Youth sports: the good, bad and ugly

[GritSnSpeed]

As a "young dad" (29) with two very young sons, I was hoping to draw on the Vets of OS to help me avoid some pitfalls that they experienced, whether it was as a father or a player in different youth leagues.

My oldest son is 5. He played football last Summer and Fall. Flag then tackle. I helped coach his pee wee team. We just got him all set up for Tee Ball a few week ago and he had his first practice a couple nights ago. Heard good things about his coach, practice went pretty smooth and he had a blast. He was very nervous and apprehensive beforehand, but after he was on the field he was right at home. He's a big kid, around 75-80lbs. Not fat, but very thick and broad. Not very fast but is a bull and has a ton of energy and is very smart. Picks up on things real well.(enough dad bragging)

What should I avoid as he grows and continues on. What should I invest in with him to help? I never played Baseball as a kid, at least not in any organized fashion (my dad found it boring, lol)

Any and all info and input is appreciated.

[redsox4evur]

This should be a no-brainer but don't give officials, especially in Little League, any crap. Most of these umpires are only HS kids looking to make some extra spending money and don't want to work at the local grocery store. They usually are only 13 or older and probably don't have a grip on the rules completely. Hell I have been umpiring for 7 or 8 years and don't even know all the rules.

[GritSnSpeed]

I did it with a buddy once as a side job. There were more than a few idiot parents in the stands. More than once I thought I would have to fight my way to the truck from the concession stand after a game.


Gettin Yune wit it!

[SuperBowlNachos]

Good advice on the umpire stuff. My dad has umpired for years and years, and I did score and stat keeping for the local league for years. The umpire isn't intentionally trying to screw anyone out of the game. The really could not care less who wins. Everyone likes to yell at the ump, but I saw him stop the game and throw parents out when they cursed (parents paying way too much for select softball are really unhappy people). Also, if there is an official scoreboard and stat guy, don't talk to him. Keep your own stats if you really want to know. Ask the coach, to ask the umpire, to ask the score guy if you have a concern about anything. It's up to your coach to notice any lineup issues with the other team.

Parenting advice from someone in there mid 20s with no kids -_- ... Don't force him to play anything he doesn't want to. Give him the chance to try every sport, not just the baseball and football.

[roadman]

Yeah, I agree, let them try every sport there is a interest in. The idea is to offer them a smorgasbord at a younger age, and by the time high school rolls around, they should be narrowing it down to 1 or 2.

Parents are the worst fans around. Our kids played a lot of soccer and my wife would set up her chair 30 yds away from both teams parents, almost level with the goal keeper. She didn't hear the idiot comments that were coming from the parent section.

I recall one soccer tournment and one of our players unintentionally collided with another player from the other team and he became injured and they had to take him out. The next time our player ran down the field, one of the other teams parents yelled out, Take him out.

Huh? I looked at him and said, that is what you teach your kids?

Our sons quit reffing soccer because they hated the parents yelling from the sidelines. I recall helping ump our kids machine pitch team. I was helping ump first base and our coach always told me if there is any close calls, call the other team safe. So, I did that once and a grand parent yelled out to me, you better check your eyes ump. I said, I call them the way I see them.

[Speedy]

If your kid is really good at pitching, do not allow the coach to overuse him. Granted, it's been in travel ball but I've seen too many parents allow their kids to get abused by pitching too much and wind up needing Tommy John Surgery by age 15.

I do think the more interest you show in it and helping him, the more both of you can grow/learn together. My grandpa loved baseball and would take time when I was 7-8 years old to help me batting, fielding, pitching...the more interest he showed in me, the more I took the time on my own to get better. I was a goofy, tiny white kid with no athleticism but I loved to play. I remember when I got to around age 10, a kid was tagging at 3B and running home and I threw him out from deep CF for the last play of the game. My grandpa was running to the ump to get that ball.

Bottom line is that I wouldn't leave it up to the coaches to teach your son...the more you invest and take time to teach him (maybe even learning yourself too), the better it'll be for you both.

Not saying I've arrived or have apprehended...just my $.02.

[Jr.]

Keep it fun for them. Learning is a big part of playing a sport early on, but if it becomes too frustrating, the kid won't want to continue playing. I played rec ball up until high school and had a blast because it was with all of my friends around where I lived. Travel ball has it's pros and cons (mostly cons in my mind, despite coaching a travel team in the Summers), but you really don't need to worry about that path for a long time.

I disagree a bit with Roadman about narrowing down the sports in high school. I am a big proponent of maintaining as many sports as possible throughout high school. It develops athleticism greatly and typically the athlete will be more resistant to burnout. If your kid wants to choose 1 or 2 sports by then, then great. But if they want to keep playing one sport in the Fall, another in the Winter, another in the Spring, then something else in the Summer, I say let them. Most of the best athletes I've seen and scouted were multi-sport athletes.

Now, as a former youth coach, the worst part is almost always the parents. Just keep in mind that your kid isn't going to get a college scholarship by winning a youth tournament, and try to stay away from teams who are loaded with parents that do think that way, and you'll be alright.

[PVarck31]

YES X1000 on the Umps and officials. I used to be a high school umpire for a short time and it was brutal. I was thrust into varsity baseball my first year so I was doing some big games. One game in particular pretty much made me quit. I was working the plate on a Saturday morning game with two really good teams and there were some parents and kids right behind the backstop who were just horrible to me. Every strike I called I would get "oh come on that's bull****" Then it started to get personal as they were saying I ****ing sucked and how did I get this job and the other team was paying me and so on.

It got even worse when the home teams coach started getting on me pretty bad. Almost every call he was yelling at me. I told him to cool off and he then reminded me that he played in the minors so I need to watch out....

All the while my partner, who was a veteran umpire did nothing to help the situation at all. I got to a point where I was starting to get nervous and doubting every call. (I was told I was put into varsity games because I was very good)

At this point I had to tell some of the people behind the backstop to move because they started calling me a ****ing *******.

It was a double header so after the first game I was walking to my car to meet my wife who brought me lunch and some kids dad came up to me and told me if I call his kid out on strikes again he was gonna ****ing kill me because his kid is going pro.

I quit after that game. All of the crap and then to have my life threatened wasn't worth it. It's too bad because I loved doing it and was good at it.