Discuss Making Stats Known to Parents and Players

[HITCHCOCK5]

I'd love for lots of you to write in here your experience with coaches NOT wanting stats avail to parents/players.

If you're reading this, I know you love stats like I do, but my HS coach wants the stats only avail to the coaching staff. I'm dying to publish to a team website, but I promised the head coach that I'd keep the stats quiet.

Please, lots of you tell me your thoughts/experience with stats being known by all.

Cameron

[danmcc]

I have experienced both sides of this. On the positive, parents love the stats, everyone loves to see success stories with their kids. For some I have compiled the stats at seasons end when players may move on to other teams and they use them as a resume/portfolio.
On the other hand some parents use the stats as a weapon in discussion with the coach regarding batting position or playing position/time. Or worse I have seen some parents turn on other parents because their kids stats are not up to standard.
When the information is used as intended the decision to offer the website to parents is a no brainer. FWIW I am in the same situation to not release the website to public until the coach gives the ok.

[CSThunderCoach]

As a coach, I do not want to release the stats, as a whole, to all of the parents to see. Too much information for parents (IMO) to use against a coach in trying to get more playing time, etc. Because the fastpitch community is as small as it is here in Colorado, we try only to share our overall record on the iScore team websites. Even the box score is almost TMI to be sharing with other coaches.

As a compromise to releasing all of the stats to all of the parents, we will release individual batting and pitching stats to the individual parents. It is not the complete list of stats either. We give them AVG, OBP, SLG, SB, and the typical S, D, T, HR, BB. We keep the Ks, PA, and AB stats private for the coaches only.
This way, parents have something to satisfy their curiosity and gives them a way to track improvement for the season, without giving them any ammunition. If they choose to share their information with other parents, that is up to them. As with coaches, parents that only get their own kids' stats tend to keep that information to themselves, for some of the same reasons the coaches keep it private.

[plivengood]

I can see both sides of it, but the bottom line is that you should do as the coach asks. There is probably a good (and particular) reason for it.

[dgwyn]

I've been scoring for my son's team for about 4 years, going from paper, to a Palm Pilot app, to iScore. In every case, the coach would not allow me to share the stats outside of the coaching staff, as the parental abuse was already bad enough. Why give them more ammo?

[terrylowe]

Our coaches decided to not share the stats and we have that protected on the website.

[OhioTex]

I am a coach, and I absolutely believe in sharing the information.

[CSThunderCoach]

Have you ever had a situation where parents/players have used that information against you - for more playing time, different position, higher spot in the batting order...the list goes on.

[plivengood]

CSThunderCoach - I have, but just as OhioTex says, that hasn't stopped me from continuing to share stats.

In my coaching experience, there are some parents who will *always* see their son or daughter's abilities in unrealistic ways, through rose-colored glasses. Some of them will point to statistics (usually very selectively) to bolster their position, but usually the counterpoint is also to be found within statistical comparisons. I also think that more people's questions are anticipated and more or less answered by sharing statistics than there are people who will use statistics unfairly to harass a coach about playing time. And, when questions (fair or unfair) arise, I think the best policy is to answer them directly, firmly, and politely - and I believe that everyone having a common base of factual knowledge helps rather than hinders that conversation. I also think that this is more appropriate the older the players are.

On the other hand, I have also been in a position where my coaching role is that primarily of being a scorekeeper and hit/pitch charter, and I would absolutely follow the instructions of the head coach, to either allow, selectively allow, or not allow anyone but coaches, to have access to statistical information.

[PetroGuy]

I'm new around here, but I'll share my $0.02 if you guys don't mind.

I've never seen a problem with stats being known if the stats are kept appropriately and the coach is realistic about player abilities. I have seen problems when scoring is done without regard to errors or bad defensive play. Then parents will look at on-base percentage and not realize the difference between a good hitter and a weaker one. Good stats eliminates this for the most part.

We share stats on my son's team, but I also would pull them if the manager wanted it. We have had some questions with playing time in the past. However, my son's team is a very competitive team and the boys have to prove themselves over a long period of time before a change is made. The manager makes sure the parents understand that and it goes a long way to keeping the peace.