Is your infield set?

[Alice]

Thank you for your perspective. I am wondering then, how do teams become well oiled machines if players do not play at their primary positions a good portion of the time? Or do you see it as these top teams, Corona Angels for example, are doing their players a disservice by not rotating players? Would they be National Champions if they did it any other way?

Travel ball is a competitive sport. Why would we play in tournaments for any other reason than to win? It's a lot of money to pay to "experiment" and "practice" playing different positions. Even at 12u. We leave rec ball to play travel ball to play more competitively.

Am I way off base here? I just don't get it..

[soreshins]

I believe that 12U is too early to tie a player to a specific position. A "well oiled machine" is good, but keep in mind we are in "fall ball." Wins are not as important in the fall or early spring as they are in the late spring and summer. Now is the time to experiment and find out if a girl can play second or short etc... In 12U girls are not finished growing. Your second basemen may grow 6 inches and wind up being your first baseman. Likewise, unexpected injuries do happen. Your number one shortstop may break her elbow in the first game at nationals. Most teams need to have a plan "B".

In addition, every girl on a 12U squad need some time in the outfield. When they are high school freshman, it will be helpful to have some outfield experience.

[Sam]

Thank you for your perspective. I am wondering then, how do teams become well oiled machines if players do not play at their primary positions a good portion of the time? Or do you see it as these top teams, Corona Angels for example, are doing their players a disservice by not rotating players? Would they be National Champions if they did it any other way?

Travel ball is a competitive sport. Why would we play in tournaments for any other reason than to win? It's a lot of money to pay to "experiment" and "practice" playing different positions. Even at 12u. We leave rec ball to play travel ball to play more competitively.

Am I way off base here? I just don't get it..

National Championships don't mean crap. If you aren't in this to improve each and every young player on your team, you need to get out. Teams that operate with a set lineup are ripe for dissention.....especially if they have recruited 6 SS's, 4 3B's, 4 P's, and 3 C's....who is going to play OF????? When these kids move to different teams with better players at their position, what are they going to do? The goal of the coach should be to diversify his player's talents. One of my coaches brought his DD to me at 12U....she was a catcher...had always been a catcher....but she could run a 2.9 to 1B.....I told him she should be playing CF and turn around to the left side to slap....finally got him to do it at the end of her 1st year at 14U....She is now a D1 slapper going to school on a scholarship. She was an excellent catcher....as quick as a cat....and had excellent power from her natural right side. She approached the change with a positive attitude and used her natural ability to make herself into an awesome ballplayer. It might not have happened if she had been pigeon-holed as a catcher.

[Alice]

Thank you Sam! I get it now. You are right. We should all be open to the bigger picture and look to the future and not just the present.

[dallasfungo]

There are different paths to the same destination, of course. I don't know first hand how CA manages their roster, run practices or teach technique. My DD's team just had a top 10 finish at 12U nationals (we saw CA but didn't play them). At 10U we had "role players" but now (1st year 14U) they do not (except possiblly for the pitchers). Development is now a much higher priority. There are very good athletes across the roster and all are being taught to play IF and OF.

I think this topic has been addressed in several other threads. IMO if you are a coach who can teach technique effectively, you have smart athletes who want to learn and you put them in game and practice situations where they can apply their skills, you can be very successful at nationals...and you'll have 14 or 15 kids on the roster who can ALL play ball. If the coaches egos are so fragile that they absolutely must win this week's tournament, to the exclusion of developing a good athlete, they should be heading to B nationals with the rest of the rec teams.

[Ace]

[quote="dallasfungo"]

If the coaches egos are so fragile that they absolutely must win this week's tournament, to the exclusion of developing a good athlete, they should be heading to B nationals with the rest of the rec teams.[/quote]
Whatever dude.

[DonnieS]

I have 2 dds on my travel team and I want them and everyone else on the team to be ready for whatever comes next, I am talking about either high school, college, or the next big tournament when 4 key players get hurt or sick and players have to be shuffled around. Whatever we coaches think we are doing, we are truly doing this to get our kids ready for 'what comes next'. With one exception, my kids all shuffle, each kid has a primary position and a secondary position. The exception is my tall left handed spiderman 1st baseman, and I do need to do a better job of giving her a second position, though its hard to imagine her not being used as a 1st baseman.

At the Ronald McDonald 16u tournament last year, my 2nd baseman got sick, my star 1st baseman sprained her hamstring (and after being injured ended up being the runner at 2nd in ITB - hopped to 3rd on an PB, and scored on a tag on a deep fly), my 3rd baseman pulled her groin muscle running out a walkoff single to win a game, one of my pitchers get sunscreen ointment in her eye, another pitcher got hit in the thumb. With the first pitch in the championship game, the next pitcher got lined in the knee, and my least injured pitcher, the sore thumb pitcher came in. We shuffled everyone around, but no one was playing a position she was not familiar with, everyone hung tough, we put the sick 2nd baseman in left field where she could puke to her hearts content, the now 1-eyed pitcher took center where her eye did not put her at risk (too much) and the injured 1st and 3rd baseman became cheerleaders in the dugout and we won the thing.

We told the girls for the last 4 years that a) we do not know what high school and college coaches or your next travel team will need you for and b) you never know what will happen and where you might be needed. The big win at that RmD tournament proved it to everyone.

[anonlooker]

Donnie, that was a great post!!

And more than made the point of so many who have contributed to this thread!! Way to go!

How's Ike looking? Did you gas up your boat?

[DonnieS]

!

How's Ike looking? Did you gas up your boat?

It looks very scary for the Galveston people - we are safe - we will get very little, barely a spring day type of wind for us from what we are told, but we have family in Sugarland and they should be fine. Its the people out there on that island that didnt evacuate - I have been through as bad as a hurricane can be from a wind standpoint, that was very scary even when I was young and strong, but I cant even imagine having to deal with that kind of surge. That is a unending tsunami - that is really what it is.