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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I coached softball. Here’s what I found and what I told parents:

This is travel ball. It is a select team. Yes, we are developmental, but playing time is neither even nor guaranteed.

In doubleheaders and pool play on Saturdays I bat the roster and rotate the defense evenly. Everyone gets an opportunity. That doesn’t mean your kid starts at their preferred position if there are other players better in that spot, but I will look for opportunities to put them there to give them a chance to prove themselves.

On elimination Sunday, however, only the best 9 are starting. And that “best 9” is situational — [b]who worked hardest in practice that week, [/b]who produced on Saturday, who hits fast pitching better versus slow pitching (and vice versa). A lot of variables. And that “best 9” might change game-to-game if we advance, depending on the opponent. If your kid is on the bench, I will try to get them into the game, either as a courtesy runner or as a pinch hitter, but it’s entirely situational.

One time we lost our first game and were out of the tournament early. One kid didn’t play in that game. Parents start screaming at me. I looked at them evenly, told them they signed up for this and reminded them of the player contract they signed that, among other things, had a 24-hour rule.

I cut the kid the next day. [/quote]

This is hilarious. It is NEVER about who worked hardest in practice. It is annoying that coaches say this. They give false hope to parents and kids that if they were amazingly hard at practice they are going to get to start.

It is a catch-22 for bench players. They don't play much so don't get the opportunity to demonstrate if they have progressed. When you only get one shot to bat, players have more stress on them. The kid that knows they are going to bat three times every game doesn't have to worry about striking out one of those plate appearances. They can be more aggressive and take chances. The bench player might not get a good pitch, might have to sacrifice bunt, might be told to take pitches to try and walk.

Let's be honest -unless a bench player has a pretty big growth spurt or their parents starts coaching chances are they are NEVER going to play much.They are there to be filler players and help subsidize the team financially.  Most coaches don't care and like this obnoxious coach will cut the player if the parent complaints. It doesn't matter because they can string another bench player on for a year or two. [/quote]

The "I cut the kid the next day" struck me as a bit harsh, but our team has very strict up front rules around parent behavior so it's possible that these parents crossed the line. I've coached for over 30 years and have seen many parents behave so badly, I have to give this coach the benefit of the doubt.

Regarding the "it's never about practice performance" comment--This is coach/club dependent. I agree that this gives a lot of coaches an out for not playing a kid they weren't going to play anyway, but if you have a good coach/club, this can be effectively managed and, in the case of DS's team, the boys saw a strong player not start because he was being a total PITA at practice--and they all took note. A good coach will figure out a way to rotate kids in the batting line up so that the weaker hitters aren't always stuck at the very bottom because that destroys confidence and puts more pressure on kids who are already struggling. Our coach keeps the top five hitters in the top five-ish and then moves the other guys around a bit depending on what's going on. Obviously, this is something that must be carefully managed and a lot of coaches are not good at doing that. [/quote]

A PP who switched my kid from team to team over coaching - when you find a coach like described in the last comment (and we did), hold onto that club for dear life. It's so good for kids to feel that confidence through struggle, learn to fail and still get another chance, see the value of hard work, all of it.[/quote]

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