Post by CEZAR on Jan 1, 2014 19:47:50 GMT -6
I asked Dave Betcher Director of PGF in Illinois and former President of the IL Homer Hawks and one of the best supporters of softball in IL I know to do a interview for us at ILSOFTBAL.COM,
let me tell you this guy is one of the best in the Business,
we are very Blessed to have him as a Admin for us at ILsoftball.com and does a lot of the behind work for our site and forums. thanks Dave for your time and commitment ,IM glad to have you as a big part of ILsoftball.com! He also runs some of the best tournaments in IL and the Midwest .
1) ILSOFTBALL.COM• Tell us about your background, grew up, school, etc. programs your story!
Dave Betcher- I grew up with my brother and parents in Hickory Hills. Loved sports from 9 years old on up. Except for basketball, I found I could coach a sport far better than play, so I took an early path to coaching, starting when I was 12 years old. Coached baseball, football and basketball for many years before starting a family of my own. When my oldest was born, Jenny, I knew at some point I would need to learn girls sports, and softball came naturally in 1996. My role models were and are my parents, with a close second being my brother, whom I enjoy spending so much time with on projects, just like we did when my dad was still alive. Building houses and collecting unusual antiques and vintage items are a passion we share along with my wife Lisa.
2) ILSOFTBALL.COM •What made you decide to go into coaching? What is your coaching philosophy? How important is winning?
Dave Betcher- When I was young, Billy Martin and Earl Weaver were contemporaries, and believe it or not, I thought it was fun to be demonstrative and argue with umpires. It wasn’t till I coached my daughters and son that I decided being a role model and respecting everyone was much more important. I coached when I was young because I could do it better than play some sports. I coached when my children were very young to be a part of their lives. I coached so many years after I had children playing because I love the game and the people I have met. My philosophy was to be prepared in practice, to develop practices which taught the skill sets in a fast paced and pressured environment – so that when we took the field for games, the players played and I just managed the roster. I loved being very aggressive on offense, and thrived on teaching the players to be aggressive and not to worry if any hustle play turned out wrong. As long as they played with aggression and hustle, I would take all responsibility for the outcome of our style of play.
3) ILSOFTBALL.COM •What type of student-athlete is most difficult for you to work with? How do you overcome this?
Dave Betcher- Non student athletes could not survive with me. Education and intelligence, team focus are mandatory to play for me. When I got to the stage of recruiting with my first class of ’04 student athletes, I learned that finding the right school for the education was more important than the athletic program. My motto remains, “College is a 40 year commitment, not 4 year”. I believe and preach that, and I am so happy to say that with maybe one or two exceptions, every player whom I helped guide with their academic selection went to the right school for the right reason and either did succeed or still are succeeding and creating a long term career path.
4) ILSOFTBALL.COM • what do you believe makes a great softball program, what criteria would you use to determine whether or not you have a good program?
Dave Betcher- When I took over the Homer Hawks in 1999 there were 3 teams. I thought I could grow the program and coach everyone. Well, obviously you cannot. I let the program grow too large, and could not support each team with the level of coaching and commitment I offered to the players I was coaching directly. One thing I loved was my off season boot camps, where several teams would send players to work out in my practices, and the older girls mentored the younger. That is what a program should do. Several still do that today, and it shows in their success in player retention and opportunities for college. I also loved my American Spirit idea in the early years, where I would have 5 or 6 other managers each bring a couple players and we would play a couple events each fall on the road. This built long lasting friendships, and gave us managers all an opportunity to work together and learn from each other. Those were the fun days.
5) ILSOFTBALL.COM •How important is planning to good coaching?
Dave Betcher- Planning goes without saying, and everyone plans for practice. I think one of my strengths was planning for games, so that I could find opportunities for every player on my team to succeed. You have to plan a weekend and a season, and understand where you can let the bottom of the roster have success and opportunities while still keeping the more advanced and talented players happy, motivated and growing. Too many coaches wait for a 20-1 score to change out line ups, I would start some games with not the regular line up and let the “other players” have an opportunity to succeed as well.
6) ILSOFTBALL.COM • who is your role model?
Dave Betcher-My parents and my brother.
7) ILSOFTBALL.COM •A parent complains about something that has happened in your program/playing time etc. How would you handle that? How do you deal with an upset parent?
Dave Betcher- That is based on the person. Not based on the talent of the player, but on the emotional level of the player. Coaches need to coach and manage, and that means leading and handling issues as they arise, in the best manner for the individual and the player. Let’s be honest, I took players at times because I liked them and knew up front they might struggle with the schedule and level of competition we were going to play. And most every time, the player knew it and handled themselves with class. Sometimes a parent could not recall the conversation we had before selecting their daughter, and they thought she should play far more than she had earned or could handle. In those cases, we parted ways after the season and things worked for all concerned. I felt bad for the couple of girls who stopped playing ball after our aggressive schedules wore them down, but then they went on to other endeavors and all have been outstanding collegiate students.
8) ILSOFTBALL.COM •What motivation techniques work best for you? What do you do with the athlete who is not motivated to achieve?
Dave Betcher- Motivation comes from within. Coaches who think yelling and threats are motivation are wrong, in my book. I wanted players who loved the game and were motivated by their desire to be the best they could be, not want mom and dad wanted. Some great players went on to lesser driven college programs and are wonderful college graduates with degrees and careers. Some over achieved and played in stronger college programs than you would have thought and succeeded. The motivation and desire was the same, it was always about the goal and dreams of the person, not the softball player.
9) ILSOFTBALL.COM •How do you promote your program to get student-athletes involved in softball?
Dave Betcher- I never wanted to say no to anyone, so to my fault at times I added a team that might have stretched the ability to shine in the win loss column to accommodate so many players. I was happy that over the years so many players wanted to play for me, never really went out and recruited. It was more like the team’s performance and our image on and off the field promoted the players to the program.
10) ILSOFTBALL.COM •Explain what you envision the off-season portion of your program will entail?
Dave Betcher-I was different than most. I love coaching and wanted to be playing and practicing as much as possible – but I never forced a player to play when they had other activities; so I would ask the younger players in the program if they wanted to play up with the players on my team, and it would give more players an opportunity to play as much as they liked.
11) ILSOFTBALL.COM •How would a student-athlete describe you a year or two after she has played for you?
Dave Betcher-I think that depends on the player. Many would say I was fun but demanding. I loved to offer opportunities to push our limits. A couple might say I was nuts for how much we played. I think all would say I respected them and worked as hard as I could with them and for them. I would hope every one of them would say I instilled pride and a work ethic in them. And to each that has said thank you to me after, I turn it quickly and thank them for letting me be a part of their lives.
13) ILSOFTBALL.COM • what role did your parents play in you coaching softball?
Dave Betcher-They supported my love of coaching as a child and taught me to respect others, which is how I coached and lead my teams.
14) ILSOFTBALL.COM • what do you think about women coaches in IL? who are some of your favs?
Dave Betcher- There are so many, and they know how much I respect them.
15) ILSOFTBALL.COM •how do you see PGF growing on the futures and national level?
Dave Betcher- This is a loaded question to me. My short answer, all the alphabets have a place. At each event, especially from 10-14 under, you can see the same teams regardless if it is PGF or USSSA. The teams make the tourney, provided the tourney director runs a quality event. I see PGF as an option, the portion of it I direct and am responsible for I try to create an atmosphere that I wanted to play in when I was coaching. You need to think of how you wanted to be treated. That is why I work hard on schedule convenience, on refunds for weather issues, on quality fenced fields, on 2 umpires, and on. I try to create matchups in exposure events that match the quality of teams for everyone’s benefit. If PGF leads and other groups continue to push themselves as well and make each weekend a better event, then everyone wins.
16) ILSOFTBALL.COM •what other teams in IL and the Midwest high school or travel do good job at competing and getting girls ready for the next level?
Dave Betcher- There are so many and I would not want to miss anyone. I do like the some of the programs who started in the last 10 years or so, and took their lumps but had a strong focus and solid leadership and now perform well at multiple levels of age groups. I also admire the couple programs where they only have a couple teams, but have a strong leader who is setting a course and putting their heart into all the girls. Everyone knows the power programs and what they do for recruiting, there are also less known programs who are developing young players at a very high quality level. I enjoy not coaching now and concentrating on seeing so many others developing their programs and players in such a positive manner.
I would like to thank the webmaster who has taken the road he has with ILSOFTBALL.COM. It has been my pleasure to give advice when asked, and to help him connect with some of my friends in softball. I hope more and more quality people step forward and contribute.
Happy New Year to all!!!!
let me tell you this guy is one of the best in the Business,
we are very Blessed to have him as a Admin for us at ILsoftball.com and does a lot of the behind work for our site and forums. thanks Dave for your time and commitment ,IM glad to have you as a big part of ILsoftball.com! He also runs some of the best tournaments in IL and the Midwest .
1) ILSOFTBALL.COM• Tell us about your background, grew up, school, etc. programs your story!
Dave Betcher- I grew up with my brother and parents in Hickory Hills. Loved sports from 9 years old on up. Except for basketball, I found I could coach a sport far better than play, so I took an early path to coaching, starting when I was 12 years old. Coached baseball, football and basketball for many years before starting a family of my own. When my oldest was born, Jenny, I knew at some point I would need to learn girls sports, and softball came naturally in 1996. My role models were and are my parents, with a close second being my brother, whom I enjoy spending so much time with on projects, just like we did when my dad was still alive. Building houses and collecting unusual antiques and vintage items are a passion we share along with my wife Lisa.
2) ILSOFTBALL.COM •What made you decide to go into coaching? What is your coaching philosophy? How important is winning?
Dave Betcher- When I was young, Billy Martin and Earl Weaver were contemporaries, and believe it or not, I thought it was fun to be demonstrative and argue with umpires. It wasn’t till I coached my daughters and son that I decided being a role model and respecting everyone was much more important. I coached when I was young because I could do it better than play some sports. I coached when my children were very young to be a part of their lives. I coached so many years after I had children playing because I love the game and the people I have met. My philosophy was to be prepared in practice, to develop practices which taught the skill sets in a fast paced and pressured environment – so that when we took the field for games, the players played and I just managed the roster. I loved being very aggressive on offense, and thrived on teaching the players to be aggressive and not to worry if any hustle play turned out wrong. As long as they played with aggression and hustle, I would take all responsibility for the outcome of our style of play.
3) ILSOFTBALL.COM •What type of student-athlete is most difficult for you to work with? How do you overcome this?
Dave Betcher- Non student athletes could not survive with me. Education and intelligence, team focus are mandatory to play for me. When I got to the stage of recruiting with my first class of ’04 student athletes, I learned that finding the right school for the education was more important than the athletic program. My motto remains, “College is a 40 year commitment, not 4 year”. I believe and preach that, and I am so happy to say that with maybe one or two exceptions, every player whom I helped guide with their academic selection went to the right school for the right reason and either did succeed or still are succeeding and creating a long term career path.
4) ILSOFTBALL.COM • what do you believe makes a great softball program, what criteria would you use to determine whether or not you have a good program?
Dave Betcher- When I took over the Homer Hawks in 1999 there were 3 teams. I thought I could grow the program and coach everyone. Well, obviously you cannot. I let the program grow too large, and could not support each team with the level of coaching and commitment I offered to the players I was coaching directly. One thing I loved was my off season boot camps, where several teams would send players to work out in my practices, and the older girls mentored the younger. That is what a program should do. Several still do that today, and it shows in their success in player retention and opportunities for college. I also loved my American Spirit idea in the early years, where I would have 5 or 6 other managers each bring a couple players and we would play a couple events each fall on the road. This built long lasting friendships, and gave us managers all an opportunity to work together and learn from each other. Those were the fun days.
5) ILSOFTBALL.COM •How important is planning to good coaching?
Dave Betcher- Planning goes without saying, and everyone plans for practice. I think one of my strengths was planning for games, so that I could find opportunities for every player on my team to succeed. You have to plan a weekend and a season, and understand where you can let the bottom of the roster have success and opportunities while still keeping the more advanced and talented players happy, motivated and growing. Too many coaches wait for a 20-1 score to change out line ups, I would start some games with not the regular line up and let the “other players” have an opportunity to succeed as well.
6) ILSOFTBALL.COM • who is your role model?
Dave Betcher-My parents and my brother.
7) ILSOFTBALL.COM •A parent complains about something that has happened in your program/playing time etc. How would you handle that? How do you deal with an upset parent?
Dave Betcher- That is based on the person. Not based on the talent of the player, but on the emotional level of the player. Coaches need to coach and manage, and that means leading and handling issues as they arise, in the best manner for the individual and the player. Let’s be honest, I took players at times because I liked them and knew up front they might struggle with the schedule and level of competition we were going to play. And most every time, the player knew it and handled themselves with class. Sometimes a parent could not recall the conversation we had before selecting their daughter, and they thought she should play far more than she had earned or could handle. In those cases, we parted ways after the season and things worked for all concerned. I felt bad for the couple of girls who stopped playing ball after our aggressive schedules wore them down, but then they went on to other endeavors and all have been outstanding collegiate students.
8) ILSOFTBALL.COM •What motivation techniques work best for you? What do you do with the athlete who is not motivated to achieve?
Dave Betcher- Motivation comes from within. Coaches who think yelling and threats are motivation are wrong, in my book. I wanted players who loved the game and were motivated by their desire to be the best they could be, not want mom and dad wanted. Some great players went on to lesser driven college programs and are wonderful college graduates with degrees and careers. Some over achieved and played in stronger college programs than you would have thought and succeeded. The motivation and desire was the same, it was always about the goal and dreams of the person, not the softball player.
9) ILSOFTBALL.COM •How do you promote your program to get student-athletes involved in softball?
Dave Betcher- I never wanted to say no to anyone, so to my fault at times I added a team that might have stretched the ability to shine in the win loss column to accommodate so many players. I was happy that over the years so many players wanted to play for me, never really went out and recruited. It was more like the team’s performance and our image on and off the field promoted the players to the program.
10) ILSOFTBALL.COM •Explain what you envision the off-season portion of your program will entail?
Dave Betcher-I was different than most. I love coaching and wanted to be playing and practicing as much as possible – but I never forced a player to play when they had other activities; so I would ask the younger players in the program if they wanted to play up with the players on my team, and it would give more players an opportunity to play as much as they liked.
11) ILSOFTBALL.COM •How would a student-athlete describe you a year or two after she has played for you?
Dave Betcher-I think that depends on the player. Many would say I was fun but demanding. I loved to offer opportunities to push our limits. A couple might say I was nuts for how much we played. I think all would say I respected them and worked as hard as I could with them and for them. I would hope every one of them would say I instilled pride and a work ethic in them. And to each that has said thank you to me after, I turn it quickly and thank them for letting me be a part of their lives.
13) ILSOFTBALL.COM • what role did your parents play in you coaching softball?
Dave Betcher-They supported my love of coaching as a child and taught me to respect others, which is how I coached and lead my teams.
14) ILSOFTBALL.COM • what do you think about women coaches in IL? who are some of your favs?
Dave Betcher- There are so many, and they know how much I respect them.
15) ILSOFTBALL.COM •how do you see PGF growing on the futures and national level?
Dave Betcher- This is a loaded question to me. My short answer, all the alphabets have a place. At each event, especially from 10-14 under, you can see the same teams regardless if it is PGF or USSSA. The teams make the tourney, provided the tourney director runs a quality event. I see PGF as an option, the portion of it I direct and am responsible for I try to create an atmosphere that I wanted to play in when I was coaching. You need to think of how you wanted to be treated. That is why I work hard on schedule convenience, on refunds for weather issues, on quality fenced fields, on 2 umpires, and on. I try to create matchups in exposure events that match the quality of teams for everyone’s benefit. If PGF leads and other groups continue to push themselves as well and make each weekend a better event, then everyone wins.
16) ILSOFTBALL.COM •what other teams in IL and the Midwest high school or travel do good job at competing and getting girls ready for the next level?
Dave Betcher- There are so many and I would not want to miss anyone. I do like the some of the programs who started in the last 10 years or so, and took their lumps but had a strong focus and solid leadership and now perform well at multiple levels of age groups. I also admire the couple programs where they only have a couple teams, but have a strong leader who is setting a course and putting their heart into all the girls. Everyone knows the power programs and what they do for recruiting, there are also less known programs who are developing young players at a very high quality level. I enjoy not coaching now and concentrating on seeing so many others developing their programs and players in such a positive manner.
I would like to thank the webmaster who has taken the road he has with ILSOFTBALL.COM. It has been my pleasure to give advice when asked, and to help him connect with some of my friends in softball. I hope more and more quality people step forward and contribute.
Happy New Year to all!!!!