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A Few Good Girls
by Dave
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Yesterday I responded to an e-mail from a father who said his daughter would be trying out for some travel club teams at the next opportunity. He didn't say when that would be. My guess is she'll try out late this summer to early fall. This exchange got me to thinking about what it is like to be in that situation, trying out for travel the first time. I forget how that feels from the parent / player point of view but I thought I might give you one parent-coach's point of view to possibly give you a better idea of what to expect.
(I'm going to flip around between "you," "your kid," etc. Please don't be thrown off by my poor pronoun usage! It's bad grammar but I want to write this free form.)
At this or any other point of the year, I suppose there are several different kinds of try-outs: formal, semi-formal and informal. These depend upon tyhe particular situation of the team trying you out.
You could be asked to try out tomorrow for a team already in its season. Teams all over the place still need kids to complete their rosters. Many have had girls on the roster leave for other programs or quit altogether. Some have already lost kids to injuries, usually not related to the sport, by the way! Teams at this point in the year are in a rush to fill their 12 or whatever number they consider a full roster.
A new team might be forming this late in the year and conduct a formal try-out but that's a little unusual. Or you could be looking into your crystal ball and seeing that in a few short months you will be ready to give this thing a try. Formal, semi-formal and informal try-outs are, of course, very different animals and should be addressed separately.Informal and Semi-formal Try-outIf you have been asked to try out for an existing travel team this spring, your try-out is probably going to be a less formal affair than the full-blown variety conducted at the end of tournament season. You may have a private tryout with nobody else around but coaches, perhaps a coach's kid or two. That's probably the easiest situation. Or you could be invited to come to a regular practice or possibly even a scrimmage, which is far more stressful for the poor kid.
If you have a private try out, I strongly suggest some sort of warm-up before you go. The coaches should provide the opportunity to warm-up (or maybe you should avoid that team!) but even during the warm-up you are being tried out. So it's best to just go already warm. In particular, I suggest you get your arm warmed up and ready for action so your throws will be as strong and accurate as possible. But I'm jumping ahead of myself.
The private try-out likely will involve you and a daughter of one of the coaches. Relax and remember, the other kid really wants to like you. You don't have to show her up or otherwise impress her right out of the box. Stay relaxed, be friendly, and let her take the lead. If she is whipping the ball at your head in warm-ups to see if you can "take it," just casually catch the ball and throw back to her at your normal speed. As you feel your body get warmed up to game level and your confidence grows, you can whip it back at her and show your stuff. You don't need to get worked up and show her you are as good as, or better than, her. Chances are slightly better than 50-50 that this kid is one of the better ones on her team. You don't have to match her. If you just keep pace with her, she will appreciate your abilities.
If your private try-out is with a coach with no kids around, you should be even more relaxed. The coach is looking for whatever he or she is looking for. You can't possibly know what that is, unless he or she decided to communicate it with you. And even if you were told precisely what the coach is looking for, most likely you weren't told the qualities that the team needs to fill the slot. It's best to just be yourself, relaxed and friendly. It never hurts to show one's competitive fire but allow that to come out naturally as you get more and more comfortable with your surroundings.
If you are trying out at a team practice and there is nobody else besides team members, coaches, and parents around, there are a couple things to keep in mind. First of all, not all teams are alike. Some have been practicing and playing together for years. Some have been doing that since fall. And some may not have been together for very long at all. Some teams will appear all business and some will be filled with apparent slackers. Some teams will appear to form a cluster of the current team members with only you as an outsider. And some teams will readily welcome anybody who has the guts to come out and practice with them. It goes without saying that some teams will be better than others.
One of the things about a try-out with an entire team that is not readily apparent is, regardless of how long they have been together, the girls do not all like each other. It will appear as if they do, but I asure you that 99% of the time, that's not the case. They do not all love each other and despise you regardless of how it appears. Be relaxed and friendly and things will roll along. When one or two girls scowls at you, just smile back at them.
Another element which is not readily apparent is some of the kids are looking for a good player and some are not. The kids who are looking for a good player are probably pretty talented themselves. They see their team's weaknesses and they want other kids to come in and fill the holes. Other kids might see you as a rival who is going to cut into their playing time. For you parents on the sidelines, the same is true of the parents who surround you. Some of those will welcome you with open arms and some see you and your kid as rivals.
It may not be readily apparent just who is who in this scenario. Very often, the parent or kid who appears to readily accept you is the one who sees you as a rival. Such people believe in keeping their friends close but their enemies closer. You don't have to go to tryouts with social anxiety. But this could be a lion's den and you should at least be aware of your surroundings lest you be eaten.
Something to keep in mind when attending a practice for the purpose of trying out is this is first about softball, second about fitting in, and then about coachability and just being a good kid. It is best to be relaxed, focused on fielding the ball and making good throws, and being friendly.
Notice, I didn't say making friends. There's plenty of time for that later, should you be asked to join the team. Most important is paying attention, listening to coaches, and performing at your best. The last thing a coach wants to see is another kid who doesn't pay attention or causes others to lose focus. I guarantee the team already has a kid who distracts others and never knows what's going on. That probably is not the slot they are looking to fill. Coaches will be looking for you to be friendly with their other girls. But friendly does not necessarily mean whispering to another girl while the coach is giving instruction or running a drill.
Another element to keep in mind is the coach possibly feels he and his already assembled team is trying out for you as much as you are trying out for them. The coach may get angry with his kids when they don't do what they're told. Don't assume the coach is angry with you if he or she appears short-tempered. If the team has been practicing for a while, they have good practices and bad ones. During the bad ones, the coach is probably pretty short-tempered. More often than not, a coach will not get angry with a kid who is trying out.
Usually a try-out-in-practice situation is pretty similar to your rec or all-star practices. There are warm-up drills, more involved situational defense things, perhaps a little hitting, and other drills you have probably already seen. There won't be all that much which is new. Make sure you have brought enough water. Do the best that you can with the drills. Always listen to the coach's instruction before drills begin. Always pay very close attention to the coach's instruction when you are being corrected. Many times a coach will choose one kid over another based not on ability but rather on coachability. I have heard coaches at tryouts exclaim, "I like you. You are a very good listener." I have personally told kids trying out for me, "I like your atttitude" solely because when I corrected them, they did exactly what I wanted them to do. If something like this happens, you can pretty much bet you will make the team.
Pay as much attention to the coach correcting other kids doing drills as you do when you are in the drill. Coaches do not like to tell a kid to keep her butt down or put her hands out in front of her and bend at the knee, then watch the next kid set up the wrong way in just the same manner the kid before did. On the other hand, there is nothing quite so satisfying as struggling to get a kid to do something over and over again, and then the next kid does it exactly the way you want!
Have as good a practice as you can. Look at this like you would a clinic you paid to attend. Relax, it's just softball. Try to have fun. If the skills you already possess are what the team is looking for, you probably will be asked to join the team. If they aren't, you probably will never hear from them again.
As an aside, I always talk at least as much to the parents of kids I won't be asking to join my team as I do to those I want to join us. Not all coaches do that. Some view telling a kid or parents that they have not made the team as the worst part of their coaching responsibilities. They procrastinate on the task and then forget to do it or just take the attitude that if I want you, you'll know. Most kids who try out in any setting who are not asked to join the team never hear a single word about it.
If your kid did not make the team and the coach is kind enough to speak to you, the parent, about it, find out what they were looking for, why your kid didn't fit the bill, how you can overcome those shortcomings, when your kid can try out again, and most importantly, if they know of other teams looking for kids, preferably ones looking for a kid like yours. The coach may not be real specific about what they were looking for or what your kid's perceived shortcomings were. Some may tell you that they don't think your kid is ready this year or right now. Don't settle for such a non-specific critique but don't make a pain out of yourself either. Simply ask which of her skills the coach thinks are most needing and how she should go about improving those. Don't interrogate the coach, just ask some open-ended questions and let the coach do most of the talking.
Feel free to use whatever techniques you have in your repertoire to make the coach give you as much information as possible. Tell them that you value their opinion and don't know very much about this travel thing. You'd appreciate whatever information they can give you. Travel ball coaches like to show their stuff and share whatever they know with others. It makes them feel as if they are in the know.
If you did make the team, that's great but it doesn't mean you have to join. This team doesn't have a monopoly on softball in these United States. Before you join, you want to know the financial and time commitments. You want to know how many tournaments the team is playing and whether they travel outside the area much.
At this point in the year, the coach should be able to give you all the information you need fairly easily. He or she just may not have all that on site. You may have to get this information later today via e-mail or call the coach to have a conversation.
Of course the coach wants an answer to the offer of joining the team right now. But, as in all pursuits, you shouldn't feel obligated to reply right away. You need answers to your question, you need to talk with your kid at length, you probably need to talk to your spouse, before you can make a commitment.
If push comes to shove, I suppose you could just agree to join the team, get the information later and then make your real decision after you have gathered all that. That's not optimal but it is one way to get him to move the car blocking your car in the parking space. If the coach wants an answer now and a check, tell him you can't do that. Most likely, if you refuse to pay your fee today, the coach will not cross you off his list. What he is trying to do is lock up your kid. She has impressed him and he is worried that she may be scooped up by another team. He doesn't need the money today. Nobody does.
By the way, if the coach asks you directly what other teams you are currently trying out for, then he is really worried that he won't get your kid on his roster. Answer him truthfully because coaches have ways to find out who is trying out for which teams, and nobody likes a liar. But, if you aren'rt trying out elsewhere, be hesitant so he might still be worried that you are looking at other teams. Let him think maybe you are lying when you say this is the only team you are trying out for. You could inflate other opportunities, if you can't say "oh, she's trying out for the Psycho-killers Elite." But better than claiming she is being recruited by the OC Batbusters who are willing to fly her in from Maine every week, is telling the coach you aren't sure if she's going to play travel at all this year.
Formal try-outI told you that formal, semi-formal, and informal try-outs are very different animals. Informal ones are like playing catch with somebody else's mom or dad at a park. Semi-formal try-outs are like going to a practice in which you know nobody and they all know each other. Formal try-outs are usually more structured than practices and far more intimidating though less socially stressful since either the entire existing team will not be there en masse, or there are tons of other girls aside from current team members.
There is a broad spectrum of formal try-outs. Some are well run and some are rather poorly managed. Usually everyone will warm-up together and then fielding or base-running drills will take place. Then there might be some batting - we'll talk about that later. Then the coaches will talk to everyone collectively and let the non-pitchers/catchers go home after which pitching and catching tryouts will be conducted.
I and/or my kids have been involved with formal try-outs which have been on a single day and lasted just two hours. We have also been to ones which have lasted longer than 4 hours on a hot day and required kids to return for another 4 hours on another hot day. We have been to try outs where 3 days were posted, and kids were expected to come to two or more of these yet not told that. We have been involved in multiple day tryouts in which a few days were posted, kids were expected to return for more than a single day, and at the last of these days (not the first or middle ones), kids were again told to come back for yet another day, sometimes after several kids have already left the try-out! I know someone who was asked to join a team who wouldn';t have even shown up for the last, most important try-out date because they weren't told about it. It was jusy an oversight. But there were several opther kids who also weren't told and would have made the team. Nobody ever told them about final try-outs.
I have known try-outs in which kids were expected to come back again and again, then assume they made the team (without anyone telling them such) and come to subsequent practices without ever questioning whether they made the team or not. These funky arrangements sound informal or disorganized but in most cases it is a deliberate attempt to confuse the issue unless and until the team decides how to complete their roster of 12. The lack of communication may or may not be deliberate but the continual coming back is very much so. It is done with the dual purpose of seeing who is really interested in joining this team and to keep players hanging in the air until the best possible roster has been assembled. I understand the tactic but we don't like such uncertainty in our lives. And most likely you don't either.
Regardless of how the formal tryout(s?) are structured, assume that it will be a little more intense and intimidating than the less formal ones. Usually there will be warm-up, speed, agility, and base-running to begin with. Then things will move over to a protracted session on defense. This will include infield and outfield work and most likely your kid will be expected to work all the fielding positions. Sometimes the coaching staff will divide up the kids into infielders and outfielders or work kids only at the position they wish to try-out for. But most often, your slow-running, not overly athletic catcher or first baseman will have to take grounders at short and flyballs in center.
This could throw her off her usual game at her desired position but knowing that some non-position-specific skills will be tested should help her get over this. Once try-outs begin, you the parent will have no opportunity to talk with her - to coach her through the fact that she has to do these skills. So it's best to at least discuss beforehand that she may have to do some things she doesn't want to do and this shouldn't throw her off her game.
Likely there will be a batting session at some point. This will probably be machine pitched. I have seen coaches do soft toss but this is somewhat unusual unless they just want to focus on the swing and coachability. More often there is a machine throwing pitches.
I have seen coaches turn machine up to 55 for 10U kids while using full, 12-inch sized balls. I have seen machines turned up to 65 for 12s and 14s who bat together. I have also seen machines tuned to 45 for 12s and 14s alike. The spectrum is broad and you should be ready for anything when it comes to hitting try-outs.
The most important aspect is really the swing. Don't try to kill the ball on the first pitch. Usually coaches want to see you try to bunt first anyways. But take good swings not hard ones to begin with. Then as you make contact, gain confidence, and feel comfortable in your surroundings, take some hard swings and try to smash it. I also believe that beginner slappers should not show their basic skills unless they believe they will make contact. If a girl could have gotten in there with her ten pitches and hit all of them, showing that you started taking slap lessons last week and then missing 9 out of 10 is not going to favorably impress anyone. &nbsdp; I'd rather a girl take her ten regular swings and then, when the coach says "next," say to him "hey can I take some slaps?" It would also be OK to let the coaches know you are a beginner since the fact that you are interested in that aspect of the game might get their attention. But failing at it and showing nothing else is inadvisable.
Finally, if you have ever coached before, you probably realize that one of the worst things you can hear from a kid in any situation, practice, game, try-out, etc., is something along the lines of when will this be over, when do I get to go home and play video games. As a parent who does not know how long this thing is going to go on, let your kid know 1) you don't know, 2) we are staying for the duration even if it goes until midnight, and 3) don't ask anyone when this will be over. Your kid may decide they don't want to be on this team and do that kind of thing in order to anger the coach. So make a real enforceable threat which you'll carry out if they ask the coach "when do we get to go home." Remember, travel days are long and coaches do not want a bunch of kids on their team who will want to leave the field after the first game of a 6 game minimum guarantee!
Preparing for try-outsIf you are looking at perhaps going to a travel try-out in the fall, there are some things you can do to prepare yourself or your daughter. The first, most important thing you should do is play catch, a lot. The first skill anyone will likely notice on the diamond is throwing, both strength and accuracy. The more often you throw, the better your throwing will become. Parents who want their kid on a travel team should make a serious effort to get out and just throw as often as possible. This is more important than going out to the field all day every Saturday top throw her 8 hours of daddy-pitched batting practice. This is more important than signing her up for the softball clinic at your local fields, even if those are run by the travel organization as a fundraiser.
Just get out and catch for half an hour every other day. Do more if you can. Keep in mind that the second skill people will notice is catching. If your arm is strong, the coaches will begin to watch you. If the return throw to you is missed every time, they will stop watching you.
While you are out playing catch every day for two hours, my guess is that dad or mom's rag arm will begin to ache. At thise point you can begin to roll grounders. You don;t need to buy a composite bat and go to the field in order to practice grounders. Any bouncing, rolling ball will do. Do some straight on and some to each side. This work is about moving your feet, keeping good body posture and performing the correct mechanical work. Emphasis should be on making clean fielding plays while also getting the ball back quickly through good footwork. Get up and stay on your toes! Be athletic about it.
As far as practicing hitting for a travel try-out goes, I suggest taking lots of good swings. You can take 50 swings every other day without investing much time. As you know, if you read this site, I prefer using a tee to having dad throw soft ones in from 40. Also, you might go out to the local commercial establishment a few times to swing at machine pitched balls - use a practice bat so you don't damage the good one.
If you go out to use machine pitched balls, start out with the speed setting low. Focus on locking in the best mechanics you know. After a while turn up the speed a few notches. Still, take good swings - that's what they'll be looking at. Before you call it quits, turn the machine up to the highest speed you expect you might face just for the heck of it. Your 12U daughter may not appreciate swinging and missing at 65 mph fastballs but she should at least see some of that in case some moronic coach puts her in for some of that at the tryout. If this becomes a problem, take a few more minutes at a hittable speed. You don't want to breakdown her confidence.
ConclusionThere uis a broad spectrum of travel try-out possibilities. You shouldn't be surprised by whatever is thrown your way. That's true if you go play catch with the coach of the team or his daughter. It is equally true if you have to go to some practice where all the rest of the kids are sneering or snickering at you. Going to a formal try-out is maybe more intimidating than these other kinds but at least it isn't you against the world. regardless of the try-out circumstance, I do strongly suggest you just go whether you want to make a team or not. It is an invaluable experience.
If you want to make a team, prepare for it, if time allows. Focus on fundamentals, particularly throwing and catching. Consider that coaches would like to have a roster filled with 12 girls who all (in this order):- listen,
- never fool around,
- always smile when they are being constructively criticized,
- get along with each other,
- never complain or ask to pitch on a team with 10 other pitchers who are all better,
- do what they are told,
- throw accurately,
- catch balls thrown to them, and
- swing the bat.
Some coaches are looking only for Jennie Finch's younger cousins to play with their darling daughter who is the only one with a firm roster spot. You don't want to be on that team. The rest of us just want a few good girls.Labels: Tryouts, youth tournament teams
Permanent Link: A Few Good Girls
 
Travel Legends
by Dave
Monday, April 21, 2008
Jason writes in to say:
"I've been reading your site now for over a year and it seems I can find the answer to my questions here, either direct answers or enough information that I can piece together an answer. My daughter is a pitcher and plays in a very good rec league but after this season she is going to try out for a travel team. I would never have considered putting this idea in her head if I never came across your site as I wouldn't have appreciated the potential benefits. I think parents on the west coast are probably much better informed about the game than the parents here in the northeast.
I've mentioned to some other parents that their daughter could make a travel team and should go to a try out. Yes, my motivation is partially out of self interest as I don't like the idea of my baby not knowing a single kid on her team and would like for one of her friends to go with her. They respond with something like 'they get good competition in all stars, play 30-40 games, I don't see the benefit to psycho travel teams.' Yet when our rec league all star team (who dominated almost all other rec league all star teams all last year) played a club travel team for the first time they were beaten with such ease that it was demoralizing. Most parents wrote this off and seemed to believe that this team was filled with phenoms, total freaks who must be one of the top teams on the east coast. I think they were girls with similar abilities of our girls (at least most of our girls) who had superior coaching and experience playing other teams as good or better than themselves. Girls who practiced hard all through the winter in a gym with their team, and when not with their team with private hitting coaches and pitching coaches (our pitchers are the only ones on our team who practice like that through the winter). We are very fortunate to only run into these teams a couple times a year!
Your articles on making the switch to Club Travel were a great help, and like your daughter I am sure my daughter will be just fine if she makes it and we will have you to thank for motivating us. Keep up the great work your doing here, you probably have no idea how many parents and young girls you are helping every day.
Jason,
Thanks for the compliments and I'm sure I don't deserve too many of those. I started this blog because I was in the same situation as you are. I was handed a lot of wrong information about travel which I cleared up pretty quickly once I stepped into it. I wanted to share that experience with others similarly situated in order to do what little I can to help make this sport even better, at least in my little way.
I'm always appreciative of anyone writing to tell me my site has helped them in some way. I guess that's because it goes to the heart of why I started this to begin with. Sfter taking my bows, I want to emphasize a couple points you make.
First of all, I totally understand the idea of getting a few friends to try out for the travel team with you. It always seems better when someone you already know is there. Maybe it actually does work out better. But I can tell you that my daughters have played ball with several teams on which they knew nobody on day one. It has never been a problem since the girls in travel spend so much time together. In fact, the travel kids have become mostly better friends with my kids than the kids in their school and neighborhood. I understand your desire to get someone you know on your daughter's team but don't stress over this. It will work out and the issue will evaporate once you are on a travel team.
It will probably come as a shock to most of these people you have been talking to but most travel teams are not "psycho." They are, for the most part very similar to "non-psycho" rec teams but the coaching is better, the girls are mostly there because they want to be - not always the case in rec ball, they are all mostly somewhat talented (not necessarily athletic monsters) so their abilities help push your kid's development, there is more and better quality practicing, etc., etc.
When I first heard the term "travel ball," I was fed a lot of misinformation. There were stories told, when my children were very young, which "informed" me, "if your kid is any good, you will be approached and asked to join a travel team." That's bull. The only way that happens is if there happens to be a travel player in your rec league and their team needs bodies. That is not the optimum way to discover travel.
Another story often told in rec circles involves the time the local all-star team went outside the Little League tournament, after they were eliminated, to play some additional games. The coach found a "tournament" about 45 minutes away, arranged to enter it, and brought his team there. They were shocked at the playing level.
This story involves some teams from such and such towns who obviously must be breeding players that are bigger, stronger, faster, etc. Usually it is a 10U or 12U team being praised. The belief initially is that since the team has a town name associated with it, it is just another town-based team like their own. Then the parents talk with parents at the tournament and discover these are "travel players."
The teams played all field the few balls the locals manage to hit and field them cleanly. They make every play and then when their turn to hit comes, every kid hits the ball into play. They steal at every opportunity. The kids all seem to know instinctively when they can advance a base on a play. They all bunt successfully. They actually tag up on fly balls.
When they have a runner on third and the batter walks, she doesn't! Instead she runs. She drops her bat, runs to first but doesn't stop. She keeps on going until she reaches second as if she just hit a double and is running it out. "Our kids didn't know how to react to that. Usually our pitcher would throw to second and the runner from third would automatically score.
They even did this thing where the girl leads off base after the pitch and then when the catcher throws the ball back to the pitcher, she takes off for the next base. I thought that was illegal but the umpires disagreed. Our coaches had a big conference the first time it happened. The umpire seemed pretty mad about the conference and insisted it was a legal play. He was very short tempered but didn't even bother to show us that in the rules.
The travel team's pitchers all windmilled and threw strikes at 40 mph (50 if 12U). They looked as if they were cut out of a mold. Our pitcher throws "modified" and is pretty good though she's never had formal training like those monsters have. She's not fast but she is accurate. Usually she strikes out a few kids (in rec or LL tournament) but these kids could all hit. Their pitchers looked like they should be playing high school or college ball.
All 12 girls are apparently well prepared and it doesn't matter which ones are in the game. They freely substituted one kid for another without altering the level of play one iota. They have 4 pitchers all equally monstrous. 4 different girls caught, played SS, etc. They are a softball "factory" which obviously practices all the time and the only thing on parents and coaches' minds is winning! They probably bring in college or professional coaches to run their practices. They'll all probably get college scholarships."
The score of the game is usually 30 to 0 or 1, or something like that. "The one flaw of these teams is they tend to leave base early. The umpires called at least 4 girls out for that infraction in one game. I don't understand why kids who are so well schooled would do something like that. I guess they figured they could get an even bigger advantage on us - as if they needed it. You know, all the teams we played did that. They all jumped off base early and the umps called it. We got out of a lot of innings that way.
In fact, the best game we played was one where we lost 12-0. That was only 4 innings. This team scored 6 runs in the first, 6 runs in the second and then we held them down. Their kids all jumped off base in almost every inning.
We didn't manage to even get a kid on base in that game. Their pitcher was the best of the bunch. She threw a perfect game. Interestingly, all the other team's kids were switch hitters. We thought maybe they were batting lefty to give us a chance but they could all hit that way. They did this thing where they ran up to hit the ball so they could get a running start to first. The first batter of the game hit the ball straight back to the pitcher and we couldn't get her out because she was that fast. Later all these lefties were batting righty. They could all hit righty too but we were able to get some outs. Very odd!"
The story then turns to a point at which the local all-star team managed to score a run. The best two natural athletes in town managed to get real live basehits off one of the pitchers, the travel team's fourth pitcher or coach's daughter who never pitched in her life but wanted to give it a go. The town's second best player hit a ball into the outfield and then stole second because "she's really fast. Did I tell you the travel team's catcher was also a monster? Then so and so, the town's best athlete, got up and hit a triple! We went wild as that was our first and only run of the whole tournament. It was very exciting!
Another quirk we noticed in this tournament is they have time limits for the games. We were playing and losing 25-0 one game and our kids made a few outs. Then one of those kids jumped off base and we thought we just might get everybody up to bat. Then the ump raised his hands and declared the game over on time. I didn't know softball games were ever timed! Our team played 4 games and lost similarly to 4 different teams of about the same ability. We only had the one close game and our girls were proud of that."
The parents who tell this story often close by noting that they aren't interested in turning their kid into a softball machines like that. They don't have time, money, or desire to put that much emphasis on the game. They want their children to be "more well rounded" than that.
It staggers the mind that all these people fail to realize that if you take an 8 - 11 year old and have her field grounders once a week, she will be able to make most standard plays pretty quickly. They don't seem to recognize that if you throw a ball regularly, you are going to become pretty accurate and throw stronger than another girl who throws a ball from April 1 to June 10, once or twice a week when the ball is hit to her in the field during a rec game. If coaches insist the kids do things the right way - the same way any teacher or parent, for that matter, hopefully does - the kids' skills will shoot up dramatically.
These folks don't seem to recognize that a kid dedicating 3-6 hours weekly during winter months (in which she spends at least that much time saying "I'm bored") to a game she presumably loves is not going to prevent her from getting "A"s in school, participating in rec soccer or basketball, having friends, or reading literature, etc. They don't seem to get the idea that if your kid fields 50 grounders, makes 50 throws of 60 feet, and takes 100 swings every week under proper supervision, she is going to appear to be a softball monster to the rest of the rec crowd.
I have had a lot of experiences in which kids from rec have been brought together to practice throughout a winter practice season. It is truly scary how much they improve in just 4 months. Most of these kids go back to the rec league and play better than their peers. Everyone takes notice. They inquire, learn about how she "plays travel," and then they talk behind the family's back about how it's too bad they are so obsessed with softball. It's too bad the kid is being forced into softball slavery! Then later, they see that the kid gets good marks in school, participates some other activity or wins a writing contest. They have to plumb the depths to find another criticism for the hard driving parents of the kid who has become the softball monster. It's very sad.
It isn't only the regular practice, focused on fundamentals, with reasonably good coaches which key travel kids' development. More importantly, I believe, is the level of competition the kids get used to seeing, as well as the number of games against such kids.
Last year I took a group of inexperienced younger kids and played one of the toughest schedules we could find while staying within basically an hour's drive for all but one of our tournaments. We played the most competitive travel softball in the particular age bracket in our area. These were ASA, Pony, ISA, and maybe some others. These involved all open teams with no geographical limitation.
Our team was a split-age squad made up of girls who mostly had not played high level travel - several had never played travel at all and who had little experience against good quality pitching or aggressive base-running. Only 3 of our girls had real high level travel experience within this age group. That's not optimal but I was left with no choice.
We did not experience the sweet taste of victory very often but we did manage to beat a couple high level teams, even finishing second at a B tournament. Our girls improved fairly well though the commitment level was not what I thought I had asked for. We saw some very good teams and managed to bring the girls to the point where they could all pretty much, with a few exceptions, play against "A" level competition. My team split up this year due to age differences, extra-curricular activites, and because I didn't want to do that again. But all those girls have tasted true travel and none will return to rec ball or anything like it again.
Once you regularly see good competition, you are galvanized by it. You no longer want to play in games where an infield pop is an adventure, a ground ball right at somebody is not an automatic out, where batters don't want to come out of the dugout because that pitcher is too fast." Last year we were forced to play a rec all-star team in a league we joined in order to play against the two or three other travel / rec-allstar teams. It was not fun. There is nothing fun about playing against girls who have not been coached much. We tried to not beat them badly. It didn't work out. Nobody was proud of that victory.
What is fun, however, is seeing that a winter's practice season can make you be able to compete with really good girls. This year, the team I'm with is beginning to see just that. We played a qualifier tournament and were eliminated in our first elimination game. But that was a 2-1 score in which we should maybe have pulled it out. We'll have to learn to do that. Our two seeding games went better for us. We tied one 2-2 and won the other 5-2. Our problem is the girls are again split-aged, inexperienced in travel, and all, with a few exceptions, still play rec ball of some sort. We didn't hit because everyone's timing was off. I told a few of the parents that the reason they call it "rec" is because it wrecks your timing.
The rec parents from my town don't understand that you do not have to be a softball robot or monster to get a whole lot better at this game. And the amount of time commitment does not have to be huge. It is entirely manageable. The training is good though certainly not college level. We didn't use professional coaches. We were all volunteers and the space we used was even free. The experience of playing against other good kids is helpful. It beats rec by a mile.
Rec parents are actually shocked when, every year, 3 or 4 kids disappear (with their fathers or mothers who are invariably volunteer coaches) and never return to the rec league. They work at trying to bring these people back into the fold. They try to manipulate them by telling them that so and so is sad because Sara isn't on their team this year. I don't think she'll want to play next year unless Sara's on her team, they say.
They also tell stories about how good the rec league has become this year. They talk about some key victory during the playoffs or in all-stars. Humor them when they tell you this. You'll know better. And when they tell you about some tournament the all-stars entered, blah, blah, blah, ask them the names of the teams they faced. If they don't recall, start listing the teams your travel team has faced. This way, you'll know exactly who they're talking about. It won't be the best teams you've seen. It may actually be several teams you beat last week. But this will make the conversation more meaningful to you.
Some of the parents may even try to create a "travel team" out of the league. I've been asked back to be involved with that sort of a venture. It is very difficult to get a new "travel" organization off the ground the first year. You have to have clear objectives, pitchers, people who can train the girls and access to indoor winter training facilities, and some idea of what tournaments you should enter. You must have a schedule which contains enough high quality tournaments to make it worth your while. Without those things, you are just pretending at travel.
It is dumfounding to me that after a ten tournament season in which we wished we could have played on all those off weekends, that someone would try to lure me and my kids into a new travel organization which plays maybe 3 "B" or worse tournaments and a "travel league" containing one or two other bona fide travel teams. I (my kids) don't want to win games. We want to play lots of good competition and get better. We aren't looking to prop up our won-loss record. We're looking for experiences, real experiences.
So, Jason, and everyone else, don't be surprised when these things happen to you. It's almost a guarantee they will. And do enjoy your adventures in travel. You won't be sorry you came. The benefits to you and your daughter will be immeasurable.Labels: youth tournament teams
Permanent Link: Travel Legends
Distractions
by Dave
Monday, April 21, 2008
I'd like to talk about a subject today which is somewhat uncomfortable and about which there is likely to be some disagreement. It involves player conduct during a game and a more or less infrequently invoked point about the rules of the game. The issue is about the borderline between good old fashioned cheering and good old fashioned heckling, particularly of the batter.
I was watching a Friday night baseball game between two rival schools when I witnessed something I'd never seen nor heard before. The schools definitely don't like each other. They're located in the same town. They play in the same division of a larger conference and have about the same records within that conference. Neither team has a realistic shot to vie for the title of their division, the overall conference, the county, or respective state divisions.
Still, emotions were extremely high. It was Friday night, after all. Several hundred people stood along the sidelines. The game was important to both teams from an emotional point of view. And from the very first pitch, the cheering was spirited to say the least.
The element of the game which I had never witnessed before came from the dugout of one of the teams. This was, of course, a varsity game but neither the freshmen nor JV teams had games at the same time. So both benches were populated with many more players than usual. The one team was extremely loud about their cheering and that's to be expected. But what I saw, what I didn't like, one reason for this writing, is one team was riding the pitcher in a manner which was blatant, rude, and uncalled for. They did the same thing to batters when their defense was in the field.
The razzing involved a series of cheers which were quite obviously intended to throw the pitcher's rhythm off rather than pump up their team's batters, and vice versa. I don't know how to describe it in words but it was organized, loud, constant, and clearly not about "cheering." There were a number of words from the foul language dictionary which were used in this razzing. The words were yelled in two syllables with one or two consenants changed so that the words would not be spoken (yelled) precisely but they were clearly audible. It was obnoxious, uncalled for, rude, profane, very much bush league, and probably illegal.
I spoke with the father of one kid from the opposing team and he said, "our kids would never engage in such a thing. They don't do that ... ever. They wouldn't, they couldn't. If they started to, the seniors would put a stop to it immediately."
But enough about baseball - by the way, the team which did not engage in profane razzing won the game.
I mention this story really as a peripheral way of bringing up a related topic in fastpitch softball. I was at a "friendly" the very next day when the subject came up. I was talking to another parent from our team during a lull in our game. She looked out at an adjacent field and noticed something the team in the field was doing. She claimed the fielders were all moving before the pitch was released in order to distract the batters. I never saw that happen. I think she was mistaken.
She went on to tell me about a team her daughter had been involved with which engaged in such a deliberate practice. The girls would all assume a ready position well before the pitch, stand still and then right before the pitcher released the ball, they would all take a synchronized step to the left or right (as predetermined) in order to "cause the field to move" and, thereby, distract the batter.
I replied to the parent, "that sounds like an interestintg strategy but it also happens to be illegal." She became upset with my attitude of superiority and demanded that I show her that in the rulebook. I don't walk around to my kids games with rulebooks at the ready unless I am coaching. At this "friendly" I was not a coach. So I told her I would have to get back to her. I think she gained comfort from the fact that I could not produce the rule right there and then, on the spot. But I did provide that rule for her as soon as I returned home at the end of the day. It was easy to find.
We play a lot of Pony (Protect Our Nation's Youth) so the easiest thing for me to do was find it in the Pony rulebook. (My several rulebooks are over there someplace underneath that pile of piles of material!) Pony Rule 7, Sec. 7 reads:"Note: It is an illegal pitch if a fielder takes up a position in the batter's line of vision or, with deliberate unsportsmanlike intent, act(s) in a manner to distract the batter. A pitch does not have to be released. The offending player shall be ejected from the game and an illegal pitch shall be declared."
Anticipating her objection of my use of the Pony rulebook, I decided to check and see what other rulebooks say. As an aside, the next day I was involved with a discussion with someone regarding another arcane rule. I was able to quote the correct rule on the subject from the Pony rulebook and this fellow reacted the way many do when a debate doesn't work out their way. He claimed that the rule was different in ASA and that was what he was talking about. He was wrong. The identical rule from Pony appears verbatim in the ASA rulebook. I'll have to show him the next time I see him. I get uncomfortable when people make things up just to win a debate when the issue is important enough to debate in the first place.
The rule quoted above regarding fielders not permitted to distract a batter with deliberate unsportsmanlike intent is a general one. I expected something along the same lines in several rulebooks but not necessarily the precise wording. Still I decided to Google "act in a manner to distract the batter" and see what popped out.
The first hit I received involved the official rules of this summer's Olympic games. Those rules state:"No manager, player, substitute, coach, trainer or batboy shall at any time, whether from the bench, the coach's box or on the playing field. No fielder shall take a position in the batter's line of vision, and with deliberate unsportsmanlike intent, act in a manner to distract the batter."
The English doesn't seem to make sense. I think there are some difficulties with the translation. I think there should be a comma after "playing field" and before "No fielder" but it doesn't really matter. Clearly the same issue is addressed.
I was also able to locate the rule in the NCAA rulebook. NCAA softball Rule 9.4.2.6 reads:"A fielder shall not position herself in the batter's line of vision or act in a manner to distract the batter.
EFFECT - Delayed dead ball is signaled. If the batter contacts the ball and reaches first base safely and each other runner has advanced at least one base on the batted ball, all action as a result of the batted ball stands. Once a runner has passed a base, she is considered to have reached that base, even if she missed it.
If the batter does not reach first base safely or if one of the other runners does not advance at least one base, the coach of the offensive team has the option of taking the result of the play or awarding a ball to the batter and advancing each other runner one base. If the pitch is 'Ball four' or hits the batter, the batter is awarded first base, and each runner is awarded one base.
The pitch does not have to be released.
The umpire shall issue a warning to the offending individual and notify her coach. Subsequent violation by the same individual shall result in ejection."
I think it is fair to assume, without going through the drudgery, that this rule exists in about every softball rulebook there is without checking them all. The rule also exist in MLB and there is an interesting story to go with that!
In 1960, Jim Piersall, an outfielder qith the Cleveland Indians whose sanity has sometimes been called into question was in the field when Ted Williams stepped into the batter's box. Piersall ran with flailing arms from left to center as the pitch was thrown to Williams. As the second pitch was thrown, he sprinted to center again. An ump named Jim Hurley warned him to stop it. Piersall used sign language to reply to the warning. Hurley ejected Piersall. After the game Hurley read from the MLB rulebook, rule 406-B, on page 25: "No fielder shall take a position in the batter's line of vision and with deliberate, unsportsmanlike intent act in a manner to distract the batter. Penalty - the offender shall be removed."
So now, as Paul Harvey says, you know the rest of the story. The bottom line is you are not allowed to distract hitters. You're also not allowed to distract fielders. "You" means players, coaches, and fans on the sideline.
I won't bore you with the details from the various rulebooks - this writing is long enough already. Suffice it to say that rules regarding interference typically cover "players not currently in the game, catchers, umpires, and spectators" equally. The same is true of heckling players in the game whether done by opposing players, coaches or fans. You just cannot try to participate and change the outcome of a play by doing something intended to throw a player off.
When I was a kid, it was fairly common for people at games to interact with players in the field. Some of that involved deliberate attempts to distract players so the favored team could win the game. I was sometimes the object of the attempted distraction. My father would get furious if the efforts of fans ever caused me to so much as smirk or look away from the field. I've told you that he would call me "rabbit ears" when that happened. He told me that this was all "just a part of the game" and I had better get used to it or I should quit the game. That's not true. It isn't a part of the game. It isn't allowed.
A few weeks ago, I was watching a high school softball game in which there was a routine pop-up to short. Several fans and parents of the offensive team were standing in a position near the defensive team's bench by third base in order to watch multiple games going on at this and adjacent fields. One of the spectators, seeing the pop-up, yelled "DROP" at the last moment before the fielder caught the ball. It wasn't clear to me who exactly had yelled but I could see by the folks in that general area that it was probably a parent of a player. I understand the emotion of the moment but there really is no room for this in the game. Let the players play and skip the fan theatrics.Labels: Conduct, interference, obstruction, parents, umpiring
Permanent Link: Distractions
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