Would you have made this call?

[jofus]

Coach, My DD is in her 3rd year of travel ball. I enjoy working with the other kids, and trying to do things with them that lots of little league coaches don't do (simple stuff like taking offensive signs). We have 3 girls on our team (13 year olds) that have never played softball before. One of them is the fastest girl in the county (wins every event she runs in every track meet, easily), isn't scared of the ball, etc. If she had played softball as long as some of our other girls, she would be amazing. So, we're trying hard to work with her (and the others)....but, it's rained here for about 2 months straight, it seems, so we have had most of our practices and games cancelled

My gripe isn't with the players, but rather with the little league. Our local board is actually trying (I think) to do better than in the past, we've had multiple issues over the last few years, but our district officials aren't worth a crap, imho. They scheduled us a whopping 13 games, and 6 of them are against teams from other areas that our girls could have beat when they were 10 or 11, and we have to drive over an hour to get to their place for the away games.

It seems that other than our local little league and one other one, softball is really down in our district of the little league

Oh well...first travel tournament next weekend, finally (we had to wait on high school girls to finish)

[Coach11]

"It seems that other than our local little league and one other one, softball is really down in our district of the little league "

Feeling the pinch in our neck of the woods as well.

When my oldest DD (now 17) started out, it seemed softball was thriving in our community....it continued on during #2s (now 15) "career"...I had just assumed it always WAS that way and would always remain that way.

Recent years has seen a real dropoff in softball registration from about the 3rd grades on. Totals reduce by a third after 2nd grade, and typically in half every year after that.

Lots of other sports and such being offered in this town over the past few years....spring soccer....spring travel soccer...lacrosse. All new in the past 4 years.

Too much IMO for such a small town. None of the sports thrive, as we are all drawing from the same small pool of girls.

Even baseball numbers are down. Just doesn't hurt as much since the totals are high to begin with.

Oh well...still a few more weeks before TB starts up here....HS doesn't finish until the 21st.

[GIMNEPIWO]

Coach11 sez: "I'm always looking for good coaches for our girls teams. Of the few that actually volunteer, fewer still care about anything more than their own daughter.
It's pretty sad....and very discouraging."

I can't say for sure because I have 5 DD's and no DS's ... but my observation back in the REC Coaching / Field Maintenance etc. days is that parental involvement for daughters is not as great as parental involvement for sons ... in addition, our org. had one board governing both baseball and softball ... the emphasis and money was always on baseball ... I know this mirrors the way life is, but have others of you experienced or observed this also ?

[jofus]

I can't say for sure because I have 5 DD's and no DS's ... but my observation back in the REC Coaching / Field Maintenance etc. days is that parental involvement for daughters is not as great as parental involvement for sons ... in addition, our org. had one board governing both baseball and softball ... the emphasis and money was always on baseball ... I know this mirrors the way life is, but have others of you experienced or observed this also ?

First of all...I feel for you, having 5 DD's. Only because of all of the punk boys out there My oldest is moving up to High School next year, and I'm really looking forward to it.

My other DD is only 3, so I have a while before I have to worry about her and boys, but I'll have to go through it again.

For my money, after being around travel fastpitch, I would go to a fastpitch tournament over a baseball tournament without question. I've coached my DD more than my son, but he's only 10, and he's still at the age that it is easier for someone else to coach him than it is for me. My daughter finally started figuring out that maybe I did have a clue on a few things around the age of 12 or so, when she started learning the game better herself, so I'm trying to be patient with him (I'm not saying I'm up there with Candrea or anything, but I at least try to educate myself, unlike most little league coaches).

At our high school (and it seems to carry over just a little to the younger ages), historically the girl teams have done much better than the boy teams, for whatever reason. Most of the state titles are softball and volleyball for girls, and lots of wrestling championships for the boys. So, that helps the equality a little in our area, but there are still a lot more people that think they know something about baseball than there is for softball.

[Coach11]

I can't say for sure because I have 5 DD's and no DS's ... but my observation back in the REC Coaching / Field Maintenance etc. days is that parental involvement for daughters is not as great as parental involvement for sons ... in addition, our org. had one board governing both baseball and softball ... the emphasis and money was always on baseball ... I know this mirrors the way life is, but have others of you experienced or observed this also ?

To a degree, yes. But at the same time, I'd have to lay part of the blame on the girls themselves, as well as their parents. It comes down to the interest level, and desire of the participants as well, which naturally dictates who receives the most attention.

Of the 800 or so kids that join our league each year (down from close to 1000 over the past 5 years), 500 are boys. Which is why I say "naturally dictates".

We also have one governing board for both the boys and the girls. There are 15 members on our board. Only our league President still has a daughter playing rec. ball, and this will be her final year. My own daughter called it quits after last season.

Of the remaining board members only two others concentrate solely on softball. One of which will resign from the board after this season. I will be pushing for the parent of a softball player as her replacement.

While at times, from the outside looking in, it may appear that the boys garner preferential treatment, but I can attest that anything I or anyone else asks for in regards to the girls is never denied. But I can also attest to the fact that, the girls in general, just don't want it as bad as the boys.

I could call the parents of a boys team at 9:00 on a Sunday morning to tell them there was a last minute game scheduled for 11:00 that day and have at least 9 of the 12 kids on the team show up. Conversely, I could alert the parents of a girls softball team on Wed. night that last weeks rainout would be made up at 2:00 on Sat. afternoon, and have to pull teeth in order to get an availability commitment from 8 of the 15 players on that team. (And still have to cross my fingers that all 8 would show.)

I can promise that I'm doing my part to make sure the girls receive equal treatment. Matter of fact.....last season I started holding Wed. night clinics for our 3rd and 4th grade girls. We don't currently offer any such program for the boys of any age. The clinic has been a huge success and I actually have fellow board members asking me about it, with the idea of possibly doing the same for the boys in the future.

[GIMNEPIWO]

Jofus ... Boys have never been a problem with my DD's ... They've made good choices thus far ... at times I'd actually welcome a little more testosterone around the house as long as they weren't testing their osterone where it shouldn't be tested ... with 5 DD's and my mate, there have been times when I've felt a wee bit isolated ... but their good kids and a great mate ... and beer seems to help ...

Coach11 ... agreed ... there were times that I could not tell if it was a lack of enthusiasm on the parents part or the kids ... but I thought the problem in either scenario started with the parents initially ... when you see a clean up at the fields with baseball parents and every parent and boy are there ... and you see a clean up at the softball fields and only the Coaches are there and NO kids ... you have to fight tooth and nail for a bag of speedy dry or marking lime ... the softball umpires don't get paid on time ... etc etc etc ... Granted ... our representation on the Board is weak ... But I just don't think parents place it as much of a priorty ... possibly because they don't have visions of grandeur about their kids playing in the bigs .... a community near here has seperated their softball and baseball Rec programs and made them have to support themselves individually ... from what I've seen, it appears to have made a difference in the dedication of the parents ...

[Coach11]

The city next door to ours has split it's baseball/softball programs....actually, it's fractured into several incarnations. Luckily, the city itself is big enough that it's drawing pool supports the various organizations.

Our 5th and 6th grade girls are playing with them this year....two teams from our town, five from theirs.

Kills me that we're down to 2 teams at that age group. When my own DD played in that league, we had 6 and 7 teams and remained in house.

The league I commission is down from that same 6 or 7, to 4 for the past two years, which is why I started the clinics. Not a whole lotta fun playing the same three teams over and over again. But I know that if we even consider playing outside of town at this age group, it will be the death knell.

Hard to expect equal treatment while you're possibly watching a league wither away.

90 1st and 2nd graders registered in each of the past 2 seasons......so I'm hoping to see a revival.

I'm thinking of jumping down a division with the intent to make sure the little ones are having so much fun they wouldn't possibly consider not playing next season.

Again....if the interest and the commitment was as great from the girls as it is from the boys, there likely wouldn't be any disparity.....real or imagined....between the treatment they receive.