Coaching Softball - How To Run A Bad Practice - Part 2

Two days ago, I ranted about how bad some practices can be in youth softball. You know, the typical 9-players-standing-on-the-field-not-learning-much-and-not-having-fun-while-1-hitter-tries-to-hit-the-ball type of practice. It certainly didn't leave people indifferent.

See my first post about that topic: Coaching Softball - How to Run a Bad Softball Practice

Following that post, I got that email from a young lady:

"First of all, I hope you know that a lot of the people receiving your e-mails ARE those coaches you think should be "fired," including my dad (this is his daughter, a competitive softball player, writing this). People subscribe to your e-mails because they want to become better coaches. I would suggest not putting down your subscribers if you want to keep them.

And just so you know, most of the coaches you're speaking of are VOLUNTEERS. They don't get paid, so they can't get fired. They are taking time out of their busy schedules to try and help girls (who may not otherwise have a
coach or a team) play the sport they love. I don't think it's these people who scare girls away from the sport. At least from my experience with coaches (and I've had a lot), I would rather have a nice coach who may not know a lot, but is trying to get better than a high and mighty coach like you who is looking to shove his "expertise" down the throats of anyone who will listen. I'm not sure who you think you are, but I certainly have never heard of you and I have been playing softball my entire life.

All I know is my coaches and my dad don't deserve to be put down by some guy who thinks he is a better softball coach than everyone else, because they are the ones who have made my softball career possible. Without these "rookie" coaches, we would have an even smaller number of girls playing softball. Please think twice before you send out another e-mail like this one.

Sincerely,
K.T."

Marc's response: 

First, I would like to thank you for taking the time to write me and express your thoughts and feelings about the issue. I think it's a great thing and more young people should do that.

I would like to start by saying that I never meant or wanted to "put down" volunteer coaches who give a lot of their time for the benefits of young softball players. They do a wonderful thing and deserve a ton of credit for it.

Without them, there would be no organized softball as the whole sport is volunteers-driven. I have the utmost respect for them. I would even say that coaching youth softball is a lot tougher than coaching elite athletes in a well-funded college program.

I know, I've coached at both levels and let me tell you, it's a lot easier at the college-level (motivated and talented athletes, funding, great facilities, lots of equipment, lots of practice time, etc.).

My point was rather that, as a sport (softball organizations, governing bodies, travel and experienced coaches, etc.), we need to do a better job of supporting these super well-intentionned, untrained rookie coaches at the recreation level.

Why? Because sometimes when the practices aren't fun or stimulating, you don't develop your skills and you might quickly lose interest for the sport if you can't feel competent while playing it in addition to finding training quite boring.

That's the reason why a lot of young softball players turn to soccer after a while and we need to do a better job of preventing that of happening to keep our sport healthy by giving our new coaches the tools they need to do a great job!

But I strongly agree with on the fact that at the recreational, I would rather have a nice supportive coach than a well-trained coach who just doesn't care about his athletes and is all about winning.

You also mentionned you never heard of me. It's totally possible! There are millions of people that play softball and are involved in the game. I am lucky if I know a few thousands of them. If you want to know more about me, feel free to check my story:

Marc Dagenais - Softball Coach

Yes, the purpose of these emails are to help coaches increase their coaching effectivness and players improve their game and I am striving to provide a lot of value in my emails.

Again, I think it's great that you took the time to write me and I want to thank you for it. I have a lot of respect for that. I

I hope I clarified what I meant by my last rant and trust me, I have tremendous respect for coaches like your dad and what he does because I've been there and done it!

Best of luck to you and enjoy playing the game!

Play Hard. Train hard.

Marc
"Your Softball Peak Performance Coach"

P.S. If you want to increase your coaching effectiveness, develop high-performing athletes, win more games and outcoach your opponents, all the tools you need to do are in the Super Coaching Bundle.