What I hope people take away from this video is that a player's "emotional tank" gets depleted in baseball and softball much faster than other sports, and thus players desperately need encouraging parents and coaches who have compassion, and can empathize with, the shame that players feel when they struggle. It's not that easy. And they need supportive people in their corner.
I don't think this aspect of sports gets talked about enough in general. This is one of the hardest parts about being a role player in basketball. You make a great cut, your star player makes a great pass to you, and then you miss the easy gimme layup. That is one of the worst feelings playing basketball, and the shame is enormous. I also think this is part of the game is one of the hard parts of adapting from a star player to a role player moving up the levels, like from high school to college. Being a star, you take tough shots. If you make it, you look like a hero. If you don't, well it's all good the shot was difficult anyways, so the shame isn't there. Of course this is especially true in baseball where every single play should look routine.
Amen to this. I make sure the kids I coach know that I'll never get angry with them over an error, strikeout, or whatever else can go wrong in a game. I'll only give that negative energy feedback if they are not putting forth 100% effort or are being bad teammates.
Well said. Baseball is also like no other team sport where when you make a mistake, the game does not keep moving. When you strike out you then have to sit on the bench and think about it. Make an error on the field and the next play you are involved in might happen 30 minutes later or maybe days later. Other sport keep moving, you need to run back on defense or get ready for the next route, or get a rebound. Other team sports create distractions for you to forget about mistakes. Baseball makes you wait and lets that circus in your head play out and take over. If you think about it, baseball is much more like life in general in this regard.
wonderful points here. the few minutes after a ball rolls through your legs, you just have to stand out there, aware that everyone's looking at you, as you wonder how disappointed they are in what you just did. and yet, there's nowhere to hide. it's why baseball can build such resilience...if kids get the right balance of support to keep going in the face of those ignominious mistakes
I just said that last night. When things happen on the field everyone is watching and the game is relatively still. In basketball, soccer, football, etc. there are a bunch of players all running around in the commotion and it’s quickly forgotten and moved onto the next play. You can dwell a lot and fans can really get on those errors and it can feel shameful especially youth sports as they are learning all the fundamentals with things like bad hops or overthrows. There is so much pressure which is why baseball is SUCH a mental game more so than other sports. There is plenty of strategy for many sports but that mental game…. Like no other.
Baseball and Gymnastics are the two hardest sports -- and great preparation for other sports. I played Baseball for 14 years, which taught me: the eye-hand coordination to catch my opponent's wrist or other handle in Wrestling, the throwing motion to throw crisp punches in Boxing, and the swinging motion to hit winners in Tennis. Baseball is so difficult that it's really only played in a few countries. For children under age 10, Baseball is better preparation for Tennis than Tennis itself. I didn't do gymnastics, but my kid has been for almost 10 years. As a wrestler, I saw gymnasts practically fly up the peg board, which took me years to navigate. I've seen former gymnasts excel in Martial Arts, Olympic Weightlifting, CrossFit, Diving, High Jump, Long Jump, Discus, Rock Climbing, and Surfing. For children under age 10, Gymnastics is better preparation for most other sports than the other sport itself. Baseball and Gymnastics combine explosive full-body movement and precision borne over years of so much repetition. As Prince once said, "There's Joy in Repetition."
This is very well said. As a coach finishing up our last tournament this weekend for our 10u summer season, it can be very hard at times to stay positive for those certain kids who seem to make errors every time the ball is hit to them. I’ve learned from coaching the last three years to just keep hammering the fundamentals in practices and having positive criticism at the next practice after a bad game.
Yeah, baseball/softball focuses on a single player like no other sport. I was a pitcher in LL, travel and HS, and as a pitcher, literally everyone is looking at you, so when you walk someone or give up a hit, you're letting everybody down. I used to ump little league a few years back and you feel the same pressure, I put a lot of pressure on .myself because as a former pitcher I can remember all those umpires who did things like widen the strike zone if it started drizzling just to get the game over, or just have a bad strike zone altogether and I swore I wouldn't be like them.....there's a lot of pressure all around in baseball.
on dirt fields, it's WAY worse than onlookers realize. doesn't even have to be a huge, nasty hop to throw you off - a few inches higher or lower than it should have bounced, and it's an error. it's tough.
Great video Coach Dan. I think that baseball can be all consuming and kids can begin to tie their self-worth with how they perform out on the field. But I think it's so important for kids to understand that failure is part of the game. And it doesn't define them as a person or a player.
I find myself expecting my 12-year-old son to make every play or get a hit each game. It's a reality check watching a MLB game where you see players making fielding errors and base running mistakes nearly every game. I always remind my son that even the pros make mistakes and it's part of the game.
thanks for sharing this - it's also really important to understand the difference between youth fields and pro fields. Dirt fields at every level below high-D1 create LOTS of unpredictable hops and spin. Put an MLB player on a HS infield and you'll see a large increase in errors as well. It's a hard game.
as a side note worth mentioning, I coached in the Dominican and watched as many of the Dominican youth players who were AMAZING ballplayers made 7-8 errors as a team each game. Looked like little Big Leaguers all of them. The fields were all dirt, very rough, lots of rocks and holes and lumps. Smooth fielders with soft hands and tremendous skill and yet still, an error per inning in the infield. No matter how good you are, your brain can't well account for unpredictable hops on high-speed batted balls.
I remember an American Legion coach tell the team “I want a professional attitude, you may not have professional ability, but I want a professional attitude”. I’m 70yo playing Senior Softball from October till May….I never forget those words
My dad just made a point yesterday that those MLB guys all knew someone who was better than them at the lower levels. It’s the mental game that made them able to get to the big leagues, not simply the physical talent. So true.
We have two rules in our house when it comes to our kids, their sports and activities. One rule is unofficial, the other is official. The unofficial rule is...As we get out of the car and our kids are leaving us to join their team or begin their activity, we always make a point of saying, "No matter what happens out there, we will always love you." It's stupid and corny but, the days of parents chewing out their kids when they've made mistakes in sports needs to end now. They know they made a mistake! They know they dropped the ball, struck out to end the game...whatever happened...THEY KNOW. Kids do not need their parents expressing their disappointment at their mistakes and failures. Kids will remember parents NOT supporting them through a big disappointment far longer than the memory of the disappointment itself. And that then frees them psychologically and spiritually to refocus and get the next one because they know Mom and Dad are not going to crush them. The second rule of our house, the official rule is...We do not discuss anything about their sports or activities until 24 hours after the conclusion of the event. We go for burgers or ice cream after the game like Coach says here or we talk about a million other things but, we do not discuss the game. It's not always easy to do this because as a parent and a sports lifer I do see things that I think can help them but, it's packaged and presented much more positively after that 24 hour period than it is on the drive home.
Imagine playing on a NYC public park field where there are shards of glass, rocks, and gods knows what else in the dirt. We've learned to laugh at the atrocity of the hops
I honestly never had fun playing ball sports until a played slow pitch as a high school kid. I was always terrified to make a mistake. At 19 I booted a double play ball at 2nd. Was so mad and my SS came over put his arm around me and said its a beautiful day chill out. Literally my mantra when I remember. I sometimes forget. But I the mesage.
I was in a softball game a couple days ago was on second base and the batter hit a ball which I thought was going to drop in front of the left fielder but turns out the left field and ran up and caught it and I was halfway to third Base so I tried to run back the second and he threw me out at second base which was a third out of the inning
![Turning Around a Losing Attitude as a Baseball Team [Dan Blewett Speaking]](/img/n.gif)
What I hope people take away from this video is that a player's "emotional tank" gets depleted in baseball and softball much faster than other sports, and thus players desperately need encouraging parents and coaches who have compassion, and can empathize with, the shame that players feel when they struggle. It's not that easy. And they need supportive people in their corner.
I don't think this aspect of sports gets talked about enough in general. This is one of the hardest parts about being a role player in basketball. You make a great cut, your star player makes a great pass to you, and then you miss the easy gimme layup. That is one of the worst feelings playing basketball, and the shame is enormous. I also think this is part of the game is one of the hard parts of adapting from a star player to a role player moving up the levels, like from high school to college. Being a star, you take tough shots. If you make it, you look like a hero. If you don't, well it's all good the shot was difficult anyways, so the shame isn't there. Of course this is especially true in baseball where every single play should look routine.
Amen to this. I make sure the kids I coach know that I'll never get angry with them over an error, strikeout, or whatever else can go wrong in a game. I'll only give that negative energy feedback if they are not putting forth 100% effort or are being bad teammates.
Well said. Baseball is also like no other team sport where when you make a mistake, the game does not keep moving. When you strike out you then have to sit on the bench and think about it. Make an error on the field and the next play you are involved in might happen 30 minutes later or maybe days later. Other sport keep moving, you need to run back on defense or get ready for the next route, or get a rebound. Other team sports create distractions for you to forget about mistakes. Baseball makes you wait and lets that circus in your head play out and take over. If you think about it, baseball is much more like life in general in this regard.
wonderful points here. the few minutes after a ball rolls through your legs, you just have to stand out there, aware that everyone's looking at you, as you wonder how disappointed they are in what you just did. and yet, there's nowhere to hide. it's why baseball can build such resilience...if kids get the right balance of support to keep going in the face of those ignominious mistakes
I just said that last night. When things happen on the field everyone is watching and the game is relatively still. In basketball, soccer, football, etc. there are a bunch of players all running around in the commotion and it’s quickly forgotten and moved onto the next play. You can dwell a lot and fans can really get on those errors and it can feel shameful especially youth sports as they are learning all the fundamentals with things like bad hops or overthrows. There is so much pressure which is why baseball is SUCH a mental game more so than other sports. There is plenty of strategy for many sports but that mental game…. Like no other.
Baseball and Gymnastics are the two hardest sports -- and great preparation for other sports.
I played Baseball for 14 years, which taught me: the eye-hand coordination to catch my opponent's wrist or other handle in Wrestling, the throwing motion to throw crisp punches in Boxing, and the swinging motion to hit winners in Tennis. Baseball is so difficult that it's really only played in a few countries. For children under age 10, Baseball is better preparation for Tennis than Tennis itself.
I didn't do gymnastics, but my kid has been for almost 10 years. As a wrestler, I saw gymnasts practically fly up the peg board, which took me years to navigate. I've seen former gymnasts excel in Martial Arts, Olympic Weightlifting, CrossFit, Diving, High Jump, Long Jump, Discus, Rock Climbing, and Surfing. For children under age 10, Gymnastics is better preparation for most other sports than the other sport itself.
Baseball and Gymnastics combine explosive full-body movement and precision borne over years of so much repetition. As Prince once said, "There's Joy in Repetition."
Wow, I really needed to hear this. Thanks, coach.
This is very well said. As a coach finishing up our last tournament this weekend for our 10u summer season, it can be very hard at times to stay positive for those certain kids who seem to make errors every time the ball is hit to them. I’ve learned from coaching the last three years to just keep hammering the fundamentals in practices and having positive criticism at the next practice after a bad game.
Yeah, baseball/softball focuses on a single player like no other sport. I was a pitcher in LL, travel and HS, and as a pitcher, literally everyone is looking at you, so when you walk someone or give up a hit, you're letting everybody down.
I used to ump little league a few years back and you feel the same pressure, I put a lot of pressure on .myself because as a former pitcher I can remember all those umpires who did things like widen the strike zone if it started drizzling just to get the game over, or just have a bad strike zone altogether and I swore I wouldn't be like them.....there's a lot of pressure all around in baseball.
Finally someone mentions the randomness of skipping balls in amateur games
on dirt fields, it's WAY worse than onlookers realize. doesn't even have to be a huge, nasty hop to throw you off - a few inches higher or lower than it should have bounced, and it's an error. it's tough.
Great video Coach Dan. I think that baseball can be all consuming and kids can begin to tie their self-worth with how they perform out on the field. But I think it's so important for kids to understand that failure is part of the game. And it doesn't define them as a person or a player.
189%
Every parent and fan of kids sports needs to watch this video a couple times a year. But if you're a pro, no mercy! ;)
paycheck = make the plays, no mercy, yes!
I find myself expecting my 12-year-old son to make every play or get a hit each game. It's a reality check watching a MLB game where you see players making fielding errors and base running mistakes nearly every game. I always remind my son that even the pros make mistakes and it's part of the game.
thanks for sharing this - it's also really important to understand the difference between youth fields and pro fields. Dirt fields at every level below high-D1 create LOTS of unpredictable hops and spin. Put an MLB player on a HS infield and you'll see a large increase in errors as well. It's a hard game.
as a side note worth mentioning, I coached in the Dominican and watched as many of the Dominican youth players who were AMAZING ballplayers made 7-8 errors as a team each game. Looked like little Big Leaguers all of them. The fields were all dirt, very rough, lots of rocks and holes and lumps. Smooth fielders with soft hands and tremendous skill and yet still, an error per inning in the infield. No matter how good you are, your brain can't well account for unpredictable hops on high-speed batted balls.
@@DanBlewett Amen! Well said!
Thanks Coach. Really appreciate your input.
I remember an American Legion coach tell the team “I want a professional attitude, you may not have professional ability, but I want a professional attitude”. I’m 70yo playing Senior Softball from October till May….I never forget those words
Damn good points you made, the mental aspect of sports in general have seemed like the most difficult in my experience.
My dad just made a point yesterday that those MLB guys all knew someone who was better than them at the lower levels. It’s the mental game that made them able to get to the big leagues, not simply the physical talent. So true.
We have two rules in our house when it comes to our kids, their sports and activities. One rule is unofficial, the other is official. The unofficial rule is...As we get out of the car and our kids are leaving us to join their team or begin their activity, we always make a point of saying, "No matter what happens out there, we will always love you." It's stupid and corny but, the days of parents chewing out their kids when they've made mistakes in sports needs to end now. They know they made a mistake! They know they dropped the ball, struck out to end the game...whatever happened...THEY KNOW. Kids do not need their parents expressing their disappointment at their mistakes and failures. Kids will remember parents NOT supporting them through a big disappointment far longer than the memory of the disappointment itself. And that then frees them psychologically and spiritually to refocus and get the next one because they know Mom and Dad are not going to crush them. The second rule of our house, the official rule is...We do not discuss anything about their sports or activities until 24 hours after the conclusion of the event. We go for burgers or ice cream after the game like Coach says here or we talk about a million other things but, we do not discuss the game. It's not always easy to do this because as a parent and a sports lifer I do see things that I think can help them but, it's packaged and presented much more positively after that 24 hour period than it is on the drive home.
Imagine playing on a NYC public park field where there are shards of glass, rocks, and gods knows what else in the dirt. We've learned to laugh at the atrocity of the hops
I honestly never had fun playing ball sports until a played slow pitch as a high school kid. I was always terrified to make a mistake. At 19 I booted a double play ball at 2nd. Was so mad and my SS came over put his arm around me and said its a beautiful day chill out. Literally my mantra when I remember. I sometimes forget. But I the mesage.
I was in a softball game a couple days ago was on second base and the batter hit a ball which I thought was going to drop in front of the left fielder but turns out the left field and ran up and caught it and I was halfway to third Base so I tried to run back the second and he threw me out at second base which was a third out of the inning
yeah, getting caught off-base and doubled-off always feels awful
@@DanBlewett Yes it does, I felt like crap afterwards
is it ok to start pitching at 15
you can start anytime you want this is America there are no rules
@@DanBlewett lol