Little League and parent arrogance

[Anonymous]

We’ve only had one coach like that in ALL and from talking to other parents it’s seems like it’s rare in the league. Our coaches have been fair even when it’s not great for winning games. Parents and kids have all been nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CHLL has paid Coaches!?! I think not.

Beyond the playing time issues and favoritism, do these coaches actually teach the kids anything about baseball?!? Or try to? Kids won't improve otherwise.

I thought CHLL paid some of the young hill workers a couple bucks. Maybe it was informal with the parents of a team.

I thought everything LL had to be volunteer coaching. The volunteerism is the spirit of Little League.

There is no rule. As this thread indicates, volunteer coaching can often times be negative. That’s why it is exceedingly rare to have anyone volunteering to coach that doesn’t have a kid on the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From being in the Little League world for many years one anecdotal observation is that the level of craziness in a town’s LL is proportional to the strength of the town’s HS baseball team. Obviously, Vienna has a really strong Madison HS baseball program and that level of competitiveness flows down into travel and LL teams. Parents see their neighborhood kids getting college scholarships and occasional pro baseball opportunities. So the expectations are often unrealistic from the get go.

Great point. Our LL is insane, it's taken VERY seriously. They have gone to the LL World Series multiple times. Our high school baseball team - everyone feeds into the same school - is a multiple time state champion and nearly every senior goes on to play college ball at one level or another. The HS coach has been there for 40 years so we now have multiple generations that have been in this world. It's...a lot...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't begrudge coaches (in any sport) starting/playing their own children AT ALL. It is a huuuuuuuuuge time committment to coach, the least they should get is a perk for their own kid.

You want your kid to play more? Make them a better player or volunteer to help out.

Really mean spirited . All he kids signed up to play they all need to play.

My son likes to watch football so he wanted to try it at around 8 years old. There were two father coaches with puffed up chests thinking they’re Bill Belichick. My son is on the delicate side and was never one to pick up a ball. These guys were so obnoxious and just plain nasty. They were doing warm up exercises in three random lines. One of them screamed at him to get in the back. When I asked why he didn’t play for the required minimum time the coach said he didn’t belong there. We were aware of his lack of skills but it’s a child’s game meant to be fun. But why make some kids have just an unpleasant experience. This isn’t Texas, high schools have no cut football teams even though not everyone plays. They need to stop using fathers who volunteer. They don’t always deserve respect.

Your son as you describe him "is on the delicate side" and "never one to pick up the ball". What crazy world do you live in that you thought it would be great to sign him up for football? That is 100% on you as the parents. Your child was interested in football yet you never thought to go get him a football and play catch in the backyard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

And people wonder why LL is declining in numbers….at least this poster’s DH and his friends openly admit it. So gross.

This is more or less how our LL was run also. No sour grapes as my DSs always made the all star teams (both pitched well at those ages) but many of their deserving friends did not, over the years.

Doesn’t end up mattering in the end (most of the dadball kids are not still playing in high school anyway) but it is truly sad that little league is this way. It is one of the reasons kid move to club ball- same issues there but at least kids are free to move to a different team if there are problems. It is also one of the reasons kids drop the sport- being parked in RF for 2 innings a game while the coaches’ kids play the more exciting roles has to be so boring at that age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

This is why we went straight to club baseball. The coaching is better and the kids are much more talented and less dependent on "who you know". We see your kids playing short stop missing all the balls when they should be riding the bench.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

And people wonder why LL is declining in numbers….at least this poster’s DH and his friends openly admit it. So gross.

This is more or less how our LL was run also. No sour grapes as my DSs always made the all star teams (both pitched well at those ages) but many of their deserving friends did not, over the years.

Doesn’t end up mattering in the end (most of the dadball kids are not still playing in high school anyway) but it is truly sad that little league is this way. It is one of the reasons kid move to club ball- same issues there but at least kids are free to move to a different team if there are problems. It is also one of the reasons kids drop the sport- being parked in RF for 2 innings a game while the coaches’ kids play the more exciting roles has to be so boring at that age.

The question OP asked: I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?
And the answer is: Of course not. What parent coach is going to look sit around looking back at what happened 6-8 years ago with regret and think, " I should have played that kids who wasn't very good more".

It is a big sacrifice for most parents to coach. My husband is a teacher and there were a lot of days he did not look forward to spending all day with junior high school students, hustling away from work, then spending more time supervising rowdy kids in the late afternoon/evenings. So why is it gross? It is laughable that if he has regrets it is going to be over the kids who played RF. The vast majority of the bench/right fielders had parents who couldn't even be bothered to ever play catch with them or take them to the batting cage or merely watch a few games of baseball so they knew how baseball was played.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

And people wonder why LL is declining in numbers….at least this poster’s DH and his friends openly admit it. So gross.

This is more or less how our LL was run also. No sour grapes as my DSs always made the all star teams (both pitched well at those ages) but many of their deserving friends did not, over the years.

Doesn’t end up mattering in the end (most of the dadball kids are not still playing in high school anyway) but it is truly sad that little league is this way. It is one of the reasons kid move to club ball- same issues there but at least kids are free to move to a different team if there are problems. It is also one of the reasons kids drop the sport- being parked in RF for 2 innings a game while the coaches’ kids play the more exciting roles has to be so boring at that age.

The question OP asked: I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?
And the answer is: Of course not. What parent coach is going to look sit around looking back at what happened 6-8 years ago with regret and think, " I should have played that kids who wasn't very good more".

It is a big sacrifice for most parents to coach. My husband is a teacher and there were a lot of days he did not look forward to spending all day with junior high school students, hustling away from work, then spending more time supervising rowdy kids in the late afternoon/evenings. So why is it gross? It is laughable that if he has regrets it is going to be over the kids who played RF. The vast majority of the bench/right fielders had parents who couldn't even be bothered to ever play catch with them or take them to the batting cage or merely watch a few games of baseball so they knew how baseball was played.

I would have more respect for you if you just said your husband didn't care about coaching or helping develop young players and instill passion for the game and instead was motivated by making sure his son got as many reps as possible at the expense of the other kids because his experience was the only one that mattered. Because that's what happened. This is why rec sports are in serious decline and why people just say "No, thanks!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

This is why we went straight to club baseball. The coaching is better and the kids are much more talented and less dependent on "who you know". We see your kids playing short stop missing all the balls when they should be riding the bench.

+1

Same

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

And people wonder why LL is declining in numbers….at least this poster’s DH and his friends openly admit it. So gross.

This is more or less how our LL was run also. No sour grapes as my DSs always made the all star teams (both pitched well at those ages) but many of their deserving friends did not, over the years.

Doesn’t end up mattering in the end (most of the dadball kids are not still playing in high school anyway) but it is truly sad that little league is this way. It is one of the reasons kid move to club ball- same issues there but at least kids are free to move to a different team if there are problems. It is also one of the reasons kids drop the sport- being parked in RF for 2 innings a game while the coaches’ kids play the more exciting roles has to be so boring at that age.

The question OP asked: I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?
And the answer is: Of course not. What parent coach is going to look sit around looking back at what happened 6-8 years ago with regret and think, " I should have played that kids who wasn't very good more".

It is a big sacrifice for most parents to coach. My husband is a teacher and there were a lot of days he did not look forward to spending all day with junior high school students, hustling away from work, then spending more time supervising rowdy kids in the late afternoon/evenings. So why is it gross? It is laughable that if he has regrets it is going to be over the kids who played RF. The vast majority of the bench/right fielders had parents who couldn't even be bothered to ever play catch with them or take them to the batting cage or merely watch a few games of baseball so they knew how baseball was played.

I would have more respect for you if you just said your husband didn't care about coaching or helping develop young players and instill passion for the game and instead was motivated by making sure his son got as many reps as possible at the expense of the other kids because his experience was the only one that mattered. Because that's what happened. This is why rec sports are in serious decline and why people just say "No, thanks!"

Two things can be true at once. Yes the coaches kids got more playing time but at the same time many players were developed. If not you can't win games. My husband had on his team a tall thin 10 who couldn't hit the ball. He was new to his team but had recognized him from previous sessions where he didn't get playing time. My husband realized he was a lefty who had some zip when he threw AND was so incredibly coachable. DH and another coach taught him to pitch and really worked with him all season. By the end of the season he still couldn't hit but wow, what a good pitcher he became. DH went to go watch him play high school and he still such a good lefty pitcher.

Kids who you could tell didn't want to be there (they admitted their parents were making them play), kids who wouldn't listen and just goofed around so they were so uncoachable, kids whose parents never bothered to watch a game of baseball with them or play catch with them so they were so uncoordinated and clueless, those kids did play way less. None of those kids are developing a passion for the game no matter what you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

And people wonder why LL is declining in numbers….at least this poster’s DH and his friends openly admit it. So gross.

This is more or less how our LL was run also. No sour grapes as my DSs always made the all star teams (both pitched well at those ages) but many of their deserving friends did not, over the years.

Doesn’t end up mattering in the end (most of the dadball kids are not still playing in high school anyway) but it is truly sad that little league is this way. It is one of the reasons kid move to club ball- same issues there but at least kids are free to move to a different team if there are problems. It is also one of the reasons kids drop the sport- being parked in RF for 2 innings a game while the coaches’ kids play the more exciting roles has to be so boring at that age.

The question OP asked: I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?
And the answer is: Of course not. What parent coach is going to look sit around looking back at what happened 6-8 years ago with regret and think, " I should have played that kids who wasn't very good more".

It is a big sacrifice for most parents to coach. My husband is a teacher and there were a lot of days he did not look forward to spending all day with junior high school students, hustling away from work, then spending more time supervising rowdy kids in the late afternoon/evenings. So why is it gross? It is laughable that if he has regrets it is going to be over the kids who played RF. The vast majority of the bench/right fielders had parents who couldn't even be bothered to ever play catch with them or take them to the batting cage or merely watch a few games of baseball so they knew how baseball was played.

I would have more respect for you if you just said your husband didn't care about coaching or helping develop young players and instill passion for the game and instead was motivated by making sure his son got as many reps as possible at the expense of the other kids because his experience was the only one that mattered. Because that's what happened. This is why rec sports are in serious decline and why people just say "No, thanks!"

Two things can be true at once. Yes the coaches kids got more playing time but at the same time many players were developed. If not you can't win games. My husband had on his team a tall thin 10 who couldn't hit the ball. He was new to his team but had recognized him from previous sessions where he didn't get playing time. My husband realized he was a lefty who had some zip when he threw AND was so incredibly coachable. DH and another coach taught him to pitch and really worked with him all season. By the end of the season he still couldn't hit but wow, what a good pitcher he became. DH went to go watch him play high school and he still such a good lefty pitcher.

Kids who you could tell didn't want to be there (they admitted their parents were making them play), kids who wouldn't listen and just goofed around so they were so uncoachable, kids whose parents never bothered to watch a game of baseball with them or play catch with them so they were so uncoordinated and clueless, those kids did play way less. None of those kids are developing a passion for the game no matter what you do.

DP but it’s weird that you think your DH should get extra credit for simply doing the job he signed up for… coaching kids. But I guess just coaching one kid is a success for him.

You keep trying to blame the parents for not teaching baseball to their kids? Well that’s what the coach is for! (Did it ever occur to you that the parents may not know anything about baseball? They might not be capable of playing catch?)

I assume your husband brings this same sh!tty attitude to his teaching job, too. “Why should I be bothered to teach Timmy chemistry when his lazy parents didn’t even bother to teach it to him before he got to my chemistry class? That means I will actually have to work!” His poor students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

So the best kids got a lot of playing time because, well, they were the best. And the mediocre kids ruled the team playing any position they wanted because their parents volunteered.

About 1/3 of professional baseball players did not grow up in the United States. Soon they might be the majority because Americans think they can buy their kid talent. Or at least shamelessly put their kid in play when he’s not even close to the talented ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

And people wonder why LL is declining in numbers….at least this poster’s DH and his friends openly admit it. So gross.

This is more or less how our LL was run also. No sour grapes as my DSs always made the all star teams (both pitched well at those ages) but many of their deserving friends did not, over the years.

Doesn’t end up mattering in the end (most of the dadball kids are not still playing in high school anyway) but it is truly sad that little league is this way. It is one of the reasons kid move to club ball- same issues there but at least kids are free to move to a different team if there are problems. It is also one of the reasons kids drop the sport- being parked in RF for 2 innings a game while the coaches’ kids play the more exciting roles has to be so boring at that age.

The question OP asked: I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?
And the answer is: Of course not. What parent coach is going to look sit around looking back at what happened 6-8 years ago with regret and think, " I should have played that kids who wasn't very good more".

It is a big sacrifice for most parents to coach. My husband is a teacher and there were a lot of days he did not look forward to spending all day with junior high school students, hustling away from work, then spending more time supervising rowdy kids in the late afternoon/evenings. So why is it gross? It is laughable that if he has regrets it is going to be over the kids who played RF. The vast majority of the bench/right fielders had parents who couldn't even be bothered to ever play catch with them or take them to the batting cage or merely watch a few games of baseball so they knew how baseball was played.

I would have more respect for you if you just said your husband didn't care about coaching or helping develop young players and instill passion for the game and instead was motivated by making sure his son got as many reps as possible at the expense of the other kids because his experience was the only one that mattered. Because that's what happened. This is why rec sports are in serious decline and why people just say "No, thanks!"

Two things can be true at once. Yes the coaches kids got more playing time but at the same time many players were developed. If not you can't win games. My husband had on his team a tall thin 10 who couldn't hit the ball. He was new to his team but had recognized him from previous sessions where he didn't get playing time. My husband realized he was a lefty who had some zip when he threw AND was so incredibly coachable. DH and another coach taught him to pitch and really worked with him all season. By the end of the season he still couldn't hit but wow, what a good pitcher he became. DH went to go watch him play high school and he still such a good lefty pitcher.

Kids who you could tell didn't want to be there (they admitted their parents were making them play), kids who wouldn't listen and just goofed around so they were so uncoachable, kids whose parents never bothered to watch a game of baseball with them or play catch with them so they were so uncoordinated and clueless, those kids did play way less. None of those kids are developing a passion for the game no matter what you do.

DP but it’s weird that you think your DH should get extra credit for simply doing the job he signed up for… coaching kids. But I guess just coaching one kid is a success for him.

You keep trying to blame the parents for not teaching baseball to their kids? Well that’s what the coach is for! (Did it ever occur to you that the parents may not know anything about baseball? They might not be capable of playing catch?)

I assume your husband brings this same sh!tty attitude to his teaching job, too. “Why should I be bothered to teach Timmy chemistry when his lazy parents didn’t even bother to teach it to him before he got to my chemistry class? That means I will actually have to work!” His poor students.

It is not that long of a season for a kid to come out having NEVER watched baseball on TV or every having played catch to learn how to play when they sign up for the first time as a 9 year old. There are some kids who have done other hand-eye coordination sports that end up catching on. It is laziness on the part of parents never to play any sports with their kids at all and expect a VOLUNTEER to spend extra time with their kid so the kid has a chance to play infield. I am not talking about the single mom who works two jobs, I am talking about when a kid gets dropped off by his dad who is going to play golf and the kid doesn't even have a glove or want to be there because the dad has never bothered to play catch with his kid. Or kicked around a ball or done any sport. Or the kid whose mom drops off the kid so she can go to the gym or go work out somewhere but never takes her kid to work out. Or the parents that don't parent their kids and let them do whatever they want so they are really disruptive to the team. Some parents are really lazy and entitled and think they will let volunteers do it all.

Obviously teaching school is different. It doesn't matter if the parents do nothing, or how little the student knows, or a kid is annoying because teachers are going to do what it takes to help every student. A volunteer coaching job is not the same thing.

OP said her kid was "lesser skilled". So it isn't a post about - my kids was more skilled than the coaches' kids but didn't get as much playing time. Yeah that is absolutely a valid complaint. But it is annoying to hear "my kids was lesser skilled" and should get just as much playing time as the coaches's kid. Why would any coach feel badly years later about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Years ago when my son was 8, he played Little League (Vienna) and had the misfortune of being on teams two seasons in a row where the dads/coaches really thought their sons were headed for the big leagues. The coaches barely played the lesser skilled kids (my son was in this group) and ignored all but a handful of players. The boys are all in high school now and the kids who were going to be Cal Ripken aren’t even playing baseball (or any sport, for some of them) anymore. I occasionally wonder if the dads ever think back on how they coached those teams and regret being so myopic. Just wishful thinking on my part?

When my son was 5 and we were signing him up for Little League T-Ball my brother who had kids in Little League warned us- don't sign him up unless you can be at least an assistant coach. Turned out to be excellent advice. I ended up volunteering for the Board and DH was an assistant coach for both our boys so they played the best positions, got tons of time pitching and catching, and batted at the top of the line up, played in all stars up until 10U. One son stopped playing baseball after that and the other one didn't want to take it so seriously after that and stopped playing at 13.

Absolutely no regret from the coaches. DH hung out with his coach friends. Kids are in high school and half of their kids no longer play baseball. They were talking about how they all had a good time and were glad their kids had the opportunity to play whatever position they wanted. The best kids who didn't have dads coaching really did get a lot of playing time as well.

Your son was "less skilled". Did you play catch with him, take him to the batting cages, get a batting coach? So much about life is who you know and your connections or you have to work twice as hard. Why would Little League be any different?

Well there’s your answer PP. No they apparently do not regret it.

My DH currently coaches LL and this is the exact opposite of his approach. He makes sure all kids get an opportunity to play all positions. Batting lineups are randomized every time. He volunteers b/c he is athletic and likes being involved with our DS and his friends. He wants to see all the kids do well.