There are certain players that no matter who their coach is they help make that coach successful! If you ask them what they thought of a coach, they will always start with something positive to say. These types of players realize that no coach is perfect, but they help emphasize the best things about a coach. Generally speaking, if you ask these kids what they thought of their last 10 coaches, they would be positive about 8-9 of them. Players like this love playing the game and are not interested in the drama side of softball. These types of players make coaches better as it is much easier to develop a passion for coaching with these types of players.
On the flip side, there are also players that are Coach Killers. These kids sometimes have more fun with the drama side of softball than playing the game itself! They will find things that the coach might be doing wrong and try to emphasize it. What’s more dangerous is they will sometimes rally other “Bitchin Buddies” against a coach. Somehow this makes them feel good. If you ask these players about their last 10 coaches they might like one coach but the rest of the coaches were all terrible.
Like umpiring, most coaches don’t start out being perfect, or even very good for that matter. If you have a young coach try to communicate with them a lot. Tell them what they are doing that you like! In general if you hit anyone with 3-4 positive comments and 1-2 suggestions for improvements they are much more apt to listen. Even veteran coaches want feedback but this is a little more tricky.
In High School and Club Softball there are a lot of great coaches out there but no perfect coaches. We all have flaws and areas where we can improve. Teach your kids to find the best in each coach and take pride in every season that your kid has a positive relationship with the coach.
This article could also be written from the opposite point of view as there are also some coaches that are “player builders and “player killers.”