BASEBALL IS FUN, not work!
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I know a teacher who refers to classwork to be done at home as "homeFUN", not "homeWORK".
This could be one of the reasons that so many kids these days have such an aversion to real "work", because they don't expect it to be as hard as it really is. Work is WORK. Hard WORK. Even if you babysit, it's still hard, perhaps not like unloading furniture, but tough in its own way.
I know a teacher who refers to classwork to be done at home as "homeFUN", not "homeWORK".
quote:BASEBALL IS FUN, not work! Its fun to go watch your kid PLAY baseball, and much more fun than going to watch him unload a boxcar full of furniture.
This could be one of the reasons that so many kids these days have such an aversion to real "work", because they don't expect it to be as hard as it really is. Work is WORK. Hard WORK. Even if you babysit, it's still hard, perhaps not like unloading furniture, but tough in its own way.
All work qualifies.
Why can't work be fun?
Anyway, for a player interested in trying to reach their potential, it takes more than just "play" and "fun".
The most "fun" takes place when the game is played. Practice can also be fun, but not as much fun as the games. IMO, some things are not so much fun and are best described as "work".
It's not always fun to gain strenth and/or endurance. It's not always fun to get up before the sun comes out to go "work"out. It is not called "fun"out. Yet some work can be a lot of "fun" for one person and not as much fun for someone else. Some want to work hard, some don't.
To be the best you can be, there is "work" involved. Usually the harder one works the more "fun" they end up having. Other than that they are just words.
IMO the words work and fun are both important in baseball. Either all by itself will not produce the best results.
Anyway, for a player interested in trying to reach their potential, it takes more than just "play" and "fun".
The most "fun" takes place when the game is played. Practice can also be fun, but not as much fun as the games. IMO, some things are not so much fun and are best described as "work".
It's not always fun to gain strenth and/or endurance. It's not always fun to get up before the sun comes out to go "work"out. It is not called "fun"out. Yet some work can be a lot of "fun" for one person and not as much fun for someone else. Some want to work hard, some don't.
To be the best you can be, there is "work" involved. Usually the harder one works the more "fun" they end up having. Other than that they are just words.
IMO the words work and fun are both important in baseball. Either all by itself will not produce the best results.
I had to work while in college, but it's work I'd go do the rest of my life if the pay was enough.
I worked at a resort beach area north of Atlanta for a couple summers. Beautiful girls, warm weather, great friends, being tipped big-time (and fed and watered) by wealthy businessmen who would rent our houseboats for meetings and such, and we'd just cruise them around the lake for a day. I guess I received paychecks. It didn't matter. The pay was irrelevant to how much fun the work was.
I worked at a resort beach area north of Atlanta for a couple summers. Beautiful girls, warm weather, great friends, being tipped big-time (and fed and watered) by wealthy businessmen who would rent our houseboats for meetings and such, and we'd just cruise them around the lake for a day. I guess I received paychecks. It didn't matter. The pay was irrelevant to how much fun the work was.
The "fun" is when the "hard work" has produced your goal, whatever that may be.
The "fun" is when the "hard work" has produced your goal, whatever it may be.
We as a society need to get away from the idea that work is a bad thing. Fun is a relative word that takes on many different meanings to many different people. At some point to accomplish a goal you got to prepare physically and mentally to be better. You can't always come up with some fun and game to do that.
If you want to throw harder / farther then you have to long toss. I don't think anyone will disagree with that but how do you make it fun? What kind of game(s) do you come up with to do it? What do you do when that becomes boring? At some point you got to just do it.
Same with becoming a stronger hitter. In order to do this you got to lift weights and refine your swing. How do you make lifting weights fun?
Baseball, football, basketball, golf, tennis are all fun but to become the best will take something more than playing games. Life is a competition and you got to make yourself better than the next person. It's not easy to achieve that.
I enjoy teaching and enjoy seeing my kids achieve success. But sometimes you get those kids who do not want to succeed. They will not do the work that is assigned for whatever reason. Finding a way to reach them is hard work. Finding and creating lesson plans is hard work but presenting them to a class is fun.
A few years ago I had a team where several parents were chirping that I wasn't making things fun enough. I really didn't know how to get across to them it's not about fun. Then one day I was watching the NFL Network and they were showing stuff from training camp. They asked a big lineman if camp was fun and he said not in any way shape form or fashion. He was asked what was fun and his response was that hanging out with his teammates was fun and playing on game day was fun.
You can't make everything fun in life and at some point you got to do things that are hard to achieve a goal.
If you want to throw harder / farther then you have to long toss. I don't think anyone will disagree with that but how do you make it fun? What kind of game(s) do you come up with to do it? What do you do when that becomes boring? At some point you got to just do it.
Same with becoming a stronger hitter. In order to do this you got to lift weights and refine your swing. How do you make lifting weights fun?
Baseball, football, basketball, golf, tennis are all fun but to become the best will take something more than playing games. Life is a competition and you got to make yourself better than the next person. It's not easy to achieve that.
I enjoy teaching and enjoy seeing my kids achieve success. But sometimes you get those kids who do not want to succeed. They will not do the work that is assigned for whatever reason. Finding a way to reach them is hard work. Finding and creating lesson plans is hard work but presenting them to a class is fun.
A few years ago I had a team where several parents were chirping that I wasn't making things fun enough. I really didn't know how to get across to them it's not about fun. Then one day I was watching the NFL Network and they were showing stuff from training camp. They asked a big lineman if camp was fun and he said not in any way shape form or fashion. He was asked what was fun and his response was that hanging out with his teammates was fun and playing on game day was fun.
You can't make everything fun in life and at some point you got to do things that are hard to achieve a goal.
Work should be fun ---if not find another job
I worked in the construction business for some 40 years and it was always fun even as a "runner" while working summers.---the most fun, and most risk, putting bids together on multimillion dollar projects and then winning the bid---even more fun was completing the project and seeing that you made as profit---nonetheless it was work and fun at the same time
Work for our kids should be fun especially when they realize they have their own money in their pockets
I worked in the construction business for some 40 years and it was always fun even as a "runner" while working summers.---the most fun, and most risk, putting bids together on multimillion dollar projects and then winning the bid---even more fun was completing the project and seeing that you made as profit---nonetheless it was work and fun at the same time
Work for our kids should be fun especially when they realize they have their own money in their pockets
The "fun" is when the "hard work" produces your intended goal, whatever that may be.
I think you're caught up in semantics. Players have to work at their game or play hard at their work however you chose to say it all means the same. We associate the word "play" with not taking something very seriously that has little impact on our future lives --- like he's just playing around. I think this is a carryover from the early days when basic survival depended on one's ability to work and produce a product. Play was counter productive to work. I had to work in the fields and the woods when I was a kid simply because society and economic conditions dictated such. I didn't have a lot of play time. If I wanted to engage in a sport it was considered playing around and was not associated with work and was very limited. Fast forward 50 years. My children didn't have to work. Their life centered around play. They played sports, they played the radio, they played movies, they played with their friends, they played games, and they played with toys.
I remember my son telling me when he was 16 that he wanted to work at Kroger so he could buy a better sound system for his truck. I said if you "WORK" at baseball I will buy you that better sound system. Maybe I should have said" "If you "play harder" you won't have to work."
Times have changed and the word "playing" has been changed to "work" in many cases to stress the increased "importance" this generation has placed on sports. With the increased focus on getting to the next level and the pay to play format implemented by many, some parents work very hard just so their kids can play at the next level.
Fungo
PS: I suggest we work smart and play hard!
I remember my son telling me when he was 16 that he wanted to work at Kroger so he could buy a better sound system for his truck. I said if you "WORK" at baseball I will buy you that better sound system. Maybe I should have said" "If you "play harder" you won't have to work."
Times have changed and the word "playing" has been changed to "work" in many cases to stress the increased "importance" this generation has placed on sports. With the increased focus on getting to the next level and the pay to play format implemented by many, some parents work very hard just so their kids can play at the next level.
Fungo
PS: I suggest we work smart and play hard!
quote:Originally posted by OLDSLUGGER8:quote:We as a society need to get away from the idea that work is a bad thing
You can exclude me from that generalized statement of yours, but I rather be "working" on both my golf game and my fishing techniques on a daily basis.
That was one of the points of the post starting this thread!
Based on what you put in the opening post
quote:Eventually, all these kids are going to have to WORK in some fashion, even the kids who make the show. In the meantime, the honing and improving of ones baseball skills should still be categorized as...
FUN
I disagree.
I disagree also. I played softball when I was young. I then began to swim competitively.Now its not baseball but Along the same lines as a sport.
Getting up at 5am for morning workouts, going to school, keeping grades up and then another practice in the afternon, and then early practice on Saturday mornings.It was fun, I loved swimmng,but it was hard work. My workouts were so tough I almost felt sick at times.I pushed myself so hard to be faster and better. I never did chores, didnt have time. I did work a part time job on Sundays for some money. But although I loved swimming and I had a blast and will never forget it, it was freaking hard.
What I learned from swimming was discipline, showing up even when it was freezing cold, teamwork, teammates, i learned things that made me the person I am today. I dont discount my sons baseball as all just fun. As a senior in HS getting up at 5am to work out from 530-630, then school then practice, then homework, sorry thats all not just fun.As stated in other posts the fun comes from the results when you play great and you feel like the work has paid off.
ZIf your just playing the game and having fun with your friends with no behind the scenes work , that might just be fun.
Getting up at 5am for morning workouts, going to school, keeping grades up and then another practice in the afternon, and then early practice on Saturday mornings.It was fun, I loved swimmng,but it was hard work. My workouts were so tough I almost felt sick at times.I pushed myself so hard to be faster and better. I never did chores, didnt have time. I did work a part time job on Sundays for some money. But although I loved swimming and I had a blast and will never forget it, it was freaking hard.
What I learned from swimming was discipline, showing up even when it was freezing cold, teamwork, teammates, i learned things that made me the person I am today. I dont discount my sons baseball as all just fun. As a senior in HS getting up at 5am to work out from 530-630, then school then practice, then homework, sorry thats all not just fun.As stated in other posts the fun comes from the results when you play great and you feel like the work has paid off.
ZIf your just playing the game and having fun with your friends with no behind the scenes work , that might just be fun.
quote:Originally posted by Krakatoa:
I worked at a resort beach area north of Atlanta for a couple summers.
Perhaps I saw you some there at Lake Lanier Islands back in the day Krak. I LIVED there during the summers with family and friends!