This isn’t an early 2000s movie. Competitive sports is a small world. There are not endless travel team tryouts and this information is gate-kept often. If your son quits and this is travel he is done with this club. Is that ok with you? |
So OP your DS is in 6th and plays both middle school and rec, correct? Any travel?
Do the other boys play travel? Either way, your DS is likely aging out of rec ball and should move to travel after this year anyway. Sounds like he is good but is at a somewhat lesser skill level than the group (for now…easy to catch up at this age). I’d put him on a lower level travel team for next year. |
I’m sorry Op. kids suck sometime. My kid was in a similar-but not exact- situation. We got a position coach and DC played in anything they could. When HS rolled around DC slayed. They may not have been on the “in” clique with the coaches kid but had respect of the entire team. Attracted lots of other friends (kid is also just a nice kid). Coaches could no longe ignore DC. Just committed to play in college and gave a metaphorical middle finger to all the jerks. |
NP but yes sad to say new team IS the answer. There is no solution to this because it’s not going to come from the Coach since he’s part of the problem…..and that’s really the only way it will be solved. Your son’s mental health is important |
Ugh, kids can be a-holes. Can you avoid this group of mean boys? There are so many club teams and rec teams and camps in most sports.
I have seen this cliques and they’re absolutely awful and heartbreaking. I’m sorry he’s going though this and keep supporting him. |
DP. I deal with it as it is by getting the worthless kids and immoral adults in charge in trouble. |
Tell him to stick it out for the season and then, next season, find a team that doesn't include any of these kids. |
It’s fair to try but not sure what “trouble” means in this instance. MS boys aren’t being inclusive and the parents aren’t….parenting well? The coach isn’t the greatest? I mean, it sucks but what trouble? |
I love this. So many DCUM responses have exactly this mindset but I hadn’t realized how perfectly ‘early 2000s movie’ captures it. |
OP, do what I did.
When my son was excluded from a team dominated by bratty kids and their catty moms, I put together a new team comprised of children from my own culture. Bonus was that the parents were also lovely. As it happened, our team started to win recognition and awards soon afterwords because the team members trained hard and parents took active interest in coaching. |
Why not? That is the right answer. |
"Cool guys"? What a weird way to think. |
Jesus, OP is paying for the privilege of having her son shunned and emotionally abused while a responsible adult turns a blind eye. It's the most helpful response here. |
Wrong. That’s the exact answer. This is what club players/families mean when they say a certain team/club wasn’t the right fit. Find a new team. |
OP, your post is so baseball you didn't even have to reveal the sport and I already knew. It's called "dadball" for a reason. If your kid's dad isn't one of the staff and your kid isn't friends with one of the dada's boys, good luck.
Long term, dadball is one of the worst sports in terms of time and money invested vs probability of having an adult professional career. The best that college dadball players can hope for is living on food stamps for several years while playing for a farm team. Middle school is a good time to transition to another sport with a different parent culture. Track and field parents do not seem as unhinged in my experience. |