Coach Blitz?

[Grits and Shins]

If you haven't been following along:

 

• When I was coaching my daughter in softball she was a catcher and a very good one.
  
• After 12U select I stopped coaching and we took a break.
  
• She played rec ball the next season
  
• Her rec coach (Jose) formed a select team and invited my daughter to play
  
• Coach Jose phased my daughter out of catcher making her a utility player because his daughter (Jamie) was a catcher
  
• Jamie is not a very good catcher
  
• Coach Jose's team finally breaks apart after 2 years
  
• My daughter's skills declined over that 2 year period, Coach Jose is not a very good coach
  
• Jamie and my daughter played on the JV team in high school
  
• Jamie started the season at catcher but it wasn't very long before she was benched
  
• My daughter was a bench player to start the season, but it wasn't very long before she was the staring center fielder
  
• High school season ends (bad season)
  
• Coach Jose finds a select team for his daughter and gives me the coach's number so Jessica can try out for the out field.
  
• Coach Riccardo is actually building 2 teams, a 16U and an 18U
  
• Coach Riccardo asks my daughter to catch for the 18U team
  

 

Since then Coach Riccardo has decided NOT to do an 18U team. He only had 2 girls that were required to play 18U and elected NOT to have 9 girls play UP to 18U. Instead he dismissed the 2 18U players and formed two 16U teams. Apparently he had a coach lined up for the 18U team but that coach backed out.

 

Now he is looking for a coach for the "other" 16U team. So I get this call last night. He wants my daughter to play on both teams but wants me to assist Coach Jose on the other team, which would make that team my daughter's primary team.

 

Here is a copy of my response:

 

Riccardo,

 

Just wanted to re-iterate that while my daughter is available to play on both teams and would even appreciate the opportunity for additional reps, we are not interested in her primary team being one coached by Coach Jose. We get along just fine with Coach Jose and his family and my daughter and Jamie are very good friends, so there is no issue there. The primary concern we have is that, in our opinion, Jose coached his select team like it was recreational team.

 

One of the reason Jose's team tended to struggle was because he insisted on Jamie catching when, in our opinion, she is not a very good catcher. I can not begin to tell you the number of runs scored because Jamie couldn’t stop the ball or make a very good throw to 2nd or 3rd base. Now to be fair to Jose he also struggled to find and retain pitching, some of which may have been due to his catcher. In all honesty we almost didn’t come to the try out because we were concerned about the quality of any team that would have Jamie as the catcher. When my daughter came to Jose's team she was primarily a catcher, by the time she left Jose's team she was a utility player. Which would have been okay except that we felt like my daughter's skills dropped off during her tenure on Jose's team.

 

I’d also like to emphasize that out issue was NOT that our daughter wasn’t catching but that it was our opinion that the team would have been better served with our daughter catching. On our daughter's high school team she never caught an inning and played center field (she did not try out for catcher, she only tried out for the out field). Admittedly when Jamie started the year catching and our daughter was in center field it was like were back on Jose's team. However, it did not take the high school coaches long to replace Jamie at catcher (something Jose never did) … from that point forward we were absolutely fine with where ever our daughter played because the girl behind the plate was doing a fine job.

 

I’ve never had this discussion with Jose and would appreciate your confidence on the matter. As far as your team is concerned we don’t have any problem with you playing our daughter in alternate positions as you have the luxury of having another good catcher (Jill). Our daughter really likes the coaching staff and the girls on the team and is having a very good time … so we look forward to many great seasons together.

 

So … would it be too forward of me to ask if you have finalized the rosters yet?

 

 

 

Over the top?

[Furd]

What happened to coach Julio?

 

I recall that he was a fine coach.

[TimC]

What happened to coach Julio?

 

I recall that he was a fine coach.

 

 

Deported. Why do you hate coach Jose?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blitz, I went through 2 softball girls from the time they could throw until they graduated High School. One was the best on every team she played and the other wasn't very good so I feel I saw both sides. This may come as a shock, but here's my experience.

 

1. There is NO money in softball. They won't make millions by being the best so let them have fun. That's why they play. The politics of parenting is something they don't care about. Show up, root for the team, and support them. Period.

2. The High School teams and AAU are where the serious ball is being played. Even so, don't interfere. Every parent on the team thinks they know what is best. They don't.

3. The summer rec leagues are simply for fun for the most part. Wins and losses don't matter to them, the friendships and smiles they share with each other do. Parents aren't normally part of that. They are playing with their friends, not yours. Don't ruin that for them.

 

I could go on and on...

[detlef]

What happened to coach Julio?

 

I recall that he was a fine coach.

 

What's up with all these Mexican coaches? Just another case of keeping the white man down if you ask me.

 

They come here for work and the next thing you know it they're taking catchers jobs away from white girls. Really makes me sick.

[evil_gop_liars]

What's up with all these Mexican coaches?

 

 

Shouldn't they be coaching soccer?

[detlef]

Oddly enough, haven't there been a ton of really good latino catchers in the bigs?

[Grits and Shins]

Deported. Why do you hate coach Jose?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blitz, I went through 2 softball girls from the time they could throw until they graduated High School. One was the best on every team she played and the other wasn't very good so I feel I saw both sides. This may come as a shock, but here's my experience.

 

1. There is NO money in softball. They won't make millions by being the best so let them have fun. That's why they play. The politics of parenting is something they don't care about. Show up, root for the team, and support them. Period.

2. The High School teams and AAU are where the serious ball is being played. Even so, don't interfere. Every parent on the team thinks they know what is best. They don't.

3. The summer rec leagues are simply for fun for the most part. Wins and losses don't matter to them, the friendships and smiles they share with each other do. Parents aren't normally part of that. They are playing with their friends, not yours. Don't ruin that for them.

 

I could go on and on...

 

 

Coach Julio is my son's coach.

 

None of the names used are real.

 

I paid $300 for my daughter to play on this team (several thousands for my sons team) and pay $25-$30 more for each tournament she plays in and another $25 on the nights he hires a hitting coach to be at practice. So there IS money involved, granted the girls and coaches aren't making money. When you are paying to play at the select level you are expecting the coaches to field competitive teams in the attempt to win games. If this is not what you want then you play rec ball and I agree it should be very relaxed there. I never ONCE complained to coach Jose, NOT ONCE. I'm not complaining to coach Riccardo either ... just telling him we tried out for his team NOT Jose's team.

 

I never said a word to the HS coaches either. I figure its their job and they will likely figure it out ... as they did in regards to Jamie.

 

This is not a summer rec league. This is a select team that she intends to be on for more than several seasons. Our current schedule goes out through December.

 

I learned long ago not to complain to the coaches ... probably as a result of being a coach for several seasons.

[chiefjay]

What do you guys have against Mexican coaches? My T-Ball team is doing just fine thank you very much.

[Missoula Griz]

Coach Julio is my son's coach.

 

None of the names used are real.

 

I paid $300 for my daughter to play on this team (several thousands for my sons team) and pay $25-$30 more for each tournament she plays in and another $25 on the nights he hires a hitting coach to be at practice. So there IS money involved, granted the girls and coaches aren't making money. When you are paying to play at the select level you are expecting the coaches to field competitive teams in the attempt to win games. If this is not what you want then you play rec ball and I agree it should be very relaxed there. I never ONCE complained to coach Jose, NOT ONCE. I'm not complaining to coach Riccardo either ... just telling him we tried out for his team NOT Jose's team.

 

I never said a word to the HS coaches either. I figure its their job and they will likely figure it out ... as they did in regards to Jamie.

 

This is not a summer rec league. This is a select team that she intends to be on for more than several seasons. Our current schedule goes out through December.

 

I learned long ago not to complain to the coaches ... probably as a result of being a coach for several seasons.

 

 

As a longtime coach, I dont think anything is wrong with you expressing your feelings/opinions to the coach. I think coaches need to be open to conversation. Sure they have the final word, so your input may be ignored.

 

I think as long as the parent is keeping their feelings/opinions away from their kids its ok. Where I have problems is when the parent expresses their feeling to their children, thus effecting their attitude toward the coach and the team.

[Doc Holliday]

I have coached my sons baseball team for 2 years now and helped out on the basketball team 1 year as well as played every sport outside of Hockey during my school days. and the only thing that sucks about school sports is the parents. all their kids should be starting in their opinion.

 

We had a guy yesterday whose kid did not start and he was complaining. We politely told him that we have 8 entrenched as the starters because they are clear and away the best 8 we have. that leaves us with 3 kids who we decided to rotate in right field as none of them is clearly better than the other. his boy started the game before and I guess he thought he was gonna be the starter from now on. he went into the "I thought you said you was gonna give everyone a fair chance" routine.

 

Parents always think their kid is better than the other kid..and always will.

[TimC]

Blitz, we know what you think. Now what does your daughter think?

[Big Red]

I don't envy your position at all. Good luck.

 

Thank God my girl swims. Best times get top spots. No debate. Having a parent coach the team is just a pain in the ass, either way. The parent either favors their kids, or worries about looking like they favor their kid.

[Azazello1313]

in other words, "that kid that plays ahead of my kid sucks". gee, that's a new one.

[Grits and Shins]

in other words, "that kid that plays ahead of my kid sucks". gee, that's a new one.

 

 

 

< Smells the bait and swims away >

[TimC]

No offense, but the worst athletes were always put at catcher on most teams I saw. These were the overweight girls that could barely move. We would usually just hope a ball didn't get by them. Maybe 2% of the teams I saw playing girl's softball had a halfway athletic catcher in there. 2% -- tops. I'll bet your daughter knows that and doesn't want to be pushed into a catcher role and saddled with that stigma.

[Grits and Shins]

No offense, but the worst athletes were always put at catcher on most teams I saw. These were the overweight girls that could barely move. We would usually just hope a ball didn't get by them. Maybe 2% of the teams I saw playing girl's softball had a halfway athletic catcher in there. 2% -- tops. I'll bet your daughter knows that and doesn't want to be pushed into a catcher role and saddled with that stigma.

 

 

Then you never played very competitively. The battery is VERY important in competitive ball. If the catcher is deficient you are going to lose lots of games.

[TimC]

Then you never played very competitively. The battery is VERY important in competitive ball. If the catcher is deficient you are going to lose lots of games.

 

 

It's girls softball. Girls. Most teams I saw stuck the fattie, no athlete, good hitter at catcher.

[Menudo]

I don't envy your position at all. Good luck.

 

Thank God my girl swims. Best times get top spots. No debate. Having a parent coach the team is just a pain in the ass, either way. The parent either favors their kids, or worries about looking like they favor their kid.

 

 

That is what I always liked about wrestling. Almost all teams have challenges. If you think you are better than the starter, you have a chance to go out and prove it on the mat.

[Grits and Shins]

It's girls softball. Girls. Most teams I saw stuck the fattie, no athlete, good hitter at catcher.

 

 

Yup. I stand by my statement ... your daughters never played competitively.

[Menudo]

Yup. I stand by my statement ... your daughters never played competitively.

 

 

If I had a daughter, she would be able to beat up your daughter.

[TimC]

Yup. I stand by my statement ... your daughters never played competitively.

 

 

:whydoitrywiththisidjut:

[TimC]

I tell ya what, Blitzie. Take over the team and run it as you see fit. Who cares what the girls think and whether they want to have fun. It's all about winning. Yer an embarrassment and the reason kid's sports is what it is. Look in the mirror.

[Menudo]

I tell ya what, Blitzie. Take over the team and run it as you see fit. Who cares what the girls think and whether they want to have fun. It's all about winning. Yer an embarrassment and the reason kid's sports is what it is. Look in the mirror.

 

 

[TimC]

 

 

The truth. I doubt he can handle it. He just wants everyone to blow smoke up his ass and tell him he's doing the right thing.

 

Here's a plan for parents like Grits. Let the coaches do their job, shut up and sit yer ass in the stands and applaud.

 

And don't forget to bring Gatorade.

[Spooky]

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boo.