More reasons why the tournament every weekend system is ruining player development. Simply put, the current “select” or “travel ball” environment fails at player development because it puts coaches in a must-win mentality every game, every week.
I think the current state of the youth game is discouraging kids from playing other sports and becoming well rounded athletes. In my experience, most who play other sports only play rec level and will skip practices and games whenever there's a baseball conflict. FOMO takes over and they never develop those other skill that would be incredibly complimentary if developed.
I was good until I got to the quoted comment from last week. I don't agree that we are creating robots. Also, I don't think you're going to find many child psychologists who think that letting kids "learn on their own" is the right method. Adolescent mental function doesn't work that way. They need to be shown first.
If you tell a kid to take a step to his left or his right AND THEN you tell him/her why, that is how a child will learn. You should then find yourself providing less instruction during games. I will say I find it a bit silly to try and work on a kid's hitting fundamentals during an AB in a game. I have found simple encouragement works better as it doesn't alter their focus.
From what I can tell as an adult, it seems to be a natural reaction to say "kids today, blah blah blah, not like how we did it." Of course it isn't. As the world moves daily things change and in most cases, we get smarter and learn how to do things more efficiently. My kid at 7u probably has a similar baseball intellect as I did at around 9 or 10u. Same for basketball. They are running plays that we didn't even consider doing until middle school.
As for the comments about travel ball, I think I agree with virtually everything said. But also, I'm not sure what the solution is. I will say in my short time involved in travel, my son has played for a coach who wins at all cost and another he plays for now who focuses on development. I know we are going to lose more than if we focused only on winning. As a parent I'm fine with that as long as my kid can maintain interest.
I keep waiting for someone (with a lot of $$ :-)) to create hybrid leagues where there is a set of kids at an age group, 80-100, and they play rec ball intra-league where focus is on development. Play in that intra-league one or two weeks at a time. Then take the same or similar group of kids for the next one or two weeks and play travel. Then wash, rinse, repeat. I really like this idea. I'm just not sure how feasible it is.
I agree with your point overall. There are outliers for sure. Girls softball arrived here before baseball. It developed to have the same issues. In short leagues were drained. The best teams were the best “recruiters” of kids and their parents.
The young select level of play is simply the little league level a few short years ago. FOMO is huge!!!!!
The only weekend I see that truly is OFF is Christmas. Otherwise FOMO for sure sets in.
Daddy ball is accused of the problem but most teams are either daddy ball or money ball. No real difference. Have to win to keep it together.
I did defend youth travel ball over development in a social media post. One is most of these kids that play will only make it to high school baseball. Often times the coach will be a history, math or PE teacher just doing it for the few extra bucks. Often the level of play is similar to a good quality 13-U team.
With that said it’s ok to play tournaments as long as the bad stays out. Belittling kids, marking them afraid to move, eventually making them quit and NOT look back on it as fun.
In the worst cases I have seen parent child relationships ruined.
It’s not I do baseball. It’s not I work baseball. It really is I PLAY baseball. Do it for fun. Not a book scholarship at a school you otherwise would never have attended!
I think the current state of the youth game is discouraging kids from playing other sports and becoming well rounded athletes. In my experience, most who play other sports only play rec level and will skip practices and games whenever there's a baseball conflict. FOMO takes over and they never develop those other skill that would be incredibly complimentary if developed.
I was good until I got to the quoted comment from last week. I don't agree that we are creating robots. Also, I don't think you're going to find many child psychologists who think that letting kids "learn on their own" is the right method. Adolescent mental function doesn't work that way. They need to be shown first.
If you tell a kid to take a step to his left or his right AND THEN you tell him/her why, that is how a child will learn. You should then find yourself providing less instruction during games. I will say I find it a bit silly to try and work on a kid's hitting fundamentals during an AB in a game. I have found simple encouragement works better as it doesn't alter their focus.
From what I can tell as an adult, it seems to be a natural reaction to say "kids today, blah blah blah, not like how we did it." Of course it isn't. As the world moves daily things change and in most cases, we get smarter and learn how to do things more efficiently. My kid at 7u probably has a similar baseball intellect as I did at around 9 or 10u. Same for basketball. They are running plays that we didn't even consider doing until middle school.
As for the comments about travel ball, I think I agree with virtually everything said. But also, I'm not sure what the solution is. I will say in my short time involved in travel, my son has played for a coach who wins at all cost and another he plays for now who focuses on development. I know we are going to lose more than if we focused only on winning. As a parent I'm fine with that as long as my kid can maintain interest.
I keep waiting for someone (with a lot of $$ :-)) to create hybrid leagues where there is a set of kids at an age group, 80-100, and they play rec ball intra-league where focus is on development. Play in that intra-league one or two weeks at a time. Then take the same or similar group of kids for the next one or two weeks and play travel. Then wash, rinse, repeat. I really like this idea. I'm just not sure how feasible it is.
I agree with your point overall. There are outliers for sure. Girls softball arrived here before baseball. It developed to have the same issues. In short leagues were drained. The best teams were the best “recruiters” of kids and their parents.
The young select level of play is simply the little league level a few short years ago. FOMO is huge!!!!!
The only weekend I see that truly is OFF is Christmas. Otherwise FOMO for sure sets in.
Daddy ball is accused of the problem but most teams are either daddy ball or money ball. No real difference. Have to win to keep it together.
I did defend youth travel ball over development in a social media post. One is most of these kids that play will only make it to high school baseball. Often times the coach will be a history, math or PE teacher just doing it for the few extra bucks. Often the level of play is similar to a good quality 13-U team.
With that said it’s ok to play tournaments as long as the bad stays out. Belittling kids, marking them afraid to move, eventually making them quit and NOT look back on it as fun.
In the worst cases I have seen parent child relationships ruined.
It’s not I do baseball. It’s not I work baseball. It really is I PLAY baseball. Do it for fun. Not a book scholarship at a school you otherwise would never have attended!
Have Fun and good topic!