Daddy ball down sides

I'm really starting to realize how much daddy ball hurts the kid, the coach's kid, that is. My older DD plays 12U baseball. We like the coach, but man! It's such blatant daddy ball and I feel really bad for his son. We've been playing with them for probably close to 2 years now. His kid plays 1B about 98% of the time. Problem is, the kid can't catch to save his life. I'm not kidding. Last night we got rained out in the middle of the first inning and he'd already missed 2 easy outs at 1st. One was a ground ball hit right to him that went between his feet (this happens to almost every grounder hit to him). One was a throw from SS he didn't catch. And that's just normal for him. And of course, his dad yells at him for missing the ball all the time. I guess it doesn't occur to him that he's putting his kid in a position he's not capable of playing well, then expecting things from him that he's not capable of. It's really sad and I have to wonder how it's going to impact their relationship long term. He also bats 3rd, even though he strikes out most of the time.

What's funny is, I never really thought about how daddy ball could be detrimental to the coach's kid. I actually think it's worse on him than most everyone else. I'm sure there are kids who wish they could play 1B (mine isn't one of him, so the only effect this has on her personally is that they miss a LOT of outs they should have had; but the rest of the team is very solid and it's rec so they still mostly win). But really I think the one who suffers most is the coach's kid.

It's interesting because we've noticed this from about midway through the first season with the team. You keep expecting things to improve, but he plays exactly the same now as he did then. Only now other parents are starting to grumble. Even parents whose kids have been on the team longer than mine has. He's been signing us up for some tournaments, which I think is great, but I'm afraid the team is not going to make it if it keeps up. I keep waiting for one of the parents (NOT ME! lol) to say something to him, because they are now talking pretty loudly amongst themselves.

Anyway. Never really been on a daddy ball team with my younger one who plays softball. I always pictured it being more unfair to the other kids. But in this case, I think not so much.

Coaches kids are usally pretty good so IMO you need to be careful with the daddy ball label.

It absolutely hurts the players development, why try if you have it locked?

Oh yeah, if the coach's kid is awesome the play time/position is deserved. That's not daddy ball, just good coaching.

^^^^ why don't your sell your glove? you could sell it for brand new since it's never made a play!


baaahahahahhaahaha. Love his videos.

Coaches' kids can get screwed over in a lot of ways. There's the Daddyball issue, where the kid is put into situations where he/she can't possibly succeed. But then there's the other side too, where you have a parent who is a coach but doesn't go Daddyball.

For me, it was sometimes easier to sit my own daughter out than to take out another kid. My daughters had plenty of playing time (and time for recognition) as pitchers, so when they weren't pitching they'd probably sit more than some other kids. My wife used to complain about that. And it's not like they couldn't hold their own in the field - they weren't superstars but they could catch and throw as well as the average kid. But I also was aware of not wanting other parents to think I was favoring them.

The other way they get screwed is they usually have to listen to all the complaints the team has about the coaches. They're essentially looked at as the conduits for whatever someone is unhappy about but doesn't want to bring up themselves. So they tell the coach's kid and let him/her bring it up. And of course they have to listen to other kids bad mouth their parent from time to time.

Finally, coaches who really get into it will probably talk about it with their kids too much. I know I was guilty of that. More than once I heard from DW that the girls said all I ever talk about is softball. In my defense, however, they kind of had to talk to me about that. When I tried to talk about other things I'd get the usual teen response of a grunt or a three-word answer. But that's another thing to watch out for.

On the plus side, you do get to spend a lot of time together and build a lot of memories - if you handle it correctly. That may not be happening with the situation grc is describing. That's a shame, because it's a real missed opportunity.

WARRIORMIKE said:

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Create an anonymous email address and send this video to the coach....

I love Domingo. This one is one of my favorites!

"You could put a chair at second base. It would be better than your son." LMAO!!!!

DD never makes an error but she should be sitting on the chair, she has about a 1 foot range.