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Crazyforbball
391 Posts |
 Posted - 07/05/2016 : 17:15:02
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| Yes you are right caco3, and that's actually not the case for my kid, but there are alot we see it happen to and it's agonizing to watch (too wide of a talent spread).. I attribute it solely to dilution. And you are right sox in, that's exactly what I said near the very top of this thread if it's a job for a child instead of a game you are pushing too hard. It all really depends on the kid. |
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bfriendly
376 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2016 : 00:21:45
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Still a great topic.... This year we had to deal with a few things we never did before. After a short tryout season and a bunch of phone calls, we decided to go back to the same team. We never did that before this year and I am excited to see how this one goes...... We are going back to a great core and some new talent. We showed great improvement last year and with a few other changes this year, we might even get noticed
This should be a fun year and I wish everyone the best! Hope to see ya'll out on the field. |
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Crazyforbball
391 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2016 : 09:46:44
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| I still say have your son play on the most competitive team he can make (as long as it's one that HE actually wants to play for). However if it's a high level team the players should still have to earn their spots every year. If the new guy shows better than what they've got in practice then he should at least have a chance to put it in action in live play. Otherwise it's not so bad to play on a SLIGHTLY lower level team and continue to grow. |
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bleacherseats
2 Posts |
Posted - 07/31/2016 : 15:30:33
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Edited my original post because on reflection perhaps it sounded targeted. Not my intention.
I know this is an older post, but I was discussing this very thing with my rising 14u player today. He is not a major level player, more an average AAA player in the midst of puberty growth. Starting at 9, he played for our local park’s travel team and then has played for an academy-type travel team for the past 2 years. At 12u his team was an average AAA team. At 13u, the academy seemed to split their multiple teams by puberty/non-puberty and he ended up being one of the top kids playing on a AA team. Many of his friends, whose skills are well above the standard rec level IMO, still play in our local park rec league, summer all stars and some other tournaments. They win a lot of games. My son’s team had their fair share of losses this season. Heck, his friend’s team was probably better overall than my son’s last year hence the reason he wants to play with them now and our discussion. My biggest issue is that I don’t believe they play at the level they should be playing. I too was a collegiate athlete, but in an individual sport. Perhaps, I am swayed towards always competing, at a minimum, against the same level as your ability, but I believe it is the only place you can truly improve. You may not always win, but I believe you will work harder because you are forced to - because no one wants to lose all the time. You develop resilience. You get better by facing good pitching and pitching against good hitters, by playing teams that can consistently field balls and make few errors. In this age of not letting our kids fail, I believe it is perpetuated by parent's and even paid coaches letting their team/kid’s play below their abilities. Again, I get that it is more fun when you win, but I don't think it trumps everything. I get that travel ball is expensive and not everyone can or wants to afford it. I would love quality coaching and good baseball to cost less than $1000, (then again my parent's probably paid that for my sport back in the 80's and 90's). Sadly, this doesn’t exist in youth baseball, as a whole, in Atlanta anymore. So to answer the OP question, do I feel it is necessary for under 12, absolutely not – my son’s friends are really good players and they love the game and they have all the skills you mention. But at some point, to be playing against the best out there, there is a shift to travel ball and I don’t see that changing. |
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Kids playing the highest level
