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Little League - do the coaches’ kids always get the best positions?
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Anonymous
OK but the PP above said "Um no, baseball’s overall popularity has plummeted at all levels has plummeted, including mlb." And I asked for proof. It was not provided. This isn't only about LL. "Baseball" is all encompassing. |
Anonymous
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An important thing to keep in mind -- and it is very very hard to do as a parent with kids starting out -- is that wins and losses DO NOT MATTER. The really don't matter. That is the most important point that I and many other parents of kids who played a ton of sports at various levels, learned from long and sometimes painful experience, and I wish that I could pass along to parents of young kids just starting out in sports.
Over the years my 4 kids played in/competed in thousands of competitive games/events. Baseball, football, basketball, volleyball, track, cross country, weightlifting, softball, golf, and swimming. We have coached (baseball and soccer) teams for many many years, we were team mom/dad, volunteered for whatever needed done, and, of course, cheered along the way. And, over the years I can say that the only times a win actually mattered would be in qualifying for and playing in the NCAA tournament (lost first round both years the kid's team qualified), and 1 state championship final high school game (lost). (In each instance, once you are there you either win or lose the one game so maybe a little more important than other games but even that is a bit of a stretch. There are tons of pluses and a few minuses over the years from participating in youth sports. Lots of friends made - parents and kids. Lots of memories made - parents and kids. But very, very few of those memories have anything to do with a win or a loss. The experience of participation, learning from that experience, and enjoying that experience, those are the keys to keep forefront in mind for both your kid and for you. |
Anonymous
+1 This is definitely true in my area. LL participation has declined, and club/travel participation is way up (at least through 12U). A lot of skilled kids start playing club ball (while still playing LL), and eventually decide to just focus on club ball and quit LL. LL participation in my area seems to peak around ages 7-9 (AA ball level- first kid pitch level- for our league) I don’t think anything can be done to keep club ball kids around (all star eligibility used to keep them around, but not as much anymore). I do think LL loses a LOT of “weaker players” from 7-8yo and up. Personally I think kid pitch begins too early (7-8yo kids pitching is SO boring and frustrating for the kids) and wish coach pitch was more encouraged through age 8 for most kids. I also think it would help to group the kids less by age and more by skill…in our league, playing down a level is always an option (other than 12s who want to pitch) and a lot more parents should be requesting their kids play down IMHO. It would be a much better experience for the below average players. |
Anonymous
+1 Same experience. Hard work eventually wins out! |
Anonymous
Overall decline in youth baseball. https://www.sportsplexoperators.com/blog/sports-facilities/decline-of-youth-participating-in-baseball/ Decline in mlb baseball attendance. https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/Baseball-A-Changing-Landscape Drop in mlb attendance and ratings https://dailytrojan.com/2021/01/27/running-the-break-how-does-mlb-address-its-declining-popularity-the-answer-is-in-the-baseball-itself/ |
Anonymous
Oh really? https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/08/23/put-me-in-coach-youth-baseball-participation-on-the-rise/40002827/ |
Anonymous
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Baseball manager here.
I think the DadBall that has the worst effect is # of games vs. # of practices. DadBall loves games because of the opportunity to WIN. DadBall can't WIN a practice. I think the ratio of practice to games should be at least 3 to 1. The best coaches will develop the best players and win the most games. Too many DadBalls have gotten on the LL Board and they almost always add games at the expense of practice. |
Anonymous
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IMHO, the main reason good players leave rec for travel is that by the time you get to 12U its really freaking annoying and frustrating having to play with kids who have never played before, or can't pay attention or consistently catch/throw a ball. I know it goes against rec to have minimum ability requirements at a certain age, but this is why kids leave.
We didn't want to do travel, and would have stayed in rec forever but for this. |
Anonymous
| Sorry to bring up an old thread, but my Son is 14 and played since he was like 5. Every year the coaches kids get to play every game, every inning. I’m so fed up with this. Our final middle school baseball season just finished up and my son sat on the bench the entire game while the coaches kids, all 4 of them got to play the entire game. This crap has to end. My son is better than many of the kids who were playing. We never miss practices, we spend hours daily if not at practice or games doing something baseball related. My son pitches faster than the coaches kids, more accurate than the coaches kids and all season long, got 5 innings to pitch. Each time they would let him pitch until he allowed 1 walk. As soon as he got 1 walk he was benched. However the coaches kids all get to pitch out their full pitch counts, every game even after walking unlimited batters or giving up unlimited amounts of runs. This is so unfair and unfortunately I know it will carry into high school since these coaches already have their feet in the door for coaching positions there. To you coaches doing this crap. Get over yourself, give other kids opportunities to play. Only thing I can guess at this moment is that they are all worried my son is a threat to their sons and intentionally trying to hurt his ability to improve anymore. I hope your kid gets the same treatment you dished out on mine all these years. |
Anonymous
Wow- dads on the HS coaching staff?! This is fairly rare (usually a longtime coach who happens to have a son age into the HS program) . Are you sure they will be able to work their way onto the coaching staff??? Most high school programs don’t really allow this. I’ve seen it at the middle school level however. I assume your son also plays on a travel team? He should really focus his efforts there. Middle school ball is usually lower quality baseball than travel ball anyway, from what I have seen. As for the middle school experience- I’d just tell your DS to brush it off. Of course coaches won’t bench their own sons (and often remaining playing time will go disproportionally to their friends’ sons). Rarely see it done differently at the youth levels, whether rec, travel, middle school ball etc- with dad coaches this is generally how it goes. Some are better than others. |
Anonymous
100% this My kid (and family) would have been fine sticking with rec. But we switched at 12U, bc in 11U, he was getting frustrated with kids that would let a ground ball get by because they just weren't paying attention. Or an OFer that was scared of the ball. But now, at 14, we may switch back to rec. It's gotten to be too much of a year-round commitment for him (no judgement on the boys that love it and want to do it year-round), but he also plays a fall and winter sport. Hopefully, rec at 15 won't have the same problems that rec at 10 and 11 had |
Anonymous
We're experiencing a problem in 12U where most players are actually pretty good (!) for rec, even the new ones. The problem is committment. Our best players haven't left for travel only because softball isn't their thing. They have no problem being gone half the season for another activity. It has gotten to the point where we've had to cancel games due to lack of player participation this season. DD isn't travel quality (well, the lower end C teams take about anyone, but does that even count?), so we're still rec, but ugh. |
Anonymous
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The coaches really do need to get competent defensive players in at catcher and shortstop and at least someone who can catch the ball at first and when they get older you need a competent center fielder too - if you don't have a competent catcher you can barely have a baseball game and that can be really bad for all of the kids.
But the coaches should not be playing their kids over more capable players and all of the kids should sit out the same amount. But as someone who has been coaching with the same other dad for several years there is a big chicken and egg thing with this and that is that practice really matters and guess what - the two kids of the two coaches not only never miss practice but are the first ones there and the last ones to leave and believe it or not that does really matter when it comes to your defensive abilities. I had a Dad complain to us after a game a couple of weeks ago that his kid wasn't getting innings at the premium defensive positions and guess what - the kid hasn't been to a single practice and shows up so close to game time that someone has to warm him up on the side after the game starts. He's actually an athletic kid with really good hands but he plays so little baseball that he has no idea what he is doing out there - I told his Dad he needed to come to practice but what I didn't tell him was that it is unfair to the kids putting in the work that his lack of preparedness undermines that of the kids who are doing the required work. |
Anonymous
My DD plays on a low end C team and I don’t recommend it. The coach (not a parent) takes it way too seriously like she hopes to work at FSU or something. Except she sucks. I really want my DD to just move back to rec next year but now that she’s had a taste of kids who care and pay attention (even if we hardly ever win) she doesn’t want to give that up. It’s really tough. I don’t mind the money so much but our weird gunner coach keeps signing us up for out of town “open” tournaments where we get slaughtered. I just want to play in local tournaments and double headers - there are tons. |
Anonymous
PP here - interesting. We like rec as long as the level of play stays high. It's when the level of play gets tanked (which it is for my younger kids) by kids leaving for travel that things get tough. I can think of at least 5 C level teams off the top of my head in Fairfax County that meet your requirements (the local double headers and playing C level in the local tournaments), if that's where you are. I've also definitely heard of at least one C level team with a non-parent coach that's terrible, so maybe I know your team too. |