Creating JH and HS Interest

Thats a great question.

My initial thought is that you might be barking up the wrong tree. Your heart is in the right place though.

Good athletes are leaving baseball all the time for lacrosse, football, s****r, basketball, etc. Why? 3 reasons but really 1. Slow pace. Not having fun. Like the title of the movie... Trouble with the Curve!

To me, you may be better served keeping the younger kids in your are having fun & motivated by improving their skills. If they are having success with their skills then the FUN will be there. Lets be honest, constantly swinging and missing is enough to push anyone away from the game

Every lacrosse player I meet tells me they used to play baseball. I smile and think to myself they couldn't hit the curve ball.

So perhaps instead of trying to recruit the kids back to the sport, try to keep the younger ones from leaving it at all.

Rich
www.PlayInSchool.com
www.twitter.com/PlayInSchool

quote:

Originally posted by PIS:
Thats a great question.

My initial thought is that you might be barking up the wrong tree. Your heart is in the right place though.

Good athletes are leaving baseball all the time for lacrosse, football, s****r, basketball, etc. Why? 3 reasons but really 1. Slow pace. Not having fun. Like the title of the movie... Trouble with the Curve!

To me, you may be better served keeping the younger kids in your are having fun & motivated by improving their skills. If they are having success with their skills then the FUN will be there. Lets be honest, constantly swinging and missing is enough to push anyone away from the game

Every lacrosse player I meet tells me they used to play baseball. I smile and think to myself they couldn't hit the curve ball.

So perhaps instead of trying to recruit the kids back to the sport, try to keep the younger ones from leaving it at all.

Rich
www.PlayInSchool.com
www.twitter.com/PlayInSchool

Isn't always the curve. At our middle school Lacrosse was not a cut sport, Baseball is. The HS also has a very successful lacross program and many kids go on to play D1. Not many BB kids were getting D1 offers in comparison.

Hi and welcome to the site.

Make sure the try-out announcement is posted everywhere and every way possible and make it inviting to those who have perhaps been out of the game for a while.

Talk to the kids that you know ARE coming out and encourage them to encourage those you have in mind. Positive peer pressure is a powerful thing.

Sounds like you have some particular kids in mind who you may know. Call them directly and encourage them. Communicate to them what it is that inspired you to post this. If you think it will be percieved as a positive that you will be their coach, use that as well.
Also use a sense of urgency. If they hope to play a HS sport, now is the time to choose that path. If they aren't relatively sharp going into HS, the chances become quite slim.

If the HS program is a successful one, use that. You are giving them a chance to earn their way to be part of something special.

Tell them how much chicks dig guys in a uniform

Build a well-organized winning program that is run with fairness, discipline, respect and encouragement. You will find more and more kids flocking to you.

All this said, I do acknowledge what others are saying. This is the time where you will lose many good athletes to a variety other things. It's OK to make that effort (in fact, IMO, part of your responsibility) but then let it go and focus on the ones who do have the interest in baseball.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

quote:

Originally posted by PIS:
...try to keep the younger ones from leaving it at all.

Rich
www.PlayInSchool.com
www.twitter.com/PlayInSchool

That was my first thought...what kind of youth leagues do you have? I was curious why you have so many Jr. High-aged kids who haven't played "for a few years."

So my idea (although a long term one) would be to ensure your youth leagues are alive and well.

If you're on campus with them then when you see them in the hallway just remind them that tryouts are on whatever day. Talk to them and let them know you think they can help the team but don't sell out - let them know there will be structure and discipline.

Definitely focus on the younger kids because they are your future and the future for the high school team AND the future for the sport.

The best recruitment is putting a good product on the field. If your players win and have a good time the better players will start coming out.

The youth leagues do pretty well, but as the kids get older the numbers decrease. Last spring there were about 180 11 and 12 year-olds playing Little League ball. Most of the kids that play tournament ball also play LL. The numbers tend to decrease as the kids get older.

We are one of four private schools in town and there are two large HS, so between the various programs, kids giving up baseball and doing other things and kids starting to specialize (I may be too old school, but I think JH is too early to focus on one sport) the numbers start to thin out. We also offer track in the spring and may be offering lacrosse this spring. In visiting with the parents, some kids stopped playing because of a bad experience with a coach or lack of success. I just believe if a kid has good hand-eye coordination and good agility, I can teach him to play the game. I am trying to figure out how to get them to try it (or give it another shot)and to establish the "want to".

The suggestion to encourage the kids who will play to talk their friends about playing is a good one. I understand winning is a draw, and that has been lacking. This will be my first season and the varsity coach is new too so we will do want we can to change those expectations.

Thanks for your suggestion, and let me know if you have any other ideas.

quote:

Originally posted by biggerpapi:

quote:

Originally posted by PIS:
...try to keep the younger ones from leaving it at all.

Rich
www.PlayInSchool.com
www.twitter.com/PlayInSchool

That was my first thought...what kind of youth leagues do you have? I was curious why you have so many Jr. High-aged kids who haven't played "for a few years."

So my idea (although a long term one) would be to ensure your youth leagues are alive and well.

My thoughts, as well. It goes back to the old cliche of a "better feeder program".

Serve pizza at tryouts.

I agree with the "work on keeping the kids you've got" mentality. If they're not playing by JH, I think you've lost them. You'll lose plenty more over the next couple years too....especially if your HS program isn't good and doesn't have a history of keeping the top kids.

I coached my son's age group from T-ball on up. We had 18 kids on our team in 6th grade...10 or 11 of them probably could have contributed on our HS team someday. We were undefeated, won the league and regularly had our top 4 or 5 kids pulled by the 2nd inning...just to assure a bunch of playing time for the other kids. My son started in the IF, was our #1 pitcher and backup catcher and played fewer innings over the course of the season than our bottom 4 or 5 kids. Those 18 kids were down to 6 by the 8th grade and down to 3 now (sophomores)...and only a couple of them are playing other HS sports...so that's not necessarily why they left.

Unfortunately in our case, baseball isn't the "glamourous" sport at our school. Our basketball and football teams are very good and perennial league, region and state powers. Our baseball...not so much....partly because of the fact that we can't keep the talented younger kids interested....and trust me I (and others) have tried. I don't know what the answer is....it's been like this since long before I was involved....it always seems like there are 2 or 3 really good kids playing at the younger ages that just quit baseball altogether. 2 or 3 kids/year in a school our size is a huge amount of talent to be losing.

Buckeye, I am concerned you provided a glimpse of our future. Please let me know if you have any ideas about how to change it.

No magic shortcuts when you are starting from a low spot but it can be done.
I'll repeat from my earlier post...
"Build a well-organized winning program that is run with fairness, discipline, respect and encouragement. You will find more and more kids flocking to you."

My son's high school of 400 barely fields a varsity and junior varsity team. In 8th grade there were more kids on the team than there was playing time. Maybe this was part of the problem, I don't know.

Many of the kids left baseball to play another sport, be it tennis, golf, LAX, whatever. However, despite the fact that each year only a couple of players graduate from my son's HS, each year at least one player has gone on to play in college, better than the national average. Two have signed pro contracts. Seems like the kids who stick it out are serious about playing.

We can kick around a lot of theories, but I suspect parents of LAX players or golfers might have a better idea. I mean, our kids are still playing.

Kids join a sport because the want to play it, and HS baseball is a very tough sport if you aren't in the top 9. At the top HS programs in SoCal, 9 players routinely get 90-95% of the total team at-bats (you can see this on MaxPreps). HS coaches just don't play a lot of substitutes like other sports do. The game evolves from Little League's "every one plays" to a much more skewed playing time arrangement as the kids approach HS. I imagine the kids see this and many see the writing on the wall - why play a sport if there's no opportunity for playing time except for the #1 kid at each position?

Some high schools are splitting the freshman team into two squads (A and B) to give more kids playing time. Most also have a Frosh/Soph team (and a JV team) to give more kids playing time. I suppose this helps keeps kids coming into the program.

You might try this approach - ie, commit that every kid that puts in the time will get to play. Also, many of the high schools here have "feeder" teams that involve the high school coaching staff and offer kids more exposure so their odds of making the HS team improve.

Yeah playing time is a big issue. Although at middle school I don't know that I will have the same pressures to win as the varsity coach. That allows me to get kids some playing time knowing it may well change the outcome of the game. The other thing about middle school boys is they are begining to hit puberty and some of the more athletic and stronger kids now may be passed by other kids by the time they are in 9th and 10th grade. So in evaluating the kids there may be a few a take who I think my take some big leaps in size and strength over the next two years. Of course projecting how kids develop is risky business.

One kid said he wants to run track to help him get faster for football. I told his buddy to tell him Johnny Manziel did not run track hoping to be a better football player. Johnny Manziel chose to play baseball.

MJ, You're spot on with the Johnny Manziel angle. The problem is getting these young athletic kids to foster a strong love for baseball before they get into middle school. Tyler isn't that far from my wife's hometown & we have family friends with kids in privates in Texarkana. I doubt its much different than what we see in OK, as far as the difficulty getting athletic youth plugged into a baseball path when they attend schools that have next to no baseball tradition. In OK, that includes nearly every OK private. Will relate, my oldest went the private school route for 7 years. As 10, 11 & 12U youth, the most athletic of his private school classmates had parents who abhorred anything above a short rec league of baseball for their sons. When suggesting a few should take a look at playing some tournament ball at 11 & 12, I was told anything other than league "interfered with their (familys) lives".

Football. By middle school, quite a few of the same parents counted the days to have their sons back in town for August football drills. In early August, after a well run summer of tournament ball, my oldest began to like a short breather before football. As a result, he came out late, two Augusts in a row for football. While he was all about team, his conditioning & ability to Beast in football, didn't hurt him to miss at least a week of drills. Those two early Augusts, we heard the backbiting comments & brushed them off, it wasn't Christ like. For the most part it was the same parents who wouldn't let their sons play any form of tournament baseball, going to the lake was more important. As I told several of this group, "My boys have a lifetime to go to the lake, we live 5 minutes away from the boat ramp & can make the lake on occasion. 'We're not going to make the lake our priority". Taking away my oldest's desire to play baseball, a game he loves, would have been near irreversible. "We have an idea of being balanced in our approach to youth sports, & we have a good idea of what it takes for our son to progress on his journey". Years past, and the interesting thing about that bunch, not a single one of the football crazed bunch had a son that played a college sport after HS. My oldest & few of his good friends ended up transferring to two large public schools in their middle school years. For my oldest, the draw was bigger social group & solid baseball environment, for the others, baseball also played a big role. All of these transfers contributed strongly on their HS teams. After HS, my oldest ended up playing 3 years of college football, he would have loved to have continued to play college baseball, but playing one sport was enough.

Looking back on those pre middle school years with my oldest, it would have been beneficial, if all of the athletic boys in this private school environment had more encouragement in developing baseball skills. Any encouraging moments from the private school athletic program would have been great. Small things like the ones interested being allowed to come & hit into a net in the gym during the winter, or a few hitting clinics put on for the 10-13's could have helped many of the guys. Though very athletic, only a few ever developed decent hitting mechanics. Realize this isn't the schools responsibility, but it would have been welcomed & who knows how many of these young players would had more fun playing the game. Also understand in a private, coaches often coach multiple sports, & the time is thin.

Applaud your recognition of this problem. If nothing else, a little extra time & maybe a mid May trip for many of the pre-middle school ball players along with middle school & HS teams to see the Rangers play could help. For the youth players who aren't playing anything other than local LL, their coaches ought to at least look at playing in a few fun atmosphere tournaments against similar level teams. Not sure how it is run today, but the Rangers have had late Spring & Summer AA type type tournaments for youth players at the Dr Pepper ballpark next to the stadium, could be a lot of fun for these preteens & be one of a few things helping set the fire for coming out for school ball as middle school players.

Anyone out there have pictures of Johnny Manziel playing baseball??? I would paste those suckers in my JH locker room... (they ALL think they are going to win the Heisman...)

Thanks journey2. Trojan-skipper, I may do that I have seen a picture of Manziel in a Yankees LL uniform when he was 10 or 11. I have heard him say he chose #2 because of Derek Jeter. Manziel was a HS shortstop which likely went a long way in helping him to learn to throw from many different arm angles and to throw off balance and across his body.

I agree it is tough to keep the better athletes interested in baseball as they get older. If you are athletic, fast, quick, big and strong you have a better chance to be consistently rewarded on the field of play, especially in sports like football and track. If you play baseball, you can be all of the above and still go 0 for 4 and not get a ball hit to you without ever having the opportunity to show all of those skills in a particular game. The rate of failure, slowness of the game and lack of the cool factor are all deterents for the most gifted of athletes. In addition, in the above sports there is less subjectivity. If you are the best athlete, it is pretty hard to deny that athlete the opportunity to play.

Most high schools idolize the football players and the basketball players while leaving the rest of the sports to pick up the scraps. I realize that this example will be impacted by regional preferences such as lacross and s****r.

I point all this out because you really have to teach the young athlete to love the game and understand that enjoyment can't be influenced by crowd sizes at thier games or being recognized at school. Make practices fun, focus on fun and the process of getting better. I remember when my son was young I talked about loving the game and having fun. I also knew because he was a very good athlete that he would have other opportunities to play "more exciting sports" and not to let the lure of big crowds at these sports dampen his love for the game. When he got in high school, he was prepared for the differences of playing football, basketball verses baseball where in the former the crowds were huge but in baseball they were very small. Bt this time it was not about all of the intangibles such as adoration and crowd size but he was playing because he loved the game.