In need of advice

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:

Will your son be hurt not playing high school ball in the eyes of colleges - probably not but there will be some explaining to do. Should he play high school ball? Yes I do because while his overall game might not get better it will help become a better / stronger player by facing adversity and working through it. But if you do play high school then do it right and commit to it.

If you don't care to put on here what's going on I would like to know why this new school that's been open 2 years has already been through 3 head coaches.

Thank you for the advise it is greatly appreciated. I will looking in to the legalities of playing on two teams, no one ever brought it up.
All three coaches were fully aware of it.

As for the coaching, the first one very good coach, it was discovered that he embellished on his resume and was dismissed. The second one just got up and left two games into the season. The third wrote a "motivational letter" filled with profanity and insults directed toward the team and individual players and handed it to the kids at the last game, he was fired.

Again thanks for the response.

Coach 2709;

quote:

Will your son be hurt not playing high school ball in the eyes of colleges - probably not but there will be some explaining to do. Should he play high school ball? Yes I do because while his overall game might not get better it will help become a better / stronger player by facing adversity and working through it. But if you do play high school then do it right and commit to it.

Strongly agree with the above. The quality of the ball might not be as high, but you still face pitching. When you play travel you generally face more quality and harder pitching. A good hitter should be able to stay back on a 70 mph "fastball," but I have seen a number of hitters struggling to stay back on that stuff. This is a place to get that practice. It is also an opportunity for your son to be a team leader. Our HS team fields an average team, but our son loves it as these are his HS friends. He is a leader and a good friend and teammate. I'm not sure what you would fill out on college questionnaires as to HS information. I'm sure not all college coaches attended the best HS programs, but they probably played HS ball.

As far as the grades, if your son was not going to the travel practice after the HS practice, he would probably have the time to study and keep the A's, although A's and B's doesn't sound that bad! If he is practicing 6-7 hours on the field for 2 different teams, that almost seems counterproductive. Agree that the travel practice should carry the least, or no priority during the HS season. I didn't even know there were travel tournaments in Fl during the HS season-- certainly most HS kids (all that I know) are playing HS only. Good luck to your son. Can you possibly elaborate as to why so many HS coaches within 2 years. Have they been given a fair opportunity to succeed?

Brushout,

It seems as if I was posting at the same time you replied. Those reasons don't occur that often, so odds are the next coach will be the right match for the school. The AD will hopefully take his/her time to find the right coach for the team, especially given the previous circumstances.

He needs to play HS ball, good or bad, for all the reasons cited.

Moreover, is there even a travel ball/tournament schedule in your area during the HS Season? Not so here, travel schedule doesn't begin until May when high schools are finishing.

We sometimes shoot from the hip when when making decisions. IMHO 10 years down the road your son will regret not having enjoyed the HS baseball "experience" regardless of the coaching issues.

quote:

Originally posted by cabbagedad:

Some questions I would be asking ...

Brushout,
Apologies for the lack of clarity in my post. I meant that these are questions you should be asking your son and your self. Sounds like you have a great kid. Best wishes and enjoy every minute with him.

Also, you made a comment about finding the answer you wanted to hear. Lots of great information here - hopefully you are open to finding some of the other information useful as well.

quote:

Originally posted by cabbagedad:

quote:

Originally posted by cabbagedad:

Some questions I would be asking ...

Also, you made a comment about finding the answer you wanted to hear. Lots of great information here - hopefully you are open to finding some of the other information useful as well.

Thanks. I guess I was not clear with my question either.

I did not want a responses about how hard a kid works or not. I was only really asking if you all see HS ball as important as travel ball. I have noticed over the last few years that it seem not to be as important as it once was. When I played we only had HS and American Legion beyond little league. Now it seems to be so many other avenues to take.

I apologize for the smoke and mirrors in my opening post.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by brushout:

I did not want a responses about how hard a kid works or not. I was only really asking if you all see HS ball as important as travel ball

Thanks

Yes it is. HS ball is a completely different element than travel ball and both have their place. Quitting the HS team more of a copout and if the parent has full influence, the kid will never figure it out for himself and not learn to deal with less than ideal situations head-on.

As for playing for a difficult HS program, if a player can block out the negatives in a HS program and stick it out, that player displays more character than one looking to quit. If anybody had a good reason to quit baseball in HS, it was my son. He was a very good ballplayer who should've been starting on varsity long before he got his shot. This was a program in need of an overhaul but he never complained or quit and always played hard. He never complained. He just did his job and played and if he didn't love the game, he would've quit. Quite a few others bailed out because they couldn't hack it so that says something for my son for hanging in there. He enjoyed his summer teams more but even as bad as the HS experience was, he still said it wasn't all that bad.

Not once throughout his four years of HS ball did my son ask or want me involved in his baseball experience other than what was needed as HS parents. Any on-field baseball stuff, he dealt with on his own.

Part of growing up and being a man is dealing with less than ideal situations. In baseball, there's always talk that it teaches life's lessons. Well, here's one. Run away from it and they'll never learn when they get on their own.

It's better to learn to deal with tough things while in HS so that when they get to college, they'll be better prepared to deal with difficult situations better.