14u Sports zone

[Kidcanhit02]

A BIG THANKS to everyone for keeping a thread/debate/discussion going. This is the point of Heybucket and used to be something I could count on reading every morning. As my work has a level of monotony that is probably similar to many of your jobs, these little interludes are a great break-up of my day.

Gold Elite is correct in that we agree that no one gains from these games. No one gains anything from walking off bases, no one gains anything from losing by 20+ runs and no one should ever feel good at the end of one of these games.

No “head of an organization” should ever tell a coach to keep running up the score: at least not in those exact words. That is the equivalent of saying “thank you sir, may I have another”. I don’t believe any of these girls are members of Omega Theta Pi and none of them wanted to be repeatedly beaten down. (for anyone too young or unaware of the reference, Kevin Bacon in the John Landis movie “Animal House” repeated the phrase, “Thank you sir, may I have another” after being paddled in his initiation to the Omega Theta Pi fraternity)

HOWEVER, if this team had girls out of normal positions, as is typical indoors, and was continuing to move girls around and wanted the team to continue to put the ball in play to see what the girls could do, saying to continue to play ball might be a plausible option that I can live with. In this case the score was not relevant as the coach was experimenting with different positions and lineups. Especially at 10U, this could happen. I applaud a coach using an indoor tournament to give opportunities to every girl in different spots. Score should not always matter.

Of course that might not be the case at all. Maybe the head of the organization is truly a jerk and the type of sadist who enjoys watching one of his teams get annihilated. Regardless, if the real story of the tournament was that one team had no business playing the other team, I still contend BOTH coaches share in making sure that the teams walk away from the game positively and it is not only the winning coaches job to do something to control the score.

Either way, keep talking Heybucket!

[slapperdad]

You guys had me at beer and brats......then you lost me.

[David Lauck]

I think the simple solution to this issue is communication. I've coached in several games where it was clearly going to be a 10+ run victory (thankfully not too many on the losing end). We've bunted, left bases early, made early substitutions, and even tacked on 10 more runs. However, my comment to the opposing team would be, "Coach, I'm not here to run up the score, you let me know what we can do to keep this reasonable."

Most coaches should be able to handle a rational conversation, and come up with a viable plan. Obviously, this approach won't always work, and some coaches can't/won't communicate with their opponents.