Daddy Ball

[wadeintothem]

If you think Daddy ball coaches that don't know the game are bad, you should come down to our little league field and watch the daddy ball umpires that don't know the game

I am well aware of little league. Little league has earned and deserves the umpires who would tolerate them with their horrible policies and attrocious training system & complete mismanagement of how to properly administrate officiating. I cant imagine why anyone who would ever take the time to learn the trade of officiating would ever work for little league. Very few who take pride in their work do stay with Little League. It is the absolute lamer league of officiating.

Official Little league Umpire:

[DonnieS]

The ultimate is when you are in my situation - I have two dds on my team, and guess where they play, SS and pitcher. Is that the ultimate in daddy ball or what. Good thing this is a free country because people can play where they want and I have plenty of kids who want be on this team, but there isnt room.

I dunno if its ultimate or not..
Do they slap 1st and clean up 4th in the ole batting order?

And you might get a daddy ball pass anyway; since you seem to breed softball studs.

Actually they bat 1 and 9, its fun to get the speed back to back like that and having both on base at the same time, really fun, lots of things can happen. The pitcher dd batted #1 on other teams she had played on because of her speed and ob % but she didnt like it, she prefers to watch the other kids take some cuts and give her an idea of what will work. The older dd doesnt have a choice.

[GIMNEPIWO]

If you think Daddy ball coaches that don't know the game are bad, you should come down to our little league field and watch the daddy ball umpires that don't know the game

I am well aware of little league. Little league has earned and deserves the umpires who would tolerate them with their horrible policies and attrocious training system & complete mismanagement of how to properly administrate officiating. I cant imagine why anyone who would ever take the time to learn the trade of officiating would ever work for little league. Very few who take pride in their work do stay with Little League. It is the absolute lamer league of officiating.

Official Little league Umpire:

Maybe, just maybe Wade ... there are a select handful who actually enjoy doing it ... enjoy the kids ... enjoy knowing they can Ump every evening, 3 games, Monday thru Friday all Spring long , enjoy the laughs I'm sure they get, enjoy helping out ( I've heard of those doing it for free ) ... so they put up with the negatives ... I was a volunteer Firefighter and EMT ... why I was willing to work all day and wake up in the middle of the night to have a complete stranger puke on my sneakers is beyond me ...

[DonnieS]

If you think Daddy ball coaches that don't know the game are bad, you should come down to our little league field and watch the daddy ball umpires that don't know the game

I am well aware of little league. Little league has earned and deserves the umpires who would tolerate them with their horrible policies and attrocious training system & complete mismanagement of how to properly administrate officiating. I cant imagine why anyone who would ever take the time to learn the trade of officiating would ever work for little league. Very few who take pride in their work do stay with Little League. It is the absolute lamer league of officiating.

Official Little league Umpire:

I used to tell the girls that if all they have in their area is Little League, I would rather they stay in the house, watch tv and eat frito-pies. At least they were not screwing up their game. The downside is in all these little towns were LL is the rage, each of these kids is supposed to hurt her own chances at learning in order to support the locals. Better to look around, travel a little, and learn a lot. We got lucky, got into a fuss with the locals and left early.

[GIMNEPIWO]

Donnie ... ?
I'm looking at that picture ... maybe 8u ? ... and I don't see players who are ready for a travel team ...JMO ... that age needs to play LL ... in our area " Dixie Youth" ... I think it's way to early for that kind of commitment physically, mentally and financially ... an 8 year old is not thinking " I want to play 3 games back to back today in stiffling heat "... she is thinking "I hope we stop for ice cream on the way home and I want to play with my Barbie Doll"... Not sure what the Blue & Yellow is thinking

[DonnieS]

Donnie ... ?
I'm looking at that picture ... maybe 8u ? ... and I don't see players who are ready for a travel team ...JMO ... that age needs to play LL ... in our area " Dixie Youth" ... I think it's way to early for that kind of commitment physically, mentally and financially ... an 8 year old is not thinking " I want to play 3 games back to back today in stiffling heat "... she is thinking "I hope we stop for ice cream on the way home and I want to play with my Barbie Doll"... Not sure what the Blue & Yellow is thinking

Agree at that age, I should have said, 12u /14u etc. But the real important thing at 8u is someone who is very good and very focused on fundamentals of throwing and catching. I mention 8u because thats usually when kids are getting into sports, but whenever they start, have a good fundamentals coach is key. We had a grandmother, mother combo at the t-ball and coach pitch ages, here 6u and 8u, that worked with a generation of softball players and taught those basics. What it takes without one of those lucky combos that we had is getting a basics coaching book and video, teaching the throwing techniques, fielding, etc. In our area, unless you are very lucky, it will not be in Little League, no matter what the age. Our current group of younguns, which I dearly wish my granddaughter was in, has a very good basics coach, his older kid plays on my team. He spends a ton of time teach basics and ignoring the scoreboard, which is what its all about in those young years.

In t-ball, something to look for is you see a coach telling the fielders to "roll" the f ball to 1st base, take your kid out, get your money back. There were 5 teams in our t-ball group and 4 had their teams rolling the ball to 1st - this was 8-9 years back, you want to know where the high school permanent jv players come from? Thats them. The whole group of kids that worked with that combo grandma/momma group, except for their own 3 kids, that entire group are now the varsity kids. Start them off right, then get the hell out of your town and go play with the big boys. Use your head.

[GIMNEPIWO]

Donnie sez:
"coach telling the fielders to "roll" the f ball to 1st base, take your kid out, get your money back."

LMAO! ... It's a shame, but that sort of "non-coaching" is out there ... my younger DD's, 1st year of JV ... I saw the gals tagging runners on force plays ... I mentioned that to DD's afterwards who told me the Coaches told them "they had to tag everybody, there are no force plays" ... couple years back I took over a Rec team that was transitioning from 15U to 18U ... the gals all said that the previous years they didn't really practice ... they sat around BS'ing and eating the doughhnuts that the Coach always brought ... they weren't quite rolling the ball to 1st, but close ... In their Rec years mine were mostly lucky but I see your point ... Once they show that they are serious and ready for that level of dedication, travel makes sense ...

[wadeintothem]

Maybe, just maybe Wade ... there are a select handful who actually enjoy doing it ... enjoy the kids ... enjoy knowing they can Ump every evening, 3 games, Monday thru Friday all Spring long , enjoy the laughs I'm sure they get, enjoy helping out ( I've heard of those doing it for free ) ... so they put up with the negatives ... I was a volunteer Firefighter and EMT ... why I was willing to work all day and wake up in the middle of the night to have a complete stranger puke on my sneakers is beyond me ...

I agree there are a few good umpires who tolerate LL. And I would agree that some of the "Daddy Ball umps" (jofus words) are just doing it to help out the league, for the girls and for fun. That doesnt make them umpires. They are just people who call a game for the kids and maybe a hot dog. Hey great! Have at it. Hopefully, even though a volunteer, you take the time to learn the game, the rules, and to look professional. But too many don't. They say "hey this is just for the kids so I can look like a mope and not know the game" and in the end they assist in bringing down the level of the entire organization. It's LL that is the problem, not the umpires. That problem drives away any umpire interested in higher levels of ball.

Did you watch the softball LL World Series? Well I did, and it sure wasnt for the "wonderful" ball being played. It was because I am a student of the game and a student of umpires.

The LL Softball World Series umpires sucked! This is the so-called "world series" and most of those umpires should have been ashamed of themselves. I'd lay odds that any of the decent ones were ASA Trained. I can presume these were the best LL has to offer. Thats sad.

[pdj]

Another side of daddy ball - Several years ago a group of players decided that their daughters needed the opportunity to play fastpitch. They formed a league and their daughters, along with other kids, got to play this great game. In 1962 at Pasadena TX (Deepwater area) a form of daddy ball was a good thing.

[GIMNEPIWO]

What pdj sez is true ... without the Daddys and Mommies getting things started and pointed in the right direction with youth sports ... there would not be much available at any level ...

Wade ... as far as Blues at the Rec LL or Dixie level ... its what came first, the chicken or the egg ... I know the last year I Coached Rec the Blue came up to me and my partner and asked us to get on the Board and the treasurer ... he hadn't been paid for like 2 weeks ... and he knew the baseball Blues were paid up to date ... so much for the effects of Title IX ...