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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I see the sport is softball. At 12, all the girls should be seeing significant playing time on a low level travel team. I’d keep an eye out for a new team as they are not all like this.

Do you have any idea why she doesn’t play, skill wise? Has the coach said anything? Some batting or pitching lessons, or learning a new position to fill a defensive hole can be helpful. In terms of getting playing time.

Also, some of the teams at this age are straight up daddyball, or are simply an established group that has been playing together for years already (nearly impossible to break into the starting lineup).

[/quote]

I think the challenge is that even at the C level, its normal for coaches to just play 9 (or 10)on elimination day, and 2-3 girls sit.

So, OP's daughter may play on Saturday, but depending on where she bats in the line-up, may only get 1-2 plate appearances when the games when the games are capped at 80 minutes or the mercy rule ends the game early.

So from OP's perspective, they played 2 games on Saturday (and probably spent 8 hours at the field) for 3 at-bats, and then daughter may not have played at all on Sunday.  But the coach's perspective is that she played in 2 out of the 3 (or 4) games of the weekend.

I get that frustration, even though its a part of the game[/quote]

OP here. Yes, this is pretty much it. Since we are new to travel, it was a complete shock to us. Overall we like the team, girls, coaches, parents, etc. So we will probably let the year play out and then decide. [/quote]

Fall ball is also kind of weird, as coaches are trying things out but there are usually fewer games to be played.

Depending on the team, she may play 40-50 games in the spring, and she'll still get a TON more at bats than she would have had she stayed in rec.

Also, early in the spring, hopefully your coach schedules some scrimmages.  And in my opinion, a good coach maximizes scrimmages by playing with the line-up and getting those girls more ABs by putting them at the top of the line up.[/quote]

I used to just do a continuous batting order for these doubleheader scrimmages.   So if Game 1 ends with the No. 6 batter, the No. 7 batter leads off the next game.

Tournaments, though? Bat the roster on Saturday. Only the best 9 bat on Sunday, although who that best 9 are may depend on the pitching we face.

This does require a fair amount of managing parent expectations and communication. IME parents all say they are on board in the beginning but then the ones whose kids ride the bench more tend to get lippy and nasty. [/quote]

I like that approach, with scrimmage double headers.

I also like "how you play on Saturday determines who plays on Sunday"

But that can be a challenge at the C level if there are only 2 pool games.  It's hard to play well enough to earn a spot on Sunday if you only get 3 ABs.  I think that approach is better suited for B & above.

There's also just the reality that on a team of 12/13 girls, there's going to be a depth chart.  And its okay for the coach to balance winning & development.  A program that is all development but no winning won't be a successful program.  Which means that there are going to be times that girls sit.

But its hard.  Especially the first year[/quote]

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