Yes I agree and most people say that baseball and softball are the same and that is just wrong IMO. When I say coaching is a problem in NKY I am talking about the whole process. Why is it ok for schools to hire coaches that do not have fastpitch experience. It just almost never happens in the other sports in NKY.

The schools don't care about softball, period. Hire a teacher, make a lineup, get a check. Baseball is different than softball. But do you teach a girl how to field a ground ball or catch a fly different than a boy? How much different is bunting or hitting, or throwing tecnique? Pitching and slapping and game strategies are the difference. I started coaching 18u travel base ball in 1980 it didn't take long to learn the difference when my DD turned 10 and started playing fastpitch. If an ex baseball coach can teach fundamentals, a good one will learn the difference and be successful. I confronted a girl last year that I had helped with her hitting over the winter after a High School game for swinging at a pitch over her head and popped out when she was ahead in the count 2-0. She told me that her coach had the hit and run on and it would be selfish not to swing at anything while a sluggish runner was stealing second base. She was hitting over .600 near the end of April. Her coach had experience as a asst. Freshmen baseball coach.

Yes I agree and most people say that baseball and softball are the same and that is just wrong IMO. When I say coaching is a problem in NKY I am talking about the whole process. Why is it ok for schools to hire coaches that do not have fastpitch experience. It just almost never happens in the other sports in NKY.

The schools don't care about softball, period. Hire a teacher, make a lineup, get a check. Baseball is different than softball. But do you teach a girl how to field a ground ball or catch a fly different than a boy? How much different is bunting or hitting, or throwing technique? Pitching and slapping and game strategies are the difference. I started coaching 18u travel base ball in 1980 it didn't take long to learn the difference when my DD turned 10 and started playing fastpitch. If an ex baseball coach can teach fundamentals, a good one will learn the difference and be successful. I confronted a girl last year that I had helped with her hitting over the winter after a High School game for swinging at a pitch over her head and popped out when she was ahead in the count 2-0. She told me that her coach had the hit and run on and it would be selfish not to swing at anything while a sluggish runner was stealing second base. She was hitting over .600 near the end of April. Her coach had experience as a asst. Freshmen baseball coach.

The schools don't care about softball, period. Hire a teacher, make a lineup, get a check. Baseball is different than softball. But do you teach a girl how to field a ground ball or catch a fly different than a boy? How much different is bunting or hitting, or throwing technique? Pitching and slapping and game strategies are the difference. I started coaching 18u travel base ball in 1980 it didn't take long to learn the difference when my DD turned 10 and started playing fastpitch. If an ex baseball coach can teach fundamentals, a good one will learn the difference and be successful. I confronted a girl last year that I had helped with her hitting over the winter after a High School game for swinging at a pitch over her head and popped out when she was ahead in the count 2-0. She told me that her coach had the hit and run on and it would be selfish not to swing at anything while a sluggish runner was stealing second base. She was hitting over .600 near the end of April. Her coach had experience as a asst. Freshmen baseball coach.

 

I personally know several rec coaches that know more about the fastpitch game than some of the HS coaches; unfortunately their commitments don't allow them to coach travel ball. The really successful coaches in the area are those who can't get enough of it, like in any sport. They will make the extra effort to learn the different facets of the game from the baseball game that they grew up with, they will schedule as many games as possible, work to make up rainouts, keep their players in the fore front, actually get up off their fanny and "work" to develop player skills, and eat/sleep/drink the game through the summer and even fall ball. If you're lucky enough to have that type of coach, then baby you need to hold on to him or her. To be fair, there are a few of those around here, some of which are still a work in progress, but the key word being only a "few".

Are most head coaches in the 9th teachers? I would have guessed they were not.

The coach at Grant is an old mens fastpitch player and also coached mens fastpitch as well. Ott Reed. The coach at Walton John Anderson also

played mens fastpitch for about 10 yrs and his dad George played for over 40 yrs as a pitcher and is a NKY Sports Hall of Famer. In talking to them alot of the problem

is the game is coached like baseball by some schools and fastpitch has a totally different strategy to teaching and coaching. I know for a fact that Anderson has turned

Waltons program into a winner. Marlin Gregg has been an assistant coach at WV 1 yr. Sure would like to have that coaching staff.

 

Absolutely agree 100 percent. And they are definitely great coaches.

I'm just going to use NewCath as an example, but when you have the majority of your players who play 2, sometimes 3 sports (soccer & hoops) and those sports are their top priority over fastpitch, it is somewhat difficult to progress. Just this past summer when soccer practice started in July we lost 9 girls from our summer team who only got to play 4 games. However it is still a plus that they are athletic enough to play fastpitch. Hopefully with the start of a Freshman team made up of 6th & 7th graders(8th graders play JV), over the coming years we can create a better interest in the game. Travel ball is not that big for a few reasons, mainly cost and not most players top sport. IMO Teams in Northern Campbell Co. are still light years behind are "compadres" in Boone County and NKY "as a whole" is far behind the rest of the state still.

Baseball vs. Softball

 

Here's your rules differences:

 

http://www.stevetheump.com/nfhs_rules_dif.htm

 

Biggest difference - boys are happy to be on a team and will accept a role. They also have short memories. Don't pay much attention to parents because most fields deny direct access to fans.

Girls - want to play or once they hit 16 and discover boys, money, car, job, etc..the commitment level is not there. No play, no commitment and they will remember one thing forever and never let it go. Drama everywhere. And most fields allow parents to find there way into a dugout....bad combination. (My apologies to our fellow female bloggers, but this is the majority at least in my experience. It is not meant to be shovanistic (sp?))

 

Now, not withstanding the obvious strategies (bunt defense, some baserunning based on rules like look by rule, cutoffs, field layouts, etc., the fundamentals are pretty Word Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter Violation close if they are being taught correctly.

 

Throwing - same motion

Fielding - same positioning and aggressiveness

Mental intelligence and fortitude - have to know the game, situations, etc.

Pitching - obviously the biggest difference - one dominant pitcher can make any coach look good.

Catching - setting up, blocking, receiving, throwing - all similiar

Catching fly balls - same

Bunting - same (not including slapping here which is a specialty to fast pitch)

Running technique - same

Hitting - rotational vs. contact (I'd love to see Bustos not hit with a rotational technique and see where the power goes)

 

This is obviously meant for a high level comparison, but to be a "good" high school fastpitch coach, someone with a baseball background who has passion, dedication, knows the above fundamentals, can/has experience to manage a program, communicate with players, parents, administration, push academics, etc., then you have found a "good" coach. No high school coach has enough time to teach the players everything given the preseason weather, limited facilities, limited interest in the sport - the real players are made in the offseason when they play travel. As point out earlier, high school coaches have a thankless job.

 

But a DEFINITE YES, and we can all agree to disagree, but BASEBALL COACHES can make "good" softball coaches...the know it all parents are the biggest problem.:isurrender::deadhorse:

BlueColonel - overall I agree - especially the "parental access" part.

 

However, a few points:

 

You can't just say "throwing" is the same. The quickness, style of hitting due to the size of the batter's box, and the short baselines require a different overall approach to throwing than baseball. A high school shortstop can collect themselves on a groundball as well as play really deep. That can't happen in fastpitch.

 

Running technique is a bit different due to the no-leadoff as well as the cirlce. Slight. Not major.

 

Fastpitch coaches in NKY have to teach a lot more fundamentals than baseball coaches due to lack of experience amongst the girls ie not as many games played.

 

Hitting/swing is different for most girls vs boys.

 

I do think baseball coaches can coach fastpitch . However, there is an adjustment period if they do not have much FP experience.

 

The "parents are the problem" line, even if true, is a bit self-serving. Parents do not cause teams to lose.

Agreed...there are suddleties. And correct, parents don't cause teams to lose, but the coaches don't always shoulder the blame. I think you nailed it with "the lack of experience amongst the girls". Great players can make any coach look good = especially a dominant pitcher.

 

BlueColonel - overall I agree - especially the "parental access" part.

 

However, a few points:

 

You can't just say "throwing" is the same. The quickness, style of hitting due to the size of the batter's box, and the short baselines require a different overall approach to throwing than baseball. A high school shortstop can collect themselves on a groundball as well as play really deep. That can't happen in fastpitch.

 

Running technique is a bit different due to the no-leadoff as well as the cirlce. Slight. Not major.

 

Fastpitch coaches in NKY have to teach a lot more fundamentals than baseball coaches due to lack of experience amongst the girls ie not as many games played.

 

Hitting/swing is different for most girls vs boys.

 

I do think baseball coaches can coach fastpitch . However, there is an adjustment period if they do not have much FP experience.

 

The "parents are the problem" line, even if true, is a bit self-serving. Parents do not cause teams to lose.

Baseball vs. Softball

 

Here's your rules differences:

 

http://www.stevetheump.com/nfhs_rules_dif.htm

 

Biggest difference - boys are happy to be on a team and will accept a role. They also have short memories. Don't pay much attention to parents because most fields deny direct access to fans.

Girls - want to play or once they hit 16 and discover boys, money, car, job, etc..the commitment level is not there. No play, no commitment and they will remember one thing forever and never let it go. Drama everywhere. And most fields allow parents to find there way into a dugout....bad combination. (My apologies to our fellow female bloggers, but this is the majority at least in my experience. It is not meant to be shovanistic (sp?))

 

Now, not withstanding the obvious strategies (bunt defense, some baserunning based on rules like look by rule, cutoffs, field layouts, etc., the fundamentals are pretty Word Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter Violation close if they are being taught correctly.

 

Throwing - same motion

Fielding - same positioning and aggressiveness

Mental intelligence and fortitude - have to know the game, situations, etc.

Pitching - obviously the biggest difference - one dominant pitcher can make any coach look good.

Catching - setting up, blocking, receiving, throwing - all similiar

Catching fly balls - same

Bunting - same (not including slapping here which is a specialty to fast pitch)

Running technique - same

Hitting - rotational vs. contact (I'd love to see Bustos not hit with a rotational technique and see where the power goes)

 

This is obviously meant for a high level comparison, but to be a "good" high school fastpitch coach, someone with a baseball background who has passion, dedication, knows the above fundamentals, can/has experience to manage a program, communicate with players, parents, administration, push academics, etc., then you have found a "good" coach. No high school coach has enough time to teach the players everything given the preseason weather, limited facilities limited interest in the sport - the real players are made in the offseason when they play travel. As point out earlier, high school coaches have a thankless job.

 

But a DEFINITE YES, and we can all agree to disagree, but BASEBALL COACHES can make "good" softball coaches...the know it all parents are the biggest problem.:isurrender::deadhorse:

 

BINGO, BINGO, BINGO. I would love to have the facilities that Dixie, Boone, SK, & ND have. You can throw in Conner & Ryle also. It would be great to have an on campus field to workout on. Hell It would be even better to have a turf football field like Beechwood and Newport, you could practice even if it had rained earlier in the day. Of course I didn't mention Highlands, God knows Dale wouldn't think of softball players on his sacred turf. At NewCath we are relegated to one of our feeder schools gyms.

Yes I agree and most people say that baseball and softball are the same and that is just wrong IMO. When I say coaching is a problem in NKY I am talking about the whole process. Why is it ok for schools to hire coaches that do not have fastpitch experience. It just almost never happens in the other sports in NKY.

Where are they? When you say experience, I gave you the most experienced coaches in the area and you still didn't think they had enough experience. Here is the way I see it, you are getting the best this area has to offer and you are complaining that it isn't good enough.

Clyde, I don't agree with your statement about hitting being different. Blue Colonel touched on this a little as well with the rotational/linear approach. I've seen only a hand full of really good swings in this area. A lot of people have the mentality that they are little girls they are not supposed to hit the ball hard. Watch the college world series and see those girls pounding home runs and doubles all over the place. To be honest most little girls start out with a pretty good swing until some rec coach teaches them to hit ground balls to shortstop expecting her to miss it.

Where are they? When you say experience, I gave you the most experienced coaches in the area and you still didn't think they had enough experience. Here is the way I see it, you are getting the best this area has to offer and you are complaining that it isn't good enough.

 

Those coaches you mentioned are more than fine and capable to me.

Baseball vs. Softball

 

Here's your rules differences:

 

http://www.stevetheump.com/nfhs_rules_dif.htm

 

Biggest difference - boys are happy to be on a team and will accept a role. They also have short memories. Don't pay much attention to parents because most fields deny direct access to fans.

Girls - want to play or once they hit 16 and discover boys, money, car, job, etc..the commitment level is not there. No play, no commitment and they will remember one thing forever and never let it go. Drama everywhere. And most fields allow parents to find there way into a dugout....bad combination. (My apologies to our fellow female bloggers, but this is the majority at least in my experience. It is not meant to be shovanistic (sp?))

 

Now, not withstanding the obvious strategies (bunt defense, some baserunning based on rules like look by rule, cutoffs, field layouts, etc., the fundamentals are pretty Word Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter ViolationWord Filter Violation close if they are being taught correctly.

 

Throwing - same motion

Fielding - same positioning and aggressiveness

Mental intelligence and fortitude - have to know the game, situations, etc.

Pitching - obviously the biggest difference - one dominant pitcher can make any coach look good.

Catching - setting up, blocking, receiving, throwing - all similiar

Catching fly balls - same

Bunting - same (not including slapping here which is a specialty to fast pitch)

Running technique - same

Hitting - rotational vs. contact (I'd love to see Bustos not hit with a rotational technique and see where the power goes)

 

This is obviously meant for a high level comparison, but to be a "good" high school fastpitch coach, someone with a baseball background who has passion, dedication, knows the above fundamentals, can/has experience to manage a program, communicate with players, parents, administration, push academics, etc., then you have found a "good" coach. No high school coach has enough time to teach the players everything given the preseason weather, limited facilities, limited interest in the sport - the real players are made in the offseason when they play travel. As point out earlier, high school coaches have a thankless job.

 

But a DEFINITE YES, and we can all agree to disagree, but BASEBALL COACHES can make "good" softball coaches...the know it all parents are the biggest problem.:isurrender::deadhorse:

 

I must be really lucky bc I have coached both soccer and softball at a very high level for almost 10 years and have never had a problem with a parent. Now of course some of the parents have not always been happy but there has never been a problem. So I guess we were really lucky or must have been doing something right, maybe a little of both.

I must be really lucky bc I have coached both soccer and softball at a very high level for almost 10 years and have never had a problem with a parent. Now of course some of the parents have not always been happy but there has never been a problem. So I guess we were really lucky or must have been doing something right, maybe a little of both.

May I ask why you do not coach high school softball?