it does get tiring

I'm with you. They need to earn their place among their peers. It's no big deal. I watched my son go through it last year as an 11u on a 12u team, to a much lesser extent of course. He carried an extra bag or two at Cooperstown. So what. He sucked it up and moved on.

Believe me, there are parents worrying about scholarships long before freshman year.

I was working a baseball camp years ago. Kids up to 14. Kid was 12. Father asked me if I thought the kid could get drafted.

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
I was working a baseball camp years ago. Kids up to 14. Kid was 12. Father asked me if I thought the kid could get drafted.

Did you tell him that we now have a volunteer army?

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Good one Tex!



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http://www.hulu.com/watch/7868...high-school-baseball

TR and Gotwood;

You are both "on target". Here is a film of a Japanese HS team
as it prepares for its goal Koshien. Over 4,000 teams for the past 90 years compete to be one of 49 teams to play before 40,000 each game and 40 million on TV.

Practice daily 6 days a week begins at 6 am, classes and again practice at 3 PM to dark.

Each coach is trained like a "samurai" to teach and to win. Parents respect each coach and "never"interfere. Freshman and Sophomores rarely play on the Varsity. They pitch BP, "shag" baseballs and cheer the Seniors and Juniors.

Robert and I have for 30 years valued our experiences with the Goodwill Series/Japan.

Over 300 Major League players have played in this Goodwill Series, since 1983.

We cannot change our American players, parents and coaches, however we can study and observe other countries and try to find a "happy medium".

Next December in Brisbane we have the opportunity to play a Japan State team and the Queensland State team in a 3 team Goodwill Series.

Our players need to be mentally and physically strong. Our coaches and I do not intend to lose.

Thank you for this subject, it was timely!

Bob

I thought it but did not say it.

Several years ago I was chatting with a mid major D1 coach who ran age 7-12 summer clinics in our town park for three weeks. He was raking in the bucks for the team's spring trip.

I asked if parents asked if their sons had college potential. He said almost every day. His response was, "If your son works hard there's no telling how far he will go." He explained it's telling the parents two things yet they hear something else. He was telling them "Work hard" and "there's no telling."

Parents would show up at LL practice and games saying this college coach told them their son has college potential. What was he supposed to tell the parent of a 7-12 year old? Your kid sucks. You're wasting money.

There's nothing worse than a whiny freshman parent who thinks their freshman kid should be on varsity and playing over upperclassman. Whats just as bad is when they comment on how when the freshman team makes varsity, they'll blow the doors off how the current class is playing just because they may have won some freshman tournament or think their kids are better than those on the current varsity squad. They are clueless and a good kick in the teeth would be good for these blowhards who have no respect for the players who earned their playing time and paid their dues in the system..

My son's high school coach understood travel players might be mre advanced based on their talent and choosing to play travel. He tracked all his future potential players starting with who made LL all-stars. He attended middle school practices and games a few times per year. But he didn't care where kids played. It was about talent displayed in front of him when it counted.

In my experience the noisy freshmen/freshmen parents quiet down when they get their first humbling shot at the upper level.

The ones that were quiet from the start usually find success when the opportunity is afforded to them.

I worry about my freshman son getting a scholarship.

I just am not thinking about it being related to baseball.

Parents need to realize that there are more important things than what position their son plays. My son's team had eight players that were academically not eligible to play. A team nearby didn't even have a freshman team because 18 (yes 18) kids that played baseball were not academically eligible to play.

quote:

Originally posted by Wklink:
I worry about my freshman son getting a scholarship.

I just am not thinking about it being related to baseball.

Parents need to realize that there are more important things than what position their son plays. My son's team had eight players that were academically not eligible to play. A team nearby didn't even have a freshman team because 18 (yes 18) kids that played baseball were not academically eligible to play.

Is there lead in the drinking water?

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Around Olympia? No lead in the water...just tum!



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quote:

Originally posted by RJM:

quote:

Originally posted by Wklink:
I worry about my freshman son getting a scholarship.

I just am not thinking about it being related to baseball.

Parents need to realize that there are more important things than what position their son plays. My son's team had eight players that were academically not eligible to play. A team nearby didn't even have a freshman team because 18 (yes 18) kids that played baseball were not academically eligible to play.

Is there lead in the drinking water?

I don't think so. To be honest I think some of with this school is large number of deployments that many of these kids' parents have been on. It has to be hard enough being a teenager moving into a new area, it has to be harder when your dad or mom has been away from home for three out of your last six years. I know that some of my son's friends have had this problem.

It is part of the reason I retired from the Army after 20 years and turned down the opportunity to pin on that Major's oak leaf. My son was still young when I deployed in 2003 and I decided that my career, as important as it was, was not more important than my family. I was lucky, I had the opportunity to retire and continue on making decent money in this area. A lot of parents don't have that option and that means continued deployments for 6 months to a year. It is hard on a teenager and some of them aren't dealing well with it.

I am sure there are others that are just flat out dumb but I won't talk about them.

quote:

Originally posted by Innocent Bystander:

Well I'll be jiggered!
I didn't know you lived in our school district until I read that post!