Paid Coaches?

[pitchersmom96]

In a posting in the Looking for Players section in Ca I seen that Head coaches are getting paid to coach a travel team. So I am just curious to see what everyone feels on Coaches being paid to coach a travel team. What credentials should a coach have to expect to be paid for coaching? Are there any red flags? (Promises of getting them prepared for college?) We have never had to pay for a coach on any of the teams (maybe it was hidden) and was wondering is this common? Also paying a coach for 10U-12U is that really necessary for such a young age, i could understand maybe 16U-18U.

[OCTravelCoach]

In a posting in the Looking for Players section in Ca I seen that Head coaches are getting paid to coach a travel team. So I am just curious to see what everyone feels on Coaches being paid to coach a travel team. What credentials should a coach have to expect to be paid for coaching? Are there any red flags? (Promises of getting them prepared for college?) We have never had to pay for a coach on any of the teams (maybe it was hidden) and was wondering is this common? Also paying a coach for 10U-12U is that really necessary for such a young age, i could understand maybe 16U-18U.

We have a paid coach, Nina Lindenberg, a 7-time member of the US National Team. Nina runs all of our practices and attends 2 tournaments each respective season. Nina knows more about playing softball at the highest level than I will ever know. She also can relate to the ladies must better because she is a woman who played at the highest levels. She can also give specific examples from her playing career in college, the national team and the pros. So from an instruction level, our players get the best. That's why we pay her.

No sure it's needed at 10 or 12s. Credentials? A former All American or All Conference player is a great choice. Good luck.

[pitchersmom96]

I am ok with a college player or ex college player coming out to help from time to time and maybe having clinics. I am talking about the head coach who makes decisions of playing time, where kids play, and teaching the game of softball etc....

Also if the head coach has a kid on the team isn't that a red flag for paid coaches?

I know you have to make smart decisions but it seems like organizations are like a salesman and how do you know they are speaking the truth of what they are offering especially a new organization that has no team accomplishments..

[Sam]

Ms. Lindenburg has quite an impressive resume....one could easily justify paying for her services.

I would never pay for a team coach, myself...I don't think they bring much to the table. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase the services of an instructor...but I also wouldn't send any of my players to an instructor who is affiliated with a specific travel organization....if you send them a good player, they will try to steal them. They may not mean to do it, but they will do it every time.

[OCTravelCoach]

Ms. Lindenburg has quite an impressive resume....one could easily justify paying for her services.

I would never pay for a team coach, myself...I don't think they bring much to the table. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase the services of an instructor...but I also wouldn't send any of my players to an instructor who is affiliated with a specific travel organization....if you send them a good player, they will try to steal them. They may not mean to do it, but they will do it every time.

To clarify, I am the Manager/Coach of the team. Nina, along with Howard Kobata, run all the instruction. I run the games/decisions. A plus is that Nina also brings talent to the team from players who take instruction from her and she has an extensive network. For a newbie like me (3 years travelball) that is invaluable.

Sam, you're exactly spot on about instructors affiliated with teams, they will steal your players.

[softballmafia]

In a posting in the Looking for Players section in Ca I seen that Head coaches are getting paid to coach a travel team. So I am just curious to see what everyone feels on Coaches being paid to coach a travel team. What credentials should a coach have to expect to be paid for coaching? Are there any red flags? (Promises of getting them prepared for college?) We have never had to pay for a coach on any of the teams (maybe it was hidden) and was wondering is this common? Also paying a coach for 10U-12U is that really necessary for such a young age, i could understand maybe 16U-18U.

We have a paid coach, Nina Lindenberg, a 7-time member of the US National Team. Nina runs all of our practices and attends 2 tournaments each respective season. Nina knows more about playing softball at the highest level than I will ever know. She also can relate to the ladies must better because she is a woman who played at the highest levels. She can also give specific examples from her playing career in college, the national team and the pros. So from an instruction level, our players get the best. That's why we pay her.

No sure it's needed at 10 or 12s. Credentials? A former All American or All Conference player is a great choice. Good luck.

So is this a paid coach or are you just paying for a instructor/consultant? Is she going to all your friendlies were it counts to have her there to see what your doing wrong? Why only two tournaments? Thats why I said your justing paying for instructing not a paid coach.

[OCTravelCoach]

In a posting in the Looking for Players section in Ca I seen that Head coaches are getting paid to coach a travel team. So I am just curious to see what everyone feels on Coaches being paid to coach a travel team. What credentials should a coach have to expect to be paid for coaching? Are there any red flags? (Promises of getting them prepared for college?) We have never had to pay for a coach on any of the teams (maybe it was hidden) and was wondering is this common? Also paying a coach for 10U-12U is that really necessary for such a young age, i could understand maybe 16U-18U.

We have a paid coach, Nina Lindenberg, a 7-time member of the US National Team. Nina runs all of our practices and attends 2 tournaments each respective season. Nina knows more about playing softball at the highest level than I will ever know. She also can relate to the ladies must better because she is a woman who played at the highest levels. She can also give specific examples from her playing career in college, the national team and the pros. So from an instruction level, our players get the best. That's why we pay her.

No sure it's needed at 10 or 12s. Credentials? A former All American or All Conference player is a great choice. Good luck.

So is this a paid coach or are you just paying for a instructor/consultant? Is she going to all your friendlies were it counts to have her there to see what your doing wrong? Why only two tournaments? Thats why I said your justing paying for instructing not a paid coach.

We're probably splitting hairs here. She is our 'practice coach.' She runs all of our practices. She also attends 2 tournaments a season. Why so few, because we also have Howard Kobata and have SPARQ training sessions at Velocity Performance Sports in Orange. We have a first rate program that costs a lot of money. A lot of the money is mine, so that's the answer for her attendance at only 2 tournaments. If I could afford it fulltime, she would be there.

[Coach11]

In a posting in the Looking for Players section in Ca I seen that Head coaches are getting paid to coach a travel team. So I am just curious to see what everyone feels on Coaches being paid to coach a travel team. What credentials should a coach have to expect to be paid for coaching? Are there any red flags? (Promises of getting them prepared for college?) We have never had to pay for a coach on any of the teams (maybe it was hidden) and was wondering is this common? Also paying a coach for 10U-12U is that really necessary for such a young age, i could understand maybe 16U-18U.

Depends on what you're looking for.

Outside of parents of players, you're not likely to find a WHOLE lotta folks interested in coaching girls softball for free.

So unless you're OK with "daddy-ball", you're going to be paying someone.

Now and again you can get lucky and have former players voluteer to help coach with an orginization they came up through. But they are few and far between.

All in all, there's no guarentees the coaches of ANY team are really any good.....paid or otherwise.

[coolstuff]

Yes, we were with a team for two years who had a paid head coach. The coach was a former college softball player, so she obviously knew the game and was able to teach the girls a lot. She was paid for her knowledge and experience. She definitely didn't get rich off it, she was just compensated for her time with a little pocket money. All the parents knew it and didn't have an issue with it.

EDIT: we were with this team 2nd yr 12 U and 1st yr 14U.

[Demonboy]

In a posting in the Looking for Players section in Ca I seen that Head coaches are getting paid to coach a travel team. So I am just curious to see what everyone feels on Coaches being paid to coach a travel team. What credentials should a coach have to expect to be paid for coaching? Are there any red flags? (Promises of getting them prepared for college?) We have never had to pay for a coach on any of the teams (maybe it was hidden) and was wondering is this common? Also paying a coach for 10U-12U is that really necessary for such a young age, i could understand maybe 16U-18U.

Depends on what you're looking for.

Outside of parents of players, you're not likely to find a WHOLE lotta folks interested in coaching girls softball for free.

So unless you're OK with "daddy-ball", you're going to be paying someone.

Now and again you can get lucky and have former players voluteer to help coach with an orginization they came up through. But they are few and far between.

All in all, there's no guarentees the coaches of ANY team are really any good.....paid or otherwise.

Most of the top gold programs in So Cal do not pay a salary to the coaches.