Attention baseball parents!

Today's Vlog - I've only been in youth baseball for a couple years and have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. For the most part, young kids are the good in baseball. The bad and ugly are the parents. We all want our kids to succeed and be better than us. We need to remember that they are still kids. It's okay to let these kids have fun and find that love for the game. Grab a glove and a ball and go play catch or go play wiffle ball with your kids.
Thanks for watching and enjoy the weekend!
John
LXPlore
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Thanks again for watching
John
LXPlore

[@stevebradley8862]

Completely agree. my oldest son played travel ball and I learned - it's often more about the parents than the kids. We got drawn into this all-consuming and expensive lifestyle, despite having three other younger kids in tow, when I was told "your son is the best kid in the league." My head swelled with pride, and of course, we have to maximize this amazing talent right?
I'm embarrassed to admit this, but we were on a 6 yr old travel ball team in Indiana winning all the tournaments in state, but that's never enough for the coaches. Next we are playing further away in Knoxville, TN, but still only 3 hrs drive from home. Then, the coach tricked the parents to travel to Chattanooga, TN by telling each family "everyone else is in on tournament, but we can only go if you commit.." Turns out, the tournament is really in northern GA - at 6 yrs old - from Bloomington, IN! Our team won 1 or 2 but got humbled by a team from inner city Atlanta where the center fielder could throw out a baserunner at first from center field! Funny memories and some impressive ball, but the cost for the team consisting of blue collar families was high and this keeps going almost every weekend with hotels, gas, expensive composite bats, etc.
Negatives: As you point out, some of the parents yelling at their kids and putting pressure on them to perform was the worst part. Sadly I adopted some of the yelling when I coached my younger son's teams because of exposure and "the results." Over time it saps the kids' love for the game and likely is not good for parent-child relationships in the future. By 14, my son was burned out and turned his focus from baseball to basketball.
Positives: Thankfully, he played baseball again for fun on his small private high school team because they needed him and he started as a pitcher his freshman year without working at it because of the 100s of games and hours of practice put in a younger ages. Another positive is the higher level of competition challenges kids who are naturally gifted players and stars in their local league. Going to tournaments in big cities reveals there are lots of players equal or better which can be humbling and motivational to put in practice on the things they love to improve beyond natural talent. I've watched where some of the great players ended up from our team or other teams we played in Dallas, Austin and Houston. My son can have the satisfaction ( or maybe its my pride sneaking in) of knowing he competed against a player who went on to the USA nationals team and several players ended up at D1 top 20 collegiate baseball teams (but those were the exceptions).
Finally, don't fall for the "its an investment for baseball scholarship gimmick." There are very few full baseball scholarships on a collegiate baseball team thanks to Title IX. The university where I teach, most players get books paid only.

[@LXPlore]

Thank you so much for watching the video and for sharing your experience. I’m truly grateful for youth baseball… I believe it’s brought me closer to my boys. We’re able to share a love for a sport. I believe I’ve learned more about myself as a parent. Last fall my oldest was playing Fall ball and he was up to bat. I started telling him to load and to keep his eye in the ball. I pretty much thought I was being supportive. Nope… I was giving him too much instruction for an already stressful situation. After the game he politely told me that I was telling him too much. I graciously accepted what he was telling me and gave him a huge hug.
We will allow the kids to play travel ball if they want to continue with a higher level of play. It’s been a great journey and can’t wait to see where this goes. Thanks again for sharing.
John