Softball Coaching Tips - The Line Between Winning and Developing

The Line Between Winning and Developing
Guest post by Ken Krause, Life in the Fastpitch Lane blog

In many areas of the country, fall ball is in full swing right now. New teams have been formed, players are getting to know each other, coaches are getting to know players, and everyone is feeling their way along. It's a great opportunity to put players on the field and see what they can do, as well as what they have to work on.

Unfortunately, what happens too often is coaches become more focused on winning now than learning about and developing their full rosters. So they go with the lineup they think will win ballgames for them, and never vary from it.

To me, that's a missed opportunity all the way around. Take pitchers. Yes, you know you can win with your stud. But if you're not developing your staff, and not letting your #2, #3 or #4 pitcher throw under pressure, you'll never know if they can. Remember that any pitcher is never more than a turned ankle on a crappy field away from being out of commission. If your stud goes down and you have no one ready behind her, you'll be in a heap o' trouble.

The same goes for other positions. Now, I'm not saying go crazy and throw any old kid behind the plate to see what happens. That's a recipe for disaster, especially if she doesn't want to catch. But if you have a kid who has expressed interest, toss her an inning or two to gain some experience, and help her develop. Let her catch batting practice, work with her, and then give her a little more game experience. You never know what might happen.

I had one of those once. Had a girl named Leah who just seemed like she should be a catcher. First time I put her behind the plate she was a disaster. With a runner on third she faked a throw, dropped the ball, and the runner scored. She was a sieve, too, allowing ball after ball to get past her.

The parents (including my own darling wife) were up in arms. How could I put this kid in there when we had better catchers on the team? But the girl herself wanted it, and worked hard. Fast forward a couple of years and she wound up being the starting varsity catcher at her high school for two years, and one of our main catchers too. All because I was willing to put her into a meaningless game to get experience.

It's never easy to lose a game. When you have a new team you want to set a tone and make an impression on the kids and parents. But that's where managing expectations becomes critical.

If you explain what the long-term plan is, it makes the short-term plan a lot more palatable. If you say flat out that this fall we're less interested in trophies and more interested in finding out what we have so we can go for the big trophy next summer, odds are you'll find a lot of support. Because the truth is no one really, truly cares that much about fall games unless you make them a big deal. Or you're in a state where high school ball is played in the fall — in which case forget everything I just said.

If you're not, though, take this opportunity to give your #2 shortstop or your #12 hitter some quality playing time. Because you never know — your summer season might just come down to what they can do. And it will be nice to know what that is before you get there.