Anonymous wrote:Nice job, Arlington Parks and Rec. Great job, great effort

We had a game this afternoon, and the snow stopped around noon. Yet Parks and Rec went ahead and canceled all games today by 11:00 AM.

Thanks fellas. Our boys have got to get reps against live pitching, but they won't because a bureaucrat says no. They desperately need experience fielding in live game conditions, and when you don't know where the ball's going to go. But no, Arlington Parks and Rec doesn't see it that way because "families need to plan their days".

I wrote about this earlier this week, how our travel teams and eventually the high school programs suffer because adults make bad decisions.

Today's canceled game is gone. Coach pitch is about kids learning to hit and field. You need to learn how much to get the job done not just when it's sunny and 75 degrees, but also when it's drizzling and struggling to climb over 40.

Coaches Doug Grove and John Skaggs, at W-L and Yorktown, respectively, are a game UNDER .500 this season. They're paying now for the missed reps from cancelling Coach pitch games ten years ago...games they played out in Fairfax County!

My son plays in the Fall Church league. All games were canceled there, too. The rain did stop, but there were wind gusts up to 50 mph all afternoon which could have caused hazardous conditions. Many of the playing fields may have also been unusable due to the previous rainfall. A lot more factors to consider other then the complaints you cited above.

This is where we fall behind. A kid in House league may catch the sniffles playing today. Maybe some South Lakes kid will come down with lymphoma in 20 years after getting reps in on crumb rubber turf.

We can't know the unknown. What we DO KNOW is that great Arlington high school coaches are losing games NOW because their kids missed game reps ten years ago. Reps that can't be replaced. And thanks to Arlington County Parks and Rec, we're making the same mistake again, canceling Coach pitch games because it's cold (but ABOVE FREEZING) and it MIGHT rain this afternoon (but it's NOT)!!!

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We're going to use practice slots to makeup Saturday's games, so the kids won't miss the reps. In fact, in some ways a makeup is better. The dedicated players will come, and the ones who waste my time will have another "commitment". So the good players get to play the whole game.

I will say, people who got mad at me are losers. If you're gonna be the best, you gotta lay it on the line each and every day. I quote Coach K from that commercial to my coach-pitch kids, telling them I want them to be the best they can be each and every day.

If they do that, I got their back and will pour out my soul coaching them. I will back them up if they don't like a call; I'll get MYSELF thrown out so they can keep playing. In return, they bust their butts for me so we can build a program, win some hardware, and bring back some pride to Arlington.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We're going to use practice slots to makeup Saturday's games, so the kids won't miss the reps. In fact, in some ways a makeup is better. The dedicated players will come, and the ones who waste my time will have another "commitment". So the good players get to play the whole game.

I will say, people who got mad at me are losers. If you're gonna be the best, you gotta lay it on the line each and every day. I quote Coach K from that commercial to my coach-pitch kids, telling them I want them to be the best they can be each and every day.

If they do that, I got their back and will pour out my soul coaching them. I will back them up if they don't like a call; I'll get MYSELF thrown out so they can keep playing. In return, they bust their butts for me so we can build a program, win some hardware, and bring back some pride to Arlington.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We're going to use practice slots to makeup Saturday's games, so the kids won't miss the reps. In fact, in some ways a makeup is better. The dedicated players will come, and the ones who waste my time will have another "commitment". So the good players get to play the whole game.

I will say, people who got mad at me are losers. If you're gonna be the best, you gotta lay it on the line each and every day. I quote Coach K from that commercial to my coach-pitch kids, telling them I want them to be the best they can be each and every day.

If they do that, I got their back and will pour out my soul coaching them. I will back them up if they don't like a call; I'll get MYSELF thrown out so they can keep playing. In return, they bust their butts for me so we can build a program, win some hardware, and bring back some pride to Arlington.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We're going to use practice slots to makeup Saturday's games, so the kids won't miss the reps. In fact, in some ways a makeup is better. The dedicated players will come, and the ones who waste my time will have another "commitment". So the good players get to play the whole game.

I will say, people who got mad at me are losers. If you're gonna be the best, you gotta lay it on the line each and every day. I quote Coach K from that commercial to my coach-pitch kids, telling them I want them to be the best they can be each and every day.

If they do that, I got their back and will pour out my soul coaching them. I will back them up if they don't like a call; I'll get MYSELF thrown out so they can keep playing. In return, they bust their butts for me so we can build a program, win some hardware, and bring back some pride to Arlington.

Anonymous wrote:I think we were linked by a bored high schooler.