Little League - do the coaches’ kids always get the best positions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: It doesn't have to be this way. Try to get your kid on a team with someone who is coaching for the right reasons. DH has coached our boys' teams for many years. Our kids are strong players but they sit one inning on the bench and play 2 innings in the outfield every game like every other kid on the team. It's a different story with their travel teams, but little league is about learning love for the game and building good baseball citizens, not about wins and losses. There are coaches out there that have that philosophy, and if you as a parent have that philosophy (and won't get angry with the coach for letting a kid who can't pitch have a few innings because he's dying for the opportunity, even if it means you risk losing the game, and won't get angry when YOUR kid sits on the bench and plays outfield for 2 innings every game) try to find one and get your kid on his/her team.

FYI - I'm sure your DH is a great coach. But those are usually rec league rules. No more than 4 innings in the infield and everyone must sit at least one inning.

I'm sure he's great, but he's not doing that out of the goodness of his heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents who claim that there kids aren't getting time or playing in the infield are the same parents who never found the time to throw the ball in the backyard.

You want your kid to improve? It happens at home just as much as it happens at practice.

It’s also people who work shifts or inflexible hours, or are volunteer coaching another sport. Not everyone who doesn’t coach baseball is a crap parent.

Coaches certainly deal with a lot, but acting like youth baseball isn’t full of egregious dadball favoritism is naive.

Meh, those are the anomolies.

The Dad that complained to me that this 12U daughter hasn't played 1st base yet very clearly has not found the time to play catch with her.

I’m sure that girl is blessed to have a coach so invested, caring, and nonjudgmental as you.
🙄

It's the opposite.

First, I care about her safety and enjoyment of the game. If I put her at first, she's either going to get hurt, or allow baserunners and feel bad about her performance; I need to set her up for success.

Second, I owe the other girls on the team a line-up that balances player development and an opportunity to win.

So I put her in RF and give her one assignment "Don't let the ball get behind you, and when you get the ball, get it back into the infield as quickly as possible."

That is a job she can complete successfully in the game and feel good about her performance.

If her dad wants her to play first base, the Dad needs to use non-practice time to help her get more comfortable in fielding the ground balls and catching the ball.

We have 90 minutes of practice a week, and 2 games a week. 90 minutes is not enough time to get her to point that she will be ready

I’m not saying you should put her at a position she can’t play.
I’m saying your attitude sucks. And you’re digging in about being right. You’ve cherry picked a single example of why it is ok to consistently give playing time, all star team spots, starting positions, and accolades to the coaches’ kids while flat out ignoring kids who are better. It happens all the time, and people notice the pattern when compared to other dad coaches sports. Which is why people hate dadball, and why this thread was started. Maybe it isn’t you, but if you seriously haven’t noted this in other coaches in your league, I’m guessing it is.

Sure. of course there is daddyball. and of course I've seen it.

But for every kid that gets to be the starting pitcher bc their dad is the coach, there are 4 times as many kids whose parents think they're kids hare getting hosed because of the 'coach's kid', when in reality, their kid just isn't good enough.

Daddyball is a convenient excuse for when you refuse to admit your kid just isnt good enough

Oh please, people are complaining because daddy’s kid is walking in 10 runs or unable to catch the ball, but still put at first, or batting third but striking out every time. It’s pathetic.

It’s part of the reason baseball is increasing unpopular at the youth level.

Increasingly unpopular?

Got any evidence behind that? Because I see dozens of kids trying out for 1-2 spots on teams. I see fields scheduled out months in advance. I see tournaments making money hand over fist.

In my area alone, there's at least 3-4 indoor facilities available for rent.

Seems like youth baseball is doing just fine.

+1

Our travel team turned down almost 20 kids this season. Tournaments fill up fast and some teams "camp out" early to get tournament spots. I'm not seeing a decrease in NOVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents who claim that there kids aren't getting time or playing in the infield are the same parents who never found the time to throw the ball in the backyard.

You want your kid to improve? It happens at home just as much as it happens at practice.

It’s also people who work shifts or inflexible hours, or are volunteer coaching another sport. Not everyone who doesn’t coach baseball is a crap parent.

Coaches certainly deal with a lot, but acting like youth baseball isn’t full of egregious dadball favoritism is naive.

Meh, those are the anomolies.

The Dad that complained to me that this 12U daughter hasn't played 1st base yet very clearly has not found the time to play catch with her.

I’m sure that girl is blessed to have a coach so invested, caring, and nonjudgmental as you.
🙄

It's the opposite.

First, I care about her safety and enjoyment of the game. If I put her at first, she's either going to get hurt, or allow baserunners and feel bad about her performance; I need to set her up for success.

Second, I owe the other girls on the team a line-up that balances player development and an opportunity to win.

So I put her in RF and give her one assignment "Don't let the ball get behind you, and when you get the ball, get it back into the infield as quickly as possible."

That is a job she can complete successfully in the game and feel good about her performance.

If her dad wants her to play first base, the Dad needs to use non-practice time to help her get more comfortable in fielding the ground balls and catching the ball.

We have 90 minutes of practice a week, and 2 games a week. 90 minutes is not enough time to get her to point that she will be ready

I’m not saying you should put her at a position she can’t play.
I’m saying your attitude sucks. And you’re digging in about being right. You’ve cherry picked a single example of why it is ok to consistently give playing time, all star team spots, starting positions, and accolades to the coaches’ kids while flat out ignoring kids who are better. It happens all the time, and people notice the pattern when compared to other dad coaches sports. Which is why people hate dadball, and why this thread was started. Maybe it isn’t you, but if you seriously haven’t noted this in other coaches in your league, I’m guessing it is.

Sure. of course there is daddyball. and of course I've seen it.

But for every kid that gets to be the starting pitcher bc their dad is the coach, there are 4 times as many kids whose parents think they're kids hare getting hosed because of the 'coach's kid', when in reality, their kid just isn't good enough.

Daddyball is a convenient excuse for when you refuse to admit your kid just isnt good enough

Oh please, people are complaining because daddy’s kid is walking in 10 runs or unable to catch the ball, but still put at first, or batting third but striking out every time. It’s pathetic.

It’s part of the reason baseball is increasing unpopular at the youth level.

Increasingly unpopular?

Got any evidence behind that? Because I see dozens of kids trying out for 1-2 spots on teams. I see fields scheduled out months in advance. I see tournaments making money hand over fist.

In my area alone, there's at least 3-4 indoor facilities available for rent.

Seems like youth baseball is doing just fine.

+1

Our travel team turned down almost 20 kids this season. Tournaments fill up fast and some teams "camp out" early to get tournament spots. I'm not seeing a decrease in NOVA.

Youth baseball participation peaked in the late 1990s and has dropped 1 to 3 percent on average each year since then. Lots of sources for this, here’s one. https://www.courant.com/sports/hc-sp-little-league-youth-baseball-connecticut-participation-20190710-xq4b4trxdnehbbwodm4z35aulu-story.html

Anecdotally, nearly all of my son’s more athletic friends switched from baseball to lacrosse by middle school. Much faster pace of play.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I think it’s rec baseball that’s taken the hit and travel baseball that’s increased its enrollment (which some people argues dilutes the level of play in travel). Our LL’s enrollment is at about 50% of what it used to be and we ended up reducing the number of teams.

[Anonymous]

More kids do travel for baseball then any other rec sport. Our leagues baseball enrollment goes off a cliff after the last year of little league. We have 15 majors teams and 2 babe ruth (middle school rec) teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More kids do travel for baseball then any other rec sport. Our leagues baseball enrollment goes off a cliff after the last year of little league. We have 15 majors teams and 2 babe ruth (middle school rec) teams.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: It doesn't have to be this way. Try to get your kid on a team with someone who is coaching for the right reasons. DH has coached our boys' teams for many years. Our kids are strong players but they sit one inning on the bench and play 2 innings in the outfield every game like every other kid on the team. It's a different story with their travel teams, but little league is about learning love for the game and building good baseball citizens, not about wins and losses. There are coaches out there that have that philosophy, and if you as a parent have that philosophy (and won't get angry with the coach for letting a kid who can't pitch have a few innings because he's dying for the opportunity, even if it means you risk losing the game, and won't get angry when YOUR kid sits on the bench and plays outfield for 2 innings every game) try to find one and get your kid on his/her team.

FYI - I'm sure your DH is a great coach. But those are usually rec league rules. No more than 4 innings in the infield and everyone must sit at least one inning.

I'm sure he's great, but he's not doing that out of the goodness of his heart.

LOVE the mansplaining here. Why would you assume I'm not familiar with the rules of my kids' league? It's not a rule in our league, we have many teams that suffer from all the problems described in this forum. My point is that you can find coaches that approach the game the right way, but you have to also accept that means sometimes taking a loss for the sake of fair play and good lessons.

[Anonymous]

Yes, this sucks about baseball. As the parent of a current high school varsity player, all I can say is that kids who have some athletic talent and work to develop will become better players. The best kids play on varsity.

Here’s what we did. When DS was the best player on his little league team, he was lead off batter every game. His best friend never got more than the mandated one at bat. DS asked his coach if he could give some of the other players some his at bats. The coach tried to explain that the other boys don’t want to bat and they prefer that DS batted. What a joke? The last game of the season ended with the boys in tears and the parents screaming at the coach. The LL coach wanted to win, win, win so he could coach an All star team. Terrible selfishness.

DS was a good player on another team. He only played right field and coach dad’s kid was always short stop. We Accepted the reality of daddy ball and DS keep working - lessons, cages , DH hitting him balls. FWIW, DS is now starting short stop on his very competitive varsity team. Many of the daddy ball kids didn’t even make high school ball. It all works out in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More kids do travel for baseball then any other rec sport. Our leagues baseball enrollment goes off a cliff after the last year of little league. We have 15 majors teams and 2 babe ruth (middle school rec) teams.

+1

Um no, baseball’s overall popularity has plummeted at all levels has plummeted, including mlb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this sucks about baseball. As the parent of a current high school varsity player, all I can say is that kids who have some athletic talent and work to develop will become better players. The best kids play on varsity.

Here’s what we did. When DS was the best player on his little league team, he was lead off batter every game. His best friend never got more than the mandated one at bat. DS asked his coach if he could give some of the other players some his at bats. The coach tried to explain that the other boys don’t want to bat and they prefer that DS batted. What a joke? The last game of the season ended with the boys in tears and the parents screaming at the coach. The LL coach wanted to win, win, win so he could coach an All star team. Terrible selfishness.

DS was a good player on another team. He only played right field and coach dad’s kid was always short stop. We Accepted the reality of daddy ball and DS keep working - lessons, cages , DH hitting him balls. FWIW, DS is now starting short stop on his very competitive varsity team. Many of the daddy ball kids didn’t even make high school ball. It all works out in the end.

OMG this is exactly the situation my son is in now. Coach's son is first batter and plays 2nd base. Makes so many errors every game, can barely catch or throw and is a mediocre hitter at best, certainly not the best on the team by any stretch. The only reason he's on the team is because dad volunteered as an assistant. The kid never has to sit on the bench. It's such blatant favoritism and the kid just really stinks and the other parents are fuming in the bleachers watching this mess. Can't wait for the season to end to find a new team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More kids do travel for baseball then any other rec sport. Our leagues baseball enrollment goes off a cliff after the last year of little league. We have 15 majors teams and 2 babe ruth (middle school rec) teams.

+1

Um no, baseball’s overall popularity has plummeted at all levels has plummeted, including mlb.

Really? I'd like to see the participation numbers. A cursory search says you're wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More kids do travel for baseball then any other rec sport. Our leagues baseball enrollment goes off a cliff after the last year of little league. We have 15 majors teams and 2 babe ruth (middle school rec) teams.

+1

Um no, baseball’s overall popularity has plummeted at all levels has plummeted, including mlb.

Really? I'd like to see the participation numbers. A cursory search says you're wrong.

NP here:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/982278/participation-kids-baseball/

https://sgbonline.com/upward-trend-in-baseball-participation-takes-a-hit-during-covid-19-year/

https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/youth-sports/facts/participation-rates

https://frontofficesports.com/little-league-participation/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More kids do travel for baseball then any other rec sport. Our leagues baseball enrollment goes off a cliff after the last year of little league. We have 15 majors teams and 2 babe ruth (middle school rec) teams.

+1

Um no, baseball’s overall popularity has plummeted at all levels has plummeted, including mlb.

Really? I'd like to see the participation numbers. A cursory search says you're wrong.

NP here:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/982278/participation-kids-baseball/

https://sgbonline.com/upward-trend-in-baseball-participation-takes-a-hit-during-covid-19-year/

https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/youth-sports/facts/participation-rates

https://frontofficesports.com/little-league-participation/

Did you read any of those? At least 2 are saying sports participation was down in 2020. You don't say..... why could that be?

The title of the 4th one is "While Youth Baseball Soars, Participation In Little League Is Fading" huh. Also from the article:

"While people in the industry are aware of Little League’s perplexing times, many are confident in the direction that baseball is heading. A Wall Street Journal article from February 2019 showed that nearly 15.9 million people played baseball in 2018 – a 21% increase from 2014"

Kids just aren't playing Little League, but they are playing baseball.

Here's another source for you: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/08/23/put-me-in-coach-youth-baseball-participation-on-the-rise/40002827/

"Major League Baseball is encouraged that kids are returning to baseball and sticking with it. Between 2013 and 2018, the number of U.S. kids playing baseball and softball combined increased by nearly 3 million, according to annual surveys by the Sports Fitness & Industry Association. During that same period, participation in soccer and football declined and basketball increased only slightly."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: It doesn't have to be this way. Try to get your kid on a team with someone who is coaching for the right reasons. DH has coached our boys' teams for many years. Our kids are strong players but they sit one inning on the bench and play 2 innings in the outfield every game like every other kid on the team. It's a different story with their travel teams, but little league is about learning love for the game and building good baseball citizens, not about wins and losses. There are coaches out there that have that philosophy, and if you as a parent have that philosophy (and won't get angry with the coach for letting a kid who can't pitch have a few innings because he's dying for the opportunity, even if it means you risk losing the game, and won't get angry when YOUR kid sits on the bench and plays outfield for 2 innings every game) try to find one and get your kid on his/her team.

FYI - I'm sure your DH is a great coach. But those are usually rec league rules. No more than 4 innings in the infield and everyone must sit at least one inning.

I'm sure he's great, but he's not doing that out of the goodness of his heart.

LOVE the mansplaining here. Why would you assume I'm not familiar with the rules of my kids' league? It's not a rule in our league, we have many teams that suffer from all the problems described in this forum. My point is that you can find coaches that approach the game the right way, but you have to also accept that means sometimes taking a loss for the sake of fair play and good lessons.

Thats a nationwide Little League rule. The thread is titled Little League. Did your DH not coach a Little League team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More kids do travel for baseball then any other rec sport. Our leagues baseball enrollment goes off a cliff after the last year of little league. We have 15 majors teams and 2 babe ruth (middle school rec) teams.

+1

Um no, baseball’s overall popularity has plummeted at all levels has plummeted, including mlb.

Really? I'd like to see the participation numbers. A cursory search says you're wrong.

NP here:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/982278/participation-kids-baseball/

https://sgbonline.com/upward-trend-in-baseball-participation-takes-a-hit-during-covid-19-year/

https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/youth-sports/facts/participation-rates

https://frontofficesports.com/little-league-participation/

Did you read any of those? At least 2 are saying sports participation was down in 2020. You don't say..... why could that be?

The title of the 4th one is "While Youth Baseball Soars, Participation In Little League Is Fading" huh. Also from the article:

"While people in the industry are aware of Little League’s perplexing times, many are confident in the direction that baseball is heading. A Wall Street Journal article from February 2019 showed that nearly 15.9 million people played baseball in 2018 – a 21% increase from 2014"

Kids just aren't playing Little League, but they are playing baseball.

Here's another source for you: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/08/23/put-me-in-coach-youth-baseball-participation-on-the-rise/40002827/

"Major League Baseball is encouraged that kids are returning to baseball and sticking with it. Between 2013 and 2018, the number of U.S. kids playing baseball and softball combined increased by nearly 3 million, according to annual surveys by the Sports Fitness & Industry Association. During that same period, participation in soccer and football declined and basketball increased only slightly."

Yes, I did. Overall, the trend for Little League, which is what this thread is about, particularly with the discussion of daddy ball that paid travel coaches avoid, is that participation is down. There have been bumps here and there and small increases, but overall, fewer kids are playing LL than in the past. Travel baseball- yes, I agree it’s a booming business and lots of people think it’s partly leading to the decline in LL participation.