Work while you wait...

Love his attitude and frankness. There is so much truth in that article. This should be a "must read" for every baseball parent up through middle school age.

His team certainly posses that attitude. We played them to a 3-2 win last night. It was a very hard fought game and his guys never gave up. 

I think Robichaux is also the guy who said "We want kids who drink out of a hose pipe, not kids whose parents are bringing them Powerades in the 3rd inning."  

Yes sir. JBB you know me too well. Lol

MTH posted:

I think Robichaux is also the guy who said "We want kids who drink out of a hose pipe, not kids whose parents are bringing them Powerades in the 3rd inning."  

Just make sure they run fresh water through the entire hose so as not to ingest the leached chemicals.  That may have sounded like a "helicopter" move, but with the products coming out of China (i.e. lead), that might actually be solid advice for kids.

Always wondered why hose water had such a unique taste.  The other day my kid stopped me filling up his water bottle from the tap - said he wanted filtered water from the fridge.  It was a sad day for him and me - he got tap water and I realized he might never drink out of a hose pipe.

Never seen a hose pipe available at a game before, I guess my kid doesnt stand a chance in life because he drinks powerade. The whole daddy ball thing is so old, id lay more blame on society in general for the lack of accountability and entitlement.

I get the majority of the premise, and I do not disagree. However, I get a little tired of some of the message.  Just because you take the kids to Disneyland when you're playing in California, doesn't mean you are sending a bad message. 

Looking back, I think that we missed the mark sometimes in this regard.  When you spend your family's time, effort, and money to attend events all over the place, there needs to be more than just baseball. Raising my kids in Idaho, we had to travel A LOT to find good competition for the boys.  Mixing in other activities on these trips was good for our family, and for those boys!  These trips were pretty much the only trips that we took, and at first, I put too much emphasis on winning games.  The reality was we were taking a group of boys from Idaho to compete with teams that were very talented.  At first, those boys from Idaho lost quite a few games, but they eventually learned to compete.  (By the way, that travel team ended up with 2 Pac XII Baseball players, a future Big X player, a BYU 3rd Baseman, a Pac XII starting DE at USC as a Freshman, and several other JC/Community College players.)

If the boys lost, we learned to not dwell on it, and we let the boys have a good time on those trips. This was necessary to the sanity of all involved.  Looking back we made great friends, the boys developed, and they have memories to last a lifetime.

I am just getting a little tired of the, "you can't take your kids to pizza" after a loss crowd.  You can instill in them the desire to work hard, play hard, and do your best, and still have a good time after a loss.

Wait, what? 

My kid played little league and never sat. Then he started playing travel ball and sat -- went to a three-day tournament at the beginning of 12U and got three at bats the whole weekend. It was travel ball where he learned to "work while you wait." That certainly wasn't going to come from rec ball.

The "work while you wait" message for teenagers and above is great, but the idea that we should have lots and lots more 8, 9, or 10 year olds on the bench -- you know, like we have in HS, college, and the pros -- seems crazy. It would only drive kids to other sports.

2019Dad posted:

Wait, what? 

My kid played little league and never sat. Then he started playing travel ball and sat -- went to a three-day tournament at the beginning of 12U and got three at bats the whole weekend. It was travel ball where he learned to "work while you wait." That certainly wasn't going to come from rec ball.

The "work while you wait" message for teenagers and above is great, but the idea that we should have lots and lots more 8, 9, or 10 year olds on the bench -- you know, like we have in HS, college, and the pros -- seems crazy. It would only drive kids to other sports.

I could certainly be wrong but, from my interpretation, what you have posted 2019 is only part of the message.  He actually does not say this, but the reference to sitting in HS, college, and MILB at every level suggests, to me at least, the "work while you wait" is learning and doing those things (usually extra things )  to get off the bench.

Again, just for me, this fits pretty well with the thread RJM started on the HS basketball coach.  We see and experience far too many in athletics where those "on the bench" get coddled and "supported" by parental actions and statements, coaches get "vilified," and the athlete never learns a thing, on their own,  about how to get off the bench. What gets reinforced is too often Mommy and Daddy will say the things and  take those actions needed to "do it for them."

There are so many references on this site to players who are "stars" though HS and travel ball but end up "failing" on the baseball diamond and transferring in college, especially at the D1 level.  From experience, my sense is far too many of those never failed before college, never sat the bench and never learned what it took to "work while you wait."

infielddad posted:

2019Dad posted:

Wait, what? 

My kid played little league and never sat. Then he started playing travel ball and sat -- went to a three-day tournament at the beginning of 12U and got three at bats the whole weekend. It was travel ball where he learned to "work while you wait." That certainly wasn't going to come from rec ball.

The "work while you wait" message for teenagers and above is great, but the idea that we should have lots and lots more 8, 9, or 10 year olds on the bench -- you know, like we have in HS, college, and the pros -- seems crazy. It would only drive kids to other sports.

I could certainly be wrong but, from my interpretation, what you have posted 2019 is only part of the message.  He actually does not say this, but the reference to sitting in HS, college, and MILB at every level suggests, to me at least, the "work while you wait" is learning and doing those things (usually extra things )  to get off the bench.

Again, just for me, this fits pretty well with the thread RJM started on the HS basketball coach.  We see and experience far too many in athletics where those "on the bench" get coddled and "supported" by parental actions and statements, coaches get "vilified," and the athlete never learns a thing, on their own,  about how to get off the bench. What gets reinforced is too often Mommy and Daddy will say the things and  take those actions needed to "do it for them."

There are so many references on this site to players who are "stars" though HS and travel ball but end up "failing" on the baseball diamond and transferring in college, especially at the D1 level.  From experience, my sense is far too many of those never failed before college, never sat the bench and never learned what it took to "work while you wait."

Fair enough, but if we're talking about pre-HS baseball, my sense is that kids are much more likely to learn those lessons playing travel (or "select") baseball than they will playing rec baseball. Anecdotally, that was certainly the case with my son.

2019 - I certainly saw many times through our two baseball sons parents yanking their kids off travel teams because they weren't playing (enough) in parents eyes.

Sometimes this can be ok IMO - e.g.  you reached WAY too high for your son's talent level, but more times than not it was because the parents didn't want the 'work while you wait' lasting long...or should I say the 'wait' part to run more than a weekend or two.

A coach I respect immensely coached our older son's 14-16 travel team and the crap he had to deal with from entitled parents used to running the show in everything in their kids and their own personal lives...was ridiculous.  Downright embarrassing.  It was painful to witness.

Both of our sons went through plenty of bench sitting especially early in their travel ball experience.   But the only time we ever moved them (maybe once each?) was when their talent level eventually exceeded the team they were on and the competition level they were playing against.  And then in both cases they had to start all over again trying to climb off the bench.

I think it was good for them - yes, in a baseball sense, but more importantly in a life sense.

I wonder if he was talking to some of his own players?  you know, like a sub-tweet.

My take is simply kids need to understand from an early age that they must earn the rewards. They need to learn that getting something means you must give something. They need to learn that sometimes even though you have given a great deal there is no immediate reward. Mental toughness to grind and prepare. It has nothing to do with what the game has given you or might give you. It is simply who you are and what your about. Sometimes the best experience a player can have is a bad experience. This will become the fuel and experience that allows him to overcome the tough times. When parents, coaches , etc - shelter their kids from any failure, tough experiences they are not helping them. They are removing a very important ingredient from the recipe for success. And the problem is they won't know it until it's already served.

My son plays basketball — well, he's not very good, so he mostly sits and cheers for his team. Coach apologized for his lack of playing time and asked if it bugged son. He laughed and said "coach, I've been basically a PO in baseball for two years. I rock the bench!"

He didn't necessarily become a better basketball player from it, but he is the first off the bench bucking up his team, high fiving them when they do well and is overall very engaged. He doesn't care if he plays, he wants to win!

In one of our HS games this year, our team was down 1-0.  Two outs in the 4th, one of our team captains (P / 2B) is up to bat.  Major league infield pop up, he dropped the bat and watched the entire play from home plate.  Ran to the dugout got his glove and went to 2b.  No coach said a word.  Later in the game, my youngest is a young junior, who's been working real hard and felt fortunate to have 8 plate appearances and has been on safely every time, was give an opportunity to bat.  Leading 5-1, 2 outs, no one on, major league infield pop up.  He runs about 80% to 1b and makes it to 1b before the ball hits the infielders glove and the ball falls to the ground.  Error, but safe at 1st.  He steals second, makes it to 3b and scores on a WP.  While coming of the field, a player says that you better run to 1st next time. He replies with a "I did run to 1st, what do you mean".  Immediate our batting coach  (played for our HS and D1 and has a brother on the team as DH) lays into him about talking  back to seniors.  My son politely defended himself and said that he was not talking back to anyone.  The coach yelling continued and the HC came over and asked my son what his issue was and asked if he was talking back to coaches and players and if he ran to 1st.  he was polite and honest and told the truth (80% run on an infield pop out and that he was not talking back to anyone, just trying to make his point about what occurred).  The HC told him he has a lot of potential, but if he ever sees him not running 100% ever, he'll never play again and told him to run poles until the team finished packing their gear (he was the only player who had to run).  He did not mention any of the other players, sucked it up and ran about 10 poles until he was called in to pack up.  He has not see the field since.

2forU posted:

In one of our HS games this year, our team was down 1-0.  Two outs in the 4th, one of our team captains (P / 2B) is up to bat.  Major league infield pop up, he dropped the bat and watched the entire play from home plate.  Ran to the dugout got his glove and went to 2b.  No coach said a word.  Later in the game, my youngest is a young junior, who's been working real hard and felt fortunate to have 8 plate appearances and has been on safely every time, was give an opportunity to bat.  Leading 5-1, 2 outs, no one on, major league infield pop up.  He runs about 80% to 1b and makes it to 1b before the ball hits the infielders glove and the ball falls to the ground.  Error, but safe at 1st.  He steals second, makes it to 3b and scores on a WP.  While coming of the field, a player says that you better run to 1st next time. He replies with a "I did run to 1st, what do you mean".  Immediate our batting coach  (played for our HS and D1 and has a brother on the team as DH) lays into him about talking  back to seniors.  My son politely defended himself and said that he was not talking back to anyone.  The coach yelling continued and the HC came over and asked my son what his issue was and asked if he was talking back to coaches and players and if he ran to 1st.  he was polite and honest and told the truth (80% run on an infield pop out and that he was not talking back to anyone, just trying to make his point about what occurred).  The HC told him he has a lot of potential, but if he ever sees him not running 100% ever, he'll never play again and told him to run poles until the team finished packing their gear (he was the only player who had to run).  He did not mention any of the other players, sucked it up and ran about 10 poles until he was called in to pack up.  He has not see the field since.

Taken at face value, that's lousy coaching.

There are life lessons in there as well.  Proud of him for sticking up for himself while attempting a discussion, taking the punishment, not throwing his team mates under the bus, and continuing to work hard while he waits (again).