quote:
Originally posted by The Swami:
Negatives of summer ball:
1. Could give a kid a false sense of his abilities. No attendance zones, no requirements. Go pick a team you like and a coach you like- regardless of where you live.
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3. Bunting, baserunning, hustling on and off the field, picking each other up on defense, etc. seem to be forgotten fundamentals.
4. A great amount of playing time can cause a kid to become complacent and misled as to what his strengths/weaknesses actually are.
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My fear is... since kids can obtain exposure and scholarships from just summer ball and showing off their own skills...the HS season is not what it once was and every year is getting a bit worse. Fundamentals and team-oriented thinking are slipping and it's scary.
False sense of abilities? I would argue just the opposite. A player on a good select team will play very tough competition. He will find out pretty quickly how he stacks up in the "big pond". I can't think of a better way for a player and his parents to get an idea of where their player really stands.
And the strengths and weaknesses become evident when playing against the toughest competition (e.g., select). They may not be evident playing HS ball's weaker competition.
I find the fundamentals lacking at my son's HS. But not on the select teams with which he has played.
Let me give an example. The highly touted players at my son's HS have a habit of not sliding when sliding is called for. When stealing a base (for instance), they often go in standing up. They play such weak competition that they get away with this 99% of the time. The opposing catchers have weak arms & poor mechanics. The opposing pitches are slow to the plate and don't know how to hold runners. So there is no price to pay for not sliding. If any of these boys played good select ball, they would get put out in a heartbeat.
The same kids take short leads at first, so they don't have to dive back on a pick attempt but can come back standing up. For the aforementioned reasons, they can still steal successfully even with the short lead. Heaven help them if they try stealing against a good select team.
Playing against tougher competition requires using the fundamentals. And makes the lack thereof stand out quite well.
I do agree that the HS season is not what it once was.
Select has affected LL Inc. at the younger ages. And to some degree it is affecting HS ball for the same reasons. I think that one day we will see HS aged select ball in the spring. Maybe not in the next year or two, but eventually.
Select - at least the good select - offers several advantages. No booster clubs. No parents with a brother-in-law on the school board, working through the back channels. No big donors writing checks for Junior's playing time. Much tougher competition. If the player earns it, he gets it.
Please note, I am not condemning all HS ball. {Don't shoot, ctiger!
You're one of the good guys.} There are some well run programs. Unfortunately there are some poorly run programs. There are also good & poor select teams. But the player can switch from a poor select team. He is stuck with his HS for good or bad.
The competition issue is pretty structural, and goes back to limited recruiting boundaries vs. unlimited.
Am I looking forward to summer? To be honest, yes. I'm sick of watching my son's HS run rule every opponent. That is not good ball IMHO. But that is my son's particular situation.
I don't have stats, sorry!
Got to be something they can be doing...
