Made ya LooK. So, I was thinking which really hurts, but I can't imagine coaches knowing it all. On the top 10 thread Boone89, who I'm going to put one of his sentences from that thread got me to wonder about certification. Oh yeah, before I forget here's that sentence....."College coaches talk to a lot of players and the bigger D1 schools are not looking at our local kids, they are certainly using our kids to make money at their camps, so why don't we put more effort into getting Kentucky recognized as having quality players than we do worrying about what other people say about a players list." Read it twice...Thanks Boone89, I hope it is ok that I use your words, but what you said is right on the money. So what Boone89 said got the wheels turning and I've heard other sports have coaches get certifications, correct me if I'm wrong, maybe it's in other states. Anyway, what about a certification or whatever fancier word we could use to have softball coaches from rec. on up to at least high school to be mandatory. Maybe that could get the ball rolling for Kentucky, at least it would say that we're trying to step up the education for the coaches which would help the kids. I bet that there are high school coaches that would love to get a kid that was more developed and it would have a college coach chomping at the bit over a high school coaches player ready to get her to sign.

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Made ya LooK. So, I was thinking which really hurts, but I can't imagine coaches knowing it all. On the top 10 thread Boone89, who I'm going to put one of his sentences from that thread got me to wonder about certification. Oh yeah, before I forget here's that sentence....."College coaches talk to a lot of players and the bigger D1 schools are not looking at our local kids, they are certainly using our kids to make money at their camps, so why don't we put more effort into getting Kentucky recognized as having quality players than we do worrying about what other people say about a players list." Read it twice...Thanks Boone89, I hope it is ok that I use your words, but what you said is right on the money. So what Boone89 said got the wheels turning and I've heard other sports have coaches get certifications, correct me if I'm wrong, maybe it's in other states. Anyway, what about a certification or whatever fancier word we could use to have softball coaches from rec. on up to at least high school to be mandatory. Maybe that could get the ball rolling for Kentucky, at least it would say that we're trying to step up the education for the coaches which would help the kids. I bet that there are high school coaches that would love to get a kid that was more developed and it would have a college coach chomping at the bit over a high school coaches player ready to get her to sign.

 

You can make coaches do all the certifications you want, but it will have very little effect on how many kids get D1 scholarships. The truth of the matter is there just aren't that many D1 scholarships available, and realistically there are very few D1 athletes. Less than 1% of all high school athletes end up playing sports at the d1 level. Especially in sports like baseball, softball, volleyball etc, where there are only a handful of scholllys (I know baseball, each D1 school gets just under 12 scholllys, and because of title 9 I'm guessing softball is the same). And like it or not, the players that live in warmer states that can play year round, have an inherent advantage. People all the time overestimate the amount of D1 talent or really understand how difficult it is to play at that level. It's not that there aren't very good players in Kentucky. There are. But it takes a really special player to get a D1 look. And while we could always use better trained coaches, the fact is, even by mandating higher levels of training (which in reality would lower the total number of coaches, especially at lower levels) you are not going to move the needle on the number of D1 athletes in the state.

I wasn't really trying to say just D1, but rjs4470 makes some good points. So could it help the girls get the looks from schools below D1? I'm sure there are coaches out there that probably go above and beyond educating their selves, but I bet there's just as many that might need a push. Kinda like some athletes that need a good supporting cast to help them over the hump. I wonder, if sometimes a coach feels like he/she wishes his or her supporting cast was helping them over a hump. Also, I think we have just as good of a chance for the girls to succeed here as the southern states have. As far as I know, select teams at least practice year round, which can help with honing your skills. I guess some could argue that more games is were it's at, but I like the idea of more practice than games. The girls can also do tee and mirror work at the house. If you get really creative you can do just about anything at the house and make it fun. Plus, since we can't play year round, I would assume it cuts back on burnouts.

I wasn't really trying to say just D1, but rjs4470 makes some good points. So could it help the girls get the looks from schools below D1? I'm sure there are coaches out there that probably go above and beyond educating their selves, but I bet there's just as many that might need a push. Kinda like some athletes that need a good supporting cast to help them over the hump. I wonder, if sometimes a coach feels like he/she wishes his or her supporting cast was helping them over a hump. Also, I think we have just as good of a chance for the girls to succeed here as the southern states have. As far as I know, select teams at least practice year round, which can help with honing your skills. I guess some could argue that more games is were it's at, but I like the idea of more practice than games. The girls can also do tee and mirror work at the house. If you get really creative you can do just about anything at the house and make it fun. Plus, since we can't play year round, I would assume it cuts back on burnouts.

 

Again, there is always a need for better trained coaches. But much of the work you describe, falls on the athlete. And like it or not, at any level, there are certain measurables you need to have, and no matter how much you practice or train, if you don't have those you won't get offers.

 

And I'll say it again. Forcing coaches to to complete more certifications, especially at lower levels will lead to fewer coaches. Most high school and higher level travel ball coaches are already doing that sort of thing. And to force the rest to do that still won't necessarily lead to more offers. If the goal is to get more athletes into college, we should be focused on getting a better education, than trying to create better athletes.

Again, there is always a need for better trained coaches. But much of the work you describe, falls on the athlete. And like it or not, at any level, there are certain measurables you need to have, and no matter how much you practice or train, if you don't have those you won't get offers.

 

And I'll say it again. Forcing coaches to to complete more certifications, especially at lower levels will lead to fewer coaches. Most high school and higher level travel ball coaches are already doing that sort of thing. And to force the rest to do that still won't necessarily lead to more offers. If the goal is to get more athletes into college, we should be focused on getting a better education, than trying to create better athletes.

 

Agreed. Most kids that play at any level after high school have a different drive than the normal athlete. Some have raw talent and measurable and some put in the extra time to make themselves better. In any sport I coach, one of the first things I tell them is that I can't make you a better player or athlete. I can teach you how to make yourself a better player/athlete. The kids that make it to the next level are the kids that put in the time to do so.

 

In NKY, it's the lack of great organizations in softball. Yes...we have a few orgs that do a good job. But if I have a kid that wants to play higher, I send them to Ohio or Louisville. I think our NKY orgs are good for kids in the mid-range, but elite kids need more and unfortunately that means you may have to play outside of NKY. There just hasn't been an org in NKY thats been able to sustain a high level of talent. One of the reason, softball just isn't a priority in NKY. Soccer, volleyball and basketball reign in NKY.

For whatever reason, the overall softball culture in NKY is WAY different than it is in Louisville and WKY.

I should also add that getting D1 opportunities is not easy. To be honest, the D1 recruiting "game" is NOT for everybody, it can be VERY stressful.

If there's always a need for a better trained coach, then how does that fall on the athlete? Athletes will usually do what the coaches want, but if it's wrong it hurts the athletes chance to improve and not the coach. You can take a clueless coach with great athletes and make the coach look like he's the man, but you can't do that with a brilliant coach with less than stellar athletes, but yet the finger could get pointed at coach or athlete. Point is its hard to decipher who's right or wrong and it would be nice to see somethings at least agreed upon. I've talked to coaches from rec. on up to college about softball and everyone of them for the most part would not agree with anything at all, especially mechanics, then throw parents on top of it all. So, wouldn't it make since to have at least some of the basic mechanics,skills, or even warm ups agreed upon. I watched a high school game last year were the catcher after 3 innings went straight to pitching and never warmed up. I know it's not a mechanics situation, but I thought wow that's odd. I've seen the rec. girls warm up their pitchers, but not high school. And yes I get it, it was only that one game, but how does a coach expect to have a athlete have success like that? If a pitcher can't warm up, I bet mechanics aren't being taught. Then, I asked a parent who told me that that was something that only happens once in awhile, because there's not enough time. Then I saw it happen at a select game as well, with getting same answer about time. Maybe just bad timing on my part. But I can say it did seem like the coaches were trying their best and I guess that's all we can ask for.

Hard to compete with the southern states who have the chance to play year round.

My point about better trained coaches was that nobody is perfect, and even the best coaches can and should be trying to improve. Blaming coaches training (or lack thereof) on lack of college opportunities for local athletes, is just way off base. Bottom line is that it is very difficult to play college sports at any level, in any sport and 95% of high school athletes don't play sports in college. That number isn't high because of bad coaching. It's because the vast majority of high school athletes don't have the talent, drive, or desire to play sports at the next level. That has nothing to do with coaching.

My point about better trained coaches was that nobody is perfect, and even the best coaches can and should be trying to improve. Blaming coaches training (or lack thereof) on lack of college opportunities for local athletes, is just way off base. Bottom line is that it is very difficult to play college sports at any level, in any sport and 95% of high school athletes don't play sports in college. That number isn't high because of bad coaching. It's because the vast majority of high school athletes don't have the talent, drive, or desire to play sports at the next level. That has nothing to do with coaching.

 

Agreed. And there are some with plenty of talent that do not have the drive or desire to do what it takes to maintain their edge or get a look from colleges. Recruiting has changed drastically over the last 20-25 years too. Nowadays, you have to get out and market yourself in many different ways. Recruiters can go to elite select tournaments and seem 100's of elite players in a day. Then spend all week looking at videos sent in by players to be evaluated. They don't have to be out in the field tracking down talent like the old days. The talent comes to them. Yes, they still have a lot of work to do and I'm not minimizing that, just saying they can see a lot more players in a much shorter amount of time these days...which makes the competition for any college spot fierce.

The one thing my thread definitely shows is that softball is not going to get any better in Kentucky. I'm not sure how I'm blaming coaches for anything. It's pretty obvious that people don't like change and it's gonna still be the same ol' same ol'. If anything I'll blame the parents:isurrender:, it's time for me to go sit in the corner now.

I can tell you first hand that you're not going to get recreational coaches to take a certification class. I'm involved with a recreational league and our biggest issue every year is finding coaches. If I told our parents that want to coach that they would have to take a certification class in order to coach, only a small handful would do so.

The one thing my thread definitely shows is that softball is not going to get any better in Kentucky. I'm not sure how I'm blaming coaches for anything. It's pretty obvious that people don't like change and it's gonna still be the same ol' same ol'. If anything I'll blame the parents:isurrender:, it's time for me to go sit in the corner now.

 

It's all great conversation! It just takes a lot of time, people and effort to change the culture and I'm not sure there is enough interest in today's NKY to do it. You'd have to start at the young ages and get a hold of the young kids before passion grows for other sports. Then once you have more interest at the younger ages, the culture can start to change. Friends get other friends involved and make it fun and you can swing the pendulum. As kids get older, they migrate towards competition vs fun. So you have to have a way to keep the really good players in NKY and create an org that can compete and get exposure. All of that is a long term plan and hard to execute without a very dedicated leader or group.

The one thing my thread definitely shows is that softball is not going to get any better in Kentucky. I'm not sure how I'm blaming coaches for anything. It's pretty obvious that people don't like change and it's gonna still be the same ol' same ol'. If anything I'll blame the parents:isurrender:, it's time for me to go sit in the corner now.

 

You did say that their should be mandatory certifications for coaches at all levels. That to me implies you feel it's coaching that is causing athletes in KY to get more offers.

 

Anyway, what about a certification or whatever fancier word we could use to have softball coaches from rec. on up to at least high school to be mandatory. Maybe that could get the ball rolling for Kentucky, at least it would say that we're trying to step up the education for the coaches which would help the kids

 

The system is what it is, and it's not really all that bad. You're looking for reasons why more kids don't play college ball. The simple explanation is that most simply aren't talented enough, and even all the ones that are, don't have the desire or drive to do so. Changing the system, forcing coaches to get certifications, etc, is not going to change that. As some others have mentioned, if you make it tougher to coach, you'll have less coaches. Mostly at lower levels these guys are volunteers, and these certifications would further increase time and expense, and chase many guys/gals out of the coaching ranks, possibly reducing opportunities for players. Your idea isn't bad, I just don't think it's really feasible, and even if it were, I don't think it would move the needle all that much. It has nothing to do with me not liking change.