@Dominik85 posted:I totally could see this work, especially for a pitcher (95 with control is 95 with control) but the question is how you keep a kid motivated like that.
I have noticed that especially boys usually need competition to stay engaged (while girls sometimes tend to enjoy "the process" a little more).
In my experience boys train to win tomorrow, not to get better in the long run and to keep them engaged you need to balance drill work and "games" at least 1 to 1, if not 1 to 2.
With older kids like 15+ it can work to work focused longer but with 8-14 years all the boys want is competition.
With my younger boys I'm usually doing like 20 minutes of focused drill work on mechanics and then the rest of the time I invent little games that are designed to reinforce what they have learned (and they still almost get to fight each other over that meaningless game
).
It’s amazing how the process has changed. I’m the fourth generation of college baseball players. My son is the fifth. My great grandfather played in the 1890’s. My father played Big Ten football before getting injured and transferring to what is now a NESCAC as a legacy. My father never mentioned if he dreamed of playing in the NFL.
I never trained to play. I just played and played and played in season starting at about age seven. The first team was LL at age nine. I did the same with basketball and football in season. I figured I would play baseball through college just because I saw myself as a baseball player first.
Halfway through high school we moved to a baseball hotbed. I started being noticed my major colleges and pro scouts. I was shocked. I didn’t get caught up in it. I just kept playing and playing and playing. There weren’t showcases. The closest thing were MLB tryouts and word of mouth from scouts to college coaches. Essentially, the colleges found you. They showed up to high school and Legion games.
I played three high school sports. My son was cut from high school basketball being told he couldn’t possibly focus on three sports. High school coaches expect offseason participation and training. It’s the nature of large classification high schools now. He was offered scholarships to private schools. I found it amusing he was offered academic scholarships if he would play at least two sports. He was scouted by 17u teams. They asked him what were his target schools.
Re girls enjoying the process: I believe the correct term would be socialization. Girls are less likely to transfer if they don’t start. They don’t have a MLB dream. There’s only Team USA (the best of the best). My daughter was a fourth outfielder for four years. Her view was she played enough, enjoyed her teammates once several realized she wasn’t a potential date (a whole other conversation about female college sports) and was at the right school for her future.