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Ball
Aug. 5th, 2005 | 08:47 am
mood: 
disappointed
As the fastpitch season comes to a close, I look around at the 12, 13 and 14 year old girls I've been coaching since tryouts last September, and I feel frustrated. Nobody expects a miracle from a tier two novice team, especially when it's the first year of rep play for at least three of those team members.
But I feel as though we went about this season all wrong. There were no precedents set for those who talked back, gave attitude, refused to listen, or fought with other team members. Certain girls get all bent out of shape if they sit one inning, others cry over losing their sunglasses. They seem to be more out of shape than they were in September.
I'm frustrated that I can't take a stronger hand in their development, being demotely to the lowly level of "pitching coach," after having been upfront with the head coach from the start about my wishes to be a coach, period.
I'm angry that we spent so much time showing the girls tier one techniques like the drag bunt and left-handed hitting, only to never use them.
I don't understand how other teams show so much hustle on the base paths, yet my girls are content with only one base, or one out, all the time. We don't even go for the lead runner.
Somehow, miraculously, we qualified to go to provincials next weekend. I never thought it would happen, and I even let work schedule me, thinking there was no hope in hell. Maybe Murphy's making fun of me.
But now I'm nervous. We should be hitting the batting cages every day, making our pitchers throw everyday, and working with the fielders on plays they haven't had enough time to get right.
Instead we're watching a football movie Monday. Something about building up the inside, I still don't really understand. Never mind that they have today off, and that Saturday and Sunday will be spent playing lousy teams in the Peel-Halton playoffs.
Most of all, I'm angry. Angry at the organization who refused to let two girls with a combined 25 years of playing experience -- girls who competed in the World Series, the Summer Games, and were asked to try out for the Canadian Olympic team -- coach these girls as head coaches, claiming we were too young to a) stick with it, b) handle the parents.
Next year I'm putting off my Europe trip until September so that I can coach again. Sarah and I are going to put in for a team with one of the coaches from this year, a guy whom the organization will probably let have a team, and things will be different. I feel as though I've started something here, something that I need to finish. When I hear parents saying that their girls have put up with two seasons of bull shit coaching, that makes me angry. There is a lot of potential in these girls, but someone needs to draw it out and make them work for it.
As for next weekend, who knows.
But I feel as though we went about this season all wrong. There were no precedents set for those who talked back, gave attitude, refused to listen, or fought with other team members. Certain girls get all bent out of shape if they sit one inning, others cry over losing their sunglasses. They seem to be more out of shape than they were in September.
I'm frustrated that I can't take a stronger hand in their development, being demotely to the lowly level of "pitching coach," after having been upfront with the head coach from the start about my wishes to be a coach, period.
I'm angry that we spent so much time showing the girls tier one techniques like the drag bunt and left-handed hitting, only to never use them.
I don't understand how other teams show so much hustle on the base paths, yet my girls are content with only one base, or one out, all the time. We don't even go for the lead runner.
Somehow, miraculously, we qualified to go to provincials next weekend. I never thought it would happen, and I even let work schedule me, thinking there was no hope in hell. Maybe Murphy's making fun of me.
But now I'm nervous. We should be hitting the batting cages every day, making our pitchers throw everyday, and working with the fielders on plays they haven't had enough time to get right.
Instead we're watching a football movie Monday. Something about building up the inside, I still don't really understand. Never mind that they have today off, and that Saturday and Sunday will be spent playing lousy teams in the Peel-Halton playoffs.
Most of all, I'm angry. Angry at the organization who refused to let two girls with a combined 25 years of playing experience -- girls who competed in the World Series, the Summer Games, and were asked to try out for the Canadian Olympic team -- coach these girls as head coaches, claiming we were too young to a) stick with it, b) handle the parents.
Next year I'm putting off my Europe trip until September so that I can coach again. Sarah and I are going to put in for a team with one of the coaches from this year, a guy whom the organization will probably let have a team, and things will be different. I feel as though I've started something here, something that I need to finish. When I hear parents saying that their girls have put up with two seasons of bull shit coaching, that makes me angry. There is a lot of potential in these girls, but someone needs to draw it out and make them work for it.
As for next weekend, who knows.