I play softball four mornings a week at a local park with a large bunch of retirees beginning now and way into the fall. We have NEVER witnessed a group of kids at the park playing pick-up ball amongst themselves, they're all herded onto their respective little league teams.
We frequently talk about this phenomenon amongst ourselves. When we were kids, we left the house in the morning and headed to the nearest baseball diamond where we would play all day until we had to be home for supper......
There are players I couldn’t stand. But then again, it was usually because of their parents. I never benched players because I didn’t like them. Why destroy my team and the team’s morale.
If I didn’t like a player, I cut them. Why waste a roster spot? Biggest issue I had was a kid played high school hockey then wanted to play for me. My first question was, “if you had two games on the same day and had to choose, who would you play for?” Kid would come back and tell me his school coach asked him the same question. “And what did you say?” He said he would play for the school. CUT!
Parent would ask me why I cut their kid. I tell them because he would rather play for his school than for me. And by the way, it’s a good choice. I want the kid playing for his school.
Only time my players ever rode the bench was if they didn’t do what I asked of them or if they had too many penalties and the next penalty was a suspension. After that game, we went back to zero.
My own opinion, if a coach makes a player ride the bench because he doesn’t like the player, then that coach should be fired.
I agree entirely. The pick-up-games and even just kick-the-can in the neighborhood is all but lost. It’s sad. So is the number of people that are missing church and other family activities to travel all over the place. For what reason? I’m not sure.