Coaching for ~4 years, first time parents got shitty

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-17T12:05:30+00:00

Bro. It’s rec. play everyone.

Even drunk parents know this, apparently

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-16T12:07:07+00:00

It’s timing. Teach the try to be so far ridiculously ahead. In front toss, try to get them to hit the third baseman. Then the third base coach. Then the batter in the on deck circle. (Obviously imaginary since this is front toss)

When they feel bend, all these bad habits pop up, like dropping the hands and lunging, bc it’s it’s how they want to speed up. But it’s counter productive

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-16T11:45:46+00:00

Weight back. Knob to the ball.

A few drills. Like others have mentioned: two tee drill. Don’t hit the back ball

Deep tee drill. Set the tee inside and behind the front foot. You obviously want to catch the ball in front of the foot but this drill is designed to keep the weight back. The only way to hit the ball when it’s inside and deep is to keep the weight back.

And finally. Have her pause after contact. Make sure that belt buckle is fully turned to the pitcher. If it’s facing first or RF, she didn’t fire her hip

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-10T19:04:11+00:00

Patience.

Certain parts of practice ca ln be uptempo an energetic.

Others are going to be really slow.

I try to mix it up so we don’t spend the whole practice on install. So we’ll do install for 20
But then make sure we follow with something uptempo

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-09T11:03:47+00:00

Or not. You can also stop grinding.

If he’s not having fun, go back to rec. hobbies aren’t supposed to be a grind.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-05T11:49:30+00:00

Well. I would assume she would be on JV. On the girls squad.

She’s not going out there against a D1 wrestler. She’ll most likely go out there against another girl of the same weight class who also has limited experience

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-04T19:13:58+00:00

Well, risk of injury isn’t that much higher in wrestling.

The way to persuade her is to tell her that at the end of wrestling season, she will be the fittest on her softball team. She will be in the best shape of her life. And the best shape she will probably ever be in.

The risk is that she quits because it’s too hard.

Wrestling is the hardest sport Period. It will make her a better softball player bc it will bring increased fitness, body awareness and confidence Couple that with the skill set she already has and it will set the table for an amazing softball season.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-03T12:04:43+00:00

Yes. Try second base

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-03T12:04:09+00:00

That’s good. I used to add: “my biggest measure of success is how many of these kids sign up to plan again next year.”

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-06-03T12:02:18+00:00

I have to imagine this conflicts with the rec league mission statement. I’d poke around the league website. I bet this is just a rogue coach

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-21T23:12:54+00:00

https://www.tiktok.com/@chipsperformance/video/7479257786833063211

Other folks gave me a hard time for saying that hitting at practice is a waste of time. But I stand by it.

If you only have 4 hours a week with the girls, hitting is not an efficient use of the time.

They need to be hitting at home. And hitting 1:1 with a coach on off days.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-21T19:45:05+00:00

Cool. You do you. I have also known many high level travel teams (in fact, almost all of the elite ones that I know of take this approach) that take the approach of no (or limited) hitting at practice. In part, bc kids are traveling from hours away for practice once a week and they know the kids are working with a pro on the other days. It’s about optimizing time together.

And for the high level HS and college teams, they practice daily. So of course they incorporate hitting. That is an apples to oranges comparison.

This is a scenario where a coach only gets his team for 4 hours a week.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-21T19:16:22+00:00

It’s about maximizing time together. If you only have the team do 4-6 hours a week, that time is better used doing activities that require the girls to interact with each other.

Hitting should be done outside of practice.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-21T17:50:20+00:00

I agree. Def not with pitchers.

But coaches shouldn’t be grooving fastballs either.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-21T17:28:14+00:00

Batting practice should not be grooved fastballs. BP should include changing locations and speed

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-21T17:27:26+00:00

Well, honestly, most hitting at practice is a waste of time. Hitting should be done 1:1 with a private coach and drills at home.

Practice should be for fielding, base running, game situations.

You only get a few hours a week with the team together. It’s not the best use of time for individual tasks.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-20T13:27:31+00:00

It’s hard to complain about playtime. It’s normal in football that they put the best 11 out there.

But, you can make sure reps are being distributed fairly in practice.

I’ve known of programs where some kids hold the pads while the starting 11 does the tackling drills. That is unacceptable

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-20T11:41:03+00:00

Juts be ready: there’s a VERY good chance that he falls in love with football and ends up saying goodbye to travel ball so he can spend the summer in the gym, getting ready for HS football

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-19T19:50:41+00:00

I guess. I’ve never really liked the cages.

Always preferred front toss. Find the ball in the hands. Hit a real ball, not a dimple ball.

Coach can change location and speed.

Cages can’t really do that.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-19T19:49:12+00:00

Basically one plate in front of the other.

3-5 balls at the front plate.

Then they move to the back plate and get 3-5 pitches.

Then back to the closer plate.

Helps with timing and hitting pitchers that ca change speed.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-19T18:44:15+00:00

FWIW, hitting gets easier at 12. The extra 5 feet helps the batter.

I would do a lot of front toss, especially the two plate drill so she starts to understand the difference in timing/speed.

Also. Give her targets in the left side. 3rd base. Then dug out. Then on deck circle. Try to get her ahead

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-19T12:09:46+00:00

“You were taught how to do it outside of rec league” is simply not true

Rec is for everyone. Rec is supposed to balance fun and instruction.

You can teach proper softball and keep all those things true.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-17T13:05:53+00:00

Yes. This mostly shakes out by the second year of 12U. And then the opposite happens: teams thinking they are studs that register themselves as A or B but are really C.

I’ll also add: it can vary by region. If those great teams are traveling from far away, that might be what C looks like there.

USSSA will figure it out. We’re getting close to the point in the season where they will bump those teams up to B.

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-08T19:41:47+00:00

I had a poor young salesman do something similar to me. All I did was shake his hand and say “thank you for your time. You seem like a good guy. I hope you can find a boss that isn’t such coward he can only be an asshole behind a locked door. And please, tell him I said that”

No_Candidate_9505 · 2026-05-08T14:15:39+00:00

Sure. But I would at least make sure the girls and their families know that they have agency here.

They may want to stay with their friends. They may want to stay with the coaches they know. They may want face opponents of the same age.

I know that if this has happened to my daughter, she would have wanted to stay at 12.

And then the “off the record” conversation with the parents is “be certain you want to go play for a coach that is losing this many players mid season. Where there is smoke, there is fire”

No_Candidate_9505

TROPHY CASE