How do I give my softball players equal playing time?
Question:I am coaching d league softball. age group K-2. I have 15 girls on the team what is the best way to evenly distribute their playing time?
Answers:
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This is what I do...we have universal batting, so everyone bats even if they aren't on defense. I never let any kid sit out more than one inning at a time (I think it's even a league rule for us). You'll get good at it. At that age, they get bored and lose interest if they aren't part of the experience.Key to this is to keep parents out of the dugout and encourage bench sitters to cheer and watch the game. You can quiz them every now and again--how many outs are there? what's the score? where's the play? have them tell you.
As for exactly how...have in mind positions they can play. Say you have 5 extra girls on the bench--two outfielders, a second baseperson, a shortstop, and a third baseperson. You can just keep swapping them each inning in the same positions. They "buddy up" and then they keep track of it themselves. Or, you can do a mid-game swap and have some of the girls then "buddy up" with a different set of girls in different positions so that you share the game time more evenly. The first buddys then stay in the game. Any variation of this works...10 girls buddy for the first three innings. 10 different girls for the next 3 innings then the strongest team in the last inning.
You just mix it up from game to game so that you aren't always taking out the same kids. Everyone plays. Everyone learns. It takes a little forethought, but once you get the rhythm and the kids get it, it's easy. It's not super competitive softball and you just have to accept that. It seems chaotic, but it's really not. Everyone gets a chance to shine.
Hope that helps.
Good luck
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You don't have to do it all in one game. Make sure everybody plays at least some of every game. Then for those who are short of innings, make it up to them the next game, etc.Also, if a player did not make it to a game, don't make it up to them for that game. Thus, I believe that you will need to keep statistics to percent of games played - this should keep it fair.
Also, from my managing experience, some kids are not counters of innings and will care less. Watch out for the parents who count everything - they are the problem!
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Do you have a rule that puts all 15 players in the lineup?Does your league have a re-entry rule?
Use position shifting to balance out the substitutions. For example, the SS goes to 2B, 2B goes out and a new SS comes in and the 2B (if you have re-entry rule) goes in at 3B.
Even without the re-entry rule, you can do that and have lots of kids feeling involved.
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You just dont. You play the best 9. Plus girls cant play sports.Who had the ugliest uniforms in MLB history?
If the K2 your referring to is 6-9 year olds then just substitute them fairly and evenly. If your talking the older girls then you play the best players the most, and encourage the others to practice hard to earn more playing time.To the person that answered above me that said girls cannot play sports, I will invite him to drop by and watch a competitive girls fast pitch softball team like my daughters. They are 14 year olds, the average pitcher throws 55 MPH at only 40 ft and every girl on the team can throw a strike from mid center field to home plate. I would venture to say they are probably better ball players and athletes than he ever will be.They already proved it to the schools boys team.
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