face cuts, and earn playing time. Also, for many, it's the first team where their parent(s) are not a coach or a big influence with the coach. It is a little dose of "real world" experience that your DD can learn from.

The conflicts with travel ball during the high school season put the player in an awkward position... not of their doing. A travel team with HS age kids should be very limited in what they do in the spring. I would lose a lot of respect for a tb coach who put my DD in that position of having to choose.

High school ball involves about 3 1/2 to 4 months. That leaves at least 8 months to travel ball... there shouldn't be conflicts!

 

I hope he is not talking about "unofficial practice" before the mid-Feb official time. I do not believe you can make/require anyone to practice year round and you should not be able to hold it against them if they do not. Now, if they come into official practice behind the other girls then you deal with it like any other coach would do. I know several girls who go to personal trainers twice a week and hitting lessons once per week. I can't see any high school coach wanting a kid to stop this routine in order to be at practices that are not mandatory...just my humble opinion.