Steve A. posted:Very rational. Makes sense & I understand the perspective. I feel that if the MS Program & JV Program allowed the pitcher / catcher to steer the ship a bit (call & shake pitches), you would have Varsity Players with a far superior understanding of the game & ultimately superior players to those who just nod their head for 7 years & are told how to do it by a coach.
Yes if JV, MS, Travel, LL - anything before HS varsity - would do more teaching then it would be easier for us at the varsity level to turn pitch calling to catchers earlier. But vast majority of time they do not so we have to do it if that's our philosophy. It just takes time usually. I don't want a head nodder and if I'm allowing him to make decisions in other aspects of the game then they won't be a head nodder in life. It's not a black and white situation for what we turn out in the world. A kid could have the greatest coach in the world but if he has parents that do everything for him in the rest of his life he's going to struggle in real world.
My opinion, again, opinion, is that yes, winning is important & the goal of the team. I get that. I can tell you that the vast majority of people you may think are impressed by your winning really could not care less. What does matter, ultimately, is the quality of individual your program produces, as you admit. I am simply suggesting that this individual would be better suited to tackle life after your program if they were trusted to think for themselves in pressure situations. There is not going to be a coach calling pitches for him in his job interview when he has to think for himself. The coach will not be there to call pitches for him when he is faced with a difficult scenario at work or in everyday life.
I don't care who is impressed with my win / loss record until I need it to validate my credibility. I get a new principal then my win / loss record will go towards me keeping my job. I want to move to a new school my win / loss record may help me get that job. If Joe Schmo walking down the street isn't impressed with my record I don't really blame him because I don't care what his win / loss record is. But as cabbage said wins and losses are important to the kids and that matters. So if the kids win then so do I so my record does matter. It may help get a kid moving in to pick my school over another one.
The coach calling pitches for him in the job interview is trying to make a very complicated situation very simplistic. I don't think that's a fair comparison. I'm just a very SMALL piece of the ingredients that make a kid into a good young man who can think for himself. If he has good parents, good teachers then he's probably going to turn out to be good and able to stand on his own even if I call every single pitch he throws.
I employ 6 people. I can tell you that the ones who come to me every 5 minutes asking me to solve their problem (having done nothing on their own) are the ones who do not last. The ones who take the initiative, are not afraid to fail & like to "call their own game," are the stars. The others are generally yes men with limited creativity who are still looking for the coach to call the pitches.
I completely agree with this but if they are this type to ask for answers instead of figuring it out on their own probably started well before somebody called their first pitch for them. Besides what if this guy who wants answers given to him is a right fielder? Am I going to let him call pitches to help him learn to stand on his own????? I'm just messing with you here but some truth to it.