First, I'd like to thank those of you who coach and are dedicated to developing young talent. You are invaluable to our boys achieving their goals.
My son has been playing select ball six years, and he's/we've had some good, interesting,and character building experiences. This year, I've noticed some troubling changes - maybe because he's in high school. I want to throw some observations out and see what the rest of y'all have experienced:
1. Young coaches showing up late, hung-over or worse to tournament games. As parents we pay these young men, and it bothers me that they model bad beavior for our boys. (Heard from three different teams)
2. Coaches signing up players and taking their $2000+ without considering position and sometimes without considering ability. The result is a handicapped team.
3. Coaches taking money from players they have no intention of playing because he is not ready to play at the team's level of competition - expensive bench ride. Be honest. Give the kid chance to be on a team where he can contribute.
4. Private lessons. Coaches are teachers by defintion. To tell a kid that if he wants to pitch or move up in the order, he needs to pay for private instruction ($60/hr. or more)in addition to the coaching fee seems like double-dipping to me. Why not work with the player at practice?
5. Travel Expense: Several teams are asking players to pay extra for coaches' travel. Prior to this year, the teams my son played on included travel in the up-front payment.
6. It's a business - I know. Do the math. 15 players X $2000= $30000 - $2500 for league - $1500 for tournaments - $600 for jerseys and caps - additional expenses. That still leaves about $20,000. HS select coaches work June - July. Pretty lucrative business.
I know there are some great coaches who are dedicated to our children, but I am finding out that there are some carpetbaggers too. Please share your thoughts and experiences.

3and2...check your PM

My suggestion is that you take your concerns to the individual team and not paint all organizations with the same brush; There are very good organizations out there doing it for the right reason.

Every select team I ever coached was handled by a general manager and not a coach. I was paid a stipend for my duties and had no idea what the parents were charged.

I agree with SWAC on this one, please don't paint all organizations the same...sounds like you may have found a bad apple in this one.

Good luck to you.

By the way, I am available to coach for July for a small fee of $8,000.00

I appreciate your reply, but I did start my post by saying that I appreciate the work of dedicated coaches. I am posting in response to concerns I have heard from several parents on different teams. My son is playing and his coach is not showing up hungover. This is a matter worth dicussing. With so many parents so willing to make sacrifices for our kids, there is a huge opportunity for abuse.

quote:

Originally posted by 3and2:
I am posting in response to concerns I have heard from several parents on different teams. My son is playing and his coach is not showing up hungover. This is a matter worth dicussing.

3and2, your first sentence is rumor and the second sentence is fact; have you seen this on other teams or is it unhappy curtomers that their kid is not playing very much and probably should not be on that team? In my opinion, that is worth discussing as well. There are always two sides. Not defending any one select program because I know the ones with the good reputation. This subject always seems to surface this time of year as coaches are deciding on the players that he wants to use to make it to post season play.

It's trure.

I once attended a game in which a strange looking fellow greeted me.

He asked if I was there to sign up my son for the team or if I was a scout.

Trying to stay low profile, I told him my son would be coming up to try out for the team. I was really part of the Secret Scouting Service of America (SSSA) looking for the games greatest amatuer players.

Anyhow, smelling like a pool of Mad Dog 20/20, this hobo said that my son didn't need to try out. All I needed to do was put my cash, check, money order, or food stamps in the empty keg of Bud Light with the top cut off.

I asked what positions they were looking for. Mr. Bloodshot Eye's said he was looking for a 3 hole hitter that was a pitcher only.

Finally I decided it was time. I pulled my super duper fake Secret Service Scouting card out to reveal myself.

At that very moment, we would find out what select ball was really about.

Now, the same Schlitz Malt Liquor man wanted to give me the money.

I asked him why and he simply responded.....

"Heck, if I can put on my website that someone from the Super Secret Scouting Service was here, you'll make me more money than you can put in my keg."

You see folks, like everything else in life........

Follow the money trail.

Or, simply grab some Pabst Blue Ribbon and give it to your select coach. This will get your son immediate playing time and all problems are resolved.

or

Next time you see a guy that looks like George Jefferson with wine cooler in his hand......

Simply say "hello Kermit, Guthrie told me you were a hell of a guy."

Although, Kermit's not a coach, he's a GM or something like that.

SWAC - I don't hang out with disgruntled losers. Parents of studs want sound coaching for their kids too. Parents of kids who start and never come out of the game would prefer sober, alert coaches too. Did I hit a nerve?

While I do understand your point my question is this:

why not take over? Get some of the parents together and "hire" a coach for your boys. I do not think it is near as difficult as it might seem.

For coaches to show up hungover is unacceptable, although I have to admit that I did it at certain points in my past...looking back I am not proud.

I will bet you that if someone had approached me about it that I would have corrected the problem immediately. Maybe that would be a good route to take, pull this coach aside and talk to him, he may not even realize that he is having a negative influence on the boys.

Good luck to you and your son!

Last post on this topic for me...

Why don't parents do something? Many have sacrificed what they know to be the right thing for fear of their sons losing a minute of playing time or them being labeled as the problem parent. If you read the posts that responded to my concerns, you can see their fear is not unfounded.

And one last time: My son's coach is not showing up hunover...this year. These are real concerns from three different 16U teams in DFW.

The intent of my oringinal post was to get input from older, wiser parents and reputable coaches. The best advice I have gotten was in one of the PMs I have received: Do your research before you write the check!

quote:

Originally posted by 3and2:
SWAC - I don't hang out with disgruntled losers. Parents of studs want sound coaching for their kids too. Parents of kids who start and never come out of the game would prefer sober, alert coaches too. Did I hit a nerve?

No nerve here because apparently we have never met. I never said anything about studs, that was your description of the players. However if there are coaches coming around these players smelling like they were out all night then as parents you need to take that concern to the owner of the organization because it becomes a character issue. That I don't know if anyone can change other than hire new coaches. 3and2 I don't dissagree with your comments put parents have accountibility as well and that is part of the equation that we always seem to overlook. When you go and buy a house we all do our research, why do we take less responsibility when it comes to our kids? And like the advice you received, do your homework first. Trust me, if any parent came to me and said your coach smelled like liquor I would do the investigation and if true it would be dealt with accordingly.

quote:

Originally posted by Ken Guthrie:
It's trure.

I once attended a game in which a strange looking fellow greeted me.

He asked if I was there to sign up my son for the team or if I was a scout.

Trying to stay low profile, I told him my son would be coming up to try out for the team. I was really part of the Secret Scouting Service of America (SSSA) looking for the games greatest amatuer players.

Anyhow, smelling like a pool of Mad Dog 20/20, this hobo said that my son didn't need to try out. All I needed to do was put my cash, check, money order, or food stamps in the empty keg of Bud Light with the top cut off.

I asked what positions they were looking for. Mr. Bloodshot Eye's said he was looking for a 3 hole hitter that was a pitcher only.

Finally I decided it was time. I pulled my super duper fake Secret Service Scouting card out to reveal myself.

At that very moment, we would find out what select ball was really about.

Now, the same Schlitz Malt Liquor man wanted to give me the money.

I asked him why and he simply responded.....

"Heck, if I can put on my website that someone from the Super Secret Scouting Service was here, you'll make me more money than you can put in my keg."

You see folks, like everything else in life........

Follow the money trail.

Or, simply grab some Pabst Blue Ribbon and give it to your select coach. This will get your son immediate playing time and all problems are resolved.

or

Next time you see a guy that looks like George Jefferson with wine cooler in his hand......

Simply say "hello Kermit, Guthrie told me you were a hell of a guy."

Although, Kermit's not a coach, he's a GM or something like that.

"Oh, we're movin' on up.
To the top.
To a deeee-lux apartment,
In the sky-yiii-yiii."

long time reader, first time responding. i could not resist this one. I've been through the select summer and fall stuff and 4 years of high school ball. now my son is going to a very good academic school in which he "gets" to play the game of baseball. he is really looking forward to enjoying the game again.

anyway, we have experienced the select team taking your money and turning the kids over to what we referred to as baseball bums. guys that couldn't hold any other sort of job and would go to out of town tournaments, stay at the bars all night, and show up at the game hungover. The ==edited by moderator== were (are?) notorious for this. If the kid can tie his cleats and mommy can write a check he is one the team. The majority of the coaches were drunks. The GM would never respond to emails or phone calls and if you could get him to schedule a lesson the chances of him actually showing up were very slim. I do not know of the times we had schedules hitting lessons, son drives out there and waits and waits.

long story short, we took control. you do not have to take that ****. your kids success does not depend on it.

I'm going to guess, regardless of the possibility of truth in this message, that this will be edited due to calling out one organization.

Yes, but it wasn't DBAT so..........

hey, with what these guys charge, the price of gas getting to and from the out of town games, hotels, meals, lessons, etc. i think parents need to know the truth about what they are going to get.

I think I would have watched the team perform and talked to a few parents who have players on the team before I wrote the $2000 check. It's not that complicated.

My son has been fortunate to play for good organizations and coaches since age 10. I agree that parents should do research on the team they are attempting to play for. We always asked former players parents about the experiences they had and about the orginization in general. We never relied on one response but got several.

Nowadays, SOME parents want to be able to say their kid plays on a select baseball team regardless of the circumstances. There are good and bad apples in all walks of life. You as parents need to decide which organization best fits what you are looking to get out of baseball for your child

We had a situation like this when my son played 15u ball. The only reason my son played for this team was because my son had hurt his arm during the fall so all he could do was bat. Well, come springtime he was told he would not get much playing time so we were left scrambling for a team. Although I appreciated the team telling us his position on the team, the timing wasn't good. But honestly, there is never a good time to hear that type of news.

After making a few phone calls I found a team that was looking for a player. I was just happy to find a team at that point so late into the season. When I say lat I mean the season started like the next week. They had a few "names" so I thought they would be pretty good. Boy was I wrong.

The players would always show up an hour early to the game and the coaches would show up late to every single game. Normally about 15 minutes before gametime. One time they didn't show up till the 1st inning was over so another dad and I coached till they got there. To be honest, the kids coached themselves . We never heard an apology or an excuse of why they were so late.

After a while, I was so fed up with it I went to the GM of the organization. I told him of a conversation I overheard between the coach and one of the dads. The coach made the comment of, "These kids play way too much baseball. They don't have a chance to enjoy their summers". I couldnt't believe he was telling this to someone who was paying his salary. All the GM could say was he thought he did the right thing by hiring who he did. The head coach was a coach at a baseball powerhouse (private school) here in Dallas so I don't blame him for thinking that way. Needless to say, nothing changed much after that conversation. In fact, the head coach ended up getting married a month before the season was over and never came back. Not that it really mattered but he was paid for the entire season. There are sooo many more things I could say about this team but it is in the past and we have learned from it. Plus I type real slow.

I tell people all the time it was my fault we ended up in the position we did. I should have been more patient instead of jumping on board so fast. In my opinion, we would have been better off not playing that year because we literally lost an entire year. But on the other hand, I think how bad I would have felt if he didn't play that year and he would have lost interest.

My son now plays for an organization that has a GM with some general interest in how his club is doing. Up to this point, everything has been very professional and we couldn't be happier.

Let's see...a drunk for a coach, or serious daddy ball with the coaches sons playing all the prime positions every inning?...give me the drunk. Butterworth did pretty well with the Bad News Bears.