perspective

[Iluvblue]

Just a little story; take it for what it's worth.

Around my 2nd year of coaching, i was hard core. The other team was the enemy( i was in my 20s, what can I say). Then one day, we were walking by the Rebels 12u coached by current rebels coach, Mike Dimas. They were our rival as we were the top 2 teams in the Stockton area.

I HATED the rebels...... even though I didnt know Mike at the time, his kid was damn good, and I just didnt like them. We were walking past them as they were warming up and one of his players strikes up a conversation with me. Dont remember what it was about, dont know the player, but that day changed my entire perspective on coaching girls fastpitch.

Here I am talking to this great kid who is as pleasant as can be, and she was from the dreaded R&R Gold team that i couldnt stand. How could this be?

Every team out there is just like mine. These are great kids (on all teams), they practice hard, they try their best, and they want to win games just like everyone else.............. but they are not the enemy.

All teams are not created equal (in ability) but for the most part, all of us are about the same. We love the sport, the kids are great, the parents are good people, and we are just trying our best to make the sport better.
All the other stuff....... not that big of a deal.

[TheCloser]

Nice to know that you figured out that hating on some little girls is not a good thing.

[Iluvblue]

I never said I hated some little girl... I said i didnt like the team.... oh never mind. Doesnt matter what is said, think what you want.

[Coach11]

Girls will do it to you everytime. Put things in perspective that is.
Probably 1000 examples.....but here's one I learned early on in my TB coaching days.
Had a player I thought was tough as nails. Team captain, #2 pitcher, CF when not in circle....#4 hitter A favorite amongst her team mates. Even when things weren't going great, nothing seemed to phase her.
So its the first bracket game on a Sunday and she's pitching. We're winning, but she's getting hit pretty hard. Luckily, they're all right at our fielders. We score an insurance run in our half of the 6th inning. Only 5 mins left on clock, so our opponents are only going to get this one last chance.
I decide to put our #1 in and lock the game up, which she does and we win.
This move, despite the results, crushes this girl. She's balling her eyes out and her team mates can't console her.
I grab her before our next game and we have a sit down. Turns out, shed never been pulled from a game....winning or losing.
I had probably yanked 100 pitchers on my sons teams over the years. All without incident. Pull a player I thought would recognize the coaching genius of the move, and I'm sick to my stomach over breaking her heart.

[fstptchdad]

Saw a friend and his team in the parking lot of a tournament as we were going in and they were out on a break having lunch. The girls were laughing, having fun. I said to my friend, "you guys must've won good." His reply, "Nope...we lost bad." The KIDS just wanna have fun. The ADULTS are the ones that it matters if they win.

[lookingIN]

Team rivals. The only people who usually feels that is the coaches. Esp at the 10 and unders..

[DurfWerzel]

It doesn't change as they get older. The only difference is by the time they're 18, they've learned to really take seriously (and enjoy) the competition on the field, but as soon as the ump yells "ballgame" it's back to being friends regardless of the uniform they are wearing.

Meanwhile, all the parents who hate each other from the previous 10 years of competitive recball nonsense find themselves regularly in awkward situations because they never anticipated the fact that at some point down the road, not only would their DD be good friends with their enemies child, they would end up on a Gold and/or a High School team with them and that means a ton of time hanging out with people they've sworn to hate.