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A great thing about coaching is you get to spend more time with your kids. It’s shared time with other players. But you’re still at practice and in the dugout together. I was fortunate to coach my daughter as an assistant through 18u Gold. I was able to coach my son as a head coach through 16u when he was fifteen.

Walking away from the dugout after a 16u tournament I told my son he was tuning me out and I had to find someone else to kick his rear to the next level. A 17u coach stuck out his hand and said hello. I had five kids he was interested in.

They all went to play elsewhere. But they played 17u together.

My oldest that just graduated is coaching a summer team with kids just going into HS. His goal is to get them to make their HS team. It's a very laid back team, these kids will never play college ball, and most don't want to. It's league play with maybe 2 tournaments towards the end of the season.

Outside of actually being at a game my kids have played in, this has been the most fun I've had at a baseball game in a long time. Pull up with a cooler, sit near no one and occasionally chirp an ump (jokingly).

Realized this when my son was 3. I was working for a big company and was doing well climbing the corporate ladder. However, I only got to see my family on weekends and even then I wasn’t “present”. Made the decision to quit my job and start my own business. Things have worked out and I never missed any of his school or sports events.

I tell every young parent I know, “if you can, figure out a way to be there as much as possible”. They will remember.

I wholeheartedly agree. I just got back from our first tournament we actually had to fly to and I thought it would be a waste of time and money. But I had the best one on one time with my son.  Great memories I will never forget.

My son's baseball career ended two years ago, at the end of his sophomore year in college, due to a labrum tear. Once that healed, he found golf.  While he was a PO in college, he was more of a first baseman and middle of the lineup guy through HS and Travel.  The power hitter translates to the golf course nicely; he can outdrive me by 75 yards (I'm not sure if that says more about him or me).  I am spending a lot of quality time on the golf course now with him. The problem is he will start his full-time job in under four weeks.  Golf is four-plus hours of real quality time, and I see a lot of that in our future.

I was also going to say that golf has provided hundreds of hours of quality family time for us.  Even those who don't play (me!) can spectate.

I wouldn't trade that time in life for anything.  I loved every second of sports with my kids and I wholeheartedly believed that I would lose my time with them after 18 (I still have one that is 16).  Surprisingly, that hasn’t happened yet. My 25 year old daughter, her husband and my granddaughter put a house on our property and my 22 year old son just moved into a tiny home on our property. We eat dinner at my house together about 4 times a week and play card or board games at least once a week. I’m holding onto every minute. I know it won’t last forever.

Two weeks ago I may have watched my 22 year old play for the last time. He told me that if it was, it was ok. I told him I had loved watching him through the years. It’s a hard thing to let go of when it has been a huge bond for 20 years.  Having him home for a few weeks also reminded me of how much he has missed. We will be just fine.

Getting personal here but lost my wife to cancer over a decade ago.  I altered my career to adjust being a single dad and still am just that.   I spent many many years in middle management, essentially killing my career and a lot of times feeling burned by that.  In recent years, I realized I wouldn’t trade it for anything.  I wish I could go back in time and have 5 more kids back then so I could enjoy this for another decade even with the same hardship.  It is very rewarding and fun to be there for your child.  I think it’s a hard thing for primary breadwinners (mom or dad or both) to see when they’re focused on career.  

I have been so blessed.  We didn't want our daughter to play travel ball.  When she did start, a whole new world opened up.  At the age of 10, she met her best friend who is still her best friend.  Her wedding party was comprised of softball teammates.  When she played her last college game, there were more than enough tears to go around.  She had already been coaching TB by that time and jumped into it full steam ahead.  Our conversations on coaching have never stopped.  She now coaches middle school and high school.  There are few days that go by that we don't talk about hitting and or fundamentals.

Right now, she and her husband have new twins.  (Boy and a Girl)  As I hold the twins, I constantly talk about playing ball with them.  People laugh at me but I know my time with them is limited.  I am getting old and the wife and I were the older parents when my daughter grew up.  The daughter and son-in-law are living with us now as their house is being built.  It will be one block from us.  The son-in-law is also a coach and he is getting acclimated to all of the coaching talk.

I know that what I get to experience is special.  I also know when to stay away and let my daughter and son-in-law learn from their mistakes and gain experience on their own.  I just stopped coaching at the local HS.  Instead, I will now take the twins to see their Mommy coach.  Life can not get much better.

Thank you all for sharing and for being so open and vulnerable. I also made career decisions to not travel while the kids were young. It hurt my career but I would not change a single thing. My husband coached the girls' basketball teams for 7 years and during that time, my son and I were baseball road dogs. To this day, he will still come home and do a late night puzzle or lego set with me and talk about life. A lot is changing really fast for us but I am so grateful for the strong relationships we have with all our kids. We are working on Starry Night right now (lego).

Great story's by all.

Left corporate america in 2009, mid management politics, outsourcing, you all know the deal.

Became the chauffeur for son since 7th grade, enjoyed every bit of his journey, shut my mouth and just recorded his activities.  Provided feedback when he asked.

Once he went to college (fall 2014), tried to figure out my next moves.

Did 3 years of research, tried to create something that would help student athletes and parents simplify their research.

I couldn't imagine missing one of my kids game.  I have been blessed with a job that allows me to.  Like others, I too have sacrificed career moves (due to not willing to relocate or what not).  I can't believe my middle son only has two years of summer ball left before he becomes a senior.  Time flies, like the saying says.  This year was the first year of doing a lot of traveling with him and we really enjoyed our time together.  

Like others, I've been very fortunate to have professional flexibility and time with my kids when they were younger.  I rarely missed any of their rec, travel, high school, American Legion or college games.  My wife was very much into the baseball experience as I was.

All three of my sons tried adult league baseball in our area, but that only lasted for a season or two.  My oldest has been playing tennis since he graduated in 2014, but he still can't beat his old man!  ;-)  He's also learned to play Padel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSIvS-Skg28) which is huge in Europe and I can't wait to try.   

A couple weeks ago, I played golf with two oldest sons.  Now, they've caught the golf bug in a big way.   The previous week I played golf with my youngest, and he's totally gone down the golf rabbit hole along with his Dad.   For me, I've found golf to be great way to spend time (4 hours with no distractions) with my sons.   We have a lot of fun, and it keeps our family relationships tight.   I'm looking forward to spending more time with them in the future.

I was and am the primary breadwinner. When my son was in HS, I had lots of paperwork I had to sign, so I took it to games and signed it between innings. I was super proud of how efficient I was, until the day my son told me that if I didn't have time to go to games, I shouldn't go. So I signed the paperwork at night or after games and was really there for him, and he knew it.

Now my daughter is 27 and my son is 24. They live on opposite ends of the country — he's in Alabama, she's in Oregon, we're in Iowa. They suggested that we do a phone call every two weeks that's just the four of us. No grandparents, no fiancees, just us. I love it and I love that we raised kids who want to talk to each other and to us, and are willing to set aside an hour or so every couple of weeks to do it.

I am proud to be in the same company with these great parents who picked their kids over career without regret.  I told the better half we can use our late 50s to hard charge it with our careers since the kids will be moved out permanently by then. We will stop when the grand kids arrive

I took on additional youth sports responsibilities like coaching and being commissioner of leagues. The idea was if I could control the scheduling I could do my business travel and get to all the games. One year a parent realized there weren’t any Monday and Tuesday games on the schedule. And there never were.

When I was in Canada I thought in terms of metric. I gor back to a Wednesday night game I expected to miss. I explained I drove over 140 to get to the airport in time. Then I realized what I said …. In kilometers.

I have talked about this before. I got into coaching reluctantly. But I realized quickly that I was better qualified to coach than the dads that had no playing experience. I started in tee ball with my oldest son. As my kids aged up I went along with them. I went thru a nasty divorce in 2010. I was coaching 2 of my sons baseball teams at that time and I am still thankful for that. My ex-wife attempted to alienate my kids from me and me coaching them prevented that from happening. I was able to spend time with my boys with a focus in baseball and not family problems. In that setting my kids were able to see who I really was. And I was able to spend time with them centered on an activity that we all loved. I would not trade those days for anything. Today I have a great relationship with all 3 of my boys. And I thank baseball for at least part of that.