I love how the sports forum really drives home the demographics of dcum

[Anonymous]

2104 and 2229 make good points

Youth Bball is much more cutthroat / high stakes and the skill gradient is much more stark/steep between kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m always surprised there aren’t more baseball discussions, excluding the NWLL scandal, of course. There’s been more drama in our kids travel baseball teams than anything we’ve experienced in travel Soccer. So many parents thinking their kids are going to be the next Bryce harper or Trea Turner at 10yo. Team bouncing, and losing friends all for what.

I think this may be in part because in baseball culture kids (and parents), if they are correctly coached are taught to zip it. It’s all about the next pitch/play. It’s famously a game of failure and you need to be resilient to play at even the high school level. Disappointment happens multiple times each game. So it doesn’t necessarily lend itself to large levels of gossiping. Little League is a different animal obviously because parents are still in charge. But once you age out of LL parents are expected to be seen, but not heard.

[Anonymous]

White people aports rule

[Anonymous]

Baseball is nit subject to gossip? Maybe it all end up on the private school threads.

[Anonymous]

baseball and soccer and lacrosse are also sports where ANYONE no matter how unathletic can make a travel team somewhere if their parents are willing to pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:baseball and soccer and lacrosse are also sports where ANYONE no matter how unathletic can make a travel team somewhere if their parents are willing to pay.

I beg to differ with baseball... the larger kids who can slam a HR but can't run to catch a ball are weeded out by the time they get to HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Selfishly, would really like to see subcategories for baseball and hockey as those are DS’s two sports. We are at an age when we will need to pick one sport to focus on and it’s been very difficult to get a good read on the options—eg the clubs as a whole and specific coaches—as we consider switching organizations.

Start posting more about them and the forums will happen. Jeff isn’t going to create forums that don’t get used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Selfishly, would really like to see subcategories for baseball and hockey as those are DS’s two sports. We are at an age when we will need to pick one sport to focus on and it’s been very difficult to get a good read on the options—eg the clubs as a whole and specific coaches—as we consider switching organizations.

Start posting more about them and the forums will happen. Jeff isn’t going to create forums that don’t get used.

+1. There isn't enough activity to warrant separate forums at this point.

[Anonymous]

A quick look at pg 1 right now has 5 posts about basketball, 4 about baseball/softball, two or three on volleyball. Then some one-offs about fencing, wrestling and tennis. And a bunch of general sports-related like the best socks for winter running.

Nothing is so dominant as to need to be pulled out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not much juice discussing or gossiping about youth basketball. Either your kid is good enough or not, rosters are small and teams are so plentiful that rosters are always turning over and in flux, and teams come and go every season. What’s true today may be wrong or irrelevant tomorrow. The levels of basketball are also so steeply different that players of different levels never overlap or come in contact with each other. So basketball comments are often niche specific and often not generally applicable.

Lacrosse, in contrast, is a sport where most players all know each other or know of each other (top players and non top players), families often know each other, and there are a small number of clubs and teams in the area that are relatively stable from year to year. That makes it great for gossip, and most topics discussed are widely relevant or relatable.

But is this a chicken or the egg issue? In 7th grade, my kid came off the bench for a B team at a terrible club. They folded and he got shuffled to an 8th grade B team with a coach he clicked with. He started and was a leading scorer. By 8th, he was starting for a much, much better club where he also clicked with the coach. By high school, he was on a circuit/shoe company team.

Maybe it’s just my kid’s experience, but he was a timid player who had the skills and physical tools, but it took coaches willing push him to do more in games to bring that out. I think there are many kids in the same boat. If there were better development programs, a lot more kids would be good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:baseball and soccer and lacrosse are also sports where ANYONE no matter how unathletic can make a travel team somewhere if their parents are willing to pay.

I beg to differ with baseball... the larger kids who can slam a HR but can't run to catch a ball are weeded out by the time they get to HS.

Lots of terrible baseball players in "travel" baseball until high school. There's a team for every wallet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A quick look at pg 1 right now has 5 posts about basketball, 4 about baseball/softball, two or three on volleyball. Then some one-offs about fencing, wrestling and tennis. And a bunch of general sports-related like the best socks for winter running.

Nothing is so dominant as to need to be pulled out.

County basketball tryouts just ended. Basketball talk will probably have a few complaints about playing time or blowouts and then be dead until AAU tryout in the spring

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:baseball and soccer and lacrosse are also sports where ANYONE no matter how unathletic can make a travel team somewhere if their parents are willing to pay.

There are some really bad AAU teams. The middle teams probably the hardest to make of any sport because there just aren't many roster slots, but the bottom is just bad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son and daughter play high school basketball and AAU (since 4th grade). I find only a couple of the DCUM posters to be helpful and our experience is so specific to the same AAU teams (not sneaker circuit) that I don't think I can generalize enough to comment. I try every now and then and someone always shoots down my answer, but my kids are very involved.

DCUM also skews white and wealthier, so basketball is just not a sport that will help kids with college acceptances. Most parents with talented players see the writing on the wall in middle school. It really depends on the high school you are zoned for (or private that you get into) as to whether your kid will make the team. The club / aau landscape is chaotic and you have to hustle for information. Not something wealthier parents are used to doing. It's easier to recommend trainers rather than actual teams, though I've also had my trainer recommendations shot down for no apparent reason.

[Anonymous]

Since he is 15 years old, 5'5" and 110lbs, and has actually grown to be taller than was expected, we certainly are not putting him in basketball or football.