Benching in Fall Ball

Fall is generally a relaxed time (here in NE Ohio anyways) and I wouldn't lose any sleep frankly over a kid missing something.  Kids have lots of conflicting activities in the fall and sometimes baseball takes a back seat.  I would leave the discipline for the hs coach in the spring and concentrate on making the fall experience as pleasant of an experience as possible. 

At my kids school it's just like CD described.  Everything is optional.  The kids are only hurting themselves for not going, with out a valid reason.  And, it's not to say that the coaches aren't paying attention to which kids don't put in the work

 

Two types of fall ball. Those that sign up for competitive travel fall ball - just like a summer team and attendance is expected at all team events.

 

Second type is more common - relaxed - play hard but really more trying to keep skills going. More scrimmage type games. My son plays football - he signed up for fall ball but does not attend any practices - just plays games. However, we made this crystal clear when we signed up and told the coach. They were OK with it otherwise we would not have signed him up. The team practices 1/week but he does not attend.

 

I think its just a matter of clear expectations and what league you are signed up for. We have several options where we live (Denver) - from highly competitive travel fall ball to teams that only play local and is way more relaxed.

Is football coach ok w that?
Some around here frown on kids playing two sports at same time due to possible injuries. How do parents feel if yr son plays over theirs who come to practice? Any problems there? Just curious what others r experiencing.

Is football coach ok w that?
Some around here frown on kids playing two sports at same time due to possible injuries. How do parents feel if yr son plays over theirs who come to practice? Any problems there? Just curious what others r experiencing.

I wish this was how it was everywhere in having both options and letting kids decide what fits them best.  Baseball only guys should be allowed to play at a high level of competition because that's what they want.  But it's also good to have something there for those who do other sports as long as it doesn't become a joke.

For us its pretty simple. Its football season and football take priority (in regards to sports - I agree academics is always first). He will not miss a football event for baseball during football season.

 

During baseball season - (Spring-Summer) - he does not attend any of the football events if they conflict with baseball. My son is a starting varsity LB  - he missed most of football this summer (strength and conditioing - 7 on 7 teams) due to his being on a travel club summer team. He started varsity practice as 3rd/4th string LB behind the boys who have been there during the summer. He also had to run extra after practice because he did not attend summer conditioning. It was up to him to bust his butt and EARN back his starting position. I don't have a problem with that philosophy by football coach. Coaches should reward those who attend all their events in summer as long as they still are fair when it comes to who earns playing time.

 

Again - we approached the coaches BEFORE we signed up for fall baseball. We told them the situation  - if they had an issue with that they could have told us and we would not have signed up. There were other fall ball options on teams that did not practice - we could have gone that route but he wanted to play with same organization he played on for summer. It was the coaches call - don't really care what other parents think.

My son only showed up for the games on the weekend. He missed every practice. He was on the soccer team. The high school coach knew he was practicing on his own. In fact, My son and I appeared at the high school field several times as fall baseball practice was wrapping up. Sometimes the coach stayed for a while, watched and gave some infielding instruction.