Skip to main content

24 replies

Just when I think I'm out they drag me back in!

CallawayCallaway500+ posts
I was actually excited about my son "only" playing rec ball this spring. Even though he enjoys the heightened competition of AAU/USSSA ball, the thought of not having to police his pitch counts and deal with multiple coaches and the constant conflict of interest between the two teams, this season was going to be different. He was only going to play for one team and all would be happy in Mudville...

So much for that. Two nights ago the phone rings and it is a coach (very good coach and friend) assembling the "best" team in our area combining the "best" players from all of the local AAU teams with the intention of carrying an elite team to Orlando in July. He named each player from each team that has been invited to tryout and asked the DREADED QUESTION ...can your son tryout this Saturday! Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!

Don't get me wrong, the list of 11 players being invited to "tryout" is impressive and Boomer is friends with or knows most of them. But, I am tired of the conflicts!

I know, the easy answer would be to simply play for the new team because that is what my son would prefer and he would be able to play with very good ball players and would no doubt have a great time in FL. Unfortunately, his mother insists that he play on the local(social) rec team and that is the problem.

Knowing her position about the rec team and my feelings about multiple teams, I told the coach, thank you, but no thanks. But it didn't end there...

Last night, I get a call from my ex-wife, bless her heart (and the coach's for contacting her directly). She informed me that Boomer will be playing for BOTH teams this spring. I tried to convince her that he should pick one team because of all of the headaches involved (me protecting his arm), but to no avail. He will be going Saturday for the select team tryouts and next Friday for the Major tryouts.

Here we go again... Just when I think I'm out they drag me back in!!!
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

G GnR10+ posts
Wow...

Last year we had a few conflicts with rec ballers and others on our team. For our Manager, and the parents of both players, it was very difficult. The players did OK with it. I had a hard time with my son playing flag football at the same time as travel ball, and I was coaching him in both and controlled the times w/flag football. I sympathize...

Keep your chin up...There are always times in life that are difficult until we look back and think....**** that was a fun year.

GnR
H HotCornerDad100+ posts
I have been told that from our decisions in life we get one of four things. Life, Death, Blessings, or Curses.

Your situation sounds something more a kin to gum on the bottom of a shoe, really sticky and may leave a big mess to clean up. Good luck, and protect that kids arm. Don't let some sycophant, ( Big Grin big words hee hee) coach tear him up as I am sure you won't.
K KnuckleCurve100+ posts
The past 2 years we did both rec & travel (11yr & 12yr seasons). I found the key is being VERY upfront about schedule conflicts and which team would take priority. Once the coach knew what the situation was I made sure he still wanted my son to play. This reduced some...but not all the stress.

My son enjoyed playing in both rec & travel. And both situations had their pro's & con's. Although is was very hectic at time I do look back and think it was a good move for him.

I am also glad that this year he is only playing on one team.

Callaway....my heart goes out to you. These are not fun situations to be in. Hope all works out for the best.
Last edited by KnuckleCurve
gratefulgrateful1,000+ posts
Callaway.....I think I remember you mentioning this some months ago......I think that the ex-wife and you should definitely have the majority (if not all) of the say in this, in comparison to the 'new' wife. I am assuming that the ex-wife is his mother. I am not discounting her involvement, I just think that Boomer's opportunities should never be limited by a step-parent's opinions.
Last edited by grateful
CallawayCallaway500+ posts
grateful

Sorry for the confusion. There is NO new wife. I am happily single! Boomer lives with his mom and I moved to about 3 blocks away. Smile I pick him up every day from school and have great visitation.

However, his one and only mom has legal custody, so she has the authority to put him on both teams, one team or no team if she chooses.
gratefulgrateful1,000+ posts
Callaway.....my confusion is my problem!!!! I am divorced and have been happily single for quite some time myself!!! As a parent, though, we choose to make parenting our priority and baseball (along with other sports) is part of it.

So with your scenario----ladies, please don't get too upset with me----the mom's mind has been changing; imagine that!!
Last edited by grateful
CallawayCallaway500+ posts
cball

He played in well over 100 games for each of the past two seasons. I pulled him in July for a break and worked on conditioning for the past several months. My plan was to let him play Dixie until after All Stars and then find a good travel team for him.

If he had it his way he would only play travel ball, but that is not an option because his mom likes the social aspect of Dixie. He is working on her. He has more "pull" than I do.Smile

***************************************

The tryouts were today. They are filling one spot on their AAU team and had about 20 kids show up. They are really looking for another catcher. He put on the gear and did ok. His throws to 2B were good. (He has only played catcher a few times). His hitting was strong, so if he makes the team it will be because of his stick and not his catching ability.

I actually felt best about his speed. Several of the dads and coaches that know him said that he has really improved his running speed. He worked very hard these past months running sprints, laps, running laps with his medicine ball, blowing cookies and running some more...

The tryouts were scheduled for 2:00PM and he had his uniform on at 8:00AM this morning, cup and all! They have a few more kids to look at tomorrow and on Tuesday. The 10 players that they already have are the best in the area.

We'll see what happens. If he makes the team, great. If not, that's ok too.

R.
C cball500+ posts
Will,
I don't look at rec ball as no talent. More of a group of kids who may be just starting in baseball. I think it's better for them to play with kids on their level and the same goes for the advanced or more experienced players too. There are levels of advancement in just about everything. If my son was just starting out rec is where we would be. And lovin' it.
W Will1,000+ posts
c ball

Maybe it is a matter of semantics. rec ball little league Babe ruth. Having experienced the Little league and Babe Ruth thing it seems that all they worry about is the tournament team. play the in house league get it over with pick the "all stars" and lets go. There becomes a system where the "good players"( in the opinion of whoever and whatever) are signaled out at an early age( i have seen t ball all star scores) Some kids figure why bother. i remember when my son was playing Babe Ruth. there was 2 games remaining on the in house schedule. Because of rain outs etc the games were canceled. I asked the coach he said they had to get the tournament team together. Well there are 15 kids on the tournament team and there were 8 in house teams of the same. So the 100 + kids payed their registration fee for a schedule of x amount of games. Is it about playing baseball or catering to the "all stars" who in reality could play 2 games and go home.
CallawayCallaway500+ posts
Will

That pretty much sums it up. The All Star team has all but been picked before the tryouts even start. That's not to say that the kids on the bubble each year will change, but the core 10-11 kids have made All Stars every year since coaches pitch.

I think that is what mom likes. She knows that her son will be on the All Star team and the "quality" of baseball is meaningless to her........Arrrrggghhhh!!!!
C cball500+ posts
I guess it's different where we play. We switched to USSSA from pony years ago and have never played LL. We have a program where the teams are A, AA, AAA, and major. I have scouted many lower classification gaames and found players who are on my current team. They were able to make the next step. But I do not look at the teams in those divisions as inferior. maybe just less experienced.

I watched my nephew last year in a LL 11 yo team game in which the only out in the game other than a strikeout was a weak grounder that the SS fielded and stepped on 2b for a force out. I'm sure my select 8's at the time could have routed either of those teams. But were the kids playing that day having fun and equally matched? yes of course. And I had a blast watching my nephew play. It's all relative as they say.
Last edited by cball
H HotCornerDad100+ posts
25 Teams of 11 and 12 y/o many returning, some new, some coming in fro local LL orgs to Join the PONY Org. This league sets up an upper and lower division, Western and Eastern. The competition in the divisions is level both sets of teams play with great intencity. So far it has worked out nicely. Each year the Western Division Coaches draft payers to fill their roster from 8-13 players, the first 7 are frozen. Hey there are 1600 kids in PONY here and 3 LL in the city each with 600+ players, in one city. There are enough travel teams in this city to almost start their own league. Fortunes of being in a large town, now the other side of the coin. Smaller town 8 11-12 y/o teams PONY, 14 LL teams at this age. The All-Star team wasn't pre-chosen but there were the 6-9 heirs apparent. So I have seen both side of the coin The large league has issues out-side of the All-Star team we have the Luxury of being able to field 2 or 3 teams per division. One thing that has been included is an Intra-League All-Star selection for kids that had great seasons but did not make the Traveling All-Star team. This ends up including another 48 lids that we give an All-Star hat and trophy to. I like the Intra-league All-Star deal it was I believe a nice way to recognize players that worked hard and great seasons.
CallawayCallaway500+ posts
TR

That is what they did. They had called me several times previously and I turned them down. They created the team as you suggested but still needed another catcher. They decided to hold a tryout for the remaining spot and contacted his mother directly. So, we took him to the tryout and he made the team.

He is very happy about making this team and the rec situation may turn into a good thing if he can get extra work and experience behind the plate.

So maybe mom was right afterall... it wouldn't be the first time she proved me wrong. Smile

I notified the rec league that he will be playing travel ball so that the coach that drafts him will know ahead of time.

R.
H HiHardHeat1,000+ posts
Callaway ....

Pretty much the same thing happened to us in the past. Junior ended up on his Travel team and also playing local rec ball as part of his social life and being part of the local gang.

He hated the rec ball. It was horrible. Most of the better players had washed their hands of rec and had also moved on. The team had more holes than swiss cheese. Pop-ups to 3B in fair territory invariably led to a runner at 2nd base. As a pitcher, it drove him crazy.

We wouldn't let him quit ... he understood that, his word is his bond ... but he hated every single minute of it.

Don't make the same mistake. Don't force a good player to play on a bad team for social reasons. He can see his buds after school or somewhere else.
CallawayCallaway500+ posts
Well, we're out of AAU, at least until Rec is over. Mom decided that it was simply too much to do both... My son wasn't happy, but he may still be able to join the AAU team after Rec.

Honestly, I have mixed emotions, but now that his role in Majors has been determined it is probably for the best. His Dixie Majors team plays 2 games per week and they use a 2-man rotation. He starts every game and pitches for 3 innings and then the other pitcher finishes.

He has given up 2 hits in 3 games and only 1 walk. All of his off-season long toss is really paying off. He is batting in the 4 hole and has gone 5 for 6 with 2 doubles, 2 walks and 1 HBP. Granted, this is Dixie and not AAU but he is doing better than I expected against the 12yo pitching at 46ft.

His AAU coach was disappointed but it was ok. He may hold a spot for the Disney trip as a pitcher or DH. We'll see.

Bottom line is that he is having a lot of fun in Majors and his grades were very good. IMO, that is the most important thing.

Add Reply

Post
.

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Advanced Search
Advanced Search
Link copied to your clipboard.
×