MotlowShortstop4

I really appreciate all the nice comments many of you have mentioned about my reply to this post. Although they were just words, it really means a lot to me as a person, a player, and especially the coach that I want to become. Also, many people have mentioned the question of summer ball or high school ball in this thread. Most of the people replying to this question have been looking through the eyes of a parent. If you were to look through the eyes of a player, you will see that the girls (up until they get to be upper high school) do not really look at summer ball with the question of which is better to get a scholarship from. They look at summer ball as an opportunity to "PLAY BALL!" Especially at the younger ages, that's all its about...playing ball!

I just wanted to reply to your post, maybe to add a different prospective on this questionable situation. Currently, I am making my way through college to which I will one day hopefully fulfill the requirement to become an elementary school teacher. Besides teaching, I also want to coach softball. The reasons for someone wanting to coach softball go far beyond the money or the time. Of course, teachers/coaches do not make a lot of money. Of course, coaches may be faced with many overwhelming obstacles (such as the lack of talent or the parents), but whose life doesn't have some chaos? Most good coaches do not coach for what they can get out of it, but they coach for what they can give to it. The coaches that only see the negative aspects of coaching are the ones that should either not be coaching because apparently they are coaching for the wrong reasons or they should look at the bright side of things. Even if one gets to the point to where he or she thinks that things couldn't possibly get any worse, (such as only having won 2 games all year, having every parent except for his/her "star" player on his/her case, and it seems like with every new day, he/she is faced with a new challengeS)...at least they are fortunate enough to have a profession which they love. Most "true" athletes envy their former teammate that went to school and became that teacher/coach that is always in the newspaper (whether good or bad), that gets to show up to work everyday knowing that they love what they do, and that whether they have money or not, they will always have THE GAME. Almost everyone wants to go to college and major in that outstanding career that makes tons and tons of money each year, but it takes a true "game-lover" to willing sit aside that "greed" for cash and become that coach who spends every ounce of his or her free time practicing that extra 15 minutes, going to clinics on the weekends trying to learn more about the game, and staying up all night worrying if he or she could have done a little bit more to improve the abilities of that one particular player, who loves the game almost as much as you do.

I just wanted to reply to your post, maybe to add a different prospective on this questionable situation. Currently, I am making my way through college to which I will one day hopefully fulfill the requirement to become an elementary school teacher. Besides teaching, I also want to coach softball. The reasons for someone wanting to coach softball go far beyond the money or the time. Of course, teachers/coaches do not make a lot of money. Of course, coaches may be faced with many overwhelming obstacles (such as the lack of talent or the parents), but whose life doesn't have some chaos? Most good coaches do not coach for what they can get out of it, but they coach for what they can give to it. The coaches that only see the negative aspects of coaching are the ones that should either not be coaching because apparently they are coaching for the wrong reasons or they should look at the bright side of things. Even if one gets to the point to where he or she thinks that things couldn't possibly get any worse, (such as only having won 2 games all year, having every parent except for his/her "star" player on his/her case, and it seems like with every new day, he/she is faced with a new challengeS)...at least they are fortunate enough to have a profession which they love. Most "true" athletes envy their former teammate that went to school and became that teacher/coach that is always in the newspaper (whether good or bad), that gets to show up to work everyday knowing that they love what they do, and that whether they have money or not, they will always have THE GAME. Almost everyone wants to go to college and major in that outstanding career that makes tons and tons of money each year, but it takes a true "game-lover" to willing sit aside that "greed" for cash and become that coach who spends every ounce of his or her free time practicing that extra 15 minutes, going to clinics on the weekends trying to learn more about the game, and staying up all night worrying if he or she could have done a little bit more to improve the abilities of that one particular player, who loves the game almost as much as you do.