I have a daughter playing 10U fastpitch softball. Like most of her teammates, it's her first year at this level where it's kid-pitch. I help out with practices and in the dugout. I coach 1B when the assistant coach isn't there. (I overheard the head coach ask another parent to coach 1B one week but, at the game, that parent asked me if I wanted to...I jumped at the chance.)
She ended up on a team with a good group of girls but I was hesitant about her coach. He moved up from 10U to coach his daughter. For the past few seasons, he's been VERY aggressive. Too aggressive, in my opinion. He yelled at the girls a LOT. That's changed...but too far the other way. The assistant coach is the head coach of a local high school baseball team. He's sent the head coach suggested lineups and positioning, but they've been ignored.
The head coach positions poor fielders and throwers at SS and 2B. This past week he put a girl at SS that had never played there before and she's a very poor fielder. He keeps trying a girl at 1B but she is a poor catch and has a habit of stepping forward to catch the ball without judging where it'll land...she even steps off the base to do that.
My daughter is a very good fielder; probably the 3rd best of the 11 girls, but she plays most innings in right field, backing up 1st base. (On two occasions, she's almost thrown at a runner at 1B.) She has better range and gets rid of the ball quicker than most girls. Other coaches have asked me why my girl is in the infield and not at SS or 2nd. They're stunned that she's not. We're 1-5, losing 5 in a row. We've blown the last 2 games because the poor fielders made errors that allowed winning runs.
Sorry for all the rambling but I want everyone to know the circumstances. So should I talk to the head coach about positioning and lineups? I don't want to be "one of those" parents but other parents are upset, as well. Would it be improper for me to address the concerns? If I should talk to him, how should I approach it?
Thanks, fellow RedZoners.
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