ironhorse posted:Steve A. posted:Go44dad posted:ironhorse posted:Steve A. posted:From my experience it is mostly a case of the coach not having the ability to tuck his ego in his back pocket & let the kids play & learn how to play from their mistakes.
Completely disagree, but to each their own.
I expect my son's HS coach to play to win. Every game. And that most likely means he calls the pitches. Just get the calls in quick so kids can play with tempo.
Save the development focus for the travel teams when you pay to get developed.
Let me ask you a couple questions .Let's say your son is a pitcher. Would he be a better off having been on the mound for 4 years with a coach who was OK with letting him shake & throw his own game or simply nodding like a robot for fear of chapping the coach?
I totally understand playing to win & get it. I simply have a differing take on it & understand the fact that this is HS baseball & 1 team wins the State Championship & the rest of them are really irrelevant in terms of Win / Loss records as the years go by. In short, nobody really gives a rip if your team went 18-6, 14-14 or 6-14 within about 10 minutes after the last game.
Would the pitcher be better off for the experience of learning from mistakes? For sure.
Would the team be better off? That's the bigger question.
I prefer the freshman who has coaches calling pitches, but then asking at the end of every inning/game the mindset behind what was called. Maybe asking why we didn't try this or that. Or maybe flat out saying "I would have felt better throwing ...."
Then, by the time he' been doing that for a couple of years, he and I will be on the same page, and I will know that he understands the game and what we're trying to accomplish with each hitter, and he will have a lot more leeway or input or decision making capabilities, whatever you want to call it.
But to think I'm going to let a kid who may not understand how to do it simply take it over for the betterment of him and only him right away simply isn't going to happen.
I actually agree with most of that. My problem is that the kid is a Freshman & has no clue how to pitch. He has had coaches like yourself all the way along who have felt pressure to win & therefore pushed the learning element further & further along. If he had been free to learn, he would shake the 2-0 FB with a base open & the 4 Hole Guy up in a tight spot & snap in a 2-0 bender & you would smile & say, "that kid gets it." This would not happen on your team because you have steered the ship with white knuckles.