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Collectively, A Thread To Celebrate Our Kids Athletic Accomplishments (1 Viewer)

One of my daughters just finished her first year playing volleyball(6th grade), her twin would have tried out, but broke her knee cap the day after softball ended

The impressive part : 125 girls tried out for 6th grade volleyball. My first thought was how many friggen girls are there in the 6th grade?

She made the team, and was a standout in her first year at playing

Into softball, as her twin is ready to get back at it
 
One of my daughters just finished her first year playing volleyball(6th grade), her twin would have tried out, but broke her knee cap the day after softball ended

The impressive part : 125 girls tried out for 6th grade volleyball. My first thought was how many friggen girls are there in the 6th grade?

She made the team, and was a standout in her first year at playing

Into softball, as her twin is ready to get back at it
VBall is HUGE for girls. It was either earlier here or another thread where we talked about the popularity of girls sports but Vball is up there already in popularity and I think still one of the sports having the biggest growth too.

Did she play any club or anything before? If not, that is super impressive to come in cold lke that and win a spot and play well.
 
I forgot to celebrate my daughter... her club volleyball team had a tournament last weekend. 3 games each on Sat and Sun. Ran the table at 6-0 and won the tourney. I think they only lost one set if I remember correctly which was against the best team at the end. She started their first set against the good team getting 5 points (she usually starts as their first server) and then ended it on a 4 point streak. The very last set, they were ahead by a few points and needed the sideout to win. The coach doesn't do a lot of substitutions, no where near as much as other teams do, but he pulled his own daughter and put mine in which showed me his faith in my daughter as it clearly was a "we need to kill them off before they get back to us" kind of move. My daughter has some good digs, some good kills and some good serves through the tourney with no huge mistakes. A good showing. Two more weekend tourneys and the season is over.
 
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My son has taken to flag football 10 times more than he did with basketball. He's still very raw but at least the desire is there.

He plays about 50% of the offensive snaps but they've been playing him most of the defensive snaps. Which is fine by me since I envision him as a linebacker (hopefully?)

We need to work on his burst for sure. He's pretty slow :oldunsure:

---

The daughter is killin' it at volleyball. She's worked incredibly hard and now has a great overhand serve, even at just 12 years old, playing with girls that are much older and more advanced.

She didn't make the middle school team, but she's just in 6th and no one from her class made the team.... just 7th and 8th graders. They really should have two teams; 6th and 7th/8th.

I hear that volleyball is a great sport for girls to get into leading into college.... lots of scholarships available. Going to run with it for now.
Don't mean to burst your bubble, but while there may be a lot of scholarships available for volleyball there are FAR more girls trying to get them. Around 1% of HS players go on to play D1, and not all of them get scholarships (max of 12 per team). My daughter has played in tournaments with ~1000 teams (~10,000 girls), and it was only 1 of 3 major tournaments going on around the country at the same time. It's insane.

It's far too early to worry about that now anyway but just wanted to point that out. I have a buddy whose daughter is one of the rare ones who reached the pinnacle of a full ride and he told me he'd be better off financially if she never picked up a volleyball after all the years of club, travel, camps, clinics, private training, etc. :lol: Like so much else, it's become huge business and everyone is chasing the dream thinking their kid is going to be the next superstar.

Huh, things must have changed dramatically since I last looked at the numbers and/or heard from others about the preponderance of volleyball scholarships. Ah well, even if it's a D-2 school or partial scholarship somewhere it'll be better than nothing. If it happens. She's 12. LOL
lol. when floppinha started playing tennis a couple years ago, we were told the same thing about tennis (didn't matter- was never her or our goal for playing). soooo many scholarships for women. but what we've learned is that only the best of the best are getting scholarships at d1 schools- girls who spend every waking minute playing, and who's parents spend every waking dollar to support it. some are getting D2 and 3 scholarhips or at least plus points on their applications, but it's a small percentage relative to those who play.

But they're still young and have time to learn/grow... you start to see in HS which kids elevate to those tracks.

for her part, floppinha recently told me her goal was to play HS tennis.
Well... yea.... I mean, I am confused on that statement. You thought any random girl could walk in and say "Hey, I play ______ sport, can I have a scholarship?" at a D1?
let me rephrase since you're confused. when we were told- like nirad- that there SOOOO many scholarships out there, that implied to me the track was easier. the reality- not that many scholarships, the track is only for the select few, not easy.
And track scholarships are usually small $$.
 
We (cal state san marcos) won the D2 SLC division today over UCSD 11-7 and received the #2 seed for nationals!!! first game will be against Minn-Duluth on Monday May 10th.

I mentioned my son hadn’t played lacrosse since graduating high school 3 years ago, welp he was voted all conference first team defense and since eligibility wise he’s considered a freshman he was voted to the all freshmen team as well.

:towelwave:

 
My sons soccer team played their toughest opponent so far. It is the team that they tied with last year in regular season and lost in the championship game to. They started off and it looked like they would be in for a tough one as the ball was on the wrong side of the field mostly and they scored first. They were very 'handsy' and the ref was letting the teams play a bit... but it noticeably was escalating until the ref finally started calling things more and even warned he would start to give some yellow cards out. Once that was reined in, our boys started to really dominate. Ended 4-1.

My son has mostly been in at goalie as after that first game when he asked to go in for it he showed a lot of promise there. He had one really nice save today where the ball was kicked from close range high with really nice touch on it that it would have dropped in but my son high pointed it perfectly and grabbed it. From what I have seen in the season... there was only one other goalie that I think could have saved that which is one of our other goalies who is also the tallest kid in the Catholic school league we are in. He has a couple of other saves that were nice, solid good saves but that one was extra nice. The one score made was against our other goalie- so he was perfect today. He also had one really nice boot of the ball. Longest kick I have seen all year.... too long. It went over everyone and ended up in the hands of the other teams goalie.
 
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Weekend went ok. There is now a 3 way tie for first in league all teams having 2 losses. We play one of those teams this week in a home in home. If we win out we will be at worst co-champ as the other team tied for first right now has 4 easy games left. They should win them all.

We played a lesser team and the coach held my son back from pitching so he can start the first game this week (tomorrow). He played 3B, 2B, and 1B as they had different people pitching so he filled in where needed. Made a couple decent plays at 3B and 1B. Didn't really have action at 2B while he was there. At the plate he went 4-8 in the double header. The pitching was really slow and he was way ahead and didn't really adjust enough. Lot's of swings off the end of the bat but he was lucky enough to hit em where they ain't. He had 3 infield singles (had to leg them out and while I wouldn't say he is fast he was fast enough). His other hit was also off the end of the bat as a soft line drive right over 2B into the OF.

Tomorrow will be huge (although it's supposed to start raining tonight so that may put a wrench in the works). We have to win to have a shot at the league title. Based on stats this seems to be the best team in the league (other than us). I don't know much about them other than the stats you can see on line. The split this last weekend against the team that is the 3rd in the 3-way tie. We should have beat the other team twice (gave up a 5 run lead in the last innign when our bullpen couldn't find the plate). If they are even to them we should have a good shot to sweep if we play our game. The problem is our hitting as really tailed off the last couple weeks but it is hard to tell if it is the weak pitching we faced and lack of competitive games or if we are in a slump. I guess we will find out tomorrow.
 
Flying out tomorrow to Orlando to see my daughter compete in the AllStar Worlds Cheer Championships. At what started off 4 years ago as a "let's get this phase out of her system" moment, has turned into her leading her cheer team and getting really good at throwing other humans in the air, and her second year competing in Florida to finish the season. Level 4 Junior team, moving up to Level 5 Senior team and coaching a younger team next year most likely. Cheer dominates our lives pretty much year round now, but I've become a pretty proud Cheer Dad.
 
3rd week in a row for horrible weather for rugby. Actually was sleeting some yesterday. It’s getting tough with my son. He’s getting angry about his teammates terrible play (thankfully venting afterwards to me and not being an *** to his teammates). Angry about not being selected “man of the match” by the kids on the other team. Really hoping this is a growing experience for him. Glad he’s passionate. Trying to drill into him he can only do his best. Support and help your teammates, be an example. Don’t worry what the kids think, just what feedback your coach is giving.

He did play well, especially the first game. He was spent by 2nd half of the 2nd game. He was soaked and freezing. Trying to hard to make something happen and lost control of his emotions. He was in tears at the end. Not looking forward to puberty. :D
 
I'm just going to vent. My daughter is a senior. Has started varsity for 3 years now. She started the year in a bit of a slump. She wasn't striking out but only hitting the ball hard here and there. We are a very good team and currently ranked #1 with 8 games to go for the playoffs in group 4. My daughter batted 280 as a sophomore and 355 as a junior. She was in a travel slump too. Anyway the coach DH for her after like the 4th game. And continues to do so. He doesn't dh for any other kids struggling. They get to bat in their spot all ****ing season. I wouldn't be too mad if the replacement was batting 500 and hammering the ball all over the place but the other 2 kids are literally batting like 250....even when we play crappy teams she doesn't get any ABs.... I'm about to just go ballistic. We win in spite of his coaching not because of it. So she gets her first abs in over a week and goes 2-3 with a K and walk. And today gets DH again. WTF.... So aggravated. Apparently being one of 4 seniors and the only one that doesn't bat doesn't mean **** nor does the prior 2 years...... You think your college bound player would get some slack ......so much rage....yes she plays the field every game but it's so aggravating. If this was college I wouldn't say a peep she will have to earn every little bit.
 
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Someone saying "there are a lot of scholarships for girls volleyball" isn't necessarily incorrect in a vacuum but it leaves out the very important context that there are way more girls playing volleyball than any other sport (other than track and field). Getting a scholarship to play in college is very tough, and volleyball may be the toughest of all simply due to the huge amount of competition for them (including international). There isn't a great way to get accurate data but it's estimated that less than 2% of HS players will get any scholarship money for volleyball.
If your kid wants to play in college there are many other routes than D1 and scholarships. There are also opportunities for scholarship at NAIA, lesser D1, and D2 schools. If playing is the most important thing then do your due diligence and you likely can find somewhere they can play.......this is assuming they are starting caliber players in high school and above average high school players in general.

I know for the baseball side of things if your kid just wants to play in college there are plenty of colleges looking for players especially if you are in California/Florida/Texas (year round baseball states) because those players have the chance to play a lot of games. Smaller schools in the midwest/east that have limited seasons due to weather often covet players from these areas because they just have more experience so if playing in college is the goal there are places to play. Scholarship money may not be available depending on the school which is why NAIA is a good opportunity. They have scholarship money to give and there is a wide range of playing level in that division.
Grades, grades, grades.

My son is playing D3 baseball as he leaves for college this August. D3 has no athletic scholarships. However they offer highly lucrative academic scholarships. Because my son excelled and took care of his business in the classroom he secured a 4 year academic scholarship covering 70% of his total costs.

And here are other great things about D3 sports. They will never take away your academic scholarship (if for some reason you get hurt or your playing days come to an abrupt end etc). Just keep up your grades (he needs to maintain a B average).

At D3 the opportunity to play is huge. My son was a coveted recruit for his program coming from a South Florida school and arguably one of the top 3 high school baseball programs in the country. It is very likely he will be playing early and often and they also have a true JV team so as a freshman he will be playing a lot waiting his turn while dressing with the Varsity team as well. He may even get some PT as a Freshman on the big team. Time will tell.

It’s a win win.

When it comes to baseball the best advice I can give anyone is:

1. Summer high school showcase baseball - Extremely important. This is where the actual recruiting takes place for most D2/D3/NAIA teams. 5 schools came out to watch my son last summer after he developed relationships via “email and video” over the past year (2022). It takes a ton of work and parents who are all in in supporting and helping their kid potentially become a student collegiate athlete. College coaches don’t have the ability to come to high school games as their own seasons are in full swing in the spring. Summer is where things happen. It’s where my son was “recruited” but getting them to specifically come watch your son/daughter is the “work” you and your son/daughter have got to put in. I talked about NCSA (I Paid 2K for lifetime memebership) and I am telling you if you leverage that tool you can have great success. It gives you access to every school at every level in the country. We sent out about 200 emails from the start of his Junior year. We were able to organize 20 reach schools, 20 match schools and 20 safe schools and then as the year went on we are able to eliminate schools, new schools who we never even thought of reached out after seeing his video and profile….it was a lot of coals in the fire and seed planting. I never used any other recruiting services or advisors who charge thousands more.....NCSA was perfect for us because we put in the work and leveraged all the resources they provided. They don’t guarantee success....but they do make it clear if your kid has the talent and grades and you use the tool and all the resources they provide you will get offers. And they were 100% correct.

We did camps for specific schools he was interested in as well. These are also very important to get in front of the coaches. Just be careful with some of these. We did school specific where it was only that school we went to. The combines with 10-12 coaches or those super camps.....waste of money.

He had some D1 interest (Xavier in particular was very interested) but we really were able to figure out D2/D3 or NAIA was the best opportunity for him to shine and he also wanted a “small” school where he can focus on his grades and have a balance. There is a huge difference going to a campus with 30K students vs 1000. Totally different feel. So finding the right fit is critical. It’s not just about “The jersey and hat”

Anyway getting on a tangent.

D1 scholarships are very difficult, the opportunity to play is extremely difficult unless you are truly the elite of the elite. So you gotta really assess what the talent level and physicality of your kid is.

My son absolutely has a D1 skill set/work ethic etc…..but he is 5’10’ 155 pound middle infielder. The odds of him getting any true opportunity at a D1? We did not like those odds. And two D1’s showed any interest and it was not like they were rolling out the red carpet. But the interest from D2/3/NAIA was great and we got it down to 10 schools and then 5 that were pushing hard and the “opportunity” to potentially play a significant role was great. Yes….he still has to go in and bust his *** and win a position….but we are confident in that with what he has went through in high school (another story for another time). He is mentally and physically ready to do that. He is a late bloomer and still growing is strength and stature. So a high ceiling type of player.

It’s exciting. The process is a grind. And seriously…..let your kids play and develop and don’t worry about college recruiting till they are about to enter their junior year…..you will spend (waste) money you won’t get back.

Yeah yeah but kids are committed earlier and earlier…..don’t fall into that trap. So much changes between Freshman and Senior year of high school. There will be tons of opportunities when they enter their junior year of high school.

1. Grades grades grades
2. Talent
3. Character and work ethic

In that order folks. Yes talent ultimately is going to be important (you gotta be really good…like top 5% good in the country to play college sports).

But they weed you out first and foremost by grades and then character and work ehtic.

To put it in perspective…..in baseball there are approximately 500K high school baseball players.

Around 30-35K move on to all levels of college baseball between D1/2/3/NAIA/JUCO

That’s it.

It’s a major commitment on your child as well as your family. A lot of time and resources are needed for 99% of high school players to get recruited.
 
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I'm just going to vent. My daughter is a senior. Has started varsity for 3 years now. She started the year in a bit of a slump. She wasn't striking out but only hitting the ball hard here and there. We are a very good team and currently ranked #1 with 8 games to go for the playoffs in group 4. My daughter batted 280 as a sophomore and 355 as a junior. She was in a travel slump too. Anyway the coach DH for her after like the 4th game. And continues to do so. He doesn't dh for any other kids struggling. They get to bat in their spot all ****ing season. I wouldn't be too mad if the replacement was batting 500 and hammering the ball all over the place but the other 2 kids are literally batting like 250....even when we play crappy teams she doesn't get any ABs.... I'm about to just go ballistic. We win in spite of his coaching not because of it. So she gets her first abs in over a week and goes 2-3 with a K and walk. And today gets DH again. WTF.... So aggravated. Apparently being one of 4 seniors and the only one that doesn't bat doesn't mean **** nor does the prior 2 years...... You think your college bound player would get some slack ......so much rage....yes she plays the field every game but it's so aggravating. If this was college I wouldn't say a peep she will have to earn every little bit.
High school ****ery…..I feel your pain. It will be over soon….on to better things in college.
 
Last reg season game of soccer. Another slaughter 6-0. Waiting to hear about playoffs.

My son started at goalie and stayed there through the substitutions (where basically they switched the whole field of players off and new on). The ball was on their side mostly and the other team never got a clean kick at him. They then moved him to defender? at the start of the second half (don't know the right term for it). He basically didn't let anything past him so they never got close to our goal. Another Dad said "He is playing goalie at midfield not letting anything past him." About mid way through the second half they moved him to.... offense.... striker? I dunno... he had a couple of half way decent kicks on goal and a good pass but nothing in. Since we were so in control pretty much their entire team was in front of the goal so it was a hard to get a good look. Then they pushed mid field, my son stole it and broke from the middle to the sideline, he had their entire team beat and would have had a nice look on the break..... and then the whistle blew. Game over. lol.

It will be really cool for him to win the soccer championship which they will be the favorites to do. That will be an undefeated football season, a championship basketball season and a championship soccer season in the same year for his school teams. Add in making regionals for swim last season and most likely will this season.... that is one heck of a year of sports for him.
My daughter almost made it a perfect year for us too with her second place in basketball losing a close championship game and then winning the championship in volleyball.
 
First game of the week didn't go as planned although it's still not over. It turns out we ended up with a Bull Durham rain delay to suspend the game.

My son started on the mound and pitched well but had some bad luck. He was good into the 4th inning without allowing a hit. Then he got two roll overs that were perfectly placed in the 5-6 hole followed by two more in the 3-4 hole for four hits. It ended up leading to three runs. Not one hard hit ball. Our bats were silent as we were only able to muster two total hits through six innings.

The seventh inning starts. I would have changed pitchers as it was 4-1 and it was the top of the lineup for their 4th time through the lineup. Unfortunately the coach left my son out there and he ended up giving up three straight hits and an error or two and it led to 3 more runs. They make a pitching change at 7-1 and then the sprinklers turn on. They are controlled by the district and we can't get ahold of anyone at the district to turn them off. The game gets suspended and will resume Friday before the next game at the same spot in the game. We get a bit of a reprieve and hope to turn it around tomorrow.

My son was happy with his "stuff" and thought it was one of the better games he pitched. Unfortunately the weak hit balls had eyes and they were able to string them together for some runs. Since we weren't hitting (only two hits) it wasn't our night Maybe the luck turns for tomorrow. He ended up with 7 K's, no walks and 6 ER (with the 7th inning explosion). Sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way. With how big of a game it was I was expecting him to be a little down on himself based on the outcome but he was really mature about the situation realizing he threw well as he wasn't hit hard and on another day those weak grounders are outs instead of singles. Sometimes it's just not your day. I liked his perspective as I don't know if I could have had that view at his age with those stakes to this game.

He also is pumped for Friday and thinks they can turn it around. Proud of his attitude in the face of this adversity.
 
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I'm just going to vent. My daughter is a senior. Has started varsity for 3 years now. She started the year in a bit of a slump. She wasn't striking out but only hitting the ball hard here and there. We are a very good team and currently ranked #1 with 8 games to go for the playoffs in group 4. My daughter batted 280 as a sophomore and 355 as a junior. She was in a travel slump too. Anyway the coach DH for her after like the 4th game. And continues to do so. He doesn't dh for any other kids struggling. They get to bat in their spot all ****ing season. I wouldn't be too mad if the replacement was batting 500 and hammering the ball all over the place but the other 2 kids are literally batting like 250....even when we play crappy teams she doesn't get any ABs.... I'm about to just go ballistic. We win in spite of his coaching not because of it. So she gets her first abs in over a week and goes 2-3 with a K and walk. And today gets DH again. WTF.... So aggravated. Apparently being one of 4 seniors and the only one that doesn't bat doesn't mean **** nor does the prior 2 years...... You think your college bound player would get some slack ......so much rage....yes she plays the field every game but it's so aggravating. If this was college I wouldn't say a peep she will have to earn every little bit.
So little belljr got her go, in the batting lineup for the first time in 9 days in a division game. Hasn't seen a live pitch in almost 10 days. Line out to 2nd, sac bunt.......

Top of the 7th, down 1-0, runner on second, 2OUTS... little belljr steps up.... please just hit it hard somewhere please please please, 2-0 count - hammers a linedrive into the OUTFIELD for a double to tie the game!@#!#! We go on to win 3-1 in extras...... felt so relieved and happy for her...... then she said she sucked sunday at hitting practice :lol:

Anyway a small glimmer of happiness in this mess of a last season
 
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then she said she sucked sunday at hitting practice :lol:
practice is a time to suck. Save it for the games...hahahahah

I know you know but it's hard to convey to kids that practice is just that. Working on fundamentals in practice isn't results oriented as far as solid contact every time etc. Depending on what you are working on sometimes the "results" during practice aren't the best but really you are gearing up for the game. It took my son a long time (and he sometimes still gets hung up on it) that hitting in the cage has a purpose and it's not necessarily crushing every time. Sometimes he would get so frustrated that the practice would be worthless. Turning that corner was a big maturity point realizing the purpose of various "drills" and not get hung up with practice results.
 
My son was sick on Saturday and didn't play. I'm not helping with my coaching...

Sand soccer practice was better. He was much more in his element, even though he's never played in the sand before. Should be interesting as the kids that can dribble won't really be able to do so on the sand. It's all about ball movement and shoot as much as possible.
 
My son played two U19 soccer games this weekend, I coached. I started him on defensive because our keeper play has been horrible, and he's our best player. It was 0-0 in the first half with five minutes to go, so I threw him up to striker. He scored almost immediately driving into the box going by three defenders. It was pretty. Second half I said what the heck, stay at striker and we will try from a cushion. He scored three more in fifteen minutes. Then I put him back on D lol. We won 4-1.
He played defense again in the other game. He stayed there the entire game, but still netted a hat trick off taking short corners. We won again, 4-3.

Proud dad weekend. Seven goal weekend in u19 11v11!
 
Exciting finish to the league season. We did end up losing the suspended game 7-1. However, we bounced back and beat them in the rematch 10-4. The game started out on a bad note giving up 2 unearned runs int he bottom of 2nd to start off down 2-0. Our 3B made a throwing error to cost us the two runs and brought to light a weakness that I was surprised the coaches went with. For the first time all season my son was in LF. He hasn't played OF since he was 10 or 11 and is a superior infielder defensively to everyone else they have. Unfortunately he is also probably better than some at OF so there is the dilemma. The team has struggled in LF all year so I am guessing the coach decided to go with the lesser of two evils and play my son in LF and have a weaker guy at 3B. It ended up costing the team as the 3B committed his 13th or 14th error on the year. As a coach, I would typically rather have a riskier player in LF than 3B as the issues typically are less glaring. Regardless here we are.

We were able to bounce back and score 4 in the top of the 3rd and never looked back. The win brought us to a tie for 2nd place, one game out of first. All we needed was the first place team to lose at least one of their three remaining games against teams they have no business to losing to. Unlikely. However, as we were walking to the car after the game we were getting updates and the 1st place team was tied late in the game. Hope was alive. Right as I was getting in the car, we got word that the upset happend. Therefore a three way tie for first. Co-Champs for the league. Pretty exciting. Now we wait for CIF playoffs. Games should happen on May 16th and the matchups announced at the end of next week.

Final Regular season stats:

  • Pitching: 8-2, 69 IP, 1.92 ERA, 64 K's, 13 walks, CG, 1 No hitter
  • Hitting: 30 for 80 (.375), .455 OBP, 16 RBI, 21 R, .911 OPS, 5 K, 15 BB, 7 doubles
 
Daughter had a vball tournament this weekend.

6-0 for the win.

First three games on Sat they won all 3 games in two sets. My daughter had an 11 streak serve on one set. She played well overall with no mistakes and some good defensive plays.

The last three games on Sun started off with an easy 2-0 win on the sets but they team they played was the best team that they had faced so far that weekend.

Then the next game- it was a team we played Sat and easily beat. Actually a team from the same club but a spring team. Two of her schoolmates were on the team and both were on the A team for vball this year (my daughter missed the cut and played on B team because she had a terrible try out per her). The first set my daughter got them going 16-0 on a 15 serve streak. Then our girls seemed to lose focus and just were not playing at the same level, the other team battled back and made it a game. Then they got hammered in the second set. Starting off with the third set, it started out with them continuing to play below a level that they have been and they dug into a hole. They finally woke up and battled back at 12-14 and ending it 16-14 (15 wins the third set and must win by 2 on rally scoring). A close one. Then they moved on to the last game. The team had a couple of outside hitters that were pretty good and they could play the net better than our girls (who do well when they are aggressive but for some reason lack confidence in attacking the net). They split the first two sets and then went into the 3rd set. Again, getting significantly behind and then pulling off a 16-14 win down at the end.

That is two straight 6-0 tourney championships for them.

One more weekend tourney next weekend and the season is done.
 
5-yr-old played in his 1st US Kids Golf tourney on Sunday…6-Under division:

Gump Jr - 46
2nd - 54 (2 tied)
4th - 57

Jr was as cool as could be…his caddie OTOH was a nervous mess, internally. But now that we’ve been thru 1, looking forward to growing out in this circuit.
 
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Round 1 yesterday morning and we won 11-6 against Minnesota-Duluth, tonight we play at 5 pm local time against Grand Valley State and this game should be a banger. Yesterday was hot and humid but we were lucky to play at 930 am so we didn't get as much heat as GVSU did when they played at noon so hopefully that zapped some of their energy. It won't be as hot today but it's looking like drizzle for the majority of the game, if we win today we are in the semi's on Thursday.

My kid played lock down D and had some great ground balls and clearances, he did gas out in the 4th and had to come out for a few minutes to rehydrate but was rock solid down the stretch. Damn it's going to be a long day waiting for tonight's game.
 
5-yr-old played in his 1st US Kids Golf tourney on Sunday…6-Under division:

Gump Jr - 46
T2 - 54 (2)
4th - 57

Jr was as cool as could be…his caddie OTOH was a nervous mess, internally. But now that we’ve been thru 1, looking forward to growing out in this circuit.
5? That is crazy. Looks like he easily beat the field. Good for him!
 
we won our game today 13-11, it was beyond intense and the refs let them play which meant hard hits all over the field. We maybe lost a second team middie to a knee injury but we have a day to rest now before St. Thomas (st. paul) on thursday. my kid played unreal again today and even got to spend a minute in the penalty box. today was the most stressful 2 hours of my life and **** was it awesome!!!!
 
My little guy (7yr) is just starting out doing organized sports. He has had his first basketball team which I have been coaching. It is a developmental league for 6-7 year olds. Easily one of the best kids in the whole league. Plays the best defense (actually in defensive position and sliding) and has the best form on shooting (pretty close to exactly what you want to see). He doesn't score as much as a few other kids but that is because he actually passes and tries to get the other kids involved. In a league where 95% of the kids don't dribble more than once and then run 10 steps and maybe take another dribble as you are yelling at them to dribble.... my son will dribble the ball up the court and for the most part doesn't travel or double dribble.

He still has a ways to go in swim though... I think it is more mental than anything but he still isn't swimming the length of the pool and will stop holding on to the lane line. But he keeps plugging away.

Anyways... there is a basketball clinic/camp operation nearby that out of all the different stuff we have done, I feel is the best in the area though it is a little on the expensive side. We have done some in the past but then they got kicked out of the gym they were in. I had the idea of connecting them to our kids school as I knew the gym would be available during the summer and then the school could get some rental money plus more kids from the school's basketball program would sign up. I tried to make matchmaker on this (though ultimately it didn't work out as the school admin would only do it if the AD was present the whole time). The clinic operators were thankful for it and gave me two free clinics for each of my kids. I decided to sign my kids up for a camp they are running this summer which is two sessions during one week for $600... saving me a not insignificant amount of money which is very useful right now for us. The crappy thing was that the camp age grouping started with 3rd graders and my son will be a 2nd grader, so that sucked but oh well, I will sign him up for other things. The camp is a bit further of a drive than I would like but doable. I planned on just dropping off and coming to pick up at the end of the day and they could hang out for the 30 minutes in between.... then I found out no dice. Well... that threw my whole plan off. The only way it made sense was if all three were there, I could take them, take my laptop and find a Starbucks or Panera and then plant down and work until I have to pick them up in between, feed them and drop them off again- then repeat until I pick them up to go home. I can't do that if the little one isn't there too. Well.... I think he is advanced in basketball as most 3rd graders are, in fact, he would sometimes be involved in my other sons 4th grade team practices doing some drills, running etc and he was better than a couple of the kids on the team. He is tall enough to be seen as a 3rd grader. There is no verification of age/grade so....... I just signed him up as a 3rd grader. :lmao: Plus more value as the other clinics are less time/money.

As well as my older son is doing in the various sports he is in.... I think my younger one has potential to be better. Two advantages he has over his older brother. First, my older son is right at the cut off age so he is always the youngest kid out there when playing with the school sports which are based on grade. My younger son is middle of the pact. Second, my younger son is more coachable for the most part. My older son is getting better and certainly listens to his other coaches more than me but often will not want to hear from me. His younger brother listens all the time to my direction/coaching and tries to immediately does his best to do it. He doesn't fight me on that while his older brother will not infrequently automatically react negatively to any feedback, direction, coaching, etc.

They are doing flag football for the school now with 1st and 2nd graders, first year doing it for the fall. It will be his first school sport and he is looking forward to it.
 
My son struck out 2x looking again yesterday. Didn't swing the bat once. I wasn't at the game, but one of the coaches yelled, "jus stick your bat out!" during his AB. Ugh.

Not sure what to do, but I told him I'd give him $0.50 for every swing he takes in a game. I told him if he fouls off 10 pitches, he could earn some serious cash. $5.00 for an actual hit that puts him on base. $1.00 if he gets hit by a pitch.

**** if I know what will work to get him to swing the bat.
 
My son struck out 2x looking again yesterday. Didn't swing the bat once. I wasn't at the game, but one of the coaches yelled, "jus stick your bat out!" during his AB. Ugh.

Not sure what to do, but I told him I'd give him $0.50 for every swing he takes in a game. I told him if he fouls off 10 pitches, he could earn some serious cash. $5.00 for an actual hit that puts him on base. $1.00 if he gets hit by a pitch.

**** if I know what will work to get him to swing the bat.
50 cent? Come on! With inflation that has to be at least a dollar to get a swing! :lmao:
 
Two advantages he has over his older brother. First, my older son is right at the cut off age so he is always the youngest kid out there when playing with the school sports which are based on grade. My younger son is middle of the pact. Second, my younger son is more coachable for the most part.
You forgot the most important 3rd advantage.....he has to compete/play with his older brother all the time. Younger siblings are almost always better than older siblings because they always play against the older brother. This is a big advantage
 
My son struck out 2x looking again yesterday. Didn't swing the bat once. I wasn't at the game, but one of the coaches yelled, "jus stick your bat out!" during his AB. Ugh.

Not sure what to do, but I told him I'd give him $0.50 for every swing he takes in a game. I told him if he fouls off 10 pitches, he could earn some serious cash. $5.00 for an actual hit that puts him on base. $1.00 if he gets hit by a pitch.

**** if I know what will work to get him to swing the bat.
Maybe reverse the money for hits and being hit by pitch? Take some if the sting of being hit....hahaha

Seriously, he kind of needs to get hit to see it isn't as bad as he is making it out to be. The anticipation/anxiety/unknown is what is hard to get over. I have seen many kids move on after finally getting hit.

Also, how coaches/parents react when a kid gets hit can make it worse (or better). If they get worried etc it can make the anxiety worse. Have it be no big deal like it happens all the time can help.
 
Two advantages he has over his older brother. First, my older son is right at the cut off age so he is always the youngest kid out there when playing with the school sports which are based on grade. My younger son is middle of the pact. Second, my younger son is more coachable for the most part.
You forgot the most important 3rd advantage.....he has to compete/play with his older brother all the time. Younger siblings are almost always better than older siblings because they always play against the older brother. This is a big advantage
Absolutely 100% true. The competition of younger siblings to older is a tremendous advantage for the younger kids.

When thinking through this, I was thinking more in the difference between the two boys that may not really be true of all siblings but it is a big difference and advantage to the younger one. I also think that the younger one shows more body control at his age than his brother as well but that is a little hard to tell as COVID basically wiped out my older sons same time period for sports development.
 
My son struck out 2x looking again yesterday. Didn't swing the bat once. I wasn't at the game, but one of the coaches yelled, "jus stick your bat out!" during his AB. Ugh.

Not sure what to do, but I told him I'd give him $0.50 for every swing he takes in a game. I told him if he fouls off 10 pitches, he could earn some serious cash. $5.00 for an actual hit that puts him on base. $1.00 if he gets hit by a pitch.

**** if I know what will work to get him to swing the bat.
Maybe reverse the money for hits and being hit by pitch? Take some if the sting of being hit....hahaha

Seriously, he kind of needs to get hit to see it isn't as bad as he is making it out to be. The anticipation/anxiety/unknown is what is hard to get over. I have seen many kids move on after finally getting hit.

Also, how coaches/parents react when a kid gets hit can make it worse (or better). If they get worried etc it can make the anxiety worse. Have it be no big deal like it happens all the time can help.
$20 for each hit by a pitch. I would have been crowding the plate as a kid! :lmao:
 
Seriously, he kind of needs to get hit to see it isn't as bad as he is making it out to be. The anticipation/anxiety/unknown is what is hard to get over. I have seen many kids move on after finally getting hit.
He's been HBP 2x already this season. He handled them OK. I think he's uncomfortable in the batters box and the pressure to perform gets in his head.
 
Seriously, he kind of needs to get hit to see it isn't as bad as he is making it out to be. The anticipation/anxiety/unknown is what is hard to get over. I have seen many kids move on after finally getting hit.
He's been HBP 2x already this season. He handled them OK. I think he's uncomfortable in the batters box and the pressure to perform gets in his head.
Has he played other sports or is this his first time playing sports?

I can relate. I had a strong arm as a kid. For whatever reason, the coaches never had me try at pitcher. A friend of mine on the team didn't understand it (he was our best pitcher) and he set up a time for me to pitch to him before practice. He just told me to throw as hard as I could to him. I did. The coaches saw and then the next thing I know our next game, they called me in to relief. I was not mentally prepared for it and totally folded. I was throwing all over the place, not as hard and the only time I could get it over the plate was ridiculous hung pitches begging the team to take it yard. It was just ugly. I don't know how many runs I gave up. I never got another shot.

I don't know if anyone could have prepared me better for it other than if I had got that first pitching opportunity earlier in my baseball career maybe.

The only thing I can think of is to talk to him about the failure rate of baseball hitting. How the best of the best fail well higher than 2 out of their 3 tries. Try to get him comfortable with failure in general and that it is ok and to actually embrace it. Learn from it. If you swing and miss.... ok, why did you miss? Break it down at bat and then after at bat. Were you swinging late... did you anticipate the wrong pitch... did you just miss.... etc and then after that, just more at bats.

How old is he again?
 
Has he played other sports or is this his first time playing sports?
He's been playing soccer for 4 years and regularly makes the all star team. Plays striker primarily and is better at ball control at 9 than I was at 15. He doesn't lack athletic ability or hand eye coordination. He is just frozen in the batters box.

I do think it's a fear of failure combined with few reps and poor decision making. Hopefully he can break through via direct bribery.
 
My little guy has watched his older brother and sister do all the sports and has been biting at the bit to do his own stuff. He is in 1st grade so no school sports until 3rd grade. Last summer he did a lot pretty much the same sports camps as his brother did all summer long as much as possible. This basketball season he came to some of the practices and games with me and I made him "Assistant Coach" and he took it seriously. He would take part in warm ups and some drills (beating some of the players on the team at times in races etc). I signed him up for a developmental basketball league on Thursdays which I ended up coaching (didn't want to but he got excited when I told him I was so it is all good).

He has been in swim lessons for several years now (with a big break during COVID) as all three started at the same time. He didn't make much progress for a very long time because he hated water in his face. :mellow: Well, finally got over that and has been making progress over the last few months. A bit ago I told him that he could try out for the swim club for this spring/summer season. He has been focused and working very hard at the swim lessons to continue progressing and get ready. We have a number of make up sessions built up as any time he missed a lesson with his brother and sister so busy with sports we basically could never schedule any make ups but over the last month or so we have been able to get 2 or 3 make up sessions added. Again, he is as serious as any 7 year old can be about anything and is very adamant about me taking video of him so he can watch afterwards.... basically like watching film.

Yesterday was try outs. Leading up to it, he mentioned how he was nervous and scared about it. The day of he told me at least a dozen times about being nervous and scared. I did my best to calm him, give him confidence and relax him. Try outs come and he goes out. Starts his swim and is doing well.... then about half way where the pool drops off into the deep end full on screech of the brakes stop. He wouldn't go because he was too scared. We had talked about it and since the swimming lessons are prob about 4 feet a the deepest, the 16 feet of the deep end was going to be a shock to him as he has never swam in a pool like that ever. The coaches worked with him for a while and after a while got him to make the trip using a kickboard. I wasn't sure if that would be enough for him to make the team but afterwards one of the coaches told me that his free and back strokes were really good and they would work with him on the fear issue with the deep end... so he made the team.

I told him and he got really excited. Jumped up and said "Let's gooooo!" and that his dream came true. (he is a little over dramatic with statements like that.... there have been a LOT of best and worst days of his life for example).

Today was the first practice. They warmed him up on the shallow end and then about half way through had him go for the full length. Again, right up to that drop off and the brakes were applied. A bit of time with the coaches talking to him and then he looked up at me in the stands and I just pointed in the direction of the deep end. He noded his head "yes" and then took off and swam it. They took his whole group out of the lane and talked for a bit and then had them all swim back. He was the last and it was obvious jumping into the deep end was now another challenge for him. He delayed awhile behind the rest of the group significantly and then finally looked up at me again. I gave him an exaggerated big nod "yes" with my head and he turned back and then got into the water and swam back.

After his group was done (they have the swimmers in age groups with the younger ones finishing about 15 minutes before the next group which my other son is in) he got changed and came up to sit with me in the stands. I gave him a big high five and said something about how awesome it was for him to overcome that challenge. He was super excited and then said "I just wanted to make you proud Daddy." and I told him I was "very proud" which he immediately stepped over and gave me a big hug. It was one of those moments you will always remember as a father.

Awwwww man this one got me good. :cry:
 
Has he played other sports or is this his first time playing sports?
He's been playing soccer for 4 years and regularly makes the all star team. Plays striker primarily and is better at ball control at 9 than I was at 15. He doesn't lack athletic ability or hand eye coordination. He is just frozen in the batters box.

I do think it's a fear of failure combined with few reps and poor decision making. Hopefully he can break through via direct bribery.
Awww..... he isn't use to playing a real sport.... it makes sense now. JUST A JOKE.... all you soccer heads calm down.

Maybe relate it to soccer.... like "If you get a breakaway and then take it all the way to the net but then don't take your shot when it is just you and the goalie.... does that make sense? That is what not swinging is when you have a strike thrown to you."
 
My little guy has watched his older brother and sister do all the sports and has been biting at the bit to do his own stuff. He is in 1st grade so no school sports until 3rd grade. Last summer he did a lot pretty much the same sports camps as his brother did all summer long as much as possible. This basketball season he came to some of the practices and games with me and I made him "Assistant Coach" and he took it seriously. He would take part in warm ups and some drills (beating some of the players on the team at times in races etc). I signed him up for a developmental basketball league on Thursdays which I ended up coaching (didn't want to but he got excited when I told him I was so it is all good).

He has been in swim lessons for several years now (with a big break during COVID) as all three started at the same time. He didn't make much progress for a very long time because he hated water in his face. :mellow: Well, finally got over that and has been making progress over the last few months. A bit ago I told him that he could try out for the swim club for this spring/summer season. He has been focused and working very hard at the swim lessons to continue progressing and get ready. We have a number of make up sessions built up as any time he missed a lesson with his brother and sister so busy with sports we basically could never schedule any make ups but over the last month or so we have been able to get 2 or 3 make up sessions added. Again, he is as serious as any 7 year old can be about anything and is very adamant about me taking video of him so he can watch afterwards.... basically like watching film.

Yesterday was try outs. Leading up to it, he mentioned how he was nervous and scared about it. The day of he told me at least a dozen times about being nervous and scared. I did my best to calm him, give him confidence and relax him. Try outs come and he goes out. Starts his swim and is doing well.... then about half way where the pool drops off into the deep end full on screech of the brakes stop. He wouldn't go because he was too scared. We had talked about it and since the swimming lessons are prob about 4 feet a the deepest, the 16 feet of the deep end was going to be a shock to him as he has never swam in a pool like that ever. The coaches worked with him for a while and after a while got him to make the trip using a kickboard. I wasn't sure if that would be enough for him to make the team but afterwards one of the coaches told me that his free and back strokes were really good and they would work with him on the fear issue with the deep end... so he made the team.

I told him and he got really excited. Jumped up and said "Let's gooooo!" and that his dream came true. (he is a little over dramatic with statements like that.... there have been a LOT of best and worst days of his life for example).

Today was the first practice. They warmed him up on the shallow end and then about half way through had him go for the full length. Again, right up to that drop off and the brakes were applied. A bit of time with the coaches talking to him and then he looked up at me in the stands and I just pointed in the direction of the deep end. He noded his head "yes" and then took off and swam it. They took his whole group out of the lane and talked for a bit and then had them all swim back. He was the last and it was obvious jumping into the deep end was now another challenge for him. He delayed awhile behind the rest of the group significantly and then finally looked up at me again. I gave him an exaggerated big nod "yes" with my head and he turned back and then got into the water and swam back.

After his group was done (they have the swimmers in age groups with the younger ones finishing about 15 minutes before the next group which my other son is in) he got changed and came up to sit with me in the stands. I gave him a big high five and said something about how awesome it was for him to overcome that challenge. He was super excited and then said "I just wanted to make you proud Daddy." and I told him I was "very proud" which he immediately stepped over and gave me a big hug. It was one of those moments you will always remember as a father.

Awwwww man this one got me good. :cry:
It was a very special moment. My little guy is full of those.

I don't get those moments as much from my older kids. One of the nearest to it was leaving swim practice Tuesday. I was chatting with a mother who was telling me her son is now at Notre Dame in pre-med. I am a big Irish fan. My sons heard and then when we walked away, I mentioned something about him going to ND and then he said "If I went to Notre Dame for football you would be so proud of me." and I immediately replied "I am already proud of you but that would be super cool. Super hard to do but it would be super cool." I was a little shocked that he didn't say something like "No way, I am going to Ohio State" or something like that as he is usually very contrarian with me. The funny thing about it is that he already knows the standard to get in to ND is high.... not for football, he has all the confidence he could make the team but he isn't as confident about the academic side of it. :lmao:
 
I do think it's a fear of failure combined with few reps and poor decision making. Hopefully he can break through via direct bribery.
I am not sure how much bribery will work if he is scarred to fail. How much extra practice do you do with him? Hitting confidence is built by repetition (and succeeding in that repitition). One of the biggest problems with that age group for baseball is practice is usually poorly run where kids do not get the repitition needed to build confidence. Typically they may get 10 swings a practice and that happens once or twice a week. That really is not enough to get through this mental aspect of hitting.

If you don't have a tee I would suggest picking one up. They are pretty cheap at Big 5 or ****'s. Then you should work with him where he gets 100-150 swings every day off a tee. If you have access to a park (or a batting cage) you could also throw to him a few times a week to get another 100 swings in off live pitching (or machine if in a cage).

Building swing confidence will help translate to games and once he connects a few times that will also help progress things. One big thing you can do as a parent/coach is to not put the emphasis on getting on base with hitting the ball at this stage. The emphasis should be on making contact (and hard contact). One of the dirtiest things about baseball and why you fail so much is you can do everything right and hit the ball as hard as you possibly can but it happens to be right at someone and you get out. So even though you did everything right you don't get the "result" you wanted. That's why it is important to focus on the process and making hard contact. The hits will come. Getting over that hump mentally is really tough though. It's why the game is so hard.

Another good thing to do is just watch the game. Watch MLB or college games on TV. Talk about the hitters and show him that everyone gets out most of the time and it's not a big deal. It is almost expected to some extent. I cannot stress enough how watching the game will help a player improve tremendously if you discuss the game and strategy aspect as it is happening. It will sink in and translate on the field.

Keep positive remarks on the contact aspect instead of the getting on base aspect. Don't be negative if he swings at bad pitches. Actually compliment him on swinging every time. You have plenty of time to work on pitch selection but since his hurdle is swinging in the first place don't get on him for swinging at bad pitches. Compliment him for it.

Hope this all helps.
 
Thanks for the tips, @Gally . Agree that he needs more reps and that will help a bunch. I would love to spend that amount of time with the boy working on hitting and watching sports with him. But he's got a twin sister and I cannot ignore her, or my other duties (job, family, etc.). I don't have space for a tee at my house, so I'd have to take him to the park every day to get swings. I'll try and work with him some more. I did buy some plyos for hitting a few weeks ago and we've done that 2x already.

I'll continue to work on the positive reinforcement too.
 
Success! Direct bribery worked! My son fouled off one then took a ball then hit a double to center field and got an RBI! He struck out 2x after that swinging!! I now owe him $8.00. His team tied the best (and undefeated) team in the league 6-6. Our team is 5W-2L-1T.

I missed the whole thing though as i am camping with my daughter's girl scout troop. Thank goodness for WhatsApp video.
 
we lost in the semi's 11-4 to St Thomas (MN), my kid had 3 great quarters and 1 semi bad quarter where he got pulled for playing a bit over aggressive and sliding when the other defenders weren't sliding. Offense really **** the bed and our team's lack of depth was exposed playing 3 games over 4 days in the Texas heat. The team is only losing their goalie next year so they should be even stronger next year, especially if they recruit well this summer.
 
In 7 years of travel ball, 4 years of high school ball and 4 years of college ball, my boy never won a championship of any kind, yet in his first Spring as a head coach, he guided his 11 year-olds to a tournament win yesterday.

I got to see him in action a few weeks ago when his team played just an hour from my house, and his poise with the kids, the umps and opposing coaches was impressive. I also enjoyed watching the parents have the same conversations and complaints we had when he was playing travel ball. I thought it was cute seeing a faction of dads second-guessing my sons' coaching decisions, because I knew the answer to "why doesn't he tell him to bunt there?" was "because your kids suck at bunting". On one hand--and I know I'm going to sound like I have my 'daddy goggles' on right now--my son's team had a couple of kids that were way better than any on this team, and was a better team overall than the one he's coaching, but on the other hand, they aren't horrible and I won't argue results; they got on base, they scored and played good enough defense to win. Also, in their defense, they don't have the aspirations that my son's travel team had, in that they keep to playing at venues within close enough proximity to home that they don't have to rent a hotel room, though they did for the tournament I watched.

And if winning the tournament wasn't impressive enough, he also remembered that it was Mother's Day and bought roses for his players to give to their mothers.
 
we lost in the semi's 11-4 to St Thomas (MN), my kid had 3 great quarters and 1 semi bad quarter where he got pulled for playing a bit over aggressive and sliding when the other defenders weren't sliding. Offense really **** the bed and our team's lack of depth was exposed playing 3 games over 4 days in the Texas heat. The team is only losing their goalie next year so they should be even stronger next year, especially if they recruit well this summer.
Good run. I'm sure it was fun to watch.
 
Last tournament and end of the season for my daughters club volleyball.

They were missing their tallest player who was their primary hitter and blocker.

On Sat, when they played their first match- they were clearly outmatched. Half of the opposing team was taller than my daughters teams missing tallest player and they had skill as well. They put up a respectable fight but lost their sets 0-2.

The next game, they honestly should have beat the team but ended up losing 1-2 in sets.

The third game for Sat they ended up taking it in two close sets 2-0.

On Sunday, they took the next two opponents 2-0 in sets.

Somehow they made it into the Championship game. The only thing I can think of is that they ended up in the loser bracket with a chance to move up and did. There was a lot of confusion in this tourney as we were first sent to the wrong location on Sat and then had to drive 25 minutes to the correct place. But anyways....

In warm ups it was evident that this would likely be a quick loss for them. The other team started warming up and they had the height like the first team we played on Sat but were even better with a couple of really hard hitters. Our girls were clearly intimidated. The first set was a pretty easy win for the other team 25-8 and then the second set they put up much more fight to get it to 25-15 ending with second place.

After the game, several girls started crying and pretty much all of them were tearing up. It was more about it being their last game together than about losing. It was good to see as they are the most reserved group of girls playing volleyball that I have ever seen- where a lot of the teams seem like half cheerleading/half volleyball. Good or bad, they had very little reaction, individually or as a team. Throughout the year, I even wondered if they liked each other at all or had any kind of team bonding. But turns out they do. They were all together getting the assistant coaches, who is a senior in HS and heading off to college, tik tok and whatever else (I asked why not phone and email address and I guess I am old for asking that) One mother this morning messaged and said her daughter looked down and when she pressed about it she said she was sad that the team is done.

A short summer basketball league starts Friday for her and then a summer full of different basketball and volleyball camps and clinics and whatever else.
 
In 7 years of travel ball, 4 years of high school ball and 4 years of college ball, my boy never won a championship of any kind, yet in his first Spring as a head coach, he guided his 11 year-olds to a tournament win yesterday.

I got to see him in action a few weeks ago when his team played just an hour from my house, and his poise with the kids, the umps and opposing coaches was impressive. I also enjoyed watching the parents have the same conversations and complaints we had when he was playing travel ball. I thought it was cute seeing a faction of dads second-guessing my sons' coaching decisions, because I knew the answer to "why doesn't he tell him to bunt there?" was "because your kids suck at bunting". On one hand--and I know I'm going to sound like I have my 'daddy goggles' on right now--my son's team had a couple of kids that were way better than any on this team, and was a better team overall than the one he's coaching, but on the other hand, they aren't horrible and I won't argue results; they got on base, they scored and played good enough defense to win. Also, in their defense, they don't have the aspirations that my son's travel team had, in that they keep to playing at venues within close enough proximity to home that they don't have to rent a hotel room, though they did for the tournament I watched.

And if winning the tournament wasn't impressive enough, he also remembered that it was Mother's Day and bought roses for his players to give to their mothers.
That is awesome. Good for him and leading those kids!

All the different sports and years playing... I never won a championship... never first place. All-Star teams and individual achievements, yes, but never as a team won.

That made coaching my sons team to a championship more meaningful to me... not for me of course but for what I know it means to my son without him really knowing what it means to him (if that makes sense). A different kind of meaning than it would be just being a parent watching your son win a championship and a different kind of meaning than a coach leading a team to a championship and then on top of that a different kind of meaning being that I know not ever having won a championship. It was a great thing to have experienced with my son.
 
In 7 years of travel ball, 4 years of high school ball and 4 years of college ball, my boy never won a championship of any kind, yet in his first Spring as a head coach, he guided his 11 year-olds to a tournament win yesterday.

I got to see him in action a few weeks ago when his team played just an hour from my house, and his poise with the kids, the umps and opposing coaches was impressive. I also enjoyed watching the parents have the same conversations and complaints we had when he was playing travel ball. I thought it was cute seeing a faction of dads second-guessing my sons' coaching decisions, because I knew the answer to "why doesn't he tell him to bunt there?" was "because your kids suck at bunting". On one hand--and I know I'm going to sound like I have my 'daddy goggles' on right now--my son's team had a couple of kids that were way better than any on this team, and was a better team overall than the one he's coaching, but on the other hand, they aren't horrible and I won't argue results; they got on base, they scored and played good enough defense to win. Also, in their defense, they don't have the aspirations that my son's travel team had, in that they keep to playing at venues within close enough proximity to home that they don't have to rent a hotel room, though they did for the tournament I watched.

And if winning the tournament wasn't impressive enough, he also remembered that it was Mother's Day and bought roses for his players to give to their mothers.
That is awesome. Good for him and leading those kids!

All the different sports and years playing... I never won a championship... never first place. All-Star teams and individual achievements, yes, but never as a team won.

That made coaching my sons team to a championship more meaningful to me... not for me of course but for what I know it means to my son without him really knowing what it means to him (if that makes sense). A different kind of meaning than it would be just being a parent watching your son win a championship and a different kind of meaning than a coach leading a team to a championship and then on top of that a different kind of meaning being that I know not ever having won a championship. It was a great thing to have experienced with my son.
I've talked a lot here over the years about the great coaches he had, and I'd like to think that he channeled some of those experiences into his coaching. TBH, what I can't get over is how absolutely nonplussed he is out there. I watched him last Fall in his first coaching gig since his playing days ended. He was the assistant but it was amazing how he was actually trying to coach the kids when they made a mistake and not yelling or getting caught up in the moment of the game. It also helps that he's a bit of a goofball, which helps the kids connect with him.

When he was in his last years of Summer ball during college, the parents of one of the assistant coaches came to every game, presumably to watch their son. I thought that was a bit odd/desperate at the time, but I can totally see doing that myself, especially now that he's moving back to the area and is going to start coaching for the same organization he played for in high school, and maybe even his college Summer league team as well. I'm not sure how I'm going to react if/when he finally gets himself ejected, but I hope at least he gets in a funny line on his way out.
 
In 7 years of travel ball, 4 years of high school ball and 4 years of college ball, my boy never won a championship of any kind, yet in his first Spring as a head coach, he guided his 11 year-olds to a tournament win yesterday.

I got to see him in action a few weeks ago when his team played just an hour from my house, and his poise with the kids, the umps and opposing coaches was impressive. I also enjoyed watching the parents have the same conversations and complaints we had when he was playing travel ball. I thought it was cute seeing a faction of dads second-guessing my sons' coaching decisions, because I knew the answer to "why doesn't he tell him to bunt there?" was "because your kids suck at bunting". On one hand--and I know I'm going to sound like I have my 'daddy goggles' on right now--my son's team had a couple of kids that were way better than any on this team, and was a better team overall than the one he's coaching, but on the other hand, they aren't horrible and I won't argue results; they got on base, they scored and played good enough defense to win. Also, in their defense, they don't have the aspirations that my son's travel team had, in that they keep to playing at venues within close enough proximity to home that they don't have to rent a hotel room, though they did for the tournament I watched.

And if winning the tournament wasn't impressive enough, he also remembered that it was Mother's Day and bought roses for his players to give to their mothers.
That is awesome. Good for him and leading those kids!

All the different sports and years playing... I never won a championship... never first place. All-Star teams and individual achievements, yes, but never as a team won.

That made coaching my sons team to a championship more meaningful to me... not for me of course but for what I know it means to my son without him really knowing what it means to him (if that makes sense). A different kind of meaning than it would be just being a parent watching your son win a championship and a different kind of meaning than a coach leading a team to a championship and then on top of that a different kind of meaning being that I know not ever having won a championship. It was a great thing to have experienced with my son.
I've talked a lot here over the years about the great coaches he had, and I'd like to think that he channeled some of those experiences into his coaching. TBH, what I can't get over is how absolutely nonplussed he is out there. I watched him last Fall in his first coaching gig since his playing days ended. He was the assistant but it was amazing how he was actually trying to coach the kids when they made a mistake and not yelling or getting caught up in the moment of the game. It also helps that he's a bit of a goofball, which helps the kids connect with him.

When he was in his last years of Summer ball during college, the parents of one of the assistant coaches came to every game, presumably to watch their son. I thought that was a bit odd/desperate at the time, but I can totally see doing that myself, especially now that he's moving back to the area and is going to start coaching for the same organization he played for in high school, and maybe even his college Summer league team as well. I'm not sure how I'm going to react if/when he finally gets himself ejected, but I hope at least he gets in a funny line on his way out.
Coaching matters. Looking back at my basketball career, I didn't know it, but my development suffered for lack of good coaching. Though I was on a club travel team the coach of the team really lacked depth of basketball knowledge to really teach beyond the mere basics... and not in a way of focusing on drilling the fundamentals to develop but just lacking acumen. He was the father of one of our teammates and he tried his best. I am a little more driven to make sure that I am giving the kids I coach all they need to develop to their best potential. If he had good coaches there is no doubt that it helped grow him into a good coach now.
 
I've talked a lot here over the years about the great coaches he had, and I'd like to think that he channeled some of those experiences into his coaching. TBH, what I can't get over is how absolutely nonplussed he is out there. I watched him last Fall in his first coaching gig since his playing days ended. He was the assistant but it was amazing how he was actually trying to coach the kids when they made a mistake and not yelling or getting caught up in the moment of the game. It also helps that he's a bit of a goofball, which helps the kids connect with him.
The bold isn't surprising to me based on how you described him as a player. He sounded like he was just business and never had emotional highs or lows when playing. Sounds like that has carried over to coaching which is great. I know you are well aware, but at that age group getting all bent out of shape over wins, losses, umps, parents, etc is useless as the whole goal is to help the kids get better. All those other things are secondary.

Glad he is out there giving back and it sounds like he is enjoying it. Tell him to keep up the good work.
 
Thanks for the tips, @Gally . Agree that he needs more reps and that will help a bunch. I would love to spend that amount of time with the boy working on hitting and watching sports with him. But he's got a twin sister and I cannot ignore her, or my other duties (job, family, etc.). I don't have space for a tee at my house, so I'd have to take him to the park every day to get swings. I'll try and work with him some more. I did buy some plyos for hitting a few weeks ago and we've done that 2x already.

I'll continue to work on the positive reinforcement too.
I totally get the time aspect but the good thing about tee work is if he wants to improve (internal drive) then it is something he can do on his own once he is shown the right techniques. It's actually a really good training tool (being able to correct yourself).

If you buy a bownet (or something similar) you really don't need a lot of space for tee work. Can be done in a driveway. It's a great investment if you think he will be playing for the next several years.
 
In 7 years of travel ball, 4 years of high school ball and 4 years of college ball, my boy never won a championship of any kind, yet in his first Spring as a head coach, he guided his 11 year-olds to a tournament win yesterday.

I got to see him in action a few weeks ago when his team played just an hour from my house, and his poise with the kids, the umps and opposing coaches was impressive. I also enjoyed watching the parents have the same conversations and complaints we had when he was playing travel ball. I thought it was cute seeing a faction of dads second-guessing my sons' coaching decisions, because I knew the answer to "why doesn't he tell him to bunt there?" was "because your kids suck at bunting". On one hand--and I know I'm going to sound like I have my 'daddy goggles' on right now--my son's team had a couple of kids that were way better than any on this team, and was a better team overall than the one he's coaching, but on the other hand, they aren't horrible and I won't argue results; they got on base, they scored and played good enough defense to win. Also, in their defense, they don't have the aspirations that my son's travel team had, in that they keep to playing at venues within close enough proximity to home that they don't have to rent a hotel room, though they did for the tournament I watched.

And if winning the tournament wasn't impressive enough, he also remembered that it was Mother's Day and bought roses for his players to give to their mothers.
What a waste. We won all kinds of tournaments. We won our high school division last year. Why play if you're not going to win anything? I'm sure college is going to be a different beast cuz our school's not that strong yet. ;) :P

Eta: if it was not 100% clear, I I'm joking about it being a waste
 
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