Little League and parent arrogance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen, no one is saying kids shouldn’t practice on their own or with their parents on their own time. Obviously they should. But there is one “coach” on this thread who thinks it’s ridiculous that parents expect their kid to learn ANY skills during their Little League practice sessions. Which is obviously a stupid position.

If he doesn’t want to coach any kids but his own, he should simply bow out. Lots of Dads are eager to volunteer, and he is not doing these kids any favors by refusing to even TRY to help them get better at baseball. If he wants to get paid for his incredible coaching program, he shouldn’t VOLUNTEER to coach and then not do it.

My DH volunteers as a LL coach and he has invested his own time and money in buying equipment to create baseball-related games to work on skills during practices. He enjoys seeing the kids improve and gain confidence. He can watch a kid and see what their strengths/weaknesses are and gives feedback to parents. Hopefully the parents are working with them at home, but not every household has a parent available to work with their kid outside of practice. I’d be disappointed if my DH just wrote a kid off for something that may be no fault of their own.

I also know he’s big on sportsmanship and good attitude even while losing. There is so much more to learn from LL than just baseball.

Your husband sounds great. I appreciate the volunteer coaches who are just trying their best. I understand it’s a lot of time and sometimes money, and it’s great that so many people are willing to give back, even if they’re not that great at coaching or even baseball. (And obviously it’s fantastic when they are great, as it sounds like your DH is.)

I take major issue with the guy in this thread who has repeatedly said that if a parent isn’t practicing skills for 6-10 hours per week with their second grader then it’s because they are lazy parents who hate spending time with their kids. And that as a Little League coach his only responsibility is setting lineups and strategies. That is a volunteer who will end up doing more harm than good for some kids who might have learned to love baseball with a coach who actually cares.

Dude is a jackhole. I coached rec for a long time and then my son switched to a club team.

The club coach does often say "we will not be hitting at practice this week; you are expected to find time to hit on your own." But this is 13-14 year old boys on a competitive team.

8u rec is about groups of 3 rotating between 4-5 stations. It's not hard to do.

- Fly balls
- Ground Balls
- Tee
- Soft Toss
- Live pitching

Each group get 10 minutes at each station (or 5-6 and have them go through the rotation twice)

Then finish with something fun like sharks and minnows.

This isn't rocket science.

What about fielding situations?

Setting aside fielding - you just set of stations that require 4 adults to run. Now come up with your practice plan with say 14 nine year olds and 1 adult.

You know - because as one recent poster said, it’s about community (though that poster’s community apparently does not include helping out with their kid’s activities.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen, no one is saying kids shouldn’t practice on their own or with their parents on their own time. Obviously they should. But there is one “coach” on this thread who thinks it’s ridiculous that parents expect their kid to learn ANY skills during their Little League practice sessions. Which is obviously a stupid position.

If he doesn’t want to coach any kids but his own, he should simply bow out. Lots of Dads are eager to volunteer, and he is not doing these kids any favors by refusing to even TRY to help them get better at baseball. If he wants to get paid for his incredible coaching program, he shouldn’t VOLUNTEER to coach and then not do it.

My DH volunteers as a LL coach and he has invested his own time and money in buying equipment to create baseball-related games to work on skills during practices. He enjoys seeing the kids improve and gain confidence. He can watch a kid and see what their strengths/weaknesses are and gives feedback to parents. Hopefully the parents are working with them at home, but not every household has a parent available to work with their kid outside of practice. I’d be disappointed if my DH just wrote a kid off for something that may be no fault of their own.

I also know he’s big on sportsmanship and good attitude even while losing. There is so much more to learn from LL than just baseball.

Your husband sounds great. I appreciate the volunteer coaches who are just trying their best. I understand it’s a lot of time and sometimes money, and it’s great that so many people are willing to give back, even if they’re not that great at coaching or even baseball. (And obviously it’s fantastic when they are great, as it sounds like your DH is.)

I take major issue with the guy in this thread who has repeatedly said that if a parent isn’t practicing skills for 6-10 hours per week with their second grader then it’s because they are lazy parents who hate spending time with their kids. And that as a Little League coach his only responsibility is setting lineups and strategies. That is a volunteer who will end up doing more harm than good for some kids who might have learned to love baseball with a coach who actually cares.

Dude is a jackhole. I coached rec for a long time and then my son switched to a club team.

The club coach does often say "we will not be hitting at practice this week; you are expected to find time to hit on your own." But this is 13-14 year old boys on a competitive team.

8u rec is about groups of 3 rotating between 4-5 stations. It's not hard to do.

- Fly balls
- Ground Balls
- Tee
- Soft Toss
- Live pitching

Each group get 10 minutes at each station (or 5-6 and have them go through the rotation twice)

Then finish with something fun like sharks and minnows.

This isn't rocket science.

What about fielding situations?

Setting aside fielding - you just set of stations that require 4 adults to run. Now come up with your practice plan with say 14 nine year olds and 1 adult.

You know - because as one recent poster said, it’s about community (though that poster’s community apparently does not include helping out with their kid’s activities.)

NP: I guess I didn’t realize how good our league is in terms of parent participation- at the 8-10yo ages there were at least 3 adults present if not 4 or 5 (3 coaches + whatever dad or dads offer or they ask to lend a hand at practice). My DH helped a lot during those years despite never having played organized baseball in his life- easy to follow coach instructions for drills etc. and you don’t need any real baseball skills.

That said, parents usually don’t stick around/sit around at practices if not helping. I was dropping off for all sports by the time my kids were 7ish. I have other things to do (errands, drive sibling somewhere, or might drive back home for an hour to get a few chores etc done). Everyone usually arrived 10-15min early for pickup and that was plenty of chit chat time for me. Can’t imagine sitting around for hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen, no one is saying kids shouldn’t practice on their own or with their parents on their own time. Obviously they should. But there is one “coach” on this thread who thinks it’s ridiculous that parents expect their kid to learn ANY skills during their Little League practice sessions. Which is obviously a stupid position.

If he doesn’t want to coach any kids but his own, he should simply bow out. Lots of Dads are eager to volunteer, and he is not doing these kids any favors by refusing to even TRY to help them get better at baseball. If he wants to get paid for his incredible coaching program, he shouldn’t VOLUNTEER to coach and then not do it.

My DH volunteers as a LL coach and he has invested his own time and money in buying equipment to create baseball-related games to work on skills during practices. He enjoys seeing the kids improve and gain confidence. He can watch a kid and see what their strengths/weaknesses are and gives feedback to parents. Hopefully the parents are working with them at home, but not every household has a parent available to work with their kid outside of practice. I’d be disappointed if my DH just wrote a kid off for something that may be no fault of their own.

I also know he’s big on sportsmanship and good attitude even while losing. There is so much more to learn from LL than just baseball.

Your husband sounds great. I appreciate the volunteer coaches who are just trying their best. I understand it’s a lot of time and sometimes money, and it’s great that so many people are willing to give back, even if they’re not that great at coaching or even baseball. (And obviously it’s fantastic when they are great, as it sounds like your DH is.)

I take major issue with the guy in this thread who has repeatedly said that if a parent isn’t practicing skills for 6-10 hours per week with their second grader then it’s because they are lazy parents who hate spending time with their kids. And that as a Little League coach his only responsibility is setting lineups and strategies. That is a volunteer who will end up doing more harm than good for some kids who might have learned to love baseball with a coach who actually cares.

Dude is a jackhole. I coached rec for a long time and then my son switched to a club team.

The club coach does often say "we will not be hitting at practice this week; you are expected to find time to hit on your own." But this is 13-14 year old boys on a competitive team.

8u rec is about groups of 3 rotating between 4-5 stations. It's not hard to do.

- Fly balls
- Ground Balls
- Tee
- Soft Toss
- Live pitching

Each group get 10 minutes at each station (or 5-6 and have them go through the rotation twice)

Then finish with something fun like sharks and minnows.

This isn't rocket science.

What about fielding situations?

Setting aside fielding - you just set of stations that require 4 adults to run. Now come up with your practice plan with say 14 nine year olds and 1 adult.

You know - because as one recent poster said, it’s about community (though that poster’s community apparently does not include helping out with their kid’s activities.)

I was the poster who commented on community, and I was also the poster that listed out the stations. So yes, its easy for me to schedule practices that way bc there's never a shortage of adults to help monitor a station.

You make a good point that I would be hard-pressed to run a practice that way without an additional 1-2 volunteers to help man stations. But if I wasn't getting that, at the very least, I would put out the request on TeamSnap. The few times I've had to ask for help with something as a coach, I've always gotten a volunteer.

But, since you asked, if it was just me (1 coach) and 12-14 kids. I would probably do the following, with 4-5 kids in each group:

- infield. on the knees. single knee. on the feet. glove side. backhand. slow-rolling grounders. No parent needed
- Tee work. Into the net. 50-75% swings. Stopping at Contact. Stopping at extension. Full swing. In a group of 3-4, one kid swings, one kid loads the tee, one kid waits. No parent required
- Front toss. Coach required.

2 rounds of that.

You would probably have to reconvene the entire group of OF work, but we could keep it moving quickly. 2 lines, one for ground balls to the OF; one for Fly balls. Go the other line after you've taken a ball. It keeps it moving a bit more.

So it can still be done. You would probably need the first week to go very slowly so they understand what to do at the stations where there is not a coach. But once they understood that, they can man those stations themselves (even though it would still be better to have an additional volunteer)
-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen, no one is saying kids shouldn’t practice on their own or with their parents on their own time. Obviously they should. But there is one “coach” on this thread who thinks it’s ridiculous that parents expect their kid to learn ANY skills during their Little League practice sessions. Which is obviously a stupid position.

If he doesn’t want to coach any kids but his own, he should simply bow out. Lots of Dads are eager to volunteer, and he is not doing these kids any favors by refusing to even TRY to help them get better at baseball. If he wants to get paid for his incredible coaching program, he shouldn’t VOLUNTEER to coach and then not do it.

My DH volunteers as a LL coach and he has invested his own time and money in buying equipment to create baseball-related games to work on skills during practices. He enjoys seeing the kids improve and gain confidence. He can watch a kid and see what their strengths/weaknesses are and gives feedback to parents. Hopefully the parents are working with them at home, but not every household has a parent available to work with their kid outside of practice. I’d be disappointed if my DH just wrote a kid off for something that may be no fault of their own.

I also know he’s big on sportsmanship and good attitude even while losing. There is so much more to learn from LL than just baseball.

Your husband sounds great. I appreciate the volunteer coaches who are just trying their best. I understand it’s a lot of time and sometimes money, and it’s great that so many people are willing to give back, even if they’re not that great at coaching or even baseball. (And obviously it’s fantastic when they are great, as it sounds like your DH is.)

I take major issue with the guy in this thread who has repeatedly said that if a parent isn’t practicing skills for 6-10 hours per week with their second grader then it’s because they are lazy parents who hate spending time with their kids. And that as a Little League coach his only responsibility is setting lineups and strategies. That is a volunteer who will end up doing more harm than good for some kids who might have learned to love baseball with a coach who actually cares.

Dude is a jackhole. I coached rec for a long time and then my son switched to a club team.

The club coach does often say "we will not be hitting at practice this week; you are expected to find time to hit on your own." But this is 13-14 year old boys on a competitive team.

8u rec is about groups of 3 rotating between 4-5 stations. It's not hard to do.

- Fly balls
- Ground Balls
- Tee
- Soft Toss
- Live pitching

Each group get 10 minutes at each station (or 5-6 and have them go through the rotation twice)

Then finish with something fun like sharks and minnows.

This isn't rocket science.

What about fielding situations?

Setting aside fielding - you just set of stations that require 4 adults to run. Now come up with your practice plan with say 14 nine year olds and 1 adult.

You know - because as one recent poster said, it’s about community (though that poster’s community apparently does not include helping out with their kid’s activities.)

NP: I guess I didn’t realize how good our league is in terms of parent participation- at the 8-10yo ages there were at least 3 adults present if not 4 or 5 (3 coaches + whatever dad or dads offer or they ask to lend a hand at practice). My DH helped a lot during those years despite never having played organized baseball in his life- easy to follow coach instructions for drills etc. and you don’t need any real baseball skills.

That said, parents usually don’t stick around/sit around at practices if not helping. I was dropping off for all sports by the time my kids were 7ish. I have other things to do (errands, drive sibling somewhere, or might drive back home for an hour to get a few chores etc done). Everyone usually arrived 10-15min early for pickup and that was plenty of chit chat time for me. Can’t imagine sitting around for hours.

DP and within the same league I've seen teams where only 1 parent sticks around to help the coach, teams where there are at least five people on the field helping (those work really well), and teams where parents sit around and watch their 7-ish year olds and chat. At least for us it seems to be a team-by-team culture issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

+1

Generally coach’s kids (or coach’s buddies kids) are on a long leash, while “disfavored” kids on a very short one. Baseball is a very mental game with confidence being important. Here is what happens:

-Little Billy (assistant coach’s son) starts the game at 2B and boots 2 easy grounders in the first inning. He is still sent out to play 2B the next inning. If he makes further errors- maaaaybe they will decide it isn’t his day and send him out to play CF. But Little Billy will still start at 2B next game. No problem- “things happen- get ‘em next time”. VS
-Little Larlo (disfavored kid) gets rotated into 2B and makes a nice play but also makes an error. Coach thinks “ahh yep just as I thought- Larlo isn’t ready to play infield” and it will be quite awhile before Larlo sees any more infield time.

This type of scenario is common & really messes with kids’ confidence. Little Billy will play loose and confident- secure that he will get his chances. Little Larlo will play tight and nervous- knowing if he makes an error- he will be relegated to rotating in corner OF for the next 5 games.

Same with batting- coach’s kid can bat #2 & have a bad game & go 0 for 3 with 3K, no big deal. If he struggles for many games, he may be moved down the order a bit- no biggie. “You’ll get ‘em next time”. Coach’s kid is loose and confident at the plate. He knows he has a pretty secure spot. But if another kid were to have a bad day at the plate - he will be moved down the lineup for next game for sure. This jars the kid who is then nervous at the plate- looking for walks or pressing too much. Resulting in poor performance.

That is how it goes typically. Eventually Little Larlo thinks “I suck at baseball…it obviously isn’t my sport…I don’t want to play next season”

This is pretty much how it goes, after watching 2 sons play baseball growing up (and mine are both still playing- one in HS, one in MS). A lot of kids quit are very put off early by coaches who crush their confidence- when if they had stuck around, could’ve turned out to be pretty good players.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

+1

Generally coach’s kids (or coach’s buddies kids) are on a long leash, while “disfavored” kids on a very short one. Baseball is a very mental game with confidence being important. Here is what happens:

-Little Billy (assistant coach’s son) starts the game at 2B and boots 2 easy grounders in the first inning. He is still sent out to play 2B the next inning. If he makes further errors- maaaaybe they will decide it isn’t his day and send him out to play CF. But Little Billy will still start at 2B next game. No problem- “things happen- get ‘em next time”. VS
-Little Larlo (disfavored kid) gets rotated into 2B and makes a nice play but also makes an error. Coach thinks “ahh yep just as I thought- Larlo isn’t ready to play infield” and it will be quite awhile before Larlo sees any more infield time.

This type of scenario is common & really messes with kids’ confidence. Little Billy will play loose and confident- secure that he will get his chances. Little Larlo will play tight and nervous- knowing if he makes an error- he will be relegated to rotating in corner OF for the next 5 games.

Same with batting- coach’s kid can bat #2 & have a bad game & go 0 for 3 with 3K, no big deal. If he struggles for many games, he may be moved down the order a bit- no biggie. “You’ll get ‘em next time”. Coach’s kid is loose and confident at the plate. He knows he has a pretty secure spot. But if another kid were to have a bad day at the plate - he will be moved down the lineup for next game for sure. This jars the kid who is then nervous at the plate- looking for walks or pressing too much. Resulting in poor performance.

That is how it goes typically. Eventually Little Larlo thinks “I suck at baseball…it obviously isn’t my sport…I don’t want to play next season”

This is pretty much how it goes, after watching 2 sons play baseball growing up (and mine are both still playing- one in HS, one in MS). A lot of kids quit are very put off early by coaches who crush their confidence- when if they had stuck around, could’ve turned out to be pretty good players.

You pretty much described exactly how one coach treated my softball player. Started a new season with a new coach and came home tearing up, "Mom, I'm not used to feeling like I'm actually good." Realistically kid is not different than she always was (is actually in a hitting slump), the coach just gives her a much longer leash and more opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

Exactly. This has been our experience in both baseball and softball. You also know you’re in trouble if the head coach’s kid is playing 2nd. It means the coach knows the kid isn’t good enough (or desires) to be the main pitcher/catcher/ss, but he doesn’t want to put his kid in the outfield. Chances are that kid will have 2nd locked down for all game every game, the best 3 kids will rotate between pitcher, catcher, SS and a tall kid will be at first.

I also think the diamond sports are the worst for crazy Dads because they see it as a sport where their not quite athletic kid can excel. With an early start, lots of extra practice and early private instruction the kid can look really good at a young age. Daddy then starts going a little crazy when his kid isn’t looking quite as good because other kids have started catching up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

Exactly. This has been our experience in both baseball and softball. You also know you’re in trouble if the head coach’s kid is playing 2nd. It means the coach knows the kid isn’t good enough (or desires) to be the main pitcher/catcher/ss, but he doesn’t want to put his kid in the outfield. Chances are that kid will have 2nd locked down for all game every game, the best 3 kids will rotate between pitcher, catcher, SS and a tall kid will be at first.

I also think the diamond sports are the worst for crazy Dads because they see it as a sport where their not quite athletic kid can excel. With an early start, lots of extra practice and early private instruction the kid can look really good at a young age. Daddy then starts going a little crazy when his kid isn’t looking quite as good because other kids have started catching up.

I'm with you on everything except that. You definitely need a tall kid at 1st.

I remember we played a team, in 13u, where the 1st baseman had to at most, be a little over 4 feet tall. They had 5-6 kids there wall 5'6 and up.

It was so weird. But that was the coach's kid. And also a lefty, so it was really 1st or OF. And I'm sure coach couldn't have his dear baby boy in the outfield.

Needless to say, at least 4-5 balls soared over his head. Balls every other 13u first baseman would have caught.

That coach was honestly making it worse for his own son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

Exactly. This has been our experience in both baseball and softball. You also know you’re in trouble if the head coach’s kid is playing 2nd. It means the coach knows the kid isn’t good enough (or desires) to be the main pitcher/catcher/ss, but he doesn’t want to put his kid in the outfield. Chances are that kid will have 2nd locked down for all game every game, the best 3 kids will rotate between pitcher, catcher, SS and a tall kid will be at first.

I also think the diamond sports are the worst for crazy Dads because they see it as a sport where their not quite athletic kid can excel. With an early start, lots of extra practice and early private instruction the kid can look really good at a young age. Daddy then starts going a little crazy when his kid isn’t looking quite as good because other kids have started catching up.

I'm with you on everything except that. You definitely need a tall kid at 1st.

I remember we played a team, in 13u, where the 1st baseman had to at most, be a little over 4 feet tall. They had 5-6 kids there wall 5'6 and up.

It was so weird. But that was the coach's kid. And also a lefty, so it was really 1st or OF. And I'm sure coach couldn't have his dear baby boy in the outfield.

Needless to say, at least 4-5 balls soared over his head. Balls every other 13u first baseman would have caught.

That coach was honestly making it worse for his own son.

Oh that’s definitely worse, but you’re probably correct that the coach didn’t want his lefty in the outfield. I should have put tall kid or lefty.

My daughter’s team last year had a girl who was tall and left handed. She is played first 90% of the time. The problem was that she could not catch. It got to the point the better girls would try to lob it over to her which only made things worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

+1

Generally coach’s kids (or coach’s buddies kids) are on a long leash, while “disfavored” kids on a very short one. Baseball is a very mental game with confidence being important. Here is what happens:

-Little Billy (assistant coach’s son) starts the game at 2B and boots 2 easy grounders in the first inning. He is still sent out to play 2B the next inning. If he makes further errors- maaaaybe they will decide it isn’t his day and send him out to play CF. But Little Billy will still start at 2B next game. No problem- “things happen- get ‘em next time”. VS
-Little Larlo (disfavored kid) gets rotated into 2B and makes a nice play but also makes an error. Coach thinks “ahh yep just as I thought- Larlo isn’t ready to play infield” and it will be quite awhile before Larlo sees any more infield time.

This type of scenario is common & really messes with kids’ confidence. Little Billy will play loose and confident- secure that he will get his chances. Little Larlo will play tight and nervous- knowing if he makes an error- he will be relegated to rotating in corner OF for the next 5 games.

Same with batting- coach’s kid can bat #2 & have a bad game & go 0 for 3 with 3K, no big deal. If he struggles for many games, he may be moved down the order a bit- no biggie. “You’ll get ‘em next time”. Coach’s kid is loose and confident at the plate. He knows he has a pretty secure spot. But if another kid were to have a bad day at the plate - he will be moved down the lineup for next game for sure. This jars the kid who is then nervous at the plate- looking for walks or pressing too much. Resulting in poor performance.

That is how it goes typically. Eventually Little Larlo thinks “I suck at baseball…it obviously isn’t my sport…I don’t want to play next season”

This is pretty much how it goes, after watching 2 sons play baseball growing up (and mine are both still playing- one in HS, one in MS). A lot of kids quit are very put off early by coaches who crush their confidence- when if they had stuck around, could’ve turned out to be pretty good players.

Nailed it. My 13yo is dealing with this now. He's saying he wants to quit because he can't take the pressure. Half the team is favored and can do no wrong (despite all their errors and low batting average) the other half is not allowed to make a mistake. They always bat at the end of the order despite having higher averages than others. It's a total mind **ck. They are 13. We're going to take a break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

Exactly. This has been our experience in both baseball and softball. You also know you’re in trouble if the head coach’s kid is playing 2nd. It means the coach knows the kid isn’t good enough (or desires) to be the main pitcher/catcher/ss, but he doesn’t want to put his kid in the outfield. Chances are that kid will have 2nd locked down for all game every game, the best 3 kids will rotate between pitcher, catcher, SS and a tall kid will be at first.

I also think the diamond sports are the worst for crazy Dads because they see it as a sport where their not quite athletic kid can excel. With an early start, lots of extra practice and early private instruction the kid can look really good at a young age. Daddy then starts going a little crazy when his kid isn’t looking quite as good because other kids have started catching up.

I'm with you on everything except that. You definitely need a tall kid at 1st.

I remember we played a team, in 13u, where the 1st baseman had to at most, be a little over 4 feet tall. They had 5-6 kids there wall 5'6 and up.

It was so weird. But that was the coach's kid. And also a lefty, so it was really 1st or OF. And I'm sure coach couldn't have his dear baby boy in the outfield.

Needless to say, at least 4-5 balls soared over his head. Balls every other 13u first baseman would have caught.

That coach was honestly making it worse for his own son.

Except often the “heavier” kids that can hit the ball a mile at 12 but can’t move very fast, are also put at 1B.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

Exactly. This has been our experience in both baseball and softball. You also know you’re in trouble if the head coach’s kid is playing 2nd. It means the coach knows the kid isn’t good enough (or desires) to be the main pitcher/catcher/ss, but he doesn’t want to put his kid in the outfield. Chances are that kid will have 2nd locked down for all game every game, the best 3 kids will rotate between pitcher, catcher, SS and a tall kid will be at first.

I also think the diamond sports are the worst for crazy Dads because they see it as a sport where their not quite athletic kid can excel. With an early start, lots of extra practice and early private instruction the kid can look really good at a young age. Daddy then starts going a little crazy when his kid isn’t looking quite as good because other kids have started catching up.

I'm with you on everything except that. You definitely need a tall kid at 1st.

I remember we played a team, in 13u, where the 1st baseman had to at most, be a little over 4 feet tall. They had 5-6 kids there wall 5'6 and up.

It was so weird. But that was the coach's kid. And also a lefty, so it was really 1st or OF. And I'm sure coach couldn't have his dear baby boy in the outfield.

Needless to say, at least 4-5 balls soared over his head. Balls every other 13u first baseman would have caught.

That coach was honestly making it worse for his own son.

Except often the “heavier” kids that can hit the ball a mile at 12 but can’t move very fast, are also put at 1B.

So true on my team. The kid gets thrown out all the time because he can barely run the bases but the coaches love when he hits a double or triple. Not sure why it matters so much to him because the kid is almost always picked off. it's an easy out. He also plays first and can't jump and misses throws that a shorter 1B could easily catch. Not the coach's kid either. Coach just loves the sluggers who can't play defensive whatsoever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is not specific to LL... soccer, football, lacross... I've seen it everywhere

there's a lot of craziness in the other sports, but baseball brings out a special craziness in dads for some reason.

+1

Happens in every sport but baseball is the absolute worst for this- so many crazy dads. The Little League years are the height of it- gets better as the kids get closer to high school.

Other team sports there are sometimes opportunities to make something happen. If a kid is on a basketball team with a daddy ball coach whose son always gets to be point guard at least on defense another kid can get an opportunity to steal a ball and turn and take it down the court or get a rebound. Same in soccer a kid who wants to make something happen can try and cover a larger area and get the ball.

Baseball is the worst because if you are in the outfield you might never get the ball the entire game when you are 7 or 8 or 9 especially once they changed the bat regulations (kids hit the ball way further with the old 1.15 bats). Then if you bat at the end of the line up you might only get two at bats. Let's say one time at bat you get 4 awful pitches and walk then get hit by the ball the next at bat. Or maybe the kid gets a good pitch and hits the ball into the outfield. If you are batting behind the slowest player on the team who barely runs you aren't getting a double or triple because the kid who is on base in front of you runs so slowly. So you had zero opportunity to show you can play. Meanwhile the coaches kid playing second base has 6 pop ups and 5 grounders hit to them. On one they dive for the ball and get it and make a play. Even if they missed catching 3 fly balls and overthrew first base twice that kid's dad who is a coach will make a big deal about the one good play the kid made. So in the coaches mind his kid should play infield.

+1

Generally coach’s kids (or coach’s buddies kids) are on a long leash, while “disfavored” kids on a very short one. Baseball is a very mental game with confidence being important. Here is what happens:

-Little Billy (assistant coach’s son) starts the game at 2B and boots 2 easy grounders in the first inning. He is still sent out to play 2B the next inning. If he makes further errors- maaaaybe they will decide it isn’t his day and send him out to play CF. But Little Billy will still start at 2B next game. No problem- “things happen- get ‘em next time”. VS
-Little Larlo (disfavored kid) gets rotated into 2B and makes a nice play but also makes an error. Coach thinks “ahh yep just as I thought- Larlo isn’t ready to play infield” and it will be quite awhile before Larlo sees any more infield time.

This type of scenario is common & really messes with kids’ confidence. Little Billy will play loose and confident- secure that he will get his chances. Little Larlo will play tight and nervous- knowing if he makes an error- he will be relegated to rotating in corner OF for the next 5 games.

Same with batting- coach’s kid can bat #2 & have a bad game & go 0 for 3 with 3K, no big deal. If he struggles for many games, he may be moved down the order a bit- no biggie. “You’ll get ‘em next time”. Coach’s kid is loose and confident at the plate. He knows he has a pretty secure spot. But if another kid were to have a bad day at the plate - he will be moved down the lineup for next game for sure. This jars the kid who is then nervous at the plate- looking for walks or pressing too much. Resulting in poor performance.

That is how it goes typically. Eventually Little Larlo thinks “I suck at baseball…it obviously isn’t my sport…I don’t want to play next season”

This is pretty much how it goes, after watching 2 sons play baseball growing up (and mine are both still playing- one in HS, one in MS). A lot of kids quit are very put off early by coaches who crush their confidence- when if they had stuck around, could’ve turned out to be pretty good players.

Looking back, this is what happened to my son the first half of his first season in kid pitch. My kid was only able to overcome this bias/invisibility because he is very tall and undeniably good. It took about three plays (over three games) where the coaches and parents for the *opposing* team were oohing and aahing over some play he made before his own coach seemed to realize that he could actually play.