I have watched over some years teams lose players early season due to other parents dynamics or to playing time or etc.
Never seems the new kid who comes in late gets a fair shake : which maybe goes back to why the team started picking up players again after the season started ??
What are the caveats or the 'dangers ' if you will of joining an team mid season and what could be checked out in advance : what should a family know ?
How many players are you joining would be the first question I would want to know.
If you are joining a team that has 12 players, they need the help. Especially once you get to 14U and older and the season is condensed into 2-1/2 months.
If you are joining a team that has 18-20 players already, then that means the coaching staff is unhappy with about 7 or 8 of them. That will mean those players and parents are disgruntled anyway. Coming into that situation will almost guarantee being snubbed and not accepted. In some cases it could even be hostile. It is even worse if you are coming in to be a position player. A PO may be more accepted because there are circumstances where a team needs more pitching depth. Especially with big tournamemnts.
How many players are you joining would be the first question I would want to know.
If you are joining a team that has 12 players, they need the help. Especially once you get to 14U and older and the season is condensed into 2-1/2 months.
If you are joining a team that has 18-20 players already, then that means the coaching staff is unhappy with about 7 or 8 of them. That will mean those players and parents are disgruntled anyway. Coming into that situation will almost guarantee being snubbed and not accepted. In some cases it could even be hostile. It is even worse if you are coming in to be a position player. A PO may be more accepted because there are circumstances where a team needs more pitching depth. Especially with big tournamemnts.
Hmmmmmm why then would a team have only 12 to start?
Keep ma's and pa's happy already ?
Agreed its tough coming in late especially on a team where designed to have too many or too little ; I would avoid it
Questions to ask , well the first for us would be not for the standing coach but for standing parents and previous years parents if that applys
Those questions are
How do the parents behave about their kids and hence how do they treat the coaches + other parents and their kids . This is usually why people leave a team .
Why do you want more players, and that is to say if you started the season with too many or not enough players why was that are you back to parent problems again
And ,ask around your park or association ; people will know about teams and there parents . News travels fast so if its there youll learn the truth
Dan, Maybe it is that the 12 are good enough to play every day. Maybe the schedule is too compact for those 12 to play positions and get enough rest to also pitch. Having a few additional pitchers could be needed.
I think there is a mis-conception about parents being able to be happy with the playing time and development their kids get. At $2k a season, parents should be able to feel their kid are getting the opportunity to develop. If a team can win 75% of their games with that # of players then then they were probably right. It has gotten too easy for teams to pick up 20 players and not develop 7 or 8 of them.
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Posted - 05/27/2011 : 07:50:06
