quote:Originally posted by Prime9:
The hardest thing a loving, baseball parent will ever have to do .. is what you NEED to do here! Be there to support him, make sure he understands both sides of this consideration ....... then tell him" that it's his decision and you will support him either way!"
Listen to Prime9 and many of the others...
I know that he has plenty of time to "be seen". Being seen does not matter if he doesn't want to be.
We have a 2011 that has always had talent where he never really had to work at it...over the course of the last year, he decided where his ultimate goal was and got QUITE serious about achieving it. He has already started getting the recognition and I'm sure he'll have a place somewhere...that's the journey over the next year or so...
We have a 14 year old (8th grade) too and he has as much or more talent as his older brother...He also had the fall season from h***...coaches played favorites and basically only cared about kids who's future was at a specific HS.
Same team with a number of player changes (for the better) and new coaches, but he's still not enjoying it and told us he wants to quit to try another sport. We discussed and he kept working inside during the winter, but a week or two ago, he told us he wants to quit to try another sport this spring. We supported his decision - definitely wasn't easy for us, but HE e-mailed the coach about his decision and thanked him for the opportunity. Coach sent him back a wonderful e-mail welcoming him back to any team he coached in the future.
Both my wife and I are hopeful that he'll decide to go back into baseball before his freshman year, but it is HIS path and not ours...Our job is to help and guide him, but not to decide...
The way I look at it, I want him to be successful in his life - I may want him to be a pro baseball or football player, a doctor or a lawyer or a "whatever", but that really doesn't matter if it isn't what he wants. He MIGHT be successful doing it, but would he be happy? The reality is it doesn't matter (within reason) what he does as long as he finds what works for him...