You ever look back at those small field days and have that "What was I thinking?" feeling?
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Nope
@Good Knight posted:Nope
You're better at it than me. Personally, I took it way too seriously and thought about it too much. In hindsight, I would be different and I cringe when I see others making the same mistakes now.
There sure are a lot of moments I wish I could do over. Thankfully, I think I figured things out after 11u and the year of 12u was a lot of fun. I look back at the pictures from the 12u year and we are both smiling a lot.
Oh yes we’re off the little field since the kid was 11. He’s now 14 and I keep saying it was “not even serious”! Oh how I wished I just sat back and enjoyed the game. Instead of a million lessons and searching for the most competitive teams! In the “good” end - the hustle made him so much better to handle adversity, mentally strong and mechanically ready for the bigger stage. That said it’s all a learning experience! No regrets!
@Francis7 posted:You ever look back at those small field days and have that "What was I thinking?" feeling?
Sure. I loved all those days with all 3 of my boys for different reasons and experiences. They were having fun, my wife and I were having fun. There wasn't much to think about.
My kids loved playing baseball and practicing . I miss taking them to the batting cage down the street by our elementary school. They hit in that cage all the way through high school.
there are always thing any of us would have done differently. That being said probably not a whole from my perspective, I have "kids" now 23 and 24 years old tell me they were the best days when i was running the travel program...i think that is a solid place to start.
I just saw someone post this in a local travel forum:
"Help! My family just moved here and I didn’t realize that baseball tryout happen at this time of the year. My 7 year old has been playing for the past 3 years...Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do? "
And all I could think of was: Oh, my, God...
"Playing" since 4u...smh
"THAT GUY"!?
Playing since 4u is nothing. My kids played 2u for the Bay Bees.
Seriously, the preteen days were a lot of fun. My son and I spent a lot of time practicing with just the two of us. My daughter never practiced away from the team until middle school and 14u travel. Hanging out at our LL park was a lot of fun. They had great food. I ran a lot of hitting lessons at the park. I loved seeing a kid get a hit after I worked with him.
From LL through college ball I didn’t have any trouble relaxing and watching the game. My view was I had my turn. It was my kid’s turn. The only time I felt bad for one of my kids was my son’s college team was up 2-0 in regions and lost the next two.
If I could go back in time I’d go back to forty. My oldest was seven and just starting 7/8 machine pitch softball, basketball, soccer and field hockey. I could do it all over again.
RJM says "If I could go back in time I’d go back to forty."
Call me a pig but I would rather my wife got younger!
I can almost see TPM and Paula flaming me already.
@fenwaysouth posted:Sure. I loved all those days with all 3 of my boys for different reasons and experiences. They were having fun, my wife and I were having fun. There wasn't much to think about.
My kids loved playing baseball and practicing . I miss taking them to the batting cage down the street by our elementary school. They hit in that cage all the way through high school.
My son is almost 18, a 2022. He does almost all of his workouts without Dad. We still occasionally go to the cage and field at local park for some BP, fungos, etc.
And I still get to throw with him. Well, actually, for long toss, after about 90 feet, he throws. I catch. I make a pile until his long toss is finished for the session.
@Francis7 posted:You ever look back at those small field days and have that "What was I thinking?" feeling?
Not really, no. We didn’t spend much money at all on travel ball until my kid was in high school and it was clear that he was going to work hard on becoming a college player.
I didn’t let him pitch much at all and saved his arm from coaches trying to chase trophies. My main emphasis as a Dad at that age was making sure he learned how to be respectful, learned some discipline, got good grades and kept the damn cell phone out of his hands. In terms of Baseball I made sure he had fun.
11 and 12 Ripken years when I wanted to work on something and a good work out was needed I would get a couple 5.00 Dairy Queen gift cards….those damn kids would kill to win one of those. Or I would tell them I need 1.5 hrs of good practice and then you get whiffle ball. I let them stay till the parents made them leave. They would set up temp bases and play in the outfield with the fence….we would turn on the lights and have few beers watching them. The only thing was we had to occasionally play umpire on a close one to keep the piece. my kid never let the whiffle ball stuff out of my car just in case…
Some great memories
@Good Knight posted:"If I could go back in time I’d go back to forty."
Call me a pig but I would rather my wife got younger!
I can almost see TPM and Paula flaming me already.
If the kids and you are going don’t you think the wife gets to go along? Unfortunately, in my case it would mean having to go through a nasty divorce again.
My oldest and youngest sons played rec league through 12U, I kind of regret that my baseball son started travel at 11U, but it was the right choice for him. It meant he didn't get to hit home runs on the small field. Also, his team won the 9/10 league championship when he was 10, so where do you go from there? 11U and 12U travel ball was nothing special, though.
Late summer nights with the boys playing pickle in the "bullpens" were the best. Made my youngest son take this picture on his last day of 12U.
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"Brotherhood of the Dugout"
Tim is now the Coach for the Baltimore Orioles.
Bob
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Great story. Thanks
The first time my son dropped an F bomb on me was on the LL field. We were playing one on one pitching to each other. We had modified rules. I had to bat right handed and swing at every pitch anywhere near the strike zone. He was allowed to be selective.
After he took me deep on three consecutive at bats I knocked him down. He got up, dusted himself off and said, “Geez, you’re one f’n competitive arsehole.”: