NorCal Dirtdogs

[Sftball Junkie]

First off, Dog is 100% absolutely correct!

Secondly, Best of Luck Gary!

Why label a team Nor Cal? Is there something prestigious about that? Do you want to separate yourself from all of the other great Nor Cal Teams? The biggest, most successful orgs (Grapes/Breeze/Sorcerers) don't use Nor Cal.

1st off, you douche bag why do you care what the Dirt Dogs have decided to call their Nor Cal team.

2nd off, Grapes, Breeze, Sorcerers etc... are not based out of another area so they have no reason to put a Nor Cal in front of their name.
3rd of all, they don't even teams outside of Nor Cal so they have no reason to label the team from a region.

And don't worry, because I would never have my daughter play for a second tier org like the Cen Cal, er.. um.. Nor Cal Dirt Dogs.

Finally you obviously know little about the Cen Cal Dirt Dogs. Dirt Dogs have had teams who have represented well for a number of years. You normally do not see the Dirt Dogs in Sac or Stockton much because the better Dirt Dog teams tend to make the 2 1/2 hour drive south to play over the 2 1/2 hour drive north to play.

[gobblygoop]

Wow, Got your panties in a wad! Must have struck a nerve. #1 Dirt Dogs play in Stockton and Sac all the time. I've seen plenty of their low class ghetto parents in the stands from 10U all the way to 18U. By the way, do the rest of us a favor and put a 200lb limit on the cencal tube tops you sell. #2 They are a second tier team and couldn't hold a candle to the California Breeze, the California Grapettes or the Sorcerers. But, of course you gonna call me a douchebag and ignorant. I wouldn't expect anything less from a Dirt Dog supporter. I'd be angry all the time too if I lived in CenCal.

[CTCBAT]

The sport is growing.

[jbl1465]

I agree the sport is growing but much like the housing market not all growth is not good. We dont have the talent pool to warrant the growth. This will force the upper teams to stop going to local tournaments and just play friendlies with the top 5 or 6 teams and travel down south for the bigger tournaments. i dont understand why the rush to form new teams when we dont have enough talent on the current teams. Just my humble opinion.

[guero_gordo]

Mmmmm RC.

[CTCBAT]

I agree the sport is growing but much like the housing market not all growth is not good. We dont have the talent pool to warrant the growth. This will force the upper teams to stop going to local tournaments and just play friendlies with the top 5 or 6 teams and travel down south for the bigger tournaments. i dont understand why the rush to form new teams when we dont have enough talent on the current teams. Just my humble opinion.

Just like the housing market analogy there are too many houses not enough buyers. In softball there are too many decent players and not enough decent coaching. Most of the decent coaching has monetized what they do (lessons). Good coaching is not accessible. It's by design.

[jbl1465]

I agree there are not a lot of good coaches for sure. I watch these games with coaches yelling at kids mid play or mid at bat thinking they are doing good. I would love for them to go to a college game and just watch the coaches. You never hear a negative comment. Now having said that I don't think the athletes are out there either. I watched TC try outs and you could have sent over half those kids home during warm ups. They couldn't play catch. "A" travel ball is not where you come to learn the basics, rec and the field down the street with your mom or dad is where those skills are perfected. But like the housing market (getting a ton of mileage out of that analogy) it is a free market and if the Dirtdogs can find 12 families willing to shell out a ton of cash to play ball power to them. I hope they prove me wrong and field a team that goes deep into every Sunday.

[CheckWriter]

I would love for them to go to a college game and just watch the coaches. You never hear a negative comment.

You never hear it because they keep their A-hole comments to the locker room and the practice field when there are not 100s of people to hear them.

Most things in nature follow a normal distribution. That probably includes coach quality. Granted, the mean in college is probably a bit higher than the mean in travel ball, but you have plenty (approximately 50%) of below average coaches in college. Just go to a college softball discussion board. You could just do a fine and replace on team and coach names.

You are in for a college (softball) edumaction when you get there. Enjoy!

[CTCBAT]

I agree there are not a lot of good coaches for sure. I watch these games with coaches yelling at kids mid play or mid at bat thinking they are doing good. I would love for them to go to a college game and just watch the coaches. You never hear a negative comment. Now having said that I don't think the athletes are out there either. I watched TC try outs and you could have sent over half those kids home during warm ups. They couldn't play catch. "A" travel ball is not where you come to learn the basics, rec and the field down the street with your mom or dad is where those skills are perfected. But like the housing market (getting a ton of mileage out of that analogy) it is a free market and if the Dirtdogs can find 12 families willing to shell out a ton of cash to play ball power to them. I hope they prove me wrong and field a team that goes deep into every Sunday.

I've seen far too many kids that have good speed, strong arms, or some other very good attribute that isn't developed to believe the talent level is completely watered down. The coaching is just that bad. I don't mean nice coach/mean coach, but I mean breaking down how to field a ground ball. Breaking down good throwing mechanics. Girls are not taught a fundamental base to build on, and when you have bad faults you can't progress. In true A ball these kids are taught as 10U players how to approach a ground ball so by the time they are in 14U not only do the look great doing it, but you can progress in training to the next thing. Coaching isn't just about reps. kids will do something improper so long that it's not going to be fixed. Meanwhile the coaches with the talent to fix these issues wouldn't dare go down to 10U to do it:

1. There's no prestige in it.
2. There is a better monetized opportunity to sell these kids private lessons than coach their teams.

Most coaches at the 10-12U level have a knowledge of the game. Few have the ability to communicate that to little kids to where they understand it.

A kid who is a decent athlete and finds A ball at age 8 has a far better chance at surviving in A ball than a kid who finds A ball when they are 13. The reason comp ball swells in 14U is most rec ball programs do not have enough kids to have a senior division (Little League), or have a serious drop at 14U (ASA). The non serious kids find something else to do and the serious kids try to find their way in A ball.

So I don't think the raw talent level is missing, but the developed talent isn't there. Above is a major reason why. I don't believe the development piece is widely available or accessible. Paying $40 per half hour to get lessons prohibits access.