Travel vs School?

[coolstuff]

But make that 2 questions...if HS ball is SO bad, and the coaches are SO terrible, why do more travel coaches NOT put in for these jobs? Why complain about HS ball so much and then not apply for a local HS job when it becomes open? maybe work to change the culture of HS softball.

This will make you laugh. I know a TB coach, a guy who has a full time job and a family, who also took a job as head softball coach at a medium sized HS (guess it was OK to hire someone other than a teacher). He coached for a couple years at the HS while still coaching his TB team. Then in the off-season a group of HS parents asked to meet with him. He did, and listened as the parents told him how things should be done. Then another group of HS parents requested a meeting, which he agreed to, and he heard an entirely different list of "things that should be done." Shortly after those meetings, he handed in his resignation to the HS AD.

So maybe the reason that TB coaches don't coach HS, is because it's the same sh*t everywhere, they just like coaching TB better because they get the sh*t year round.

[Coach9337]

Bucketboy, thanks for showing me this forum, it has some great threads. This thread is very enlightening. Alot of great comments. Its good to see there are a lot of people still interested in this sport, be it Travel or High School.

[backstop13]

That is pretty funny stuff. Just goes to show you that you cannot please everyone.

[Blind Squirrel]

OTOH, I just heard about a kid that was one of the best athletes my kid has ever played with. According to her Dad, she gave up all sports because of how bad her HS experiences were.

According to Dad? I would submit to Dad that it's his fault for his daughter's lack of desire to enjoy her HS years. HS ball is what it is...and so is her English class. She doesn't get to pick and choose who's teaching her sentence structure, nor will she choose who her boss is when she hits the workplace. You make the best of it and learn to savor the 15-18 year age, whether its HS softball, dance, band...whatever. When she's 40 and sits down to explain to her kids that she blew off HS sports, she'll regret not being able to say, "yes, I was the star on my HS varsity team". Too bad, too sad.

Oh and BTW, I really like the part about ignoring the coaches' signs (authority). I mean, I don't like the 55mph sign on the road I have to use everyday, but it's probably wise that I don't ignore it. I predict she'll do real well in real life. NOT!

Nostradamus,

Your deductive powers demand my respect. But that is probably because, for example, I am unable to understand your conclusion/assumption that the kid lacked desire to enjoy her HS years. Knowing nothing about my kid except what I posted and you are able to come to a significant conclusion about the rest of her life? Impressive indeed.

You have the same view as many (most?) parents about the profound impact and predictive qualities of isolated decisions and actions that you consider "bad." In some types of these things I agree (e.g., molestation, etc.) However, I disagree with those who, for example, believe that if a child is allowed to quit something at any point in their childhood, that the child is destined to be a habitual quitter as an adult. Similarly, if a child is ever allowed to defy authority then they are destined for an adulthood scarred by defiance of authority.

The source of my disagreement? If your reasoning was universally valid, then the obvious, inevitable conclusion is that adult behavior would be consistent with every single negative decision/action in childhood. Continuously opposing, reinforced proper decisions/actions during childhood would be subservient to the isolated cases. I don't believe that is the case, but then I don't consider myself to be an expert on such matters. All of my pot smoking friends in HS that are now law abiding college graduates making 6 figures are obviously the exceptions.

You certainly should be proud of one thing. You could end up preventing an unsuspecting family from wasting tens of thousands of dollars. You see, one of the ringleaders of that group of future convicts will likely be attending Harvard soon. I will let her parents know what a waste of money that would be since their kid will not "do real well in real life."

I guess it shouldn't be surprising that I routinely go with the flow of traffic on the freeway and that is rarely the posted speed limit, which I largely ignore. My kids don't stand a chance as adults.

Eternally Grateful Squirrel

P.S. I blew off HS sports despite being invited to participate by the basketball and track coaches. I have yet to feel even the tiniest regret but then again I'm only 51 so it may occur in the future.

[softball_rules5]

Having been on both sides of this fence the one thing I can tell you that is driving away quality HS coaches (ones that strive to learn the games and understand it) are the parents that sit in the stands that think since they have sat at every travel ball game of dd for the past 6-7 years, that they now are experts on the subject and have no qualms about letting everyone know it. Those are the same parents that would advocate a player changing a coaches call or having "secret signs". I can tell you if my dd did any of this the HS coach wouldn't have to worry about sitting her. I see it as a common problem throughout the TB and HS circuit: TOO MUCH OF THE ME, ME ME APROACH! Too many parents constantly saying what my kid can do and what will my kid get out of this.

Maybe this isn't the place for this soapbox, but I feel it is relevant to the discussion. IMO this has been a good thread for both sides of the discussion, but until these travel parents (and some coaches, not all, but some) get past the Me persona, you will continue to lose a lot of quality coaches who don't want to put up with the crap. Its a team sport, regardless of what the front of the jersey says. If you dont like get a set of golf clubs.

[gunshy]

Rules, no need to single out TB parents, parents in general are usually a coach's worst nightmare. I've seen non-travel parents make complete fools of themselves just as often as the "educated" TB parents. Ask any veteran coach what team he would most like to coach and he will answer
"a team of orphans".

[coachchug]

I am going to Haiti to recruit!!!!!!

[snoop]

gunshy nailed it! It's all parents! But, in TB this is why there are so many teams now! Dad gets mad, that coach is a idiot! I'll do it myself! So on and so on! I know like most don't!!! Team completely ruined by parents!!! Girls all still talk(what am i saying, Text) all the time! But the parents cost the girls a chance at a good run in South Dakota!! I'm such Idiot! But, i may be back! I'm such an idiot!

Hi Gunshy, guess who!

[softball_rules5]

Shy - I know where your coming from. In my area there are 8 different travel teams for my age group - thats about 6 too many. Here is the catch five of them have dad's whose dd has to be the #1 pitcher and if shes not then I'll start my own team.

As for the parents that are new at least they have an excuse (all be it a horrible one) as to why they act like idiots. I guess I expect people that have seen the level of competition and been around the game as long as some travel parents to remember why they had their kid play for a coach and that was because they trusted the coach to be knowledgeable. But I know where your coming from.

I dont want to turn this into a completely different topic - its just an epidemic I see very prominently in this sport we love. And before you ask, I coach two sports at the highschool level.

[DLauck]

Having been on both sides of this fence the one thing I can tell you that is driving away quality HS coaches (ones that strive to learn the games and understand it) are the parents that sit in the stands that think since they have sat at every travel ball game of dd for the past 6-7 years, that they now are experts on the subject and have no qualms about letting everyone know it. Those are the same parents that would advocate a player changing a coaches call or having "secret signs". I can tell you if my dd did any of this the HS coach wouldn't have to worry about sitting her. I see it as a common problem throughout the TB and HS circuit: TOO MUCH OF THE ME, ME ME APROACH! Too many parents constantly saying what my kid can do and what will my kid get out of this.

Maybe this isn't the place for this soapbox, but I feel it is relevant to the discussion. IMO this has been a good thread for both sides of the discussion, but until these travel parents (and some coaches, not all, but some) get past the Me persona, you will continue to lose a lot of quality coaches who don't want to put up with the crap. Its a team sport, regardless of what the front of the jersey says. If you dont like get a set of golf clubs.

Well stated softball rules. Honestly, this was the first impression I got when I started coaching JV softball at Roncalli 5 years ago. All the girls and parents talked about was "travel ball." Granted, during these 5 years some very, very good softball players came through Roncalli, and playing travel ball helped them get better. This led me to investigate several things:

1) Why do these players and parents speak so highly of travel ball
2) Why do so many of these players play travel ball
3) What makes these players and parents think just because they play travel ball, they are that much better than everyone else
4) When did travel ball take precedent over HS ball

What I learned was parents will go to great measures to put their kids in positions to be successful. I also learned that what evolved over time was year round training for young kids to specialize in a sport, and that by specializing early, they would have an edge when it comes to playing at a superior level in HS or college. This has proven to be false for a much greater percentage of players who chose to specialize. And I find this fact really sad. Certainly some go on to become great HS players, and even go onto successful college careers. But, for the most part, the majority of the players never met the inflated (and unrealistic) expectations of their parents. Somebody had to be blamed for this, and apparently a lot of the blame was put onto HS coaches.

I may be way off base here, but I'm certainly willing to continue this healthy dialogue with many of you who've made these decisions for, or with your kids. Again, thanks for the nice gestures from many of you with regards to joining in on this site. I do care about the health of this game (and other HS sports), and simply want to learn more about ways to put our kids in the best positions possible to be successful.