What is it about Girls and staying with one team/

I have a very simple question? Why do girls change teams all of the time? I have a son that played with the same team for years. Yes, there were problems, but young men seem to figure things out and go on. Young ladies seem to abandon ship without even thinking about the consequences for not only themselves, but for the other girls on the team that they are leaving high and dry. My daughter has been on three teams in the last three years that have either lost so many girls that they were forced to take players they really didn't want, or dissoved alltogether. Are there teams out there that really care about continuity and team work. Just curious about experiences other people have had.

 

I would like to try and answer parts of this but there is no simple answer. I think more often than not the parents play the biggest part in a female athlete changing teams more than once. For many reasons, some being personalities between the coaching staff and or the parents. Sometimes its mom or dads wanting to start their own team because they can do it better. But, a lot of times its the organizations philosophy and where they are headed. Success sometimes is a drawing card. Or just following their friends. Hopefully parents and young athletes will spend the time researching what teams are available and what their goals are as well. Is it all about winning or losing. With some organizations that is the main goal. But, your best organizations are about seeing the kids develop and promoting them if they are in the older age groups. By, this I mean that if your daughter is playing on 16U and even more so on an 18U team then its about marketing your daughter. How do you do this? Many ways but I am straying from your topic here. Basically they want to go where they perceive it to be the best situation for them. Sometimes the grass isn't always greener on the other side but sometimes it is. :xyzthumbs

 

I been coaching softball for 17 year and it is not like it use to be.
What I have seen is spoiled parents and kids.Parents now days tell
the coach what they better do or else. For example if you sit out their kid for one inning the parents get upset. Then they get into the car going home bad mouthing the coaches. Which makes the kids come back with a bad attitudes.
There is no kid to good the sit out for an inning or two.Most of the parents have to attitudes of Oh my kid better not sit out shes to good.So what happens from there is that parents will go around and talk crap about the coach and how much better they can be and still half your players before you know it.
Then some leave because you have coaches chasing them and begging to leave because they promise D1 in college. No coach can promise that like they think they can. It is up to the College coach in who they want and they like to see the talent with their own eyes not hear say how good they are.I tell my girls that I will do my best to get them seen but it is up to them to perform in front of them when the college coach are there.The player is the one that has to catch their eyes. It makes me sick to watch our tournament coaches act like the girls are up for bids. The reason why they do this is so they look good. You see it's an ego thing, braging rights. For Example: look what I have done, I got so and so a college scholarship and then they will use that to get the best players.
Like it was said before the grass isn't always greener.
I do want to say that not all coaches are like that and make sure you shop around. If it sounds to good to be true then it is.

 

F-PITCH and ENKA

All I can say is AMEN!
I have also been coaching youth sports since 1980 and girls fastpitch since it started here in NC. You have both nailed it.
I hope there will be a change in the future. I am already seeing some of it.
There really are to many teams in travel ball. for the most part the overall team quaility is down over the past few years. I would not mind seeing the number of teams decrease and the talent level of the remaining teams increase. IMHO that would allow the truly gifted players to compete against each other and improve everyones skills. Then the girls that are just "filling uniforms" could compete at a level that would alow them to also grow and improve because they would be given a chance to get more playing time.
Unfortunately I have no idea on how to bring this about.

 

The first obstacle to overcome is the parent's feeling that their child is the best. Many times a parents perception of their child's skills are way out of line with the truth.

The second obstacle is the "pay to play". If a parent is forking out big bucks for Jenny to play on the team....she better not be sitting. Everybody is feeling the backlash of Showcase teams and herein lies the problems. As Dawgfan stated a showcase team must be an elite team, if it is done for profit or because a parent wants to ensure their daughters playing time...it won't work

 

Braves, I agree with your statements and to play showcase tournaments you must have an elite team for sure. I try to compare showcase teams with hs teams only in the fact that you play rec ball and middle school ball to hopefully make the high school team. And the best players in that school just like any other sport are the ones that make the team. Not sure what you mean by profit though?

 

There are some teams on the baseball side that have taken a player because the parents could afford it not because the player was especially talented. An organization must decide what they are trying to accomplish. I'll give you an example without mentioning names.

There was one academy that was known to attract the best of the best. It wasn't about money..it was about development and forming a squad of the best players in their region. It was very successful and exceeded their expectations. As years passed and ownership changed, the emphasis was on recruiting kids with some skills but more importantly, finding people that could afford it ( It is very pricey). The overall quality of talent declined considerably and the team was not as successful.

So, if money is one of the main issues of an organization, then it will not last. There are too many other choices.

In my opinion, a Showcase team is just that; To showcase the best of the best from their area

 

Thanks Braves, I follow you now. Good example and advice. Fundraising, fundraising, fundraising, done collectively and individually. :xyzthumbs

 

Showcase

Lots of very good stuff from some very knowledgable and long term softball coaches and fans. Dawgfan is right, to many teams, watered down talent, others are right, lots of promises, tons of money, and parents with inflated ideas of the talent of DD! How do U fix the problem? One suggestion, have all the coaches around Charlotte forget their egos and work together. An example, let Ray have the best 12U talent, some other organization the best 14U, another the 16U, and lastly one with the 18U. Agree that these best of the best will move right on up the ladder as long as they stay committed, follow the guidelines, pay their fees, and want to advance to the next level. U could do the same thing for the uniform fillers as Ray calls them and then everyone would have a place to play. Heck part of being a college player is learning U have to sit the bench some as there are always players better than U at some level. My point, we have the talent to play against the best in the country if all the best talent migrated to these elite teams. NC would start to make noise at every age group in every national tournament, the coaches would begin to notice, the talent pool would improve, and Wow we would have a "hot bed" of softball talent! I know, just dreaming, the real world, do what U feel is best for your child, your team, yourself, U are never going to please everyone! Just keep the girls #1 and U can never go wrong.

 

Blues, get out of my head.... I strongly support this. We are trying to do that same thing right now with three organizations but its hard to get everybody to leave the egos at the door. How I wish I lived closer to you and could make this a reality. Thanks for chiming in on this one. :xyzthumbs