Possibly Starting a new Travel Team, need opinions?

[vernouknow]

Hello, I was hoping to get some opinions.
I am 29, I played fastpitch softball for about 16 years. I played through the so cal system rec, and travel. Travel wise, I played for Ontario Nemesis, Crunch, Past Time and Riverside Rookies. I was recruited out of high school to play catcher and third base for UCLA. UCLA was short lived because I lost my scholarship due to a none sports or academic related issue. Anyway I left the sport and cam back through coaching winter rec ball in 2016. I was recruited to help coach a travel team and have been approached by a few others. I am pondering starting my own team for a few reasons:
1. It seems its all about ego. Most of the coaches I encountered are not at all interested in developing players, just in winning games.
2. Coaches lack the ability and interest to actually coach. It seems like it is very common to practice twice a week, once at batting cages during the week and once at a field. I see coaches pushing their players out to instructors for lessons to learn basic skills.
3. You are selling something, coaches are either selling lessons or selling tickets to college.
4. The entire skill set of the game is down. The talent level has gotten very low. Even these elite level gold teams, are basically just rec ball girls.

I am not saying that I am any better, and I hate to do a "back in my day" story, but when I played, travel ball was something players who wanted to play year round and wanted a greater skill set participated in. Most of the instruction came from the teams coaches, you went outside the team to get extra work or, to get a different set of instructions. You did fundraising to get enough money for things, not a whole lot came out of parents pockets. Players played more than one position, they weren't stuck in one or two. It wasn't solely about winning, but becoming good athletes that could compete at a higher level. It also wasnt about selling tickets to college, of course we did show cases and what not, but we were not driving into these 11, 12, 13,14 year olds heads that they were doing this to get into college (which is something that I personally think is a lot of pressure to put on a young person).

What do you think? Do you think there is room for a more "old school mentality" team?
Im open to all advice even negative. If you think its something I should go for should I go under the coat of a preexisting organization like future prospects or fire crackers? or start a new?

[thecommish]

I tend to read and heed a lot on advice on here and do not post but here’s my 2 cents……
Way to question the status quo! I’m a softball parent and my daughter will be headed off to play college softball next year. But I am also a former college athlete and just recently got back into coaching myself (different sport & not my daughter’s team). So much has changed! So many promises made out there these days. You are correct; some people are not in it for the right reasons. (Even some former college players!)

Some things to think about:
1) Coaches make these promises because this is what parents and players want to hear. Who wants to hear that it takes hard work and talent to play in college? Or that their daughter is not a college caliber player? This is how the coaches attract players onto their teams.
2) Coaches take teams to showcases because this is what parents and players want. Everyone wants a chance to play in front of college coaches. Who wants to know that the coaches are out there to watch only already recruited players or players on a specific list. Nobody wants to know that they should have been emailing/calling coaches since 8th grade to get on that list.
3) Many coaches are able to sell there “product” as parents and players sometimes don’t know who actually has the “goods”. I didn’t play softball but one thing I tried to teach my own daughter was to work hard, learn to compete and earn your spot, period. Hard to convince people that it takes solid fundamentals, repetition, hard work and a love of the game to succeed. This apparently is boring and doesn’t give anyone instant gratification.

The cost of being an idealist is that if you don’t want to do the above, many parents/players don’t want to buy in and will revert back to teams/coaches doing the above. The bottom line is that coaching for one of “name brand” teams will make your life easier (this will cost the parents more money) but it will allow you to attract higher caliber players and hopefully teach the kids something substantial. I think it is really important for former college level players to give back and provide a reality check. Unfortunately, things are just way more complicated these days! Good luck!

[thecommish]

If it makes a difference, I am softball mom and female coach. Hopefully, a female point of view helps in your situation!

[vernouknow]

Thank you so much for taking the time. I really appreciate it.

[Nicelag]

As a softball dad I think the male dominated travel softball world is wide open and awaiting experienced and motivated female coaches. As stated however it will be much easier to attract talent if you are attached to a named organization. It's a double edged sword. You need talent to compete, and you need to compete to get talent.

[Sam]

The game is a little different than when you played. The number of parents who are absolutely fu*king nuts has grown exponentially. Instructors for batting, fielding, pitching, and even mental approach are now the norm. Coaches don't try to instruct because they may be contradicting an "instructor." They play all year because they are scared to lose players to teams who play all year and could give a shit about their players' health. The sad truth is that they WILL lose players and perhaps their entire team if they were to take a mere 90 days off. Why? Because of the psychotic parent egos. They actually think coaches are nuts for taking time off.

The other issue, brought out by another poster, is the coaches really don't care about developing players. They want to recruit players other coaches spent time to develop. They want to win. Period. This is really sick when you consider they are coaching little girls not too far removed from playing with Barbie.

My advice is to focus on the well-being of each of your players and above all, make sure that your kids are having fun playing the GAME.

NOTE: I coached with Dan Goode. Great guy.

[eclipse09]

Hello, I was hoping to get some opinions.
I am 29, I played fastpitch softball for about 16 years. I played through the so cal system rec, and travel. Travel wise, I played for Ontario Nemesis, Crunch, Past Time and Riverside Rookies. I was recruited out of high school to play catcher and third base for UCLA. UCLA was short lived because I lost my scholarship due to a none sports or academic related issue. Anyway I left the sport and cam back through coaching winter rec ball in 2016. I was recruited to help coach a travel team and have been approached by a few others. I am pondering starting my own team for a few reasons:
1. It seems its all about ego. Most of the coaches I encountered are not at all interested in developing players, just in winning games.
2. Coaches lack the ability and interest to actually coach. It seems like it is very common to practice twice a week, once at batting cages during the week and once at a field. I see coaches pushing their players out to instructors for lessons to learn basic skills.
3. You are selling something, coaches are either selling lessons or selling tickets to college.
4. The entire skill set of the game is down. The talent level has gotten very low. Even these elite level gold teams, are basically just rec ball girls.

I am not saying that I am any better, and I hate to do a "back in my day" story, but when I played, travel ball was something players who wanted to play year round and wanted a greater skill set participated in. Most of the instruction came from the teams coaches, you went outside the team to get extra work or, to get a different set of instructions. You did fundraising to get enough money for things, not a whole lot came out of parents pockets. Players played more than one position, they weren't stuck in one or two. It wasn't solely about winning, but becoming good athletes that could compete at a higher level. It also wasnt about selling tickets to college, of course we did show cases and what not, but we were not driving into these 11, 12, 13,14 year olds heads that they were doing this to get into college (which is something that I personally think is a lot of pressure to put on a young person).

What do you think? Do you think there is room for a more "old school mentality" team?
Im open to all advice even negative. If you think its something I should go for should I go under the coat of a preexisting organization like future prospects or fire crackers? or start a new?

Not sure if this is advice or not, but I can give you a few examples of ex-college players that wanted to coach travel.

My daughter had one manager that wasn't too far removed from playing and it was one of her worst experiences. The ex-player was very stubborn, played favorites and the instruction was poor (her female assistant was awesome and should have been the manager). She didn't seem to learn from her mistakes and wouldn't take guidance from the org or her assistants. She was gone shortly after the season.

The other example of ex-college players wanting to coach is related to the rec league my youngest is still a part of. A lot of ex-players wanted to help out and we would get a few e-mails every year asking if they could coach. Our needs were always with the younger age groups and almost none of them wanted to coach them that young. One agreed and was very impatient with the inexperienced players. Kind of treated each one like a skilled player and had trouble separating the different skill sets of each.

It seems patience is a very good trait as a coach and I do like your "old school" mentality so hopefully you can combine both and be the coach players want to play for. Good luck!!

[roserunners]

Like music to my ears, we need that old school heart back into it. I recently joined the Roserunner organization as a coach and i'm hoping to be bringing back the same thing. Good luck, hope to see you around.

[GURULE18]

Love the old school mentality. Today many want the quick route to success. Bouncing from team to team or joining stacked teams for personal glorified success.

There is no set way of getting your kid where they need to go - travel ball has no rules but in my opinion the hardwork route is the best!!!

Hit us up see if you like what were doing...

[softball65]

I have travel Ball coaching fatigue also. With that said we have awesome coaches this season!! Let me get my bias out of the way early, I think many coaches get into it so that their kid benefits from their favoritism....just being honest. Not all coaches, but many. Coaching doesn't need another flavor of Mommy/daddy ball. So my opinion, if you can do it better, the sport NEEDS you!

I know a guy in OH who is all fluff and show, he talks and talks and talks (typically about how great he is), his teams are routinely so so, and he talks some more usually about what a great coach he is and "how tough it is to play at this level". We played one season for him and he told me my kid couldn't play on his team, not good enough. Factually it was baseless, but didn't keep him from his objective. We laughed on the way out. DD was 2 years younger than any player on the team and finished 3rd on the team in Batting average at .400, beating his kid by a full 80 points I should note. DD committed SEC over a year ago , and I could go on and on with the accolades she has gotten since. My point is he is a blow hard, self absorbed ego maniac that sucks off the sport rather than giving anything to it. The sport doesn't need another person like that....there are enough people like him already in the sport. You sound like someone who wants to do something for the sport, which I commend. So do it. But understand who you are and what you are willing to put up with and let people know where the line is even if it means you have to walk away one day. My opinion is, if you coach you have a responsibility to be improving just as your players are expected to improve. If you can't commit to improving each day, each week, each year.....then just perhaps, the motives aren't truly to help others. (i.e. the example of OH coach who knew virtually nothing about the sport of softball). Our HS coach is same way, although he has no kid on the team....his knowledge of the sport is at a 10u-12U rec ball level. All I want to see is a desire to improve as a coach, to make better decisions, to manage a game better, to even just attempt to understand people....and oh yeah, to learn the game enough so that he can actually coach it at above a 12U level..... He won't ask for help when he so very clearly needs it. He's paid so doesn't he have a responsibility to the girls to be improving each year? I think he does.

Its like I tell my kids, "what is your motive?" If it is to advance the sport, you Go!! Anything other than that....not sure the sport needs it. Just my opinion.

I tend to read and heed a lot on advice on here and do not post but here’s my 2 cents……
Way to question the status quo! I’m a softball parent and my daughter will be headed off to play college softball next year. But I am also a former college athlete and just recently got back into coaching myself (different sport & not my daughter’s team). So much has changed! So many promises made out there these days. You are correct; some people are not in it for the right reasons. (Even some former college players!)

Some things to think about:
1) Coaches make these promises because this is what parents and players want to hear. Who wants to hear that it takes hard work and talent to play in college? Or that their daughter is not a college caliber player? This is how the coaches attract players onto their teams.
2) Coaches take teams to showcases because this is what parents and players want. Everyone wants a chance to play in front of college coaches. Who wants to know that the coaches are out there to watch only already recruited players or players on a specific list. Nobody wants to know that they should have been emailing/calling coaches since 8th grade to get on that list.
3) Many coaches are able to sell there “product” as parents and players sometimes don’t know who actually has the “goods”. I didn’t play softball but one thing I tried to teach my own daughter was to work hard, learn to compete and earn your spot, period. Hard to convince people that it takes solid fundamentals, repetition, hard work and a love of the game to succeed. This apparently is boring and doesn’t give anyone instant gratification.

The cost of being an idealist is that if you don’t want to do the above, many parents/players don’t want to buy in and will revert back to teams/coaches doing the above. The bottom line is that coaching for one of “name brand” teams will make your life easier (this will cost the parents more money) but it will allow you to attract higher caliber players and hopefully teach the kids something substantial. I think it is really important for former college level players to give back and provide a reality check. Unfortunately, things are just way more complicated these days! Good luck!