12u 00/01 Winter Watchlist by Louie UPDATED

[Fly Out]

Juat givin u a hard time since your hangin in So Cal all winter. Dont come home to good for us Nor Cal Red Necks Remember everyone from So Cal lives on the beach n has a butler... Good luck this winter, see you guys soon.

[handsinsidetheball]

....Not too good here....We just wanna play, compete and get better...


Mike Wallace
Team Freeze/Clovis Rockets- Millar

[JimineyCricket]

A consistent theme at the top of the list seems to be roster stability. Grapettes K, Hype, Storm, Team CA - all keeping rosters pretty much static. Seems like the right approach - find the players (and parents) that work for you, and develop from within. Unfortunately, movement happens. So I have to ask the more experienced coaches out there - if you're a succesful second year 12u team with 2-4 (non-pitcher) openings, are you better off taking raw but promising new-to-"A"-ball players you can develop, or do you take the established "A" ball players that are looking for a new team because of parent-related drama? On the field, one group is going to take some work, one group is plug-and-play. Another way of asking is what hurts a successful core more - 25% of your roster coming in needing work, but with no history of issues, or 25% of your roster being established players coming in as a group from a drama factory? The answer may help us project where some of the other top programs that experienced such roster developments (Rapids, KG Hitters, Breeze, Lady Magic, etc.) may be heading.

[zerotolerance]

Hey Jiminey.....help us out a little. Define Parent Drama and who exactly runs the Drama Factory???? It starts and stops somewhere. Some parents want to stay far, far, far away from it, but instead find themselves smack dab in the middle of it. You are implying that all associated with Breeze, Rapids, Lady Magic and KG Hitters are all about is drama. Be a little more specific so we know who to stay away from for the sake of our DD's.

[JimineyCricket]

Zero, I stated there were two approaches that could be taken, with each having obvious positives and negatives. I never stated that any team appeared to be taking one approach or the other - I only asked which approach experienced coaches prefered. I'll leave it up to the readers that are affiliated with each particular team to decide for themselves which approach their organization took this off-season. Now go put some ice on your knee - such a quick knee-jerk reaction is undoubtedly painful...

[RockThePark]

As far as the Grapettes in Redding go....it will be a tough sell. There are already two 12U teams in Redding, the Redding Rebels and NorCal Rapids, not sure if the small community can handle another team, even with the credentials of the coach. Charley Hawkins has been coaching the 10U and 12U Rebels for the last 3 years. His 11 yr old daughter is on the team and will be a Grapette.

[linedrivelouie]

As someone who spends as much time as I do watching and talking at the fields this question is interesting to me. I don't think there is a right or wrong way to do it both have their challenges.

Group A. Is not worried about picking up the next stud. Here is a group who understand this softball thing is a marathon and if you put the right single pieces in place each tryout the combination will unlock the lock when the time is right and your team will be successful long term. They are normally confident in what they can teach and have a long term goal. They will put aside success today and develop girls in multiple spots for the long term success and players rotate positions both on the field and in the lineup. Any coach half way descent can take an athletic kid and teach them the game of softball they don't have to me A ball players when you get them.
Challenge: The hardest thing here is getting the parents to buy in on the same common goal and understand playing time for their DD is the most important thing at this age.

Group B. This type of coaching is more about win at all cost no matter what the age. Coaches who pick up kids who have a suitcase full of uniforms and parents who everyone is excited to see them leave normally put everything aside hoping for wins today to attract the next replacement knowing that kid is only on a team for an average of 1 season. These types of teams normally to have a set infield that never changes, a pitcher they ride all day Sunday and a batting lineup that doesn't move much ever. It always makes me laugh when I look at new rosters and see what A level players have jumped ship again. If you are reading this and your kid is in 12u and you run out of fingers counting the teams and coaches your kid has played for since 10u TB you might be one of those parents.
Challenge: Managing the parents and trying to keep the drama to a minimum so the team doesn't implode by the end of a few good seasons.


Either way works which is why I think do not get on the band wagon with talking down about teams in my rankings. Girls develop at different rates and face it many of these players started at all different times, some when they were 5 and others when they were 10. The common goal in the end for both groups is typically the same they just travel different roads.

Personally I would prefer to put my kid on a team like group A knowing she has a team who will be loyal to her, teach her and give her the chance to try new things on the field. Above that I can enjoy myself at the games, I don't have to sit in right field because I am tired of listening to the parents. Nothing like sitting at the first tourney of spring and thinking "Man do I have to listen to this for the next 7 months?"

[Sftball Junkie]

Group B. This type of coaching is more about win at all cost no matter what the age. Coaches who pick up kids who have a suitcase full of uniforms and parents who everyone is excited to see them leave normally put everything aside hoping for wins today to attract the next replacement knowing that kid is only on a team for an average of 1 season. These types of teams normally to have a set infield that never changes, a pitcher they ride all day Sunday and a batting lineup that doesn't move much ever. It always makes me laugh when I look at new rosters and see what A level players have jumped ship again. If you are reading this and your kid is in 12u and you run out of fingers counting the teams and coaches your kid has played for since 10u TB you might be one of those parents.
Challenge: Managing the parents and trying to keep the drama to a minimum so the team doesn't implode by the end of a few good seasons.

What a true statement the Challenge for this type of team is.

Look back at the last few season. First the original Team CA all recruited players made it one fall season couldn't beat Garcia and imploded, became Team Extreme thinking that would change something and Imploded by the mid way point of Spring and hung in through the end of that season with pick up players and was gone. The most resent, Heat Cota. This team started in 10u as an average team by the end of 10s got the taste of winning by bringing in a few recruits. They started recruiting players and parents who quit on teams before the end of seasons or carried that suitcase Louie speaks of. At the peak they were on top of the 00 12u teams, went to Nationals the whole nine. A few months latter after losing to the Grapes, Hype and Breeze a few times they all jumped ship at the same time leaving the Captain of the ship taking on water and sinking in the middle of the ocean. To bad for Cota they took all the life boats.

Softball Parents make me laugh

[JimineyCricket]

Thank you to Louie for the thoughtful response to my question, and to Sftball Junkie for some real-world examples. And I guess that Zero Tolerance has an answer to his question about where the drama was/went. Wih five Heat Cota families going to Lady Magic, and three going to Rapids, we have a pair of promising teams that may need to be on the watch list for "new parent-induced drama implosion." Not saying any particular family from the former team is the source, but drama has a strong odor that tends to infect everyone around it. Hopefully all eight will have grown tired of the smell and will have a commitment to leave it all behind on the ship that sunk - for the sake of their DDs and their new teammates.

So if you are a coach of a team bringing on a small group of players with the odor of drama lingering in the air, how do you handle the issue? What steps can you take to nip any potential problems in the bud? What about the concerns of your existing parents - how do you make sure their concerns don't blow up and add to your difficulties?

[noncrazynorcal]

Poor Conrad. Half the parents blamed him. Half the parents blamed the half that blamed him. End result, back to 10u to start the process all over again with fresh meat.