Random Thoughts--Installment # 4

TR, our high school baseball programs here in our county still suffer from the ill-effects of what is being taught at the younger ages. We have maybe a dozen high schools in our county and only a few have from time to time kids who played quality travel ball instead of LL.

Arms are weak. Fielding is suspect at best. The overall "wherewithall" of what goes on between the lines is nonexistent. By the time they get to the HC in high school he MIGHT be able to get them ready to play the game the right way their senior year if he's lucky.

What DO you do?

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Funny thing is you offer your time to the town LL, as I have, to run free clinics during the offseason they turn you down---are they afraid of letting an alien into their little fiefdom and possibly making them look bad

Ted Nolan former NHL coach, offered to help a AAA hockey team here and they declined his help. Threatens their turf and shows how little some coaches actually know about their sport. He even offered to just assist the coach and stay in the back ground. No takers.

Scary isnt it ???

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Funny thing is you offer your time to the town LL, as I have, to run free clinics during the offseason they turn you down---are they afraid of letting an alien into their little fiefdom and possibly making them look bad

Bingo! We had former college and pro players sitting in the stands while tenured dads who knew nothing got teams. When I found out one of my player's dads pitched to AAA I starting using him in practice. When the league found out he had to stop for two weeks until the next board meeting, when he was approved to be on the practice field.

When my son joined a showcase team this year I stopped coaching. I went back to the LL and offered to coach. My hope was to get a team. At the least I was willing to be a roving hitting instructor. I was told being a coach would take a spot from a deserving dad (more like tenured know nothing). And there was no such position as league hitting instructor. I was told it would upset people if one team utilized my services more than another team.

TR that is a great post and a great topic of discussion. When I first started coaching HS baseball I assumed some things.

Kids knew when to tag and when not to tag.
Kids knew how many outs there were at all times.
Kids knew the count at all times.
Kids ran scenarios through their heads before every pitch so they could react properly depending on what took place on each pitch.
Kids had a general understanding of how to run the bases including "what" a primary lead was and a secondary lead was.
Kids understood the dropped 3rd strike rule.

I could go on and on and on.

And many of these kids had been playing baseball since they were 5 and 6 years old. Many had played on "travel" teams. Almost all had played 2 years of middle school baseball that plays the exact same rules and size field as High Schools in our county.

So I got educated very quickly. I decided to go and meet the Middle School coach. I told him I would like for him to bring his Middle School team to our JV practices and work with us one day a week. I offered a camp which he could work with our staff for his players for free in the summer. This is what I got in return. "Thanks Coach I will think about it and get back to you." Then I started to hear from parents of the Middle School program that this coach was bashing me for meddleing in his program. He started bashing our staff and talking trash saying we had no clue what we were doing.

After hearing all I could hear I decided to take a trip back to his school and meet him face to face. I told him what I had heard and wanted to know if it was true. He denied it. I told him if I continued to hear it I was going to kick his a**.

So I continue to get kids from Middle School that have no fn clue. I start from scratch with many. The only ones that have a clue are the ones that play for a former player or someone that actually played the game.

As you can tell this is a sore topic for me. The players get cheated by a clown who is so determined to protect his turf that he hurts the players. I hear from other coaches this happens all the time. I suggest that if your young player is determined to be a player focus on the coaching , the instruction , the type of person that is coaching them way more than the trophies they are winning.

When my son was in 8th grade the new varsity coach came over to the middle school and showed the coach how to run practice by running one. Over the season he ran three or four middle school practices when it didn't interfere with his schedule. He explained to the kids and the coach what knowledge he expected players to have when they arrive as high school freshmen.

To me, the years between little league and HS are the key learning years. Little league is full of kids that are put there by their parents, and they often don't want to be there. There isn't much you can teach a kid who doesn't care to learn. Many kids aren't ready to focus at that age, and it is the last time that dads get to be on the field with their kids.

I've seen too many really good players in HS that were nothing in little league to believe that little league is the problem. Those years leading up to high school (when the field reaches full size) are where clueless dads need to be replaced by quality coaches with real baseball expertise. This can still be a dad, but this is where the kids can be taught the intricacies of the game by quality instructors.

I really think we have just become incredibly indulgent of the kids. We'd rather seem them play dress up, put on their uniforms and play games than actually learn how to play properly. We spend more effort on picture day than we do on practices. I see travel teams spending absurd amounts on top-of-the-line uniforms. Then they go spend weekends in hotels in other states just to play against other teams no better than the ones in their own back yards.

Kids all want to be stars. They want to pitch and hit, but no one cares about defense or situations or base running or sacrificing. Well, it's normal for kids to be self-absorbed. That is the essence of immaturity. What has changed is, we for some reason think that's cute, something to be embraced and indulged and by the way, here have a trophy just for dressing up and what's for snacks?

Kids have indeed always been this way. But once upon a time, parents taught them to cut it out. Now we're the ones throwing logs on the fire. And woe be unto you if you enter your local rec league with the instructional attitude. Why, you're taking the fun out of the game!

I always thought baseball WAS fun and playing it well was even more fun. These days I hear so often from folks who think baseball is boring and therefore, they want you to turn practice into something else to keep it interesting, you know, like when the babysitter reads them a story.

If you think baseball is boring you aren't doing it right. Baseball is fascinating. You can play hundreds of games and still find yourself in situations you've never seen before, having to use not just your physical skills but your wits as well.

My advice is, play it right, seek out kindred souls, and discover why baseball is still the greatest game ever invented. The other poor folk don't know what they're missing.

I think we'd all agree that there comes a certain age where the "fun" and "cuteness" of baseball goes away, and beginning to learn "how" to play the game begins. What that age is, I don't know...maybe 12'ish...?

I think from the ages of 6 up to age 12 baseball (and other sports activities) is good for the kids so that they can get outside and get exercise. Get out of the house and away from video games and the like.

I remember when younggunson was 6 and playing on his first team. The 3 coaches ALL played College ball and had a son on the team. Very knowledgeable and made it fun for the boys. I distinctly remember watching them trying to teach hitting the inside corner of the bases when running. (As a parent who had never really heard of this, I was quite impressed!) The boys began running as they were instructed to only to eventually see who could outrun who around the bases! LOL. Eventually he tired of baseball because of too much standing around I suppose and played s*****r (the communist kickball sport!) and I was miserable until he turned 11 and wanted to start baseball again. I sat in the bleachers and watched a coach/dad (not the same ones as earlier) trying to teach younggunson how to pitch. Had no clue what he was trying to teach. I went and purchased some pitching videos and taught him myself.