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What started all this "Trouble"
The year was 1994, when a recreational softball team came into being. Formerly it had been known as the Zot Pinsetters after their old sponsor, Zot Bowling Equipment. But this was a new year and the old sponsor and the Head Coach was gone. Several of the players had stayed, about seven from the beginning team, and several more were added from the Arvada Girls Softball Association to bring the number of players up to fourteen.
As the new Head Coach, I was talked into taking over the rambunctious 11-year-olds, and a new team, The Arvada Angels began. The Angels saw limited success in their first year, but there was a bit of promise in that team. Though we never won the league, we did come in second. The next year brought few changes. Two new players came on, two old ones left. A new Assistant Coach was added and practice time was doubled, to 1 - 1/2 hours instead of 45 minutes. There was a drastic difference in the team.
All of a sudden, it seemed as if the girls understood, softball was meant to be fun. This brought about a renewed interest and the plucky 12-year-olds won second in the county tournament. As the year finished, the Angels were proud of their twelve wins, two ties, and two losses. It was a monumental year. Although they still finished second in the league, the team adopted a philosophy that softball had to be fun. It stuck with the team.
The following year, tragedy struck. Two of the teams pitchers, the ones they depended on, were too good to play with the team. Most of the team had turned thirteen by this time and could no longer play 12 and under ball. With desperation facing the troubled Angels, my oldest daughter approached me and said she would pitch for the team. She had been taking lessons and felt confident in her abilities. Her name is Rachel Tucker. I still felt they needed another pitcher for the team to be successful, so my long time Assistant, Mike Dalio, and I went to the Arvada Girls Softball Association Draft night looking for the right pitcher.
As Draft night progressed, there were only five girls left, for the 13 and under players. Three said they were pitchers. As the turns went around the table one of the pitchers was picked up. Of the two that were left, one was from this area, and the other girl had just moved here from Illinois. No one knew anything about this new pitcher. As the turn for the Angels approached, the Sliders, noting that the local girl was a friend of one of the their players, picked her up as their pitcher. That left the girl from Illinois for the Angles. I debated whether we should take her, but finally decided we had no other options. The pitchers name was Tara Hill. Tara and Rachel immediately formed a friendship that made them inseparable. It also made them stronger. As it worked out, Taras father was also willing to help coach, and had prior coaching experience.
As practices started, I noticed that the new pitcher was very good, and as a bonus, her father had a tremendous way with the girls. The year began as all of the others had begun, with victories in the beginning, and losses to the dreaded Lakewood team, who had taken first the last three years. However, this year, the Angels beat their nemeses, 15-8. It was a miracle. In fact, the Angels went on to be undefeated that year with a record of 14-0. They also took second place in the county tournament, losing in the last inning of the Championship game to the Lakewood team by one run.
Still, the year was a breakthrough. The girls felt that they could accomplish anything. Half way through the season, the parents started talking about taking the Angels to Level B Competitive ball. The only drawback was that none of the parents, except Ben and I, had ever been involved in competitive ball. I had coached with the YMCA in Nebraska for five years, and Ben had coached his oldest daughter in Georgia. No one had an idea what it would be like in Colorado to take your team to the B level.
After a lot of pressure, and encouragement, from the parents, we investigated what it would take to make the switch. After the last ballgame of the season, we made a presentation to the parents at our team dinner. Everything was laid out for the players and parents to make an informed decision. By unanimous vote, everyone decided to take the next big step. Moreover, what a step it would be. As the season finished and it was getting close to Labor Day, The Arvada Angels planned an organizational picnic. At the picnic, they discussed the different uniform choices, a new team name, and possibly parents for some of the volunteer jobs that needed to be done.
In regards to the uniforms, the girls spoke out and said they wanted something different than RED. Red had been the main color for all of the AGSA uniforms that they had worn for the past four years and they wanted something different. The girls chose blue, and to go with blue, some of the mothers suggested gray. The mothers were speaking out for the dirt that they were always trying to get out of the uniforms. Next was the name. Ben Hill had generated a list of 64 names for the team to choose from. Everything from the Aardvarks to the Zebras, including all the names of the current pro baseball teams. It came down to two names, the Blue Devils, or the Colorado Trouble? Some of the girls liked the Blue Devils, and some liked the Colorado Trouble. The Blue Devil crowd liked that name because we were getting Blue uniforms. And they wanted to engender fear in their opponents. The Trouble group wanted that name because they could say, Here comes Trouble. It took only about five minutes, for one parent to speak out against the team being called Devils, and Colorado Trouble won out. When it was over, all the girls began chanting We are Trouble and here we come. That was some picnic.
The next big hurdle for the Colorado Trouble was to find out how to actually pull off changing to a B team. The first place we went to was the Arvada Girls Softball Association. There were several teams in the Association that were already playing B ball, and we figured we could ask them for help. Now you have to realize that some of these same B teams had been scouting and recruiting our girls to play on their teams. So when Ben Hill stood up in the AGSA meeting and asked for help, he did not get a resounding shout from these teams offering their services. In fact, one Coach spoke against us by announcing our team was not good enough to play B ball. Even with little support, Ben persisted in asking for help from the AGSA Coachs. At the end of the meeting, a man by the name of George Coates came up and offered his help in anything that we needed. Thank God for George.
As the year progressed, George was very helpful in directing us to the Amateur Softball Association, ASA. From there we learned how to register our team and sign up for tournaments. Now keep in mind that we had coached softball before, but each state and association is different. I had worked with USSSA in Nebraska, and Ben with NSA in Georgia. Many things were done differently in Colorado and the Trouble needed help getting started. We went to George a lot; asking questions and getting advise on how things should be done. We thought we were doing a good job, until we missed the sign up deadline for the State tournament for that year. We found ourselves watching it from the stands.
We faced many challenges that first year. When the parents had to start paying the bills for uniforms, tournaments and practice facilities, several of the them who had been supportive in July, began to back away from the idea of playing B ball in the fall. After we laid out our plans, which included a grueling schedule of seven tournaments, several of the parents requested a meeting. So, we called all the parents together, for our first official parents only meeting. Consequently, when they found out that it would cost $600, per player, to cover our cost, we lost 6 players. We were devastated, yet determined, so we started advertising and posting notices for new players everywhere. For our first tournament, we only had eleven players.
That first year made me question if we had made the right decision. Nevertheless, we saw a lot of success that year. Though we only won 10 games, the girls, parents and other teams that we played, said they enjoyed the season and wanted us back the next year. The next year we won 32 games in an 8-tournament season. We had more girls to choose from and picked up some very good players. The team was starting to take on a personality. We had a reputation for making softball fun. Although we never finished higher than fourth in a tournament, Ben and I felt we had a good nucleus to begin thinking a little farther down the road.
Our next big decision was to expand. We felt we needed to develop players at a younger age. The team we began with was now moving up to 16 and under. We wanted to see if we could build a second team to keep players coming for the next few years. We discussed this idea with one of our parents, who had been with us since the beginning. He had a 16-year-old daughter that had played with the Sliders, and their team was breaking up. He wanted her to play on our 16 and under team, and he had a younger daughter that wanted to play. We thought we had found the perfect solution to our problem. We asked Mike to coach our new 14 and under team and Ben and I would coach the 16 and under team. It just so happened some parents, with girls playing 18 and under approached us, looking for a team for their girls to play with. There were only about five of them at the time. Ben and I knew that some of the girls on our 16 and under team would also needed a place to go when they got older. So, with Mike agreeing to coach the 14 and under team and Ben solid with the 16 and under, I decided that to take a crack at coaching the 18 and under team.
Boy was I crazy. We had no pitching and no catching. We found many infield and outfield players, but still no pitchers. We picked up a player who had a sister that pitched 3rd string in high school and suggested we look at her. We looked at her, and while she was not bad, she wasnt dominating, so we continued our search. Finally, I went to an AGSA meeting, and discovered a former player who was looking for an assistant coach position, with either a recreation or competitive team. As I was getting ready to leave, George Coates informed me that the former player was a pitcher and that she was eligible to play one more year. George called her over and introduced me to Melissa Smith. We talked for a while and found out that Melissa didnt know that she was still eligible to play and was excited to try out for my team.
When Melissa came for tryouts, her father came with her. Of course, he and I began to talk, and I discovered he felt the same way about softball that I did. When I spoke to Melissa at the end of the tryout, I told her that I was very impressed. She was faster than anyone we had, and could drop the ball exactly where she needed to. I told her I would see her next week and to bring her dad. That next week, when Rod and I talked an instant friendship was formed. When I said goodbye to Melissa that day, I told her she needed to talk her dad into helping coach the team. That is how the Colorado Trouble snagged Rod Smith.
Of course, the year could not go that smooth. The day before we were to have a parents meeting, Mike called and told me he was going to coach with another team, leaving our 14 and under team without a coach. I was crushed. We already had twelve girls signed up and waiting to practice. Ben and I met with the parents to let them know we would be looking for a new Head Coach, and to please stick with the Trouble. It was a tough time. We lost three of the girls before we found our new coach.
While at the ASA Coaches meeting, for the next years tournaments, Ben and I were discussing how we were going to find a coach this late in the season. Ben told me that he heard Dave Weaver was not going to have a team, because several of his players from the previous year had moved on to other teams. I doubted that Dave Weaver would want to coach our team but Ben was determined to ask him. When we broke for lunch, he approached Dave. You could have pushed me over with a feather when Dave told Ben that he would consider it. He asked some questions and then called us two days later with even more questions. Finally, two days later he accepted our offer to be the Head Coach for the 14 and under Colorado Trouble. Well Ill be.
That was a turnaround year for us. The 14 and under team, under Daves guidance, won two tournaments right off the bat. The 16 and under team went undefeated in league and won three tournaments. Our 18 and under team, though not as lucky, did go to Nationals, making them the first Trouble team to go. They came home with a sixth-place trophy. Our 16 and under team went to the AFA Nationals and came home sporting a Fourth Place win. We were really starting to see some progress. The worst part of that year was that Ben Hill and his daughter, Tara Hill, were leaving us. Ben had been transferred and was moving to Florida. I was thunderstruck. Ben had been right there, all these years, to help with the team and organization. What was I going to do?
Rod and I had coached together for a year, though not always successful in wins, was very successful in having fun. I dont know what made me think this man would want to step in and help me run this growing enterprise. But when I asked, he said yes. To this day I dont think he nor I knew what he was getting into.
That next year the organization grew to four teams, one 12 & under, one 14 & under, one 16 & under, and one 18 & under. I took over coaching for the 16 & under team and Rod helped with Melissas 12 & under team. We had quite a time between coaching and managing the other teams.
This is when we started calling ourselves an organization. I dont know that we ever thought it would be much bigger than it was then. We saw some success, and some failures, but we kept trying. The next year we grew to six teams. The following year we grew to seven teams. In 2002 we filed for our own 501(c) 3 status, added a Secretary-Fund Raising Coordinator, Treasurer, and an Equipment Manger to our group. Every member of our organization is dedicated to providing quality sports, and fun, for our youth. They are unpaid volunteers that spend many hours of their own time to ensure the success of our organization. Now here we are in our ninth year with twelve teams and two sponsored tournaments of our own, the Round Robin and the Troublemaker.
Where did it all come from?
From trying to make softball fun.
Rick Tucker,
Colorado Trouble Softball
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