12 year old wants to play baseball

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So your kid sits out all those years everyone else is learning how to play the game right way, and now he wants to come back in.

Grow some backbone. Your kid mad his bed. Time to lie in it.

This attitude is prevalent in kids sports nowadays with type-A parents pushing their kids to specialize, play travel as 7 year olds. SAD.

Great athletes can and do switch sports. Case in point, my cousin played lacrosse for years then dropped it to try soccer when he was 11. He was a natural. Fast forward, he is playing Division One college soccer on a full scholarship!

That other poster is crazy. Even little league series folks were promoting the idea that kids should not specialize and should play more than two sports / play outside more. They even had PSAs about it.

NP here. Sort of off the subject, but I have a kid who is pretty decent at baseball and have been feeling the pressure to get him into travel. All of his close friends who love baseball are doing it and I hate feeling like he's being left behind. He does play basketball in winter and summer, so he's by no means specializing in baseball, and I recognize I need to shake off the pressure, but...it's there. He is not doing it and my husband definitely does not want him to do it. We have other commitments so logistically it wouldn't work. Rationally I know all this.

How old? My DS is 10, almost, 11 and same thing. We said no to it for this year- mostly due to family schedule and also the expense. Most of his friends play both rec AND travel...so he does play with them for rec. My DS is doing rec fall ball and rec again in the Sprinf. He does do a weekly batting lesson. He is not falling behind skill wise at all (played LL all stars all summer too). I don’t think there is anything wrong with travel but I think it is OK to set limits on what the family can handle. We probably won’t do travel until 12 or my DS ages out of little league. Thus far- some of the best players also play travel, some do not. I think he continue doing rec only for a bit, yet.

ETA: my point is, if he is under 12 I doubt he is being left behind skill-wise. Your time and $ is likely better spent on things like batting lessons or membership to a batting cage (and also working with him at home- just playing catch, etc )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So your kid sits out all those years everyone else is learning how to play the game right way, and now he wants to come back in.

Grow some backbone. Your kid mad his bed. Time to lie in it.

My 12yo had a kid join the team who had never played baseball before (from overseas) but was a natural athlete. He picked it up quickly and was one of the best players on the team. You can learn the game if you're an athletic kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So your kid sits out all those years everyone else is learning how to play the game right way, and now he wants to come back in.

Grow some backbone. Your kid mad his bed. Time to lie in it.

My 12yo had a kid join the team who had never played baseball before (from overseas) but was a natural athlete. He picked it up quickly and was one of the best players on the team. You can learn the game if you're an athletic kid.

+1. See Adam Jones, Mariano Rivera, Patrick Corbin to name a few.

[Anonymous]

My 11 yo is trying baseball for the first time this fall (no tee ball, no anything prior). He is not a natural athlete but he is a hard worker and is having lots of fun.

[Anonymous]

OP here- thanks so much everyone! As I said, DS is always practicing with his brother who is a AAA player. DS is a huge baseball fan- follows The Nats religiously and MLB in general. He has a high baseball IQ from being a fan for so many years. Agreed that he will need to do skills training in the winter and I know of several local places for him.

To the negative PP- I’ll remind you that participation in youth baseball is at an all-time low and it’s a very sad situation. Our local league has fewer teams than ever and we are in danger of losing the rights to our fields. I was thrilled when DS said he’d like to play on a team again. One more player is a good thing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks so much everyone! As I said, DS is always practicing with his brother who is a AAA player. DS is a huge baseball fan- follows The Nats religiously and MLB in general. He has a high baseball IQ from being a fan for so many years. Agreed that he will need to do skills training in the winter and I know of several local places for him.

To the negative PP- I’ll remind you that participation in youth baseball is at an all-time low and it’s a very sad situation. Our local league has fewer teams than ever and we are in danger of losing the rights to our fields. I was thrilled when DS said he’d like to play on a team again. One more player is a good thing!

Sounds like he will be fine!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So your kid sits out all those years everyone else is learning how to play the game right way, and now he wants to come back in.

Grow some backbone. Your kid mad his bed. Time to lie in it.

This attitude is prevalent in kids sports nowadays with type-A parents pushing their kids to specialize, play travel as 7 year olds. SAD.

Great athletes can and do switch sports. Case in point, my cousin played lacrosse for years then dropped it to try soccer when he was 11. He was a natural. Fast forward, he is playing Division One college soccer on a full scholarship!

That other poster is crazy. Even little league series folks were promoting the idea that kids should not specialize and should play more than two sports / play outside more. They even had PSAs about it.

NP here. Sort of off the subject, but I have a kid who is pretty decent at baseball and have been feeling the pressure to get him into travel. All of his close friends who love baseball are doing it and I hate feeling like he's being left behind. He does play basketball in winter and summer, so he's by no means specializing in baseball, and I recognize I need to shake off the pressure, but...it's there. He is not doing it and my husband definitely does not want him to do it. We have other commitments so logistically it wouldn't work. Rationally I know all this.

How old? My DS is 10, almost, 11 and same thing. We said no to it for this year- mostly due to family schedule and also the expense. Most of his friends play both rec AND travel...so he does play with them for rec. My DS is doing rec fall ball and rec again in the Sprinf. He does do a weekly batting lesson. He is not falling behind skill wise at all (played LL all stars all summer too). I don’t think there is anything wrong with travel but I think it is OK to set limits on what the family can handle. We probably won’t do travel until 12 or my DS ages out of little league. Thus far- some of the best players also play travel, some do not. I think he continue doing rec only for a bit, yet.

ETA: my point is, if he is under 12 I doubt he is being left behind skill-wise. Your time and $ is likely better spent on things like batting lessons or membership to a batting cage (and also working with him at home- just playing catch, etc )

PP here. Thanks for your response! My kid is younger than yours- 9. Our LL is competitive and has travel teams affiliated with it. Not sure if that’s standard for all LL, but in any case, I’m going to shake off the pressure and enjoy my son’s games.

OP, good luck to your son! A high baseball IQ is so important so I have no doubt he’ll do well. My BIL works for the Nats in a very public capacity and my son has learned a ton from watching games with his uncle, which is great because we are definitely not a baseball family.