Coaching Youth Softball - Why Do People Do It?
Unlike sports like swimming, figure skating, tennis, or gymnastics, softball is a volunteer-driven sport. This means that most people involve in youth softball are volunteers and aren’t there for financial gains. In most cases, it’s actually costing them money.
People get into coaching youth softball for various reasons. Some are former baseball or softball players and that’s their way of staying involved in a sport they really enjoy. For others, it’s about giving to the community or to have a chance a positive influence on the youth. There are plenty of reasons why someone would get involved. They just have to be the right reasons.
Personally, I started coaching youth softball when I was 13 years old. No, it’s not a misprint; I did get started at that early age. I got started out of curiosity and boredom at the same time. As a 13-year-old, I didn’t have much to do after hurting my ankle in little league. So I got started coaching youth softball when my little 6-year-old sister started to play. Like it’s often the case in youth softball, her team didn’t have any coach.
While I was obviously too young to be a head coach, I thought I knew enough about the game after a years of little league baseball to help out. That was the start of a love story with the sport of softball. I stayed in coaching because I loved the game but l love the helping young kids even more. I find extreme self-satisfaction out of being able to influence positively young athletes and help them grow both as people and as athletes.
Coaching youth softball can be extremely rewarding and fun. To me, it’s win-win situation. You give time and effort to the community and to the kids and in return, you get the much-needed feelings of being appreciated and contributing to society. These are the reasons why I’ve been coaching all these years.
However, coaching youth softball can also be quite difficult. There are lots of things to deal with from an administrative perspective whether it’s fundraising, managing a budget, dealing with the league or anything else.
However, for many, that’s nothing compare to dealing with parents or the politics present in the various sports organizations. Actually, most coaches that quit coaching do so not because they don’t love what they are doing but rather because they are totally fed up from sports politics or dealing with difficult parents. As much as softball extremely rewarding and fun at times, it can also sometimes become a nightmare.
Some people, even if they will never admit it, do get into coaching youth softball to advance the athletic career of their children. It’s a way to put them into key position and give them a lot of playing them. They are basically giving their kids a preferential treatment over the other kids. That is certainly the wrong reason to get involved in coaching youth softball. Unfortunately, it’s far too common and it’s a recipe for disaster every time.
If you like the game, love helping kids, want to give to the community or love the thrill of coaching softball games, by all means, get involved. Be prepared to deal with a lot of headaches but at the same, you might find the experience highly rewarding like I do. Just make sure you get into it for the right reasons like I did.
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Why do you coach youth softball? - Tons of softball drills, softball tips, and advice on softball hitting, softball pitching, coaching softball, softball training, and more. @ 1:35 am
[...] do and what they get out of it - both positives and negatives. Here is the link to blog post: Coaching Youth Softball - Why People Do It? My question to you is…. why do you coach youth softball? How did you get started? Marc [...]
Well said, Coach.
After eighteen years of invlovement in youth athletics, I've seen them all. Unfortunately, the challenges you mention - the time, the cost and the headaches - keep a lot of good people from stepping up to the responsibility of coaching, leaving plenty of vacancies for volunteers with motives that are less than pure.
Don Lafferty
I once had a wise experienced board member say to me, "if you took all the parents out of it and just let the kids play, everything would run so much smoother and the kids would have much more fun".
How true is that?
I have found that the key the minimizing the parent politics is getting out front by laying down my rules, in writing, at a meeting held before the first practice. The parents know what to expect, and I stick to it.
Yes very true - if you watch kids play by themselves, they are a lot of fun and can go on for hours.
You are right - the parents' meeting is the key to minimizing headaches for the rest of the season.
I started coaching softball because I finally convinced my daughter to play a sport that I knew. I was so happy. Softball was my life when I was growing up. And the rewards? Oh I can't believe it. It was by far the best coaching season that I've ever had (ok, so I've only had 3).
I was blessed with a great group of parents and assistant coaches who helped me and I was sad when it was all over. The best part is that I wrote about them on my blog, so I know that when I get a little frustrated with soccer, I can look back and see what it's all about…
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'll need to bookmark you for when softball rolls around next year.
What should a parent do if it is evident that a coach shows preferential treatment towards his daughter? Our season just ended with a tournament. During one of the games, my granddaughter was pitching (10U). At the beginning of a new inning the coach had her pitch 12 drop balls in a row which she had only learned a week before the game. Thus the bases became loaded. Immediately, he called in his daughter, who is the other pitcher, to replace my granddaughter. When his daughter came in he had her pitch fastballs and only one drop ball. My granddaughter is a more precise fastball pitcher than his daughter yet the option of throwing a fastball was not given to her. I witnessed my granddaughter slowly wither on the pitchers plate trying to throw the drop balls to the point of holding back tears. To make matters worst he yelled at her that if she did not stop pouting he was going to replace her which he eventually did anyway. He had my granddaughter and his daughter trade places thereby putting my granddaughter on first base. Once on first base she could not hold back the tears but she was still trying to hold it together. At this point he said something to the asst coach who proceeded to take her out of the game.
My granddaughter in the spring season was an 8U starting pitcher.During that season, with her wonderful pitching talent we won the district title and went on to compete at the state level. This is the only time our league has gone to the state level. We did not win any titles but it was a great experience. She is also a straight A student. She loves softball and prides herself in trying to do well.
So your post on "Why do people do it" really hit home for me.