Some observations from just another youth baseball tournament…
I do occasional contract work as site supervisor for one of the large youth tournament organizations. I thought I’d share some stories from this weekend that tie into the normal HSBBW dialog.
This particular tournament - teams across ages 9-18 at several facilities around the area. I had a 3-field facility with 11U’s.
Baseball players and baseball people are generally very good people. It’s those rare few that make for good discussion topics.
This particular event pulls teams locally and from three different directions/regions. Every year, each day, particularly half way thru Sunday, there is a group of parents that are getting a bit hammered out beyond the OF fences. That group is always from the same direction/region. Really? You have an 11 y.o. son playing in a baseball tourney and this is the parental support and example you choose to put forth? You can’t at least wait until the evening at the hotel? Guess which teams/games end up with vocal controversy toward the end of Sunday? The teams get banned. Other teams from the same region end up showing up. Same results. No, these are not the same players/parents… I’m talking about a consistent 12 year history.
Players continue to show up more and more polished. 11u bodies are still largely undeveloped so it was particularly interesting watching this group execute solid fundamentals but their physical bodies not always allowing what their trained brains are telling them.
There were really good swings up and down the lineups. Despite solid pitching, there weren’t many overmatched hitters. As this trend continues, I suspect it becomes more and more difficult to stand out as a position player and the premium for top arms with both velo and stuff continues to grow.
A team will not make it to the end of Sunday in the champ bracket without pitching depth. What I find interesting here is that this applies to all levels of baseball – but slightly less so for MLB, where if you can make it to the playoffs, you can get by with two hot hands on the mound because of the format and number of days that the playoffs get stretched out.
Parent of the Weekend - I had one parent who I bent over backwards to accommodate with special requests early on (allowing a banner that he knew darn well shouldn’t be there, making exception with parking a large RV, etc.). This guy was clearly an educated, well off individual, diplomatic, engaging, handled himself well and knew how to go about gaining the favorable treatment. Must be a good dad, I thought. Later Sunday, as I made my rounds, I passed this same guy sitting in the outfield watching a game. Totally different demeanor… “Jesus $%&$, don’t you guys have a mower? Look at that infield grass.” I continued on and found a spot on the fence to watch this game for a while. Turns out his kid is pitching. Getting lit up… lots of hits and some not-so-great support behind him. He was going off. Yelling louder and louder at the whole field… “It’s not your fault son, someone needs to start giving you some help behind you!” He literally got up and stormed around in circles, throwing his hat down several times, kicking his chair. “Don’t worry, son, at some point, this jerk will start calling strikes.” That poor kid, I thought.
Overall, the coaching was great. You cannot have enough teams at these early ages without heavy parent involvement. Some of those dad coaches were players, knew what they were doing and provided a good blend of coaching and guidance. Some of the support dads were clearly not players and were unknowingly giving out misguided advice. But they were there, supporting and helping. All of these kids playing were doing just fine navigating the good advice from the misguided. If you are one of those dads, good for you. But, maybe , let your kid warm up with one of the players instead of you. And give more attention to the other players than your son. Don’t feel like you have the liberty of yelling at your kid because he is yours and don’t give him more extensive verbal cues than others. Treat him like you do every other player on the team. Your kid will benefit from it. You get plenty of time with him outside of the team setting. If you are a parent that is just a spectator, don’t worry about the dad coaches. Your kid will be fine.
One coach gave me the speech about his speech… when he puts his team together, he instructs all players and parents that he doesn’t care about winning – that if that’s what they are focused on, they should find another team. Well, a large part of me agrees with the principle behind this, particularly at this age. But, the reality is, if you don’t strike a balance and make sure you have players that will help you compete and win your share at these events, you will get your butt handed to you regularly and it will not be a fun playing experience OR learning experience for the boys.
You can spot players who are gamers in about five seconds. They come in ALL shapes and sizes at this age. LOVE watching them.
Oh yeah, the topic title…
With each event, I come away with some small quirky thing that sticks with me. Remember, 11u this time. There were four occasions when I saw different dads tying their kids shoes for them. I’m talking the 11u players, not younger siblings. Once, it was a coach with his runner at 3rd base. Once it was a dad with the kid sitting on the back hatch of an SUV before a game. Never was it a scenario where there was time urgency. COME ON, DADS! Think about it. The kid can tie his own d@MM shoes. What little things are you doing for your kids that might be a sign that you are coddling them along too much? BTW, NONE of these kids getting their shoes tied were gamers.
