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He liked to play catcher his dad said at least before out first game. After the 2nd inning of the first game the umpire came to me and said you have to take him out he is crying.. I guess he took one off the shoulder not sure or is just scared.
yeah think have 10 out there and 2 running along with younger siblings and show them where they should be backing up and each hit and also if they need to take the runner or notYep. I've seen it in LL with 12 yr olds. They've just never been taught.
I think swirves kids are 7-8 yr olds. Imo, some of them will get it quickly, some won't. Reps and more reps in practice are the only thing that ever worked for me. When we didn't have live baserunners I'd just holler "1st and 3rd , one out" before hitting a grounder somewhere
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There is a kid on my nephew's 13U team who has emotional issues and cries a lot, even if it's something trivial (like if a batter beat out his throw to first). There are three coaches on the team, and they all have a different approach to the kid. The head coach tends to yell at him and tells him to stop crying (that just makes him cry more); one assistant coach is constantly telling him "It's alright, everything's gonna be okay!" (which stops the crying but probably doesn't help in the long term) while the other assistant coach just tells him how to approach the same situation in the future. That method doesn't stop the crying, but if the kid actually listens to the coach's advice (and it works), then the kid is about as happy/enthusiastic/full of pride as you'll ever see on a baseball field.
First off, it sounds like the dad is more upset with the batting order than the kid is.
I'm not so sure. He was like I came home was happy about our first won and thought the tournament went well, but they his kid was upset cause RF and 12th.
Sounds like you need to tell the dad to man up and have a talk with his son. This is a good teaching opportunity that regardless of what your contribution is the team comes first sort of thing. GL!
One of the downsides of having your worst batters at 10/11/12 is that your leadoff hitter often comes up with 2 outs. Or he'll get on base but there's a slow/dumb/unskilled kid ahead of him which pretty much guarantees that he won't steal a base or score a run.
This was an issue when my son was that age. Half the team his first year of 8U were 6-7 years old and for their age, they were solid, but the coach definitely favored the 8 year olds, and there were 1 or 2 that weren't as good as most of the 7 year olds but just had that year on them. The kids were more upset about fielding and batting order than they were about winning and losing. My son was ready to quit because the coach would only play him in either left or right field, where he got no action. Even then, he had a pretty good glove and would have been happy to play 1st even for just a couple of innings here and there, and probably would have done well enough, but whatever. This is where I want to call you back to remembering that this age isn't about winning and losing games. Let them play themselves in and out of positions fielding and hitting, and when parents complain, (I did once the following season, but it was pointed out to me pretty quickly that the coach's son spent more time on the bench than any other kid), stick to your guns. You're moving in the right direction, just keep sight of your priorities for the team as a whole. Again, these early years should be for letting them get a shot at everything, even if they fail spectacularly.
at this level with no steals and being aggressive on the bases I dont think its as big of a concern.
If he is performing at the 12th why move him because he is crying? Do you think that is going to do him any favors in life?
definitely the plan in practice each kid is going to have 3 positions to learn. Problem was we really only had 1 and a half practices before this first tournament due to our all star game being so late. After going vs the fed team the first Friday I wasnt sure what to expect on Sunday since it was supposed to be rec teams, so I probably over compensated with the better kids playing defense for the double header sunday.
no.. but his dad is the one who helped set up the team, and is on the board for the rec league, and saved us a ton of money so have to tread lightly. Good thing is this is last yr I will be with the 8 yr olds and will keep the 7 yr olds together.
I don't envy you at all. Keep the stories up, for whatever reason i find this fascinating! Now if you could sprinkle in pictures of hot mom's, this thread would be even better!
If you're doing only/mostly tournaments, I can see it being tough to let them play themselves in and out of positions. Regardless, stick to your guns and get buy-in from the parents regarding sacrificing wins for development. I can't say that enough; if the parents are on board with your long-range goals, I think that makes the process easier to deal with and more fun for everyone.
Maybe you could nonchalantly ask "bad" kid's dad to play catch/roll him grounders at home. Alot.
he knows it.. in our talk yesterday when getting more equipment he said I know i need to work with him at home and play catch with him. Not sure what kind of athlete but he doesnt run slow or anything.
Don't forget throws from 2nd and SS to 3rd for the lead runner.
Don't lose sight of the fact that 99% of what is important at this age is making sure the kids learn to love the game and want to play again next year. The wins at 7/8 don't matter, learning to love the game and wanting to work at it to get better does carry from year to year.
Agreed. I just don't think this kids wants to play regardless. Grounders yesterday if any kid missed the ball they are sprinting after it and brining it back into play. He misses the ball and he walks, gets lost while walking, and finally gets ball only to make a half ### throw. Every single parent see this at practice. It feels like we are forcing him to like the game. If he was busting his ### during practice and just not very good you reward the kid all the time.
Pretty typical. Be sure to coordinate before hand. Actually get a different parent to do it. Does the park have concessions? Some families might pack there own lunch and coolers.
If you want to hit a "home run," make some arrangements ahead of time at a local sports bar and let them know you'll have a team coming. Let all the kids sit at a big table by themselves, and the parents next to them. At this age, team bonding is one of the highlights for the kids, and it gets them out of the sun for an hour. Logistics could be challenging since you only have two hours between games, but a little planning ahead here is going to be worth it.
Yes. We did it at just about every tournament. Coordinated it ahead of time and everyone family brought something
I do like that idea but I think it could be tight especially if the middle game ends early for some reason.
The two main advantages are 1) getting the kids out of the sun and 2) team bonding. While team bonding can be done at the field, the problem (and it depends on your location and climate) are when I see kids under 15 or so sit in the sun between games, they come our really flat. Around here I remember July tournaments being either rainy or 95 and humid. A little air conditioning works wonders. Even a McDonalds, or sit down Pizza Hut are better than the kids sitting at the park for two hours, eating in 15 minutes, then getting bored and goofing off for the next hour until you start warming up again.
I'll take it a step further - the wins at ANY age don't matter unless you are getting paid. Fortunately, the older they get the more competitive kids will continue to play while the less competitive/less gifted will drop out along the way - so when they do get to 13U/14U/High School/College you don't have to worry about the wins because talent/competitive nature have kicked in and it is a much more enjoyable product to watch. It still never ceases to amaze me though how many parents/daddy ball coaches think their 8U kid is ready to be the starting shortstop for the Yankees. Let the kids learn to love the game and if they are one of the .01% that makes it to the bigs good on them - just don't make your aspirations theirs...let them chart their own course.
I agree with you to an extent. However, as the kids do get older, I have seen kids quit certain sports all together when the team can't compete. Our area football program is pretty small. We play several other suburbs who have 3-4 times more kids coming out for football. Without exception, their teams have more kids, and the kids are bigger. When my 15 year old was in 3rd grade and started tackle, their team didn't win a game for two years straight. The numbers dropped like a rock. Now, it is football so in addition to losing they were getting physical beat up as well, and that doesn't happen in baseball, but the demoralization is just the same. Competitive kids need a chance to win occasionally (at least) to feed that competitive fire.
I like it an agree.. Definitely want these kids playing football and soccer in the fall or some other sport.
I totally agree with your friend. I played professional baseball for 7 years and I coach my sons club baseball team. Here in Arizona, I see more and more parents having their son play baseball year round and not play any other sports. I think it is very important to play other sports for many reasons. Healthier arms, kids won't get burnt out on baseball, and skill development with other sports. Kids that have natural ability will always trump kids that take lessons 24/7.
Why have competitive sports at all if it doesn't matter? Seems to me a whole bunch of college players would probably disagree pretty strongly with you. Do you believe in handing out participation trophies as well?
Yep - and people have this misconception (not that they are not tricked into this by snakes) that just because you play club you are going to be a PRO.
Ill disagree on this too. Winning a game for a 7 yr old is very exciting, its not the end of the world if they don't win, but they are always asking the score and who is winning. They know what is going on.
These two points are somewhat contradictory, I think. Maybe the reason why he was able to play 4 sports as a kid is because he had the right genes in the first place? Maybe other kids with lesser genes might need to focus on just one sport so that they can reach the same level as the gene-pool-lottery-winners?
I used to work in supplemental education and college admissions. One trend I noticed late with athletes is college coaches not only seeking multi-sport athletes, but being as interested in talking to the prospect's coaches in other sports as they were in talking to coaches in the sport they were recruiting. They were trying to find out if the kid was well-rounded, and if the kid responded well in an environment where they weren't the best player on the team. A lot of coaches had found the multi-sport kids had an easier time adjusting to college life and sports if they had been on a team where they weren't the best player, regardless of the sport.
I'm getting together with some neighborhood dads tonight. I'm going to suggest this activity to take place in the cul-de-sac after the second beer.
I don't think the points are contradictory with respect to each other or with respect to the point you are making about high school sports. That's the nuance I admitted was missing from our limited conversations on the topic.
As others have stated this is standard. We spend weekends now some with down time and some without any down time.
I would whole heartedly agree that if the end goal is just to get a kid able to play in high school, specialization is not worth it. What happens when they don't make it? They have dedicated their whole (brief to that point) life for a goal that is taken from them. Playing different sports, and participating in different activities opens their life up to more options, more people, and leads to wider interests. Sports end for everyone at some point, most of us sooner rather than later. You'll be doing kids a service by not encouraging them to put all of their eggs in one basket.
Complete misread on your part I am afraid. I played college ball and have developed more talent than most I imagine. If you think winning matters more than development then you are not set up for sustainability for a program or a player. Do you think a high school or college coach or a pro scout gives two ####s about how many wins Little Johnny's team had in his 8U season? Focus on making kids better younger and wins will follow.
First do you mind quoting me where i said development does not matter, I cant find it? Next, based on your statement, wins only matter to the 1% (percentage of athletes that get to play in college) of the 1% (percentage that actually get to go pro)? What about all those colleges that thrive off of those little things like National Championships, College world series titles or March Madness bids where the number of victories actually determine if you get to participate or not? You don't think any of those athletes care, or should care, about wins? I am not disputing that development is extremely important but to say that wins don't matter unless you are getting paid is ludicrous.
Philosophically, I don't dislike winning at the younger ages and yes winning is a good thing - but I see so many daddy ball teams that load up with raw talent - schedule inferior competition and put winning ahead of development. I guess I just prefer to do both - win and develop - but I'll be damned if I care about winning at the expense of development. So I was not really calling you out - moreso calling out those that seem to put a win-loss record ahead of teaching the game. I really do view 8U-12U as development, 13U-14U as preparatory and high school and beyond as "mattering". Then again most of the players I have had the chance to work with have a goal of at least college ball and very few kids are getting looked at before high school.
Winning is important and a key component to learning the game. I don't mean actually winning....i mean the process of learning how to win.......and more importantly - how to lose. When everyone is a "winner" the kids don't learn the hard work it takes to win. They also don't learn that sometimes someone is better than you and losing will happen. Learning these concepts is one of the most important things kids need to learn while growing up. It will help them in life almost more than anything else.
