AlwaysImprove wrote:playascabbie wrote:My DD is a senior this year and is having a miserable experience. Because there is truly no reason that would not cause the "red flag", she is playing. When she came on board as a Freshman, she was joined by two other TB players and they changed the program (P,C,CF). Last year, the team made it to CIF for the first time in the schools history. Each year there are one or two more players that join the team who add strength and experience to the previous rec ball HS team. This year could have been an amazing year BUT saddly, no. Parents are speechless (literately). They know they can't say a word about it or their kid will be next. DD is not allowed to pitch, not batting practice, or drills. Catcher isnt allowed to catch, CF is in right. His pride and joy is self taught and we are now 1-7. Practices are a joke. They hit off a tee or swing at wiffle balls. He is truly threatened by the fact that most of his players have a better understanding of the game than he does. Even DD TB Coaches showed up to a tournament and could not understand what they were saying to the girls or what they were doing. Quarter is coming up and the kid is begging me to let her quit. She already has her work out schedule printed up with all she will do on her own to stay ready and I dont know what to do. Is it hurting her? Yes, she has to pitch....It's those darn "red flags" that have me concerned. All three girls have already signed their NLI. It is just a sad situation, and I keep telling them to dig deeper, work harder and stay in control of what is their's...I know there are life lessons in this, somewhere, but this is tuff. I can't imagine there is a worse HS coach out there, but I'm sure I'm not the only parent who has ever felt this way. Just have to take it one day at a time, it will all be over before we know it.
I am having a hard time understanding the specific red flags. What do you mean his pride and joy is self taught?
Yes there are bad HS coaches, and it no doubt sucks to get one.
There are also bad groups of parents. Every time I hear a set of parents go into the season with a set of expectations, you know exactly how the season will turn out. I have seen no less that 6 major wrecks in teams because parents start out with the 'it is going to be one of those special years' approaches.
My daughter was a freshman, returning stud pitchers parents spent first 4 weeks talking tirelessly about 'how great this year was going to be". Well it went like crap. First sign the season was going to be a challenge, parents and kids all turned on each other. We finished third in the state, but you would have thought we lost every single game, all the carrying on. For our family, show up at the game everyday with a huge smile on. It was one of the greatest years. Some would argue that my daughter was a better pitcher, she saw a lot of time on the bench that year. Did not totally appreciate it at the time, but it was not a complete surprise as they had a lot invested in senior pitcher and she was decent.
Group of parents at another HS had a do nothing coach. There was a group of 4 D1 players all the same age. They tolerated mister do nothing first three years, but as they lined up for their special season, mister do nothing had to go. Well they got misses absolutely a freaking nightmare. This lady was so entirely confused about softball. She somehow became convinced you had to tag up on an overthrow. So a runner would be running from second to third and an outfielder would overthrow the cutoff, maybe even intentionally and the genius coach would stop the runner and demand they go back to second base, where they would be tagged out.
In our area, I would say in our area about 30% of the high school seasons wreck out. I would say of those wrecks 80% are caused by parents, with little or no help from the coach.
That Dog Whisperer guy has a saying, that he stole from the Rolling Stones. "You do not always get the dog that you want, but you always get the dog that you need." This is often said when some crazed dog, behaves like a perfect animal just by moving the pet from the owner to the trained handler. For some owners this creates a moment of enlightenment that they are a bigger source of the problem than the dog. Other owners just never get it.
This applies to most high school seasons. That do nothing coach is teaching you to show up at the field with a big smile, enjoy your evening, let the kids figure out how to compete.
