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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A [b]glorified babysitter[/b] for a baseball or softball little kid team is NOT going to teach your kid how to hit, or throw the ball, or catch the ball.   You need to do that.  Yep - you.  Don’t know how?  Figure it out.  Plenty of instruction on YouTube.  Or, hire someone to do it for you.

Figure it takes 100 hours of practice on each of those skills to get decently competent for a kid who has average athletic ability and pays attention.  A coach with say 12 kids on a team and 4-5 preseason practices is NOT going to do anything to make an individual kid “better”.

The practices are for is to figure out the skill level of the kids.  Knowing that, I can make up a lineup and get kids into positions where they are less likely to get hurt.  No - if your kid sucks - he/she is not going to pitch, or play first base.  Depending on who is pitching, I can put a kid who sucks at 2nd or SS or 3rd.  Most teams will have 1 “good” pitcher.  If kids hit the ball it is more likely to be on a late swing so I need a decent fielder at 2nd base.  That means kids who are not very good can play SS.  3rd is pretty much always for weak players.  I could put the best fielder with a decent arm at 3rd and they still will be unlikely to get an out on a ground ball.

When a weaker pitcher is in - batters at the top 1/3 of the order will be less likely to swing late so now I need a better fielder at SS.  Outfield I always need a decent center fielder to chase down balls the right fielder and left fielder miss.  Faster pitcher - right fielder has to be better.  Slower pitcher - left fielder.  But, still dependent on batting order.

It’s fine if your kid sucks.  As long as he/she tries and is reasonably happy to be playing it’s cool.  The only thing parents did that really ticked me off when coaching is be late, or a no show, and not tell me.  I cured that after a couple years.  Email - if you’re late and don’t let me know, or if your kid is a no show without letting me know.  You are making the lineup for that game or next game if no show.

Try it.  12 kids - get them in positions they can play.  Outfield/infield.  Now pull out one kid.  Re-adjust everything in 15 minutes.

Yes the coaches kid gets some benefits.  But, they also get the fun of racking up puddles on the field 3 hours before the game.  And, picking up trash before and after the game, and laying the bases, and getting the equipment ready.  Always fun going under the stands to grab the dirty diaper and candy wrappers.  Want your kid to have those benefits?  Volunteer.

[/quote]

FIFY

So pathetic for a grown adult to blame little kids because he thinks coaching a little kid’s team is basically picking players in a fantasy league and moving them around the field to show off how well he strategizes.

I’m so thankful my son has only had two coaches like you in all his years of rec and travel sports.  [/quote]

The “glorified babysitter” part came on a bit strong, but did you read the rest of his post? He’s not saying that he doesn’t try to teach the kids things at practice, but that it takes more time than is available during a little league season. He’s also explaining how he moves kids around the infield and outfield to let kids play different positions while also being strategic about it. Many of the things he described a parent wouldn’t pick up on  unless they know the game. They just see that Larlo’s getting a chance in the infield. I’ve seen it done well sometimes during my son’s LL years. After the game, the “worst” kid is excited that he played LF and 3rd even though he didn’t touch the ball.

I’m the PP of the softball player who’s not getting much of a chance to pitch because the coach is putting everyone in even if they’re not interested or ready. I’d much rather have this guy coach my kid. The games would be more fun for everyone and she’d learn something. [/quote]

I think maybe YOU didn’t read his post.  He explicitly said that practices were for him to *assess* the skill level of the kids, but that the kids on his team will only *learn* skills through parents and youtube…[/quote]

If you read the parent of the kid who might play D1 above, it seems like showcase teams work this way. It is insane to me that some coaches try and take that attitude to rec. Where, exactly, do they expect 7 year olds will learn anything if not at practice? [i]Even if[/i] you expect parents to practice with their kids, they have to learn the drills to practice from, you know, practice.[/quote]

Right?  I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.  We’re talking about little kids here - what the heck is there to assess?  God forbid you don’t have a “decent” fielder at 2nd base and some 8 year old on the opposing team makes it all the way to first base…[/quote]

My understanding is that assessments are to enable coaches to place kids on teams where they have the best opportunity to grow and learn from teammates and coaches. Additionally, also for safety, if you put uneven skill sets on same team, a kid could get hurt. Volunteers put a large amount of time into the teams and players in our LL. Outside their regular day job. A little bit of grace, and a good dialogue with the coaches, hopefully, can help you understand the hows and whys. Our team was not about competing, but to teach the girls how to play together as a team and learn the sport. My kid is happy, so we leave it to the coach. [/quote]

The poster doing assessments was not referring to picking teams, but rather the intellectually arduous task of assigning fielding positions to second graders for each game.  A task so time consuming and mentally taxing that the mere suggestion that he should ALSO try to teach the kids to throw, catch, and/or hit the ball is anathema.[/quote]

The best part about "assessing for fielding positions" in LL/rec is that even kids who have been playing for years (even MLB draftees, for that matter) change over time, even the course of one season. The newbie who had raw athleticism but no knowledge of the game might decide he loves it and pay close attention and learn how to make all the plays and have been an awesome 1B by the end of the season, but if the coach never tries or teaches the coach will never know. [/quote]

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