Youth Softball: Coaching is a Big Commitment

When you volunteer to coach it comes with responsibilities. It also comes with an expectation for a certain level of commitment.

My daughter's softball team basically completed the regular season two weeks ago. I say basically because we did not make up several games that were postponed due to rain. Rainouts are a pain in the butt for coaches. The home coach needs to coordinate with the visiting coach and find an agreeable time to play. Then the home coach needs to coordinate a field and umpires for the selected time and date. It can be an long iterative process. I have coached baseball before and know that this takes time and effort. My daughter's team had several rainout games that were not made up this season. That was disappointing. We paid the league fee for a certain number of games and associated practices. We also want our daughter to get as much experience as possible during these developmental years.

Furthermore, we qualified for the end of season playoff tournament but the coach opted out of it because he had a family commitment one of the two weekends of the tournament. He made this decision unilaterally. He did not ask the parents. He did not seek an alternative solution. This was disappointing too.

Luckily, my daughter, CC, made an All Star tournament team. Although she is clearly one of the best players on the team, we were a little surprised that she made the All Star team because she plays up.

CC participated in several practices with the All Star team last week. That team had a really strong coaching staff and she learned a lot.

The Main Point

If you decide to coach remember that it comes with responsibilities and a certain level commitment. Make sure you are up for all the sacrifices you need to make.