Parents

just cause you guys call yourself coaches does not mean yall know everything.... If you would pull your heads out from your butts and listen to me about how great my dd is you would win more games!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

AMEN

Nothing more need be said!!!!

 

Its Dark and uncomfortable in there

Its quite dark and uncomfortable in there, thanks Can, I wish someone had told me a long time ago to yank it out....

 

Politics is in everything we do in life. The idea (unless I am missing it here) that HS ball is the only instance or even the worst is, of course, rediculous. The reality of this is my friends that how good a softball player your daughter is will be totally dependant on someone's SUBJECTIVE opinion about her. If you are in a travel ball scenario where the coach or the organization believes your daughter possesses a great game that doesn't necessarily translate to her school ball team. My own daughter looked horrible first time out this spring off a pitching machine in school ball. Fortunately the head coach had seen her play before. I promise you if that had been the first time he had seen her she would have had a hard time shaking that first impression. It can of course work both ways... several years back in her first AB with a new travel team she cracked a triple... for the rest of the year they thought she hung the moon! Our HS head coach has a certain opinion about another player on our team that she can't help us at all when I believe she should start. Who is correct? I could give you a hundred stories from baseball.. Stan Musial was cut, yes cut, from spring training and was going to be released and sent home when one of the Cardinals minor league teams took him with them back north because Stan was from PA where the team was located and they wanted him to throw batting practice on the trip back north... the rest is history.

I have seen just as much if not more politics in the last 4/5 years in travel than I have seen in school ball... oh the stories but lets just mention a precious few: where a coach on another state championship contending team from a "top" organization spreading lies about one of their top competitors! Or how about travel ball coaches recruiting other teams players? Or making playing time promises and having no intention of fullfilling them? Or cutting a player who has been with the team when a better one comes along? Or coach's daughter starting at second regardless of who else is on the team (thats a big flag for you newbies out there) and on and on and on. Everyone one of us have seen these things happen to one girl at one time or another if you have been around it long enough.

Reality is that this board is filled with people who are used to getting their way on the travel ball circuit and it doesnt always happen the same way in school ball. .. case in point being the instance in Charlotte a couple of years ago where well known travel ball coach threatened to circulate a petition to have a MS coach removed.

I guess the real truth (if there is any) in all this is just relax and try to enjoy.

 

I've seen the same occur in MS baseball as well. But someone posted another point and that is for every exception there are many more that do the right thing.

I've been a coach and I am a parent. I have experience at the HS level as a coach, been involved with travel ball and the rec leagues. There are things I don't like about all of those venues, but I have learned to appreciate anybody that sacrifices their time to coach. Their motivation may be different from one coach to the other, but the time and sacrifice is the same.

I can promise you this, if your DD has her mindset of playing at the next level and she has the talent to match, there is absolutely no way that any HS coach can hold her back...even if she doesn't start. Give the college recruiters some respect, they know a player regardless of their role on their HS team. They know which are the better programs and which are the better coaches. Face it, most recruiters are too busy with their own teams during the HS season. They make they're evaluations during the summer and fall. The HS season for a college recruiter is mainly to stay in contact with their signees.

One other point and I'll let this go. You have heard the term "Helicopter parents"..you know the type; they are always hovering around. Well, the college scouts know who those parents are too...and believe me they take note of that.

I can't wait for the seaon to begin so we can start talking about the players.

 

Everybody Does Indeed have their own story!

bothsportsdad & Braves I liked both of your posts. It is true that everyone does have their own war stories! Some are worse than others and some have sweeter endings than others. I just want to make parents sit up and take notice to reality, that way they can't comeing whining later that nobody told me about that side of things! Every coach is different, every player is different and yes every parent is different! Some parents need to give coaches more credit and some coaches need to try to understand the side of the parent and both need to remember that there is a kid involved! Oh yeah you are big time right about those college recruiters, they know the real deal about HS ball! They go to tournaments where they know they will see the kids play ball not ride the pine! I will say that it doesn't have to be just showcase tournaments either. You would be surprised at how many recruiters go to regular tournaments just to observe and blend in! So all you players and parents, remember the golden rule, YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION! And you just never know who could be watching! That is what we taught our DD from the early days on! This has been very interesting and informative banter between, what I see to be good honest people stuck in a messy world that has just tried to learn as they go! Keep experiencing and learning! Keep playing the game!

 

I can only give you examples of ones that I have been told where kids have been seen and recruited at! I have a friend that went to a little tournament near their home in Spartanburg, SC and their DD was not only seen at this tournament, she was recruited and signed! There was a Head Coach of a College team at a little tournament in Marion, NC saw, and recruited a kid there. There was another Head Coach of a different college at a tournament in Myrtle Beach, SC, saw kids there, recruited them! There was yet a different Head Coach of a yet different college team at another tournament in Walnut Creek, NC! This happens a whole lot more than people are led to beieve! As I stated they go to these tournaments to watch games and BLEND IN! They are not going to have any identification bringing attention to themselves! It is not the same at showcase tournaments, they are going to identifiy themselves by either what they are wearing or carrying, etc.... Now do you stand a better chance at a showcase tournament of being seen by a larger group of coaches and/or recruiters, YES! You know what they say even :newsmile60: fly every once in a blue moon!