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Coaching Youth Softball – Are They Early or Late Maturers?
By Celeste Knierim
NFCA Hall of Fame Member
Former Head Coach, St. Louis Community College, Meramec
I have been watching younger players’ practices, and I have also been hearing that some middle school coaches and summer coaches of players under 12 have been having tryouts and cutting players from their teams. I don’t think any middle school player should be cut from the school team. If you have too many, then maybe have a fifth-sixth grade team and a seventh-eighth grade team. Some summer coaches, even with 10 and under teams, seem to care only about wins and the very coordinated/talented players, rather than developing players.
Softball Coaching – Preventing and Treating Burnout
By Sharon Drysdale
Head Coach – Northwestern University
Coaching is a challenging profession! Coaching can be stressful and burnout can result.
According to the Burnout Susceptibility Profile (Vernacchia, Level 2 USA Coaching Education Program), individuals who are susceptible to burnout are profiled as: extremely, goal oriented, idealistic/altruistic, high achievers, highly responsible, perfectionists, success driven.
In my opinion, coaching burnout is a transformation from energetic, involved, accomplished, capable, “spirited” coach to exhausted, bored, withdrawn, cynical, ineffective, “burned out” coach.
There are varying degrees of burnout and not everyone will express it in the same way. Whether you are at a low, moderate or severe level of burnout depends upon the frequency, intensity and duration of signs and symptoms.
Signs and Symptoms
- Exhaustion
- Depersonalization
- Reduced sense of personal accomplishment
- Inconsistent or declining job performance.
Burnout can and probably will affect you in some way, to some extent, at one time or another.
I believe that burnout is a condition that is continuously present in all of us, at one level or another. The nature of the burnout experience, however, is personal and unique – different for each of us.
Nevertheless, we can all end up in the same place, feeling much the same way.
Marc Dagenais was born in Mirabel, Quebec, a primary French-speaking province of Canada. As a kid, Marc practiced many sports but baseball was his favorite. In 1989, at age 13, his parents decided to sign-up his younger sister for softball and Marc thought that coaching softball could be fun so he offered to help out. That day, Marc's life changed forever. 