First HS Games Of The Year

Haven't been nervous when my son plays/pitches for years.  The last time was during the Sophomore summer state championship game when he came on to close out the 7th inning.  We were up 3 runs.  Two runners on, no outs.  He only gave up 1 run, but I was a little nervous for a few minutes there.  Before that I stopped letting it bother me years ago. 

I never got nervous watching my kids compete. I played three high school sports and college baseball. I figured my kids had the same confidence I had in challenging situations. I coached a lot of their rec and travel sports. They never saw me get tight. I never saw them get tight. 

RJM posted:

I never got nervous watching my kids compete. I played three high school sports and college baseball. I figured my kids had the same confidence I had in challenging situations. I coached a lot of their rec and travel sports. They never saw me get tight. I never saw them get tight. 

If we could bottle that, I see a big biz opportunity.

RJM posted:

I never got nervous watching my kids compete. I played three high school sports and college baseball. I figured my kids had the same confidence I had in challenging situations. I coached a lot of their rec and travel sports. They never saw me get tight. I never saw them get tight. 

I am jealous.  Weird thing is I only get nervous watching him play and it's been that way from the beginning.  My two younger kids I have zero, zilch, nada nervous emotion while watching them perform.  

Yes. It gets better. My son was named to varsity his freshman year and took the mound as a starter in the third game of the season. My wife and I didn't know he was going to start and only found out when we showed up and he was warming up in the bullpen. Luckily, he was given his first varsity appearance in a sweet situation. I'm not sure I've ever been that nervous. Luckily, he wasn't. Struck out the first six batters on his way to a complete game no-hitter (perfect game was broken up when the shortstop made a throwing error with two outs to go). It was a team of all seniors and two juniors except my son and a freshman catcher brought up to catch bullpens. After that, it was all smooth sailing.

Still have anxiety, but not so much sitting and watching him pitch.  I know he will have good days and maybe some bad days.  I now have stupid little worries that he will get his hand slammed in a car door or some other fluke accident that will sideline him for a few days and wreak havoc with the season.  He is also batting this year (lost several seniors who could hit) and he is developing a callous on his left hand (he bats right handed) that hopefully looks worse than it feels.  We are having nice warm weather with our first game on Monday so I don't have the usual early fears about him tweaking something in cold weather.

Had an umpire jamboree this past Saturday.  He started first game - first pitch he threw was smashed out towards left field.  He settled down after that, but that one hit put me on edge for a few moments.

real green posted:

Parents of pitchers, does it ever get easier to watch your son?  Internally, I am a basket-case while he is pitching.  I thought it would get easier as he gets older- WRONG.  It seems to be getting worse...     

My son didn't really start pitching until he was 13, so I got a little bit of a late start on being a pitcher's father.  I'll admit that for the first year or so I was always nervous as hell when he pitched.  It was pretty irrational because he wasn't nervous at all - and he was the one actually doing the pitching.

A few years down the road I am much better at it.  Just needed a little experience.  I also have the sense not to sit next to my wife when my son pitches.  She gets nervous enough for both of us. (and some)  I tried to tell her one time she didn't need to be so nervous about it, and I'm not going to be foolish enough to try to tell her a second time.

With a kid just starting into school ball (MS), I will say that internally I look like a F5 tornado but externally I try to show a face of calm.  Many years of TB and competitive ball has helped.  You never "want" to see your kid or any kid fail, but that's the beauty of this game.   Every part of it is a fail on one side or the other.  Putting too much on one pitch or one AB or one throw can be exhausting.  Doesn't mean you don't try to develop an understanding in the player how you cannot take off at any moment.  The internal F5 moments really only come from high stress games nowadays.

My son start focusing on pitching fairly recently also, and I am a wreck whenever he takes the mound. I have to excuse myself from whoever is around and go pace the outfield fence. If my son is nervous he hides it well. He says he is not nervous at all. He almost looks bored or aloof. Both his pitching coach and HS coach have mentioned that they would like to see more "fire" out of him, but I get the impression he approaches pitching like he is playing a chess match with the hitters. I thought I was over it but two weeks ago he went live in the cages against some high level hitters and the butterflies came right back.

I've posted this before, and I know I'm not the only one to have had this thought: there's a special place in Heaven for parents of pitchers.

I do have to say that my nerves have gotten better as each kid has entered school ball, but now the only pitcher is the youngest one, and I feel my nerves are coming back.  The older two are outfielders and and I only worry when they're at bat.  Defensively, I have no concerns, but that may be foolish!