I won't kid anyone. It's the height of Travel Ball season for girls' Fastpitch, and I'm busy as all get out, giving lessons, tracking my students' progress, going to league games, and watching tournaments. I have to say I'm really troubled by the range of coaching abilities I've been seeing, and the effects they have on the girls. Don't get me wrong -- I know full well that coaching can often be a thankless job (and sometimes worse, when helicopter parents are involved... as I wrote in an earlier column – see May 2007)... , and unlike baseball travel teams where the head coach is often paid, the coaching of Fastpitch travel teams is often an endeavor of love and passion for the sport. That's certainly something that needs to change – and soon – if the sport is to grow and attract top-level coaching talent to all levels and age groups.

Without a reasonable salary for coaching, there will continue to be a huge gulf separating the top teams from those hovering near the bottom. The truth of the matter is that without payment for Fastpitch coaching, the top coaches will continue to migrate to already successful programs with top-level talent, while the lesser-known teams will continue to attract volunteer-coaches who may not have the skills and/or experience necessary to either attract top talent to the teams or develop the players to the point where they can reach the next level. Case in point: I recently watched a doubleheader with a 16-U team that has three of my students on it. They lost the first game badly, to a well-coached, and very tight team. The girls on the opposing squad were obviously in better physical shape (suggesting that conditioning was part of this Travel Ball team's regimen) and everyone except the slappers were VERY comfortable with rotational hitting techniques. They had soft hands in the field and knew where to throw the ball ahead of time. They talked it up during the game and helped each other out, talking about bunt coverage, etc. The team with my students on it, conversely, looked a bit tired at times, were pretty quiet over all, made a ton of errors (mostly due to hard hands), and with a few exceptions (happily, my students among them), hacked at the ball – mostly using the linear hitting techniques we all learned when were very young, but which prove increasingly ineffective the higher up the ladder a girl goes.

What was the most telling point? In between the two games, the better-coached team lined up to take hard hit grounders behind third base, while the team with my students on it just threw the ball around to warm up their arms. This is a small thing, perhaps, but as any good player will tell you, those grounders get the blood pumping, demand accurate throws, and create support for your teammates in a structured and competitive way. It also allows coaches to see if there are any injuries she or he didn't notice before and to see who has the "hot" glove and the energy and range to help the team the most.

So what was the "real" difference? The coach of the better team was a professional. He coached the varsity of a local team, and knew his stuff. I doubt that he was getting paid for the summer team, but if not, he certainly should have been. The coach of the team with my students on it is a volunteer. She played ball at a Community College, and was undoubtedly a fine athlete herself. The problem is, she's a new coach... Hey – everyone has to start somewhere right? She's trying her heart out – I have no doubt about that – but she hasn't had the advantages I did –of starting out as an Assistant Coach first, then working my way up. I wouldn't trade positions with her right now for anything! Stuck between sometimes irate parents and her own developing coaching philosophy is a tough, tough place to be.

Would paying her have made her a better coach and helped my students to develop more and have a better shot at 18U tryouts in the fall? No...of course not. But if the coaches were ALL getting paid, the coaching level of ALL the teams would go up drastically, and there would be an infrastructure for young coaches to volunteer under more experienced mentor-coaches and learn the ropes – knowing that in a few years, they could have their own Travel Ball team and be a true professional – compensated in accordance with their skills and reputation.
This is not a new concept, folks! As I mentioned, it is common for Baseball Travel teams as young as 12U to have paid coaches – so why has it not evolved in the same way for girls? I think the answer may lie in MLB. Young boys have a HUGE dream to shoot for...being a Big Leaguer – so there's a sort of possible "return on investment." After all, who knows? Maybe Johnny will grow up to play for the Mariners, Dodgers, or D-Backs, right? While it's certainly true that there is more money in the MLB (and in men's sports in general), it is a tremendous disservice to the development of softball (and our daughters who play it) to not put the money necessary into nurturing girls' dreams of earning a college scholarship, playing in the World Cup (or hopefully the Olympics again), or playing professionally in the NPF, Japan, Holland, Italy, or any of the other great places a girl can get paid to play the sport she loves.
Believing in our young girls' dreams begins at the 12U and 14U levels and continues through 16U and beyond. We should be willing to put the same amount into paying for top-level coaching for a girls' team that we don't blink an eye at for boys' teams. After all, don't our daughters in softball deserve the same quality of coaching as the boys in baseball?

Until next time, let's think about dragging out those checkbooks, cuz ya get what ya pay for, and just like hard cash, there Ain't Nothin Soft About it!

If you have any questions, comments, or column suggestions for Tiffany, please feel free to e-mail her at gutallstop@hotmail.com