Where the 'elite' kids shouldn't meet....

[Il softball fan]

It is crazy the amount of time and money that is spent on youth sports these days. I was never into baseball as a child. Played a couple of seasons, pitched and played short stop, and was actually decent at it. Just didn't enjoy it. I wonder some times, what would have happened had my parents made me stick with it longer. I saw a lot of girls over the last five or so years that I was around select/travel softball that really didn't seem to be having any fun. I was AC for a couple of season, and the other seasons I wasn't an official AC, but helped out at practices and during before game warm ups. There were always some girls around that just seemed to be trying to be good at softball because dad was so into the game.

Also, didn't realize that basketball has travel youth teams until this weekend. Was talking to a friend, who has a nephew from Kansas City area. Kid is 6'7 as a freshman in high school. He was in Indiana somewhere all weekend for some basketball tourny. Had just been to Colorado a couple of weeks ago. Crazy.

 

[RetiredCoach]

With my DDs, softball has been a way for us to stick close together. It gave us something to talk about, to do together, and enjoy! It has been great for us whether or not they go on and play college ball! Fastpich softball is great fun. I dropped off my youngest DD at the junior high this morning and we were both already looking forward to her game this afternoon and it will probably be the highlight of our day.

I think that the above article makes a lot of interesting points. The big point that I have taken out of this is that a lot of this is not done for the kids but for the egos of the parents. I have always tried to recognize this in myself and put my ego aside for the benefit of my kids. And since they both still love it I think that I have succeeded.

 

[BT3100]

I dropped off my youngest DD at the junior high this morning and we were both already looking forward to her game this afternoon and it will probably be the highlight of our day.

This is what it's all about!!!

 

[BT3100]

These issues aren't isolated to youth sports at all.
Look at the musically gifted kids, there's elite bands they can join, and martial arts... same thing.
What has happened over the last 20-30 years is that more and more both parents are working and have less time to spend with kids. When their kids enjoy something and the parents see some talent they want to "invest" in it. Most parents today are smart enough to know that a professional helping your kid is better than they could do... Up pops the cottage industry and there will always be people out there who try to make a dime off parents who see more in their kids.
It's in all areas of activities.
When I was 12 years old I got beat up pretty bad at school. It wasn't like to today with councilors etc.. You when back to school and either sucked it up or defended yourself.
My old man took me to a boxing gym a few blocks from our house in South Philly. I spent a lot of time there until college and learned from some good fighters.
They had programs back then (1990's) for young kids who showed promise. I wasn't one of them

 

[JJsqueeze]

I think the author was traumatized by Buddy Wall and is still holding to a childhood resentment for kids that were better ballplayers. What he said is true for an aspect of youth sports, but it ignores all the coaches who have a TB team as basically a hobby because they just love doing this. The coaches who could spend their free time and disposable income on golf, but choose to spend it to buy equipment and help make sure the single mom can afford to have her kid play on the team by chipping in for tournaments when dues don't cover it.

90% of coaches are not making dime off their TB team. Sure there are a few org heads making some good money and the tournaments can make good money, same can be said for top level private instructors, but by and large everyone is either just getting by or is paying to help instruct the sport.

He also paints the kids and parents with one brush. for every family that thinks they have the next Jenny Finch and strokes her ego constantly, there are 10 where the kid understands that her talent in the sport is a result of outworking other kids and parents who understand that their kid has a role to play and is not the star.

I don't feel duped by someone peddling something to me at all, I feel like my girls outgrew rec and needed to move on. I share his dislike for the whole "get to the next level" aspect, I am in the minority sometimes but I don't care if they get to any next level, I just want to spend my Sunday's watching a game played well." And my girls just want to play ball with others at a similar skill level.

I do recognize that the fun does get taken away a little with the pressure the girls feel to perform well, but the feeling they get when they do well I think makes up for the pressure. I think TB is fun for a kid who is competitive.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

I think the author was traumatized by Buddy Wall and is still holding to a childhood resentment for kids that were better ballplayers. What he said is true for an aspect of youth sports, but it ignores all the coaches who have a TB team as basically a hobby because they just love doing this. The coaches who could spend their free time and disposable income on golf, but choose to spend it to buy equipment and help make sure the single mom can afford to have her kid play on the team by chipping in for tournaments when dues don't cover it.

90% of coaches are not making dime off their TB team. Sure there are a few org heads making some good money and the tournaments can make good money, same can be said for top level private instructors, but by and large everyone is either just getting by or is paying to help instruct the sport.

He also paints the kids and parents with one brush. for every family that thinks they have the next Jenny Finch and strokes her ego constantly, there are 10 where the kid understands that her talent in the sport is a result of outworking other kids and parents who understand that their kid has a role to play and is not the star.

I don't feel duped by someone peddling something to me at all, I feel like my girls outgrew rec and needed to move on. I share his dislike for the whole "get to the next level" aspect, I am in the minority sometimes but I don't care if they get to any next level, I just want to spend my Sunday's watching a game played well." And my girls just want to play ball with others at a similar skill level.

I do recognize that the fun does get taken away a little with the pressure the girls feel to perform well, but the feeling they get when they do well I think makes up for the pressure. I think TB is fun for a kid who is competitive.

This is a post I wish I had made. I don't believe I can add anything more. Well said, squeeze.

 

[Il softball fan]

"I don't feel duped by someone peddling something to me at all, I feel like my girls outgrew rec and needed to move on. I share his dislike for the whole "get to the next level" aspect, I am in the minority sometimes but I don't care if they get to any next level, I just want to spend my Sunday's watching a game played well." And my girls just want to play ball with others at a similar skill level."

Well said JJ. My thoughts exactly on the subject.

 

[NorthMS]

I came to the realization a long time ago that my kids are wired different that I. (probably a good thing) I wanted to play some kind of sport all the time. When I was a pre teen, I was recruited by the only travel baseball team in the area. I wanted to play so bad, but my Mom worried about a kid spending her whole summer playing ball. She didn't let me join. I learned from that. My kids aren't as obsessed as I was. I knew I didn't want to be "that" Dad that pushes his kids until they hated sports.

If my kids show the desire to play at a higher level, I will support it to the extent that I can. When DD#1 started playing TB, she said she wished she would have started sooner, bc all the girls wanted to be there, unlike Rec ball.

At the end of the day, sure, I want my kids to reach their full potential in what ever they do, but it's the time I get to spend with my girls through sports that mean the most to me. I don't believe I have a future D1 athlete in my house. That's fine with me. That's not why we spend so much time and money. I use to love to fish. No days, you couldn't make me miss a game to go fishing. Some people spend #100's a week eating out as a family. That's their family time. I don't criticize that. Our family time is red dirt and hot dogs.

 

[Lobster Birch]

I coach both and I see more kids that don't want to be there in Little League than I do in Select.

 

[chinamigarden]

These issues aren't isolated to youth sports at all.
Look at the musically gifted kids, there's elite bands they can join, and martial arts... same thing.
What has happened over the last 20-30 years is that more and more both parents are working and have less time to spend with kids. When their kids enjoy something and the parents see some talent they want to "invest" in it. Most parents today are smart enough to know that a professional helping your kid is better than they could do... Up pops the cottage industry and there will always be people out there who try to make a dime off parents who see more in their kids.
It's in all areas of activities.
When I was 12 years old I got beat up pretty bad at school. It wasn't like to today with councilors etc.. You when back to school and either sucked it up or defended yourself.
My old man took me to a boxing gym a few blocks from our house in South Philly. I spent a lot of time there until college and learned from some good fighters.
They had programs back then (1990's) for young kids who showed promise. I wasn't one of them

I think that's a big part of it, another part is the false idea that our kids are not safe outdoors without parental oversight. Kids cannot just go out and ride their bike to the river and fish, or go the playground and meet up with a dozen other kids to play ball on their own. For a kid these days if a parent doesn't organize it, take you there and sit and wait for you to finish you can't go.