Reply to Arlington Little League vs. Babe Ruth, which is better?

Forum Index » Sports General Discussion

Reply to "Arlington Little League vs. Babe Ruth, which is better?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]ALL up through AA so far - kids are placed by grade and elementary school, unless they have a special request. Coaches we have had have all be fair and didn’t favor their kids - they are volunteers. Nothing is stopping you from volunteering. [/quote]

Lots of things prevent one from volunteering to coach, volunteering on other things sure, but not everyone can coach. Just because you can coach does not mean you should make your son who’s below average at best to play the best positions all the time and treat other kids as merely your son’s training mates. [/quote]

Well, you don't want to be gross about it but you do get to hedge in favor of your child - that's how it works.  You're welcome to coach/volunteer too, we can always use help.
[/quote]

Actually it does.

It is a trade really.  Coaching takes a ton of time and effort both for the coach and his/her family.  It requires coaches’ kids to 
also put in lots of extra time and effort too.  Typically coaches kids are always the first to the field and the last to leave.  They get to help rake the field and mound, help line the field, set up the bases, and pick up trash before the games.  After the game they get to put up the bases. And pick up trash.  And wait until all kids are picked up - always at least one parent who decided to make a grocery run rather than watch their kid.  What 11 year old doesn’t live for those experiences?

Positions are pretty locked for under 12s.  Yes you can watch the little league World Series and the kid in left field can actually catch and throw.  That’s not what is going on at your local field.   Take the two best kids in your league and they might make one of those teams.

If I put your kid at SS and hit 10 ground balls to him where he had to move 5 feet either side - 5 feet to his left.  5 feet to his right.  Could he field 9 of them cleanly and throw to first with a good throw so that the first baseman can catch it with a foot on the bag?  Yes?  Great.  Your kid can play SS.  2nd base is the same really.  Second tends to get more hit to it, but the throw is shorter.  1st base - can your kid catch throws confidently, and is your kid willing to let bad throws bounce off him to keep the runner from getting to advance?  Yes?  Great your kid can play 1st base.  3rd base is mostly where you put your less skilled kids for their infield innings.  But, that means you need decent left fielders as they are likely going to get more balls hit to them, though right field is where you typically would have the stronger players.  You need a better arm to play right field but not in little kid ball.  Catcher has to be good at catching the ball and be willing to get dinged up a little.

Now every kid is playing two innings of infield.   You have let’s say 13 kids.  You have 3 pitchers lined up for a six inning game.  You are going with your weaker infielders with your better pitchers.  If you have a kid who throws a little harder then you can go with a good second baseman and a weaker SS.  If your pitcher is a softer thrower then you need a better SS.  During the game you watch your pitch counts.

Now - take your kid’s team and set up the lineup.  Make sure your pitchers are sitting out the inning before they are scheduled to pitch so they can warm up.  Make sure every kid gets to play at least 2 innings in the infield keeping in mind the requirements of the positions.  Now - cross a line through one player who is a no show 15 minutes before the game and redo all the positions.  Wait - here he is running over midway into the first inning.  Add him back at the bottom of the batting order and tell the opposing coach scorekeeper at the inning break.  Redo the positions again.

You want to put kids into positions, literally and figuratively, so they can be reasonably successful.  If the kid has the basic skills - throw, catch, swing the bat with a little confidence, they will do fine.  And, they can play most positions.  But in a typical team of 13 eleven and twelve year olds you will have 1-2 who are not competent at most of those, and 3-5 who lack at least 1 (usually hitting).  In 4-6 two hour practices they will not improve.  You must help if you want them to get good enough to be confident about their abilities to have some fun.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics