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Patriot Son getting it done in Ecuador. Team USA finishes pool play 3-0 with 10-0 win over Puerto Rico. Many thanks to our crew of coaches and parents for sending pictures and keeping us updated on all that is happening to our boys. It is tough following the game on Twitter and live-stats. But it is better than nothing. Patriot wife says he is not allowed out of the country by himself again! She is always over reacting(Ha).
Here is a link to the teams photo site. The country side is quite the eye opener for a 14 yo.
http://u14usa.shutterfly.com/

http://web.usabaseball.com/new...7954&vkey=recap_usab
Seven years of college down the drain. - Bluto Blutarsky
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The team does have two hours of study hall every day (Boo hoo). Wednesday is an off day. Play vs. Ecuador on Thursday. Patriot son pitched vs. PR so he will probably sit for at least one game. The good news is USA is rolling the other teams. The bad news is there are 18 guys wanting to play and not enough innings for the coaches to hand out.
We talked to his teachers about what material would be covered during the time he would possibly miss. They were very supportive and mapped out what he would need to study. He is on independant study while he is abroad. In our case he is a very good student in advanced classes. This board has always reinforced that without good grades it doen't matter if you are Babe Ruth. Our goal is for him to play baseball in college at whatever level he is capable of achieving.
Looking back @ my kids education, they're 19 and 24 now, I was way tooooo strict about missing any school. There are some things in life that go beyond what you can learn in a classroom. If the kid is a good student and the teachers/school approve and will let them make up the work then they are having experiences they may never have again.

BTW, both my kids are excellent students and academics were always stressed before athletics.

Good job and good luck with the remainder of the games.
quote:
Looking back @ my kids education, they're 19 and 24 now, I was way tooooo strict about missing any school. There are some things in life that go beyond what you can learn in a classroom. If the kid is a good student and the teachers/school approve and will let them make up the work then they are having experiences they may never have again.

BTW, both my kids are excellent students and academics were always stressed before athletics.


A strict guy from northern California? Breaking all the stereo-types there, huh CaBB? Wink

I agree with your comment too, btw.
Last edited by Tx-Husker
They play 53' mound, 80' bases. Not sure why international baseball is played at that distance for 14u.

Why are we doing well? Well, for one thing, look at who we are playing in the Pan Am games: Ecuador, Brazil, Panama, Nicaragua. Not exactly powerhouse baseball countries. Within COPABE, you have to think that only 3-4 countries could possibly put forward teams to compete with the US. Cuba does not participate in the 14u. Dominican Republic participates, but I think it's safe to say the best 14-year old Dominican players are not playing (for a variety of reasons). Venezuela has been the toughest competition historically, but they managed to lose 1-0 in 8 innings to Puerto Rico, so we won't face them for another 2 years.

So why does the US send a team to beat up on Central and South American teams? Well, the other countries want us there. The 14u US program is also helping to develop baseball in these other countries. COPABE provided a venue for the US when USA Baseball first started the 14u team; has changed their rules several times to accommodate the USA, and for better or worse, they are our strategic partner to grow the game.

With the removal of the "height restriction", the 53' mound seems awfully silly for 14-year olds. I suspect that will be the next thing USA Baseball pushes to change. But for now, they are stuck at 53' so the hard throwers dominate.
Last edited by XtremeBB
XtremeBB, great to have someone with the history of the games at this level. The fences are 260', 280' and 300' in center. A medium fly ball is a homer. Remember, they all play on the same field. Our team in Miami practiced mostly on 60.5/90. Patriot son is the scheduled starter for the gold medal game. Please send his your positive baseball mojo.
Since I was there;

I can attest that Puerto Rico and Venezuela were REALLY good. Brasil was also very good. Panama was not bad either. The other teams were as said above not good enough to play with the top teams. Brasil was made up of mostly players from Japan, that should tell you all you need to know.

The experience was priceless. The intensity of the last two games against Brasil and Purto Rico was as intense as I have seen. The chants, singing, craziness of the fans was wild. The chants of USA USA USA was awesome.
We played a 15U team from the DR and this kid was throwing pole to pole in the air, and this field was about 330 down the lines. He threw the first game topping out at 87. So yeah, warningtrack - the kids from the islands are normally really, really good.

Regarding the chants - yeah - I think that was just about the coolest thing we saw. It kinda felt like I was playing in the Caribbean somewhere...

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