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Playing time

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by notthisagain » Wed Sep 18, 2019 7:41 am

Is playing only one in three games or 33% enough playing time? Play a couple innings a game, but never an entire game. How about those rosters where some players play every inning and the rest of the players fill in the gaps.
A pitching rotation one in three games understandable. This is another topic where some people stay and some people leave.
Blame it on favoritism or lack of experienced coaching to develop players? This is where I'll put my foot down, playing time must be at least 2 of 3 games.
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by UniqueSports » Wed Sep 18, 2019 9:35 am

Agree. 16 players on a team, playing time is hard to come by...Pitch at least once on sat and once a sunday and play the field in another game is all we are looking for...but to save the pitcher and 'rest' her then take her out after one inning is not going to cut it....
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by eclipse09 » Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:35 pm

Here is what happened to my kid each age group. Please note she is a pitcher/outfielder.

12u--10-12 kids and she played all the time.

14u--12-14 players. Played most of the time with rest during blow out games.

16u--16+ players. Teams started just playing her at Pitcher so she could rest, but she would get a few at bats and some time in the OF (she hated this and was close to calling it quits)

18u--12-14 players. Declined to play on a few 18u teams that had 16+ players and stayed with the team for more playing time. Back to loving softball and now plays in college.
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by DirtyRiders » Thu Sep 19, 2019 8:15 pm

In friendlies I believe everyone bats. I tried to break it down as follows...there are 9 positions times 3 games is 27. Therefore if you have 14 players every kid except one plays 2 games. Obviously as the rosters get bigger the number of kids playing 2 whole games gets smaller, but as previously stated as they get older pitchers usually only pitch so that changes the equation also. I think part of the problem is that friendlies used to be an opportunity to get girls playing time and to experiment with different lineups and positions and lately it seems too many coaches want to try and win these games. When you’re a smaller type team and you can tell possible “Adds” that you have competed and beat some of the top teams in friendlies in can make a difference in getting a kid.
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by notthisagain » Sun Oct 13, 2019 6:52 pm

DirtyRiders wrote:In friendlies I believe everyone bats. I tried to break it down as follows...there are 9 positions times 3 games is 27. Therefore if you have 14 players every kid except one plays 2 games. Obviously as the rosters get bigger the number of kids playing 2 whole games gets smaller, but as previously stated as they get older pitchers usually only pitch so that changes the equation also. I think part of the problem is that friendlies used to be an opportunity to get girls playing time and to experiment with different lineups and positions and lately it seems too many coaches want to try and win these games. When you’re a smaller type team and you can tell possible “Adds” that you have competed and beat some of the top teams in friendlies in can make a difference in getting a kid.


This plan works. Yes play friendlies to win. Play best nine against better teams in friendlies. Then if they win it shows the parents who the starting nine should be in tourneys! Add bonus of bragging rights to recruit. The second string players should be atleast beating the average teams anyway.
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by xyzdude » Mon Oct 14, 2019 6:33 am

A lot depends on the age group. At the younger age groups - 10U, 12U and some 14U parents should be selecting a team where your daughter will be able to play and get significant playing time. Some of this is a function of numbers - with 12 players, it is very easy to have all players play at least 50% of the time, with most of them playing more than 75% of the time. If your daughter is the 12th best player on a team, you should probably be happy with playing about 50% of the innings. this could mean playing two of three games on a Saturday and then only getting in a few innings a game or an at bat here and there on Sunday. As long as she is getting opportunities, learning the game and having fun that should equate to a positive experience. Part of the decision is if that individual will develop faster playing with better players or if she would be progressing more playing most of the time on a lesser talented team. Again, this may be a function of the coaching she is receiving. I have a host of items - like a check list that I would use to determine from watching the level of coaching of a team. These are not fool proof of course, but give you a pretty good idea of how advanced the coaching is.
__does team have a pre-pitch process; are all players paying attention and getting into a pre pitch athletic position that includes moving of the feet
___are the players getting a good jump on the pitch when they are on base, you should see a uniform running position (or two) by most of the players on the team
___is the infield positioned in a logical (and safe) way; are the middle infielders a little more up the middle and deep for double play situations; are the first and third basemen off the bag and slightly in front of the bag to field a ball (I would never put my daughter on a team where the third baseman is expected to play half way up the line to field a bunt - that is lazy coaching)
___are the outfielders taking an initial step back and tracking the ball; do they throw with a crow hop and a longer arm circle as opposed to an infielder. It is my experience that good coaches coach the outfielders instead of just putting them out there.
___is there good player communication during the play, or is the coach the only "voice" being heard [this may be indicative of an excellent coach who is too over the top in controlling everything and not letting the girls play the game]
___does the team do at least some situational hitting - this is going out of fashion these days and you won't see as much of it as you used to, but most average to above average hitters are helped by having some idea of the range of options to be successful based on the situation.

There is no easy path in team selection, but this is perhaps an easy guide to use to at least narrow down some of your selection process. By the way, I think the best time to look at teams is anytime other than tryout season. I would never advocate attending the big cattle call tryouts - that is only good for the coach and gives the player/parent very little understanding of how the team operates.

Just some food for thought.
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by jonriv » Tue Oct 15, 2019 6:00 am

notthisagain wrote:Is playing only one in three games or 33% enough playing time? Play a couple innings a game, but never an entire game. How about those rosters where some players play every inning and the rest of the players fill in the gaps.
A pitching rotation one in three games understandable. This is another topic where some people stay and some people leave.
Blame it on favoritism or lack of experienced coaching to develop players? This is where I'll put my foot down, playing time must be at least 2 of 3 games.



If it were my daughter- no. To me it makes no sense to be on steam(or organization) if you are not getting playing time. I don't care how good the coaching is, nothing is better than time on the field in a game. I might be best for the team, but certainly not for the player sitting. You are spending a lot of $$$$. Find a team where your daughter gets the playing time she needs to develop(IMO)

My daughter's travel team(2008-2011) the coach kept a smaller roster 12-13 and rotated all players. He said this is basically an all-star team of local HS players, your parents are pay $$ for you to play. The girls were great with it(some parents were not). Team had a lot of success, the players had a blast, were forced to learn other positions, players got better and most went on to college
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by notthisagain » Tue Oct 15, 2019 6:29 am

jonriv wrote:
notthisagain wrote:Is playing only one in three games or 33% enough playing time? Play a couple innings a game, but never an entire game. How about those rosters where some players play every inning and the rest of the players fill in the gaps.
A pitching rotation one in three games understandable. This is another topic where some people stay and some people leave.
Blame it on favoritism or lack of experienced coaching to develop players? This is where I'll put my foot down, playing time must be at least 2 of 3 games.



If it were my daughter- no. To me it makes no sense to be on steam(or organization) if you are not getting playing time. I don't care how good the coaching is, nothing is better than time on the field in a game. I might be best for the team, but certainly not for the player sitting. You are spending a lot of $$$$. Find a team where your daughter gets the playing time she needs to develop(IMO)

My daughter's travel team(2008-2011) the coach kept a smaller roster 12-13 and rotated all players. He said this is basically an all-star team of local HS players, your parents are pay $$ for you to play. The girls were great with it(some parents were not). Team had a lot of success, the players had a blast, were forced to learn other positions, players got better and most went on to college


Are you saying as a minimum playing
33% is not enough playing time?
Are you ok with minimum 2of 3 games?
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by notthisagain » Tue Oct 15, 2019 6:44 am

Who's playing? "Good for team not good for player sitting" more than one answer to that. That damn perspective again.
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by SDTitans » Tue Oct 15, 2019 7:16 am

players should fight for playing time in friendlies and during a tournaments, giving them playing time they didn't earn during practice for a friendly, because it is a friendly, just sets the parents up and players up for disappointment when their playtime is very limited on tournament weekend. Want to play more, do more at practice, earn it there.
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