just blowing off some steam

Dominick

Dont know what happened in your situation but just keep plugging. all district all this and all that is nice but if your son goes to play beyond HS all this and all that is just something they put in the program. My son walked on and made it. Just completed his 4 years eligibility. Looking back and reading the team program booklet a lot of those all this and all that players left or quit or whatever.

Dominick,

I don't blame you one bit for the way you feel. For what its worth, that story bugs the c-r-a-p out of me as well. Totally bogus and disrespectful what the coach did. Why do people do things like this? He could have taken all three boys, tried to explain his logic to the ones that weren't taken, or not taken any of them. It doesn't seem its worth the disharmony. I also agree with Will but it still doesn't make it right.

In my experience if you fixate on what is fair or right you will go crazy. Life is not fair and that just carries over to the area of youth baseball. You either fight through it or you stop playing.

No doubt Will. I can't tell you how many times we have used negative experiences for positive gain. The cream rises to the top in the end. I would still be ticked off about it however, and yes, you do have to find a way to get past it.

I would never wait for the coach to tell me about showcases. I would pick where I wanted to go and be pro-active. If the coach helps, then fine. If not, I would be prepared.

Congrats to your son on his accomplishments. There is still time to make contacts and go to showcases where the schools he is interested in are attending.

dominick - our son just finished playing 4 years of high school baseball for a coach just like yours. I agree with Will and we have taken his approach that you just fight through it. There is so much politics in every facet of life, and baseball is no different. Good luck to your son, and encourage him to not let this hold him back - the cream usually rises to the top.

This is where being proactive comes in---dont wait for the other guy--do it yourself

This just one ship that has sailed--there are many others--make sure you are on board for those coming up

If you want give me a call and lets see what we can do for you

Tom Rizzi
http://www.collegeselect.org
800-782-3672

Dominick,
Thanks for “blowing off steam”. This is a topic that needs to be discussed but since we can’t change it, we’ll just try to understand it a little better. There are many factors that determine awards or team selection and just as many that fuels the arguments of why or how players are selected. This process gets very complicated with rose colored glasses, daddy ball, the player’s stats that never lie (or the other player’s stats that always lie), personality conflicts, and politics. If we pick one or two awards and make an issue out of those awards and somehow relate those awards to your son’s accomplishments, we are taking our son’s future out of his own hands and allowing those people or coaches that pass out the awards to control his destiny. I agree with the Will, TRHit, BigHit15, Cleveland Dad and topdogfan; they give good advice. You have to be proactive and make things happen. I went to a 7-8 year old all-star game last night. Some of these boys played really well and have talent. I wondered how many of these players and their parents will end up “waiting” for something to happen. If history repeats itself as it usually does, the answer is...MOST of them.
Even if a player does win an award or are selected to “all-star” teams, they will be passed over numerous times in their career. We parents have to get used to that. My son has many awards that say “participant” or co-MVP, and second place trophies. He was probably as excited over the “participation ribbon” in the third grade sack race as he was being named first team All-State in football and baseball. At some point in time he lost interest in all the hoopla and looks at the game as a self-rewarding challenge. I will take down the plaques, the trophies, read the newspaper articles, and remember the moments...but to my knowledge...he never does.
Fungo

Dom,

My experience has been that:

Sometimes your kid gets the recognition he deserves.
Sometimes your kid doesnt get the recognition he deserves.
And sometimes he gets recognition he doesnt deserve.

So be it. Life moves on - and you just keep playing the game until you cant anymore.

Good luck - be proactive and keep your chin up. It will help your kid IMO.

My last year of coaching I had a kid who (if you are into all league and stuff) got the short end. So much he did not get 2nd team. He was really dissappointed. Being a kid i tried to tell him that the team comes ahead of the awards etc etc etc but it hurt him. he could play. I called a D1 college coach who was a friend of mine( have a few) I told him about him. He called the kid told the kid to show up for practice as a walk on. to make a long story short he played 4 years and was their top hitter senior year. The 2 guys who made the all league 1st and second team never played in college. So to those who say life is not fair. It isn't but does not mean you give up.

quote:

He called the kid told the kid to show up for practice as a walk on. to make a long story short he played 4 years and was their top hitter senior year. The 2 guys who made the all league 1st and second team never played in college.

Will, it happens more often than not.

Regardless if happens all the time, it was a missed opportunity for the kid. Maybe those 3 kids were of even talent in the coaches eyes and he could only send 2 to the games. But, then again, if he couldn't find the time to go to the district meetings, maybe he should be coaching the Arts&Crafts team.

I'm glad I'm not in Dominicks shoes because I would be very tempted to go in and find out why. The games are over but the coach should be made aware that his decisions may carry a lot of weight in a young mans future, and that is part of his job. If all is on the up&up and he thought through his choices, so be it. But, if it was a knee-jerk decision he should be reminded that he should think those things through as he is an intricle part of his players future.

There comes a point where you have to make an opinion known, not for your sons sake, but for future kids that come through the program

7-8 year old "All Star" team?

How ridiculous!

Gross and fine motor skills haven't even started to finish developing!

quote:

Originally posted by itsinthegame:

Sometimes your kid gets the recognition he deserves.
Sometimes your kid doesnt get the recognition he deserves.
And sometimes he gets recognition he doesnt deserve.

So be it. Life moves on - and you just keep playing the game until you cant anymore.

Perfectly put, ya nailed it!

I don't know the coach or the situation but personally, I find it extremely hard to be everything to everyone. We just went through a similar situation. I had a 4-year starter that was all everything in my area and in the St. Louis area. However, I couldn't get him all-state. He is, in my opinion one of the best if not the best player I've ever coached. Naturally, his parents are disappointed in my efforts. I understand completely.

We had an area showcase where each school was limited in the number of kids that they could send. My player mentioned above was requested for the showcase because he was this coaches association's Player of the Year. My #1 pitcher was also requested for this showcase by the coaches committee because he was to receive their Pitcher of the Year Award. The last time I did math, that added up to 2 players. I had 6 players earn all conference. One of these kids was tops on our team in average. His parents wanted him to go to this showcase because the other two already had college scholarships in hand and he had a JUCO offer. Several of our underclass parents wanted their kids to get to go because all of my seniors do have someplace to play next year in college. WHAT THE HECK AM I TO DO?

I guess what I'm posting is that it isn't always as simple as it seems. Between running two seperate baseball camps, working 3 basketball camps, trying to maintain my baseball diamond in the middle of a "DO NOT WATER" restriction, coaching my daughter in softball and trying to continue my education to keep my job, I think that my job is too much for me sometimes. Certainly, I didn't have an agenda to hurt the chances for any of my players to continue their playing careers after high school. However, try to convice some parents of that! Again, I don't know your situation.

CoachB - I don't know if you are the exception or the rule for high school coaches, but you can coach my kid anytime. I know in our area we have a couple good ones like you, one who didn't even give kids letters from colleges that were sent to him for them(since fired!!), and a couple who may or may not work for your kid depending on what you can do for them. That's not a very good percentage of good ones, but again that may not be typical.

quote:

7-8 year old "All Star" team?

How ridiculous!

Gross and fine motor skills haven't even started to finish developing!

Dixie Youth coach pitch baseball (Kind of like little league for you folks in Illinois) starts at 7-8 and play maybe 10 games per year and then they select an "All Star team to represent their portion of their county (north, central, and south). These kids have fun and are a real pleasure to watch. But to label them as ridiculous is well...ridiculous.
Gross and fine motor skills are not required to play this level of baseball. It’s just a group of kids and their idiotic parents doing what American do all over this country. Yes I know this is just fun and games but I will also tell you there are some players at that early age that stand out as athletes.
Fungo

Don't know about other areas of the country, but here they even have t-ball all-stars.

As a parent, as you go through the process of HS or college ball, you will see a lot of recognition given to others when you feel your son was/is the better player and deserves more recognition, awards, opportunities, etc.
Many of tody's awards are given out based on stats, which might not normally mean it was given to the "best" player. It was your son's coachs' decision to send two others, you and your son have to learn how to deal with these situations.
That is why you need to learn not to depend on others, be pro-active.
What really matters is the personal victores and accomplishments that each player achieves for himself. Fungo is correct, you would be very surprised how little some boys really care about all the fuss or no fuss at all.
My son was fortunate to have many coaches who recognized he was a very good player, while not always awarding him as the "best player".

quote:

Originally posted by BeenthereIL:
7-8 year old "All Star" team?

How ridiculous!

Gross and fine motor skills haven't even started to finish developing!

My 8 YO has been Gross sense he was three. LOL

And he plays on a 8U All Star team. Check 'em out. He is the one called A-Mac.Corona Big Bad Boyz In Blue

Hot corner Dad,
What are "gross" motor skills? Pick and scratch?

Followed by wiping it on somthing Mom has to clean latter. hee hee hee hee

Kids are great.

My son was picked for an all-star team when he was 8. I thought it was funny but my son was pretty excited to play with other kids and had a blast.

Jason

quote:

Originally posted by HotCornerDad:
Followed by wiping it on somthing Mom has to clean latter. hee hee hee hee

Kids are great.

You know your kid has FINE motor skills when he can pick whatever needs to be picked (I can think of three places offhand) without causing bleeding. That is when they are ready for All-Stars and not a second before!!