My 12YO son is in the midst of one of his worst slumps ever and at the worst possible time - Little League All-Stars. After only K'ing 6x over a 21-game season, he's K'ed 4x in 4 games (and has 2 hits). Usually, one might attribute that to simply facing better pitching in All-Stars. However, that has not been the case, as 3 of these 4 games have been cakewalks, facing similar pitching to regular season.
He's still pounding the ball in the cage and during BP, but in games, he appears to have NO confidence. "I'm terrible" were his words after a recent game.
Now... my son, like his Dad, is a deep thinker and sometimes can't stay out of his own way [mentally]. But I'm quite sure here's how he got this way. Last year, as an 11YO, he played every inning of every game at 2B during All-Stars and batted 4th. He delivered too, leading the team in average, OBP, RBIs and had his first HR. He also made only 1 error over 7 games.
This year tho... the manager seemed to fall in love w/ coach-pitched BP HR Derby at practices and the kids who hit the most HRs in practice are getting the most playing time and batting in the top of the order. My son is now a 3-4 inning player at 3B or LF, batting 7th or 8th.
Now I certainly wouldn't mind that if he'd actually been given the opportunity to compete for "his" position (2B and top 5 in the order) and lost it; but that hasn't been the case. Instead, the manager brought an 11YO from his regular season team, and he's been desperately trying to showcase him. He batted him 2nd for 3 games. When he got 0 hits, he finally moved him down to 9th. He also pitched him a game, but [as many predicted], he got lit up for 3 HRs and 6 runs. Now, he moved him in from LF to 2B. You see, our league has a guideline that "if you bring an 11YO onto the team, he s/b expected to start and play 5+ innings". IOW, don't bring him up over a 12YO to be a sub. But the manager has translated this into "I have to [more like 'get to'!] start him every game" [regardless of performance].
I've tried to help my son stay focused on making the best of the time he does get, but he just feels during every AB like "if I don't get a hit this time, I'm going to be benched". And that's exactly what has happened at least a couple games. Right after he makes an out, his sub comes in and plays the next 2 or 3 innings. And the kid he splits games w/ is one of the coaches sons, a player who by most estimations, would be a 1-inning player if his father wasn't a coach.
I know this is just part of baseball, but it's so tough for a 12YO to deal with, when in his mind, he came into All-Stars as a returning proven veteran, had a good regular season (only 1 HR, but lots of doubles/triples/singles) and thought he'd be given a chance to compete for more playing time.
Of course, then we get into games and the kids who have the luxury of playing 5 or 6 innings are much more relaxed and do produce (at least vs. weak pitching because in the only game they faced a true "All-Star caliber" pitcher, the first 4 batters of the game K'ed and we only put up 1 run), whereas the kids who play 1-3 innings are anxiously pressing in every AB. This is tough on all kids for sure, but I suspect even tougher to have HAD the opportunity (last year) and produced, then had it taken away.
I've talked w/ my son about "staying in the moment" and using breathing techniques to relieve tension, etc., but it's still hard for him to do. He did manage a double in the gap the last game (weak pitching), but he also had a very ugly/confused/inconfident K earlier that game.
I've also suggested that he think of the life of an MLB pinch hitter (i.e. Sierra) and how they must remain calm/focused for if/when they get a chance to hit (every few games).
This is all probably good stuff to consider, but still very hard for a 12YO to implement.
Any other ideas? I just want this tournament to END and move on to helping him prepare for Cooperstown next month, followed by fall ball on the big field.
