Never coached but my boy started travel ball in '08 (
actually, he played up on an 8U team as a 7 year old in '07, then was one of the older kids on his 8U team when a new coach took over the next year and moving forward) and is near the end as well; he just has his internship left but still has eligibility thanks to covid wrecking the last two seasons, so he's taking a class so that he can play one last time. I know I should just try to enjoy this last season, but the finality of it is also making me more emotional about it, and it won't even start for a couple more weeks.
I honestly believe I grew from the travel ball experience as much as my son did. He was lucky to have had a travel ball coach in those early developmental years who was focused on building skills and memories over worrying about winning, and my wife and I were lucky to have been with a group of parents who bought into that approach for so long, it really helped us collectively survive a lot of drama off the field as well as on it, and they were the embodiment of the slogan 'it takes a village to raise a child'.
Though I've only participated as a parent, I'd like to say that I know enough to have some weight behind my words in this matter, and encourage you to be ready to step in and coach your grandkids if you sense the situation they're going into isn't about building memories and skills, and in that order.
Coaching baseball has been one of the most fulfilling things I have done in my life outside of raising my son.
You are so correct about it needs to be about the development over the winning. But you are always going to have those bonehead programs that will win at any cost.
I had good teams. Never stacked, and we earned everything. But that is what made it so great for the kids and parents. Winning games and tourneys we were not supposed to because everyone bought into the goals and the culture. It got to a point I unfortunately had to turn away players because we were full and rarely lost any players from 11U thru 14U.
Once we got to 15U and 16U it changed a bit. The tone was a bit more serious and I had to take on a different animal of some parents having very unrealistic expectations of their kid’s college ball aspirations. Seems like a lot of parents think their kid is D1 material......ummmmm.
My first parent meeting for our first summer of high school showcase ball went something like this and we had 50% turnover from 14U to 15U. After our grand finale in regular travel ball at 14U in Myrtle Beach half the team went with my assistant coach who is a head coach at a high school those kids would attend. And that was a natural thing. He is a great coach too and I wished those players well. I kept 6 who were going to my sons high school and played for me on our Middle School Club team. I had relationships with several coaches on that staff and had fed them players for two years prior that I coached at Middle School which was right next door to the high school.
With all that being said......I was very clear about expectations with summer ball. And the first thing I told my parents before we started the summer (2019).
7% of all high school ballplayers move on to the collegiate level......let me say that again. 7%. What does that mean?
500,000 high school players.....about 35K move on. And that number is between D1,D2,D3, NAIA and JUCO.
That’s it.
So really understand.....it is not easy. And how many of those do you think are D1 material? How many get any scholarship money? You get the picture.
So when I started hearing we need to be in the biggest and best tourney’s...blah blah blah blah....I said look. No one is coming to see your son play....unless you make the connections and relationships. I had no D1 bluechip prospects on my squad. I simply did not. I have some D2 level (my son is a D2 D3 or NAIA prospect 100%) some D3’s but no STUDS. And I made it clear to my parents the goal of the summer is to first of all have a lot of fun and play loose. High School ball at my sons school is intense...really intense. Nothing like what they ever had experienced. I wanted the summer season to be about getting a lot of quality reps vs good competitive teams and playing in mostly tournaments we can compete and have a chance at some success.
The best way to be seen......videos, emails to coaches and going to specific college prospect camps for schools your son has a realistic shot at playing for if that is the right fit academically and location as well.
I had 80% buy in.....I cut the other 20% and replaced with players and parents who understood what our goals were for them.
Development above all else and having some fun playing ball in the summer where there is no pressure. Just go out and play and travel to some great locations and have a great time together as a team and the parents also having fun.
You are going to run into the The elite of elite teams sometimes.....there is our chance to potentially be seen. It happened to my son last summer. He had a fantastic game vs one of the 5 best 2023 teams in the country and got some traction with a few schools. So yeah....you want to play in at least one big tourney.
Not 5.
You don't want to go out there and get your clocks cleaned. That is not fun. LOL.
Anyway.....great times.
This is the second summer I am not coaching anymore and I have loved just sitting behind the fence. My time is done. Obviously I still work out with my own son and he enjoys that time we spend together to this day.
And ironically.....he is playing for my former assistant coach this summer on a National Team.....go figure that one LOL. He will have a blast.