Believe it or not, it's softball season

Although the weather might lead you to think otherwise, it is actually springtime and softball season is upon us. Once again, for the fourth year in a row, I am helping with the the South High softball program. (That's in Minneapolis for those who are alarmed at the simple directional name of the school.) I've been a B Squad coach and a go-where-needed assistant, but this year I am the coach of the JV team. It is a daunting task being at the helm of a team that needs more refinement than teaching. I'm really forced to become better at observing and correcting small things. This isn't teaching someone to throw from square one-- this is noticing the wrist snap being a little off resulting in the throws being a little off target. This isn't teaching someone how to swing a bat -- this is noticing that their back elbow is dropping and they're not getting their hands out quick enough. It requires a lot more attention to detail, which is a skill set that I'm going to have to work on.

Megan is once again the Varsity coach. It's great being able to spend time with her, however I feel bad that she bares the brunt of my overwhelmed-ness occasionally. Things have gotten better the last couple of practices, but I've been frustrated at how chaotic and disorganized things feel, which all began 9 months ago.

At the end of last year Megan had a second coach lined up that could either coach JV or B Squad. She knew that she'd have to hire a third coach to take care of the third team. She posted - for months - trying to find someone. People would inquire, then flake out. Originally I had planned on helping Megan with Varsity, in a sort of assistant coach/auntie-to-Lincoln role. Then we learned that Megan's second coach took a job that made it impossible to coach this year. Suddenly we had three teams and one coach.

Quickly we realized that we needed me to coach a team of my own and if we were going to have only two teams, they were going to be Varsity and JV. Not having a B Squad is a real detriment to the program so I volunteered to take on JV while Megan continued searching for a B Squad coach, knowing that while we wanted the third team, it might not work this year.

Tryouts started March 10. We still didn't have a B Squad coach. In fact, we only had two other people who were helping with tryouts. They couldn't coach the B Squad because they can only be there two or three days a week. Megan presented the situation to the Athletic Director who agreed that he wanted there to be a B Squad. He told her to conduct tryouts with the expectation of having three teams to place girls on. He even said he would coach it himself if no one could be found.

Of course, softball season was already upon us. People that can and want to coach already have positions, so after a few more days and a few more phone calls Megan told the AD that the B Squad was his. But the rest of tryouts and the first week of practice the AD was unavailable and Megan and I were trying to juggle 45 girls with two coaches and (usually) only one assistant. It was kind of a mess. Adding to the problem was chronic attendance issues with the players.

Megan and I have a similar attitude when it comes to the players - we want to have a competitive program, but we're not going to make it so hard-core that one absence here or there kicks you off the team. It's a constant balancing act and we don't always get it right, but I think we're fair most of the time. I'm not comfortable telling a student, "You can't play softball because your parents scheduled your family vacation during school." I'm comfortable having her make up the practice time, but not outright excluding her from the team.

Yes, we could run a tighter ship, but then instead of 45 girls playing, we'd have 18. And maybe some people think that's the way it should be. But Megan and I are both proponents of girls being involved in sports. That's why we want to have a B Squad. We want to win, we expect to win, but we want to give as many girls as possible the opportunity to participate in athletics and know what it's like to be part of a team. If we have to sacrifice a little bit of rigidity to achieve that, I'm okay with that.

Next week is Spring Break and we have optional practices every day. That following Monday we have our first scrimmage and 24 hours later our first game. It is going to be an interesting week. I don't have a lineup or positions figured out yet, save a few returning players from last year. It's going to be an interesting first couple of outings as I figure out what works and what doesn't. But I'm excited. The girls are too. And in about 10 days we're going to be outside, inhaling the smells of spring and listening to the ting of the bats echo across the parks. It's a little slice of heaven. And I can't wait.

Go Tigers!