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RetiredCoach

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  1. Where is Amanda Morgan going to college? Scholarship?
  2. I almost laughed myself off the crapper when I read these: #1 Metal man: "First thing that comes to my mind is how do the players feel? You ever heard the saying that if momma ain't happy, no one's happy...the production goes down in the household. If you want production from young impressionable women, they've got to be happy. I would love to ask each individual player if their happy outside of softball and inside of softball. I think that would shed some light." #2 : Metal van: "I almost forgot, most importantly what about the coaches. Are they happy and uplifting when things get tough? Do they give tough love when needed, do they bond with the players and even the parents? How encouraging are the coaches when the wheels start to fall off and the softball world is crashing down on their player? All these things plus a ton more can make or break a team and I'm seeing a team that needs some repairs." #3 : Metal man minivan: "I agree that a coaching staff should improve the team, but maybe the players have just gotten better. The talent is there without a doubt. The thing is that Campbell is a big school compared to at least half of those that we lost to. When 5 seniors this year don't show up and younger kids are discouraged from showing up to try out, somethings got to give. I'm glad that there's all this talk going on here, but talk is cheap. I want to see some action and I want that talent that oozes from the Lady Camels tapped into. The potential is there, but when a program isn't getting the kids to come out, then what..."
  3. MetalVan, I don't like to say much, but I do sometimes enjoy reading about softball since I was around the sport for four score and seven years...at least it seemed like that long. Sometimes while I'm waiting for my laxative to take effect, I read some posts for a laugh or two. But I didnt see the humor in something you said. It sounded like you were trying to take some shots across the bow of my former coaching profession. Ever coached inner city kids? Didn't think so. Sometimes we didn't know from week to week if we would even have a varsity team let alone a jv. I'm a might forgetful now, but I sure as heck wasn't back then. I had to forfeit a game once because four of my players were arrested on the way to one of my games. It happens in the city. And while Im here, did you really say a team who was dancing in a dugout made them look positive and focused? I feel a gurgling.
  4. I would alway cut a senior if they weren't going to play. No point in hanging onto someone who could be out working or doing something else. It's not easy for anyone to sit on the bench, but baseball and softball are really hard. Also hard for moms and dads to watch their kids sit the bench. Always keep the younger kid and cut the older one if they aren't going to play. Time to get on with your life.
  5. When I retired, travel ball wasn't even around. But now, if you look around at soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball, the good players are playing on teams that play tons of games in June andJuly. When I was a kid, we just met and played up at the park or at the school yard, but nobody does that any more. You have to fork over a heck of a lot of money to get your kid involved, and its's godawful expensive sometimes. But it's the only way to get better and the best players make the team. Some girls are darn good enough to play hs without playin on travel teams, but I bet most good high school teams don't have many kids who didn't play in the summer. If your kid isn't really good and she did not play over the summer, in today's world she might not make the team. Them's the facts.
  6. In my day, only one pitcher was necessary. She pitched every game. Backup pitchers learned other positions or sat on the pine. Who is the freshman pitcher who I'm hearing good things about? Saw a few camel fans last week who told me they have a redhead who is a really good pitcher. Do you know her, owen five?
  7. Went to a volleyball game recently and left shaking my head. Couldn't believe what I saw. During one of the games, the best player on the home team said, "You're full of blank" to one of the officials, and she wasn't even thrown out of the game. I'm old, but I'm pretty good at lip reading. The ref must have heard what she said too because he pulled out a yellow card, even though I don't really know what that means. All it did was rile everybody up. Her teammates seemed to be CELEBRATING the fact that she got away with it. I haven't been to see a v-ball game (match?) in years, but is that how girls normally act? Then I think he gave the girl's coach a red card--he seemed to be directing it toward the bench--yet no one left the gym. To make the evening even worse, the kids in the crowd were downright rude. Isn't somebody like a teacher or the athletic director supposed to control that? I may be old, but why are teenagers allowed to act like that? Why are ATHLETES allowed to act like that?
  8. Interesting. Never been called "dude" before. Please listen carefully, even though I'm not sure your anger and disappointment over your daughter's ranking will allow it. I ALWAYS RANKED MY PLAYERS AND GAVE THEM A NUMBER, WITH ONE BEING THE TOP PLAYER. So, the answer is yes, I would tell all of them exactly where they ranked and where stood. Why should I lie, mislead, or deceive? Regarding your other question, dudette (is that what you call a female dude? I don't want to be disrespectful), if I were ranked last, I'd look the coach right in the eye and say, "Thank you for keeping me on the team and giving me a chance, Coach. You won't regret it." And yes, I remember that I did forget a couple of times to rank a player. I spoke to her and explained that I'm human and that I just screwed up, most likely because she missed a day of two of practice or she was still in another sport when we did our rankings. I was honest. I didn't lie, mislead, or deceive. Why do you keep saying "MVP"? In the coaches' eyes, we ranked the best player #1, the second is #2, and so on. No one knew who was ranked where unless the players told one another. Why is this so hard for you to understand? And, if you don't mind me asking, if your daughter wasn't ranked that (low, or high, or close to MVP, or whatever you want to call it) what's the big deal? The coaches were honest. They didn't lie, mislead, or deceive. Seems like there's more to this than you want us all of us to know. This is wearing me out...time for another nap. Tired of trying to rationalize with what appears to be irrational thinking.
  9. I've had my bran flakes and morning walk, and I took a extra long one because after reading your last comment, Camel Bump, I was painfully recalling some coaching moments when I tried to talk RATIONALLY to parents over a similar situation many years go. You sound like a very caring person, but I wasn't sure I read your last post correctly. So, after my short nap, which I needed after my extra long walk, I read it again. And then again. Help me out here, Mom. Did you say that coaches should rank players by position or strengths, but should not rank players versus TEAMMATES? That's exactly how we do it, Mom. How ELSE do you think we rank players if not by strengths? And if we don't rank them in comparison with their teammates, who should we compare them to? Always be honest. Let kids know where they stand. Don't lie, mislead, or deceive. Come on, Mom. It's pretty obvious what happened. Your daughter must have thought she was a lot better than her her coaches did, so after hearing the truth, she came home crying and then told all of her friends. You were furious because your daughter was hurting and you didn't know how to help, so while she vented to her friends and listened to them tell her how she got a raw deal, you did the same thing on this site. This old coach has seen this happen countless times. I know you love your daughter. And I know you're upset. But based on YOUR reaction to all of this, I'll bet your daughter is NOT going early to practice, staying late, and doing EVERYTHING in her power to prove the coaches wrong, is she? Didn't think so. Help her learn from this, Mom. It's not going to be easy, but you can do more for your daughter now than you could have if she were ranked as the number one player on the team. Guide her. What YOU decide to do from this point on will impact her for years to come.
  10. I'm an old coach who is up way past my bedtime. I was in the coaching business for over 30 years. I've been reading a lot of the comments on this site, but I've never felt like I needed to say anything until now, especially since no one seems to understand how or why we coaches rank players. First of all, ALL coaches can tell after the first four or five practices where their majority of their players rank. I would always meet with my staff after the first week of practice, and we would rank all of our players at that time. We'd talk it over if we had a huge disparity and make sure we weren't missing something. We would then ask the players to rate themselves. We wanted the see if the kids were realistic BEFORE we got too far along. If a team or a business is to be successful, everyone needs to know their role and where they stand. Honestly is ALWAYS the best policy. I never lied, mislead, or deceived a kid. No coach should. Sometimes a certain player would rate herself way too high, when as coaches we rated her at the other end. There is NO WAY we were going into a season with a player thinking she was one of the best when she clearly wasn't. So, we'd talk to her and explain what we saw. We'd talk with everyone individually and explain what we viewed as a player's strengths and weaknesses, explaining how as coaches we would do everything we could to help her improve. If that's wrong to do, then parents are living in a fantasy land. Life is all about improving your weaknesses, but some people never figure out what their weaknesses are and go through their entire lives struggling. Your coach is doing you a HUGE favor. Your daughter has the entire season to work on her weaknesses and improve her talent. That's a good thing, Mom. Oh, yeah...one more thing. The only parents who were ever upset or complained seemed to be those who had daughters who grossly over-exaggerated their talent level and then heard the TRUTH from the coaching staff. If your daughter doesn't agree with her evaluation, tell her to do something about it. Prove the coaches wrong by playing harder than anyone. Come early and stay late. If it really is that important to her, have her make a list of EVERYTHING she's going to do to prove herself and then show the list to the coaches. What exactly is your daughter doing to get better? She's SCARED to talk to the coach? Sorry...not an acceptable excuse. Did I mention that I retired after a very successful career because too many parents seem to take pleasure in stirring up trouble instead of encouraging their athletes to come face to face and talk to the coach, you know, like they are going to have to do in the real world if they ever have a problem, get a bad evaluation on a job, or have a run-in with the boss or a co-worker? Sports offers so many opportunities to learn real life lessons...this is one of those times. It's NEVER wrong for coaches to be honest with kids so that kids, coaches, AND parents know EXACTLY where they stand. Perhaps the coach should have cut your daughter and not even given her a chance to develop the talent you claim she has. No, I don't think you would have wanted that. I'm done. It's time for my milk of magnesia.
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