Insanity touches baseball

I'm no expert, but I would think counseling (of the professional type) would be good for anyone connected to an incident like that.

Basically let them talk if they want to. You can't force someone to talk about something unless they really want to. Give them the opportunity to talk about it and let them go. Best thing to do is keep your mouth shut and let them talk. They will usually end up being ok afterwards or at least on the right track. You need to pay attention in case there are those who are having a little more difficulty and get them professional advice.

You will have to talk to them some during this but keep things positive and realistic. Make them understand that overall the school is safe and best place to be. This is an isolated incident and probably won't happen to them again.

I do have a feeling that you won't get a lot of baseball accomplished at practice though. And that's ok as long as they can get what's going on in their heads out in the open. They will realize that all the fears they have are the same exact fears the rest of those guys are having. Usually once they see this it really helps the healing process.

It's really not about getting them back into the routine they are used to because then you minimize what they are feeling so they think it's insignificant and not important. At some point you do have to get back to life and routine but not right away because you have to deal with what's going on right away. Once you do that then you can get back to routines.

C2709 - yes, letting the boys open up is sage advice. If they bring up fear, I was thinking it would be good to go with that as a discussion. Fear can range from irrational (monsters under the bed), to real (a madman standing outside your school with a 30-06), to subtle (fear of failure, a particularly relevant fear for baseball players). Perhaps talking about how to deal with these different levels of fear appropriately would ultimately help them deal with the kinds of fear baseball generates (e.g., striking out, hbp, etc.)?

Hi,

I agree with all that has been posted prior.

Sometimes having something that is normal in their life is comforting as well. Routine can be a good thing. Just playing ball and leaving all the stress outside the lines can be a blessing.

Hope everything goes well, and that they have a great season.

My son's baseball team went through a situation last year where two teammate's staying alive was questionable for a couple of days. The school provided counseling for anyone. The coach had a talk with the players before practice. He told the players think about them, pray for them, visit them when they improve (assumptive given the situation), but focus on baseball when they come to the field. The coach started every practice or pregame with a physical condition update. Since one of the dads had a good sense of humor once the boy's lives weren't in question some of the updates were humorous. The dad knew it would be good for the mental health of the team.