Team Make-up/Article

Within every company and softball team there are 3 very different types of people or players; A’s, B’s and C’s. Each of these groups has their role and each role is important to the group’s ultimate success. Learn how to identify each group and how to make sure they work FOR, instead of against you!

A softball team is nothing more than a miniature workforce working to accomplish softball wins just like the work force at General Mills is working to make Wheaties or Dell's workforce is making computers. Sure, Dell and GM have a ton more workers than you do on your softball team but you might be surprised to find all of our workers have some important things in common.

Know Your ABC’s – There are basically three different types of players (or workers) in life; A, B and C players. While this example is taken from the business world it definitely applies to softball teams and makes a ton of sense to me.

Let’s take a quick look at the characteristics of each of these and how to distinguish A’s from B’s from C’s:

“A” Players – “A” players are just that – A grade. They’re independent, hard working, driven, and self-motivated. A’s are competitive and want to be the best at everything they do. A’s typically look out more for themselves since they’re so driven for their own performance. Your Challenge with “A” Players – you have to keep them challenged or else they get bored. A’s also get frustrated at other’s lack of performance so you will be challenged to keep them stretching their skills while helping them learn patience for their teammates. Bored A players get into trouble either on your team or else they start looking to play on another team. You cannot give them the same boring tasks day after day at practice since these don’t challenge them at all. You’ve got to work hard to keep them motivated because they need more challenges than your other players. Does this sound familiar? Doesn’t this sound like exactly what Dan Coyle talked about when he said players must “stretch” themselves in order to improve and A players will in fact stretch you in order to continually keep them challenged. (You Think You Want to Be Excellent).

“B” Players – “B” players are your average players. They do their job and they do it well. B players do everything you ask of them and want to improve but not too much. They never want to be the star. 80% of your team will be B players but since they do their jobs they only take about 20% of your time. B players are good at whatever they like doing and tend to avoid things they don’t like. B players look out for the team. B’s work hard but might not have the physical gifts the A’s do, or the over-the-top motivation to excel. Your Challenge with “B” Players – B players do well with praise so you’ve got to make conscious efforts to praise their efforts and results since this is what helps their performance level. This might not be your style but good coaches adapt their style to get the best out of their players.

“C” Players – “C” players are often slackers. They do as little as possible to get by and aren’t motivated to change their role on the team. C players have no aspirations to take away anyone’s starting position or role above them and are content with doing the same thing over and over and over. C players won’t go above and beyond. C players are perfectly happy with an inning here and there where an A player would be very angry with that. C players are not that talented and could be a B Player but they don’t want to work that hard. C Players are Team players but they aren’t going to volunteer to stay late and work more. C’s often miss practice for reasons other than injury and do just enough to stay on the team. C players are often on the team for reasons other than success such as social reasons like be a part of things, or for the travel or to be with their friends. Getting to the next level is not a part of a C’s mentality. They typically aren’t playing to be an all-state player. Your Challenge with “C” Players – C players will have to be disciplined and keep an eye on them to get them to produce. They will usually be role players so give them a role that’s comfortable for them, let them clearly understand it and they can be good and valuable team members.

What Does This All Mean? – Most of your team will be B’s with a few C’s and A’s and since A's & C's are much harder to manage or keep motivated you will spend all your time with the A’s and C’s and very little with the B’s. And since praise matters to the B’s you’ve got to make a concerted effort to say each player’s name every day, or pat them on the back or some other gesture to let your B players know you’re glad they’re there.

While A players are the most motivated and competitive players it would seem like we’d all want nothing but A Players on our team. But to quote Lee Corso – Not So Fast My Friend! With a team of all A Players you won’t have any team unity, you’ll be challenged too much, you’ll have no role players, and since somebody has to be on the bench a team full of A players means A’s are on the bench – which will create nothing but team dissension and spell doom for your season. (note -C’s are much happier on the bench ). While A players are who you’ll no doubt want up in the bottom of the 7th with the season on the line, or in the circle pitching with 0 outs and the bases loaded, they are just like every other group – they have their role within the team picture and are simply one of the 3 groups we need to have involved for a successful group (or TEAM) effort!

Hopefully this will be a thought provoker.

 

The Truth... Written Extremely Well...

This may be the most well-written post I have ever read on here. For years I have struggled to articulate the facts Rodney wrote about. They are so very true though. I have had teams in the past with "too many" A-level players. As they sit on the bench, you can see the steam coming out of their ears, and you can see their parents checking their cell phone contacts list for another coach to call.

B-level players always seem to not get enough attention - but they always do make up a large portion of the team.

C-level players are also very hard to deal with - agree completely. You spend a lot of time trying to develop their skills, but yet the reward at the end sometimes is smaller than you had hoped. These C-level players also cause conflict (from my experience) with the A-level (and parents). The A-level player wants everyone to be and play at the A-level. Many times they don't understand why the C-level player can't play at an A-level, or why they are even on the team at all. If the C-level player makes a mistake that costs runs (or a game), the A-level player's eyes start to roll and the muttering-under-her-breath begins.

As a coach, or a manager in a business, trying to meld all these levels together is always a challenge. Perhaps even more challenging is getting the right mix of these levels on your team...

 

The inner part of coaching

People most of the time concentrate only on hitting, running, throwing

and fielding. You can win more games understanding this Rodney, than

you ever could, practicing the physical side of the game! The internal drive

of a player matters and giving them what they need to succeed is essential

to become a consistent winner! I can win with bad mechanics but I can't win

without understanding each player and what they need to perform above

their level! Rodney, I see why you win every year in the summer!!! Great

post!

 

Wish I could

Wish I could take credit for this article but I actually read it in a well known coaches newsletter and thought it should be shared. We all forget sometimes that all members of a team contribute to success, in work, in play, and in life.
I had hoped this posting would generate responses and it is off to a good start with a couple quality softball minds responding. TEAM is important in being successful.

 

Looks familiar.....

This article by Cindy Bristow on her website...(http://www.softballexcellence.com/dugout/miscellaneous/no-to-stars/)

 

Read above

Read the post above, I said it was not my product and never intended anyone to think it was. Should have put in bold before I posted.

 

While we're considering ABC labels, let's not forget to add the coaches and parents to the mix.

An A coach would interact differently with a C player, for example.

The situation also becomes a little more convoluted when you have, say, a C coach interacting with an A parent of a C player, and so forth.

We've all seen that C player step up when the game is on the line.

I see some benefit but there is also risk in labels. Labels are especially dangerous and damaging when discussing players with others. For the most part I would recommend saying only positives or nothing at all. That leaves the burden on the player to show what they are. That's where the burden should be.

Sorry, got a little off subject. But I do understand how the ABC classifications can be beneficial.

 

Why keep a "C" player on a competitive team?

Are they kept for balance?
Are they kept because you cant find A's or B's to replace them with?
Do you keep them as some sort of project?
Do you think you can reform them?
Do you keep them because you feel responsible for making a poor choice in "hiring" them?

just curious why.

 

great question....

I dont recall seeing any C's during our two years with Rodney and really none after 16U with John.

Seemed to me that the process weeded most of these out when showcase ball began and before if you were playing on a team capable of winning a state championship.

Most C's I recall were there because their parents brought them every week... certainly not because they wanted to be there. They had some relationship from the coach from rec ball days or a parental friendship/workforce relationship that kept them on the team... until the core group came to the conclusion that you couldnt advance to the next level with them playing a significant role.

 

Wow!! That could be a thread of its own!

In HS I think the answer could easily be you have to work with what you get.

In TB it becomes much more complex to some coaches/teams. Of course, there are TB coaches who would not find this a problem. The thick-skinned ones would be able to find replacements easy enough.

For the teams that develop players I think for the most part they would be more concerned with helping the C level players find a higher level. It is more difficult to cut a player that you've "raised".

For the teams that scout and recruit already developed players I believe they would weed out the C level players as part of their selection process.