It’s amazing to us the way news travels when there are issues like parental interference with coaches. We have literally received over 75 e-mails from parents, players, coaches and even some school principals asking us for permission to re-print our articles on “Let The Coach Decide”. We have been trying to answer each one as fast as we can. Sorry, if we haven’t responded to some of you yet. The hits on our web site have quadrupled the past few days and that’s been an ominous sign that this issue is a bit more pervasive than we thought.
For the most part, coaches are thick skinned enough to handle all of the pressure. We were told a humorous story that kind of sums up the whole issue…
A college coach was being e-mailed to death by a raging father on the playing time of his son. The coach, after about 6 lengthy e-mails from the dad called him into his office. The dad arrived and the coach started off the conversation” Now let me get this straight. So what you want me to do is play my BEST 8 players...and then Your Son…Is that the message I’m getting from your e-mails?”
Well that’s the message we are hearing is going on in schools from coast to coast. The college coach’s response is what many wacky parents need to hear. I was told the meeting with the college coach was very short and the father quickly got the message. But will everyone get the message or are there some parents out there that really think that their opinion of their son is more accurate than the coaches?
Have you ever watched the first half dozen episodes of American Idol when they are auditioning the talent and the reactions of the contestants and their parents when they are told they are absolutely, no good? There must be a traveling gene that goes awry like that with baseball parents as well. Some of these parents are just living in a world of their own and oblivious to the realities of their sons talent. I mean, he is probably not a bad player, or he would not have made the team, but there are those that think that their son is the next A-Rod. Believe me, if he was, then he WOULD NOT be sitting the bench. No coach is that clueless.
There’s one player on a team we know whose son sits the bench, but he insists is better than the 3rd baseman that was first team all-league, all- section and verballed to a major D-I as a junior. Let’s try that college coach approach on this guy, shall we…”So, let me get this straight Mr. Father of the Son Who Is Sitting The Bench, you are telling me that everyone in the league, section and state has it all wrong…Do you mean the D-I University made an offer to the wrong guy???”
Yep, that’s how crazy it is out there folks. Cats and Dogs living together pandemonium. When will it all stop? Well, if one these genetic modification and altering companies can speed up the timetable on Flying Pigs, then maybe we can do something about it soon. In the meantime, it just takes a lot of education and we will be here to help anyway we can. It looks as if we have a good start. We know of at least three principals, 12 coaches and 85 parents from 37 states that are sending out copies of our first two articles. That’s us...Rounding Third...Changing the world one article at a time.
RT Staff
4 comments:
Regarding the following paragraph:
"There’s one player on a team we know whose son sits the bench, but he insists is better than the 3rd baseman that was first team all-league, all- section and verballed to a major D-I as a junior. Let’s try that college coach approach on this guy, shall we…”So, let me get this straight Mr. Father of the Son Who Is Sitting The Bench, you are telling me that everyone in the league, section and state has it all wrong…Do you mean the D-I University made an offer to the wrong guy???”
Believe it or not, that bench player most likely WOULD say that the D1 made an offer to the wrong guy. Players like that (and their parents) love to pick apart every strike out and every error of the player starting in front of them. Sometimes, the D1 signees seem to have a bullseye on their foreheads, in that if they do ANYTHING wrong, they had better duck from all the criticism that will be directed their way. It's amazing how negative certain people can be when they're not getting any playing time.
I know of a similar situation. A parent became upset when their sophomore son was told he was going to play JV this season. There said he is a varsity player and should be on the team. The coach told them he needs to play every day on the JV team. The 1B who plays ahead of him is a senior who was ALL CIF, All Area and set a school record for hits as a junior. Hummmm....sit the returning players for the sophomore. The kid transfered out to another school and have to play JV anyways. IF he stays he would have been a two year starter at high profile HS. HE might of even got time in the OF if he would have stayed.
At another school, a player just returned from his soccer season to join the baseball team. He liked to mess around and made numerous mistakes in practice. One game he was slated to start. As the head coach need to take care of some business before the game the kid starts messing around, throwing gloves at people and talking with people in the stands. The head coach doesn't play the kid and starts a freshman ahead of him. The dad goes crazy in the stands telling everyone he is going to get the coaches fired and he was son was better. The freshman went 3 for 4 and 5 rbi. He is now at USC and the other is doing who know.
Everyone knows better from stands...right?? The players know the pecking order on the team. The parents are the ones who usually feed the bad vibe to their kids.
sgvbaseball.com
I hear and understand everything you have written about coaches, parents, players, and playing time (PT). But know that coaches are not omniscient and that, like all other people, often make mistakes. There are crazy, conceited parents and players who think that their son/they should play even when they really shouldn't. But by the same token, there are coaches with blinders on who fail, or refuse, to acknowledge the abilities of all of their players and afford genuine playing opportunity to them. Why would they do that? Either because they are poor judges of baseball talent and character or they are so heavily invested in a particular player that they MUST ensure that their investements provides a return. And they are often willing to throw a heck of a lot of good money after bad in this investment scheme.
Don't discount ALL parental views or even ALL player views. Some coaches make mistakes. How does a parent wake up that coach? And, where the player plays his tail off and practice-in and practice-out does all he can to get better and make his mark, how does that player force the coach to remove his blinders or cease his poor investment?
"Don't discount ALL parental views or even ALL player views. Some coaches make mistakes. How does a parent wake up that coach? And, where the player plays his tail off and practice-in and practice-out does all he can to get better and make his mark, how does that player force the coach to remove his blinders or cease his poor investment?"
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How do you know that the player is playing his tail off? How do any of us know what the coaches see day in and day out, 3 hours a day, 6 days a week? That's an awful lot to assume. Parents see a fraction of what the coaches see. Not all coaches are perfect, I'll give you that...but parents asertions on the talent level of their kid or any others on the team is not based on enough factual data. Parents see then in games only...not in practice...not their athleticicm. The .250 hitter that is playing in front of someone elses son may have other attributes that warrant a starting spot. It could be his defense, or his leadership skills or his all out hustle in practice. Those kids have break-out games when a team needs them the most.
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