Happy Saint Patrick's Day Weplay! I hope you are all wearing some green today. Anyways, I just got back from Boston yesterday where I was shooting a commercial for Mizuno, which was so much fun. I wish I could have gotten back in time to see Casey pitch against the Yankees but I did enjoy the Clam Chowder & Crab Cake in Boston.

Well not only is it Saint Patrick's Day today it is also a Finches Favorite day! I am excited to announce my second Finches Favorite selection: the Dynamite Dawgs from Suwanee, GA!

The Dynamite Dawgs have had a awesome start to their season with three wins already under their belt - including a shut out against Mountain Park 9-0! I know this is just the beginning for the Dynamite Dawgs because they have a jam packed schedule ahead of them with many tournaments and scrimmages. One thing I was also very excited to see was that the Dynamite Dawgs have set up their GameChanger stats, which is one of the many cool new features here on Weplay.  GameChanger allows softball and baseball teams to update their stats instantly to Weplay for family and friends to view. 

Good Luck with the rest of your season Dynamite Dawgs, I know you will make it far!

Now, I'm sure many of you have been waiting for this moment. It's finally time to announce the very first pick for my All-Star team!  The first player that I'm drafting to my All-Star team is  for someone who I can tell is a hard worker and never gives up on a challenge. This player has overcome many obstacles and challenges in her life to get where she is today.  But even more importantly, she is committed to improving, by setting goals and working towards them. I am proud to announce that the first spot on my All-Star team goes to Nena Dudley, 14, a member of 14A Sherwood Fireballs 95' team in Sherwood, Oregon.  Thank you for sharing your softball journey and story with me.  I loved reading about how hard you worked and the strength of your dedication- even if you are on the smaller side. I know exactly what it feels like to be on the mound knowing that every play starts with you, and the pressure that you face. Congratulations on pitching a no hitter, I know that is not easily done! I hope to one day be watching you on the mound wearing a Team USA jersey! Keep up the hard work!  

Congratulations again to the Dynamite Dawgs and Nena Dudley!

Dream & Believe!
#27


Find out how your team can be selected as a Finch's Favorite or how you can be a Finch's All-Star.

Since it is the beginning of softball/baseball season and most teams have been selected, I thought it would be a good time to post some thoughts about how to handle coaching decisions that you simply do not understand or do not agree with.  I must tell you I am both a coach and a parent of athletes at all levels including high school, middle school and youth.  I hear the horror stories on all sides.  I hear the parents complaining about the coach.  I've been the subject of parent complaints.  I've heard the coaches complaining about the parents.  So, I hope to lend some insight into this issue, which I know is huge in today's sports crazy culture that we all live in.
 I'm sorry that this is a bit lengthy and I hope you'll take the time to read this.  I hope that we all learn something.  Your feedback is, of course, welcome.

I'm going to speak of this in terms of my recent experience in terms of softball, but much of this can be applied to just about any sport especially if cutting players is involved.   To put this in proper perspective, I must share some back ground information.   I coach 2 softball teams, a 16U travel team in the fall/summer and a 14U middle school team in the spring.  I have coached my daughter and many of her current teammates on her current high school team.  I have cut players, something I do not like to do, and I have seen my daughter cut and be placed in her current situation which is the subject of this article.  Yes, my daughter has been cut even though I am the coach and have coached many of her teammates.  I have tried to always be objective when it comes to the treatment of my daughter when I coached her.  Unless you have lived it, you can only imagine how hard that is, but I try to do my best.  I hope that I have always been fair.  

Last season, I coached the middle school team on which my daughter was a player.  As an eigth grader, she was, probably one of the 3 or 4 best players on the team.  She, along with several of her teammates moved up to the high school level this season.  So, needless to say, I know her game vs. the game of her teammates pretty well.  In our small town, tryouts are mainly to decide who goes to the JV and who goes to the varsity.  There are only 1 or 2 cuts per season.  This year there were several spots available on the varsity and it was obvious that several of the underclassmen were going to be put on the varsity team.  This was my daughters' written down goal.   My daughter is a serious player who works 6-7 days per week and plays year around.  Her goal is to play in college.   She is, without a doubt, the most dedicated player around here right now.  

As the week-long tryouts progressed, the coaches gave her much encouragement telling her how well she was doing.  She would come home every day and inform me of how practice went.  I think she is honest and she truly believed that she was one of the better players in the gym.  However, when it came time to decide who was on the varsity, she was left off the team in favor of at least 3 players that she was CLEARLY better than (remember, I was their coach).  The coach did give her an explanation:  "I really like your attitude, I really like how hard you work, and you have the best mechanics on the team, but  you try too hard.  So, we're putting you on the JV."   WHAT?  WHY? How does this happen?   Effectively he said to her that you are being penalized for working to hard, having a good attitude and being one of the better players!!!  There were some other very questionable decisions about who was placed on this team and for what reasons.  Needless to say that these decisions were not the best for the current team, but they have the potential to damage the team in the future as well!!

Needless to say my daughter was devastated.  My wife and I were dismayed.  I'M COACHING HIS FUTURE PLAYERS!!!  Although that's not the reason I coach, you'd think that would count for something right!!!   All the work, time and money invested into her dreams and goals was just seemingly washed away.  If the coach had told her, "we're putting you on the JV because you'll play more" we would have understood.  If the coach had kept the right players on the JV and put a competitive team together, we would have understood.  Neither was the case.  So, we went through the range of emotions.  First, just quit and we'll just play summer ball.  Second, coach/dad is going to give this guy a talking to.  Third, call someone, AD, parents, other coaches I know and complain.  Fortunately, we took a step back before we did anything.  

I consulted a few people that I know and found out that this is quite common.  My daughter is our first child at the high school level.  I've heard of this type of thing, but was thinking "sure, these people probably just think that their kids are better than they are."  I'm sure you're probably thinking the same thing about me.  I'm not.  On the teams that I coach, I have a strict policy that parents must wait 24 hours after a game or event before speaking to me about playing time, etc.  So, what kind of a hypocrite would I be if I did anything else?  After 48 hours however, I really didn't feel any different.  I can't explain it.  I'm sure I was a little angry, but, mostly, I think I was more  puzzled than anything.  "What is this guy thinking?"  But, after consultation, comtemplation, and a lot of prayer, I was able to think things through clearly.  What good would that do?  What, as a coach, would I look like chewing another coach out?  How many times have I had conversations with parents that were unpIeasant? 

So, I spent a lot of time talking to my daughter and after a couple days hers and my better attitudes prevailed.  We decided that this would be a great life lesson for her.  I believe the same thing happened to Michael Jordan and things turned out all right for him, professionally, at least.  Life doesn't always go the way we'd like. I've encouraged her to keep her attitude positive, keep working hard, and to keep her mouth shut.  I'm doing the same.  We've decided not to say anything to the coach at all, at least, until I can find a way to build a relationship with him so that a diplomatic conversation can take place.  My daughter's goal is to do so well, that she gets called up to the varsity at some point this season and the coach apologizes to her.  Who knows, maybe this will turn out to be the best thing that ever  happened to her.

Unfortunately, I have to cut a few girls from the 14U team that I'm coaching.  Maybe some of them and their parents will stumble across this.  I'm sure that I'll have more understanding as to their feelings now.  I've told my daughter that we can be an example of how to handle adverse situations gracefully.  I hope that some will take the time to read this, because I certainly look forward to reading your comments.   I'm certainly finding this to be good therapy.