Parent and Playing Time July 05 2015, 0 Comments
My son is 13 years old and started playing little league around 10 years old!! We played on a travel ball team for about 8 months, then try outs for the American Legion Ball team were last month and he made the first round picks. However, on the travel ball team and this one they keep telling him he’s raw, yet he can pitch around 75 miles and hour, RBI’s like crazy and fields better and better every time he gets out there…but one small problem, they don’t play him much!! How can they expect a child NOT be raw when he doesn’t get played? The Legion ball team now has had 7 games and he got to bat 4 times in 7 games and struck out all 4 times…..then they tell him he is going to pitch next game!! I don’t understand what is going on….he gets very down on himself because he thinks they don’t like his playing but they just keep telling him he’s raw… my son is very good at this and he has an extremely GOOD arm. He just wants to play like the others do and I feel if given the chance he will definitely prove that to them!! He is always there early, he helps clean up, what else is he lacking. We are afraid to talk to the coach about it because we don’t want to look like we are “crying in baseball”! thanks for the help,
Signed,
Seanda
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Dear Seanda
Your correct you're in a tough spot because what I think is the truth that your son is a between-er, which is a sports term that means he's better than the normal recreational league team buddies not quite good enough for the elite team to be a star. And therefore he's falling into that spot of being a utility player or being on the end of the bench and playing only when the situation occurs.
You really held have a couple of choices, continue to work with him and have him continue doing what he doing because eventually that will pay off but he has to get better. Travel team in the elite teams tend to want to win and they will coach and use players to that end. I would consider talking to the boy and asking him if he would rather play on a recreational or neighborhood type team over this elite team so that he can play have more success. I'm going to almost bet the answer is yes. Don't leave your travel team until you've talked to the coach and don't blame you for not playing him you're right that won't accomplish anything one way or the other but tell him that your boys decided to play next year with another team so that he can get more experience and come back at some point in time could be getting player that the elite team needs. What you're really saying is that I'm trying to create a situation that my boy enjoys baseball again from just playing and at the same time get good enough to get on a travel team. Probably won't be the same team that you left but somebody will be around once he gets good enough and is willing to do it. If you decide to stay with that team and you need your boy to work hard, keep on doing the things he's doing and if talent is really there he will get his chance.
Let me know how it all turns out.
Coach Arnald Swift
Signed,
Seanda
===============================================
Dear Seanda
Your correct you're in a tough spot because what I think is the truth that your son is a between-er, which is a sports term that means he's better than the normal recreational league team buddies not quite good enough for the elite team to be a star. And therefore he's falling into that spot of being a utility player or being on the end of the bench and playing only when the situation occurs.
You really held have a couple of choices, continue to work with him and have him continue doing what he doing because eventually that will pay off but he has to get better. Travel team in the elite teams tend to want to win and they will coach and use players to that end. I would consider talking to the boy and asking him if he would rather play on a recreational or neighborhood type team over this elite team so that he can play have more success. I'm going to almost bet the answer is yes. Don't leave your travel team until you've talked to the coach and don't blame you for not playing him you're right that won't accomplish anything one way or the other but tell him that your boys decided to play next year with another team so that he can get more experience and come back at some point in time could be getting player that the elite team needs. What you're really saying is that I'm trying to create a situation that my boy enjoys baseball again from just playing and at the same time get good enough to get on a travel team. Probably won't be the same team that you left but somebody will be around once he gets good enough and is willing to do it. If you decide to stay with that team and you need your boy to work hard, keep on doing the things he's doing and if talent is really there he will get his chance.
Let me know how it all turns out.
Coach Arnald Swift
