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Opinions Please

C cong1,000+ posts
I would like to get your opinion on a situation that has arisen.

My son's team played in an AAU type tournament this past weekend. 10 teams in the 12u age bracket. I noticed some of the better teams in the State were missing when I saw the schedule. NJ is small but densely populated and I know of at least 10 rather good AAU teams in the state in that age bracket, many of which play in the same league as my son's team. When I saw the schedule, I only saw the name of 1 of those other teams. All the rest of the team names were lower level teams.

OK, I think this is not going to be a very exciting tournament.... Well I was half right Smile

The team who I expected to be a real challenge are a talented team of players with a coach of questionable sportsmanship. They often win at tournaments and came in second in the competitive league. The coach is a yeller and a screamer and I have seen him bring his own son to tears on many occasions and scream at his players and even leave the field in disgust. Not the guy I want coaching my son. (my son player for him for 4 weeks at age 9 and we moved on quickly and happily) They have had a lot of player turn-over over the years for obvious reasons.

It seems that this team was not really the team that had played all season in the league (which has well defined roster rules). This tournament team was comprised of what just might be 12 of the top 20 or so players in the entire state. Some how, this coach has taken the best 3 or 4 players from the top 4 teams in the state and made 1 super team. We held our own in the tournament and took second place. This super team rolled over the rest of the teams and as fortune would have it, we played them twice, losing each game, the second being the championship game!

I don't know if the other top teams have disbanded, or these players have moved on permanently. I just don't know the entire story... I hope the other teams are still around, or baseball will become less fun in the coming seasons.

Now, with all that background, here are my questions Smile

Unless this team was built for big out of state tournaments, (I believe they just got back from Cooperstown) what fun is it to steam roll over less talented local teams? (except of course to build up their name for recruiting) Unless another super team is created from the remains of those other teams, there will be little challenge to this goup of players in state.

Would you as a parent let you son play for a guy who screams and yells and throws fits in front of players, parents and everyone just to be on a winning team?
cong [url=http://www.youthbaseballcoaching.com/]Youth Baseball Coaching[/url] "In a child, sports build character. In adults, sports reveal character."
Last edited {1}
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BBfamBBfam500+ posts
Not a chance! To me, this is too impressionable of an age to let my son play for a coach that winning is the most important thing. Boys this age should not only be learning the physical aspects of baseball, but also the mental and sportsmanship of the game. While the team may good as far as talent, it will only harm most of them in the long run. Kids learn by what they see modeled and their coach should be their role model.
redbird5redbird510,000+ posts
Cong,

I coach my son's 11U (now 12U) team. We have been approached by many teams to "merge". We do just fine on our own and do not see the point in doing so. As a matter of fact, we played up vs. 12U all year so we didn't just steamroll everyone. I thought it was in our best interest to challenge our players rather than 15 run some poor team in 3 innings.

One question about the screamer - does he teach the kids anything?
C cong1,000+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by redbird5:
One question about the screamer - does he teach the kids anything?


Yes, he does know baseball and he does teach, but he is not a good teacher... He was yelling at 9 year olds!

He is a pretty good coach. He just should not be around kids. He would probably make a good coach for older players.
B banditodad1210+ posts
JMO, our coach isa paid instuctor and he is very loud , intimidating and you must have thick skin to play for him. If you ask most of the kids that play for him and they would run through a brick wall for him. I do not agree with all that he says or does, but he does produce results. See the link.

Last year was his first class that graduated H.S. and all recieved some sort of scholarship.

See the link.

http://www.banditosbaseballclub.com/22907_34120.asp
Last edited by banditodad12
CallawayCallaway500+ posts
So many of my coaches growing up were yellers and screamers that I don't trust the quiet ones. Smile Sometimes the loudest ones have the biggest hearts. Trust me, the kids know. I have no problem with a loud coach. If I had a nickle for every time my football coach yelled C-A-L-L-A-W-A-Y!!!!! I would be a rich man. My mother used to ask me after games if it bothered me when he yelled and I would tell her "Nay, I'm just his favorite!"

R.
Last edited by Callaway
C cong1,000+ posts
I was happy to find out that this super team was put together just so the yelling coach could field a team for the tournament, or at least that is what the coach posted on a local NJ baseball forum. We shall see in a couple of weeks when Fall Ball starts.

My very talented college coach never yelled. He taught me so many years ago..... "when dealing with baseball players (you could replace baseball player with anything really) I find that a whisper is louder than a yell" he went on to describe that a player will stop and try harder to hear the whisper and would turn away from constant yelling. He also taught me to temper my criticisms with positives.....

Callaway, I too had some crazy football coaches who loved to yell. I think that kind of coach is more suited to football. The yelling coach can physically psych up a player and that psych is more apt to be beneficial in football..
Last edited by cong
Lefty's DadLefty's Dad100+ posts
I played college football and coached high school football for 18 years. Here's my take on the yelling coaches do. If a guy always yells, kids learn to tune that out. If he's always yelling how do they distinguish if what he's yelling about now is any more important than anything else he yells about? If he never yells the kids may not get a sense of urgency about anything. I have this philosophy when I coach. I'm going to "coach'em up" on what to do. If they screw it up, maybe I didn't reach them in their preferred modality, so I'll coach'em up again. If they still botch it we'll go at it agin. Now after the third time they ought to know what I'm after or their head isn't where it should be and some yelling maybe in order. And sometimes in games the urgency of the situation calls for it. If a child is playing in the street and a car is coming, you don't reason with him as to why he needs to get out of the street. You yell at him. Sorry to ramble, but for me I'd just have to see the guy coach to know if I want my kid to play for him. Yelling by itself would not disqualify him in my book.
L lafmom5,000+ posts
While I've never been a coach, I think you can tell from these posts - different styles may work for different kids. I think for most players though the teaching style might not be as important as the objective of the coach. My own son had a wonderful youth coach for five years. NEVER heard him raise his voice one time. He had a great passion for baseball and was taught my son much and remains a family friend to this day. As my son made the transition to HS ball, he had a JV coach that was loud and a screamer. Many folks didn't care for him. However, he too had a tremendous passion for the game as well as a high level of knowledge that he passed on to my son and others. He was never abusive or degrading to my son. My son learned a great deal and respects him to this day. Then varsity coach and assistants were very laid back, but obviously enjoyed being around their players and wanted to see their team succeed. My son learned many lessons - on the field and off from these gentlemen. Again, son will also value those relationships and I think will always remain in touch with those guys. In looking for college coach, some he liked were laid back and some very intense. The one common denominator was they loved baseball, wanted kids to improve, and they wanted to win.
C cong1,000+ posts
I just came across a post on another site that sums up my opinion on the yelling coach thing....

quote:
However, I try to point out to sceamer baseball coaches ...

... yell at a football player he might go out immediately and hit harder

... yell at a basketball player he might immediately run the court faster

... yell at a baseball player and he'll lose focus on the game while he's waiting for the next play to come his way

While every sport has it's cerebral side, baseball is more mental than any other sport.

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