Startling Headline

[Schultzy]

https://apnews.com/article/World-Series-Black-players-Astros-Phillies-f7768955507758abf3af00552d4ba9b7

But why? I?d heard more black kids were opting towards football/hoops in Mississippi and that the quality of public high school baseball had declined.

[dawgday166]

Not sure on all that relative MS exactly, but I would also bet that part of it is due to the much more increased emphasis on focusing on one sport in HS to become really good at it hoping to make it to the bigtime. At least that is my perception from talking with parents and reading online and such. Seems as if there are much fewer kids today that play at least 2 and 3 or so sports. Each sport involves much more time and effort now too.

[Goldendawg]

Travel ball in baseball from an early age costs big buck$.

[Commercecomet24]

I can only speak from my personal experience. I coached travel/showcase baseball for years and always had very diverse teams. I always encouraged my players to play baseball because they were all very talented but as the reached their mid teen years the black players, with the exception of very few gravitated to football or basketball. 2 of my former players are playing football at State right now. I've had this very discussion with other black coaches who I consider great friends and they were brutally honest in saying that most of the kids just didn't like baseball as they got older because the action wasn't fast enough for them. I've had a few continue with baseball, got one at Eastern Kentucky now but the majority go with basketball or football, and yes I think the fact most kids specialize in one sport when they hit their mid teen years has a lot to do with it. Knew one kid could've been drafted pretty high out of high school but wanted to play football. Played football at Prcc for 2 years and then basketball at Troy. It's mostly because young folks are going to do what they enjoy most, jmo.

[R2Dawg]

NT

[Coach34]

35 years ago Legion Ball and such was made up of all-star players from various schools. I played with guys from Callaway, Lanier, and Murrah that would go on to play minor league baseball. Now those teams cant finish 4 innings against teams like MRA, Prep, NWR, Brandon, etc without being beat ridiculously.

[Commercecomet24]

35 years ago Legion Ball and such was made up of all-star players from various schools. I played with guys from Callaway, Lanier, and Murrah that would go on to play minor league baseball. Now those teams cant finish 4 innings against teams like MRA, Prep, NWR, Brandon, etc without being beat ridiculously.

Callaway was a beast of a baseball program for years and produced some of the best baseball talent around in the 70s-80s. Lanier and Murray were good too. I played at Meridian High from 80-83 and we were loaded with talent, now they're non competitive and it's a shame.

[Homedawg]

Meridian was good through the late 90's. Kenny smith Brian cole ...Then went straight to rock bottom

[21revots]

I went to callaway and played for the jiggets in 77 and 78

[Commercecomet24]

Meridian was good through the late 90's. Kenny smith Brian coke. Then went straight to rock bottom

It was amazing how quickly it went down hill. Two of my friends, Chuck Butler and then Popeye Cole couldn't even do anything with it. I talked to Popeye several times about it and he said the kids just weren't the same and didn't have the dedication or desire.

[WhiskeyPirate]

There’s pressure from varsity coaches to just play one sport now because practice lasts year around for baseball or football. It’s difficult to play both if you want to have any kind of social life. When I was in school years ago the season lasted 3-4 months and you could play all three without too much difficulty if you wanted to.

Travel ball for baseball burns a lot of kids out.

[parabrave]

There’s pressure from varsity coaches to just play one sport now because practice lasts year around for baseball or football. It’s difficult to play both if you want to have any kind of social life. When I was in school years ago the season lasted 3-4 months and you could play all three without too much difficulty if you wanted to.

Travel ball for baseball burns a lot of kids out.

The last sentence is about all kids. I see alot of kids who had dam good talent just up and quit around the age of 15. And not just baseball but all sports.

[Johnson85]

It?s not complicated. The best athletes play football and basketball. Also, baseball and soccer are sports where starting early and lots of rep matter as much or more than athleticism. That lends itself towards really good but not top notch athletes focusing on them because focus makes a difference.

[WhiskeyPirate]

Youth wrestling, travel baseball are the two I saw close up burn a lot of kids out. There are travel youth football teams but not so much, I don’t see kids get burn out early in football although year round practice and lifting has made some kids quit I know of in HS. Basketball has aau and I suppose kids can get burnt out, but mine didn’t play that so I haven’t seen it up close as much. When I was a kid Aau/travel basketball wasn’t a thing.

Travel baseball at least where I’m at is crazy/parents are crazy and a lot of keep their kids going year around from the age of seven/eight even younger.

I think kids are pushed into specializing in a lot of cases. I think the old way was better, we would have neighborhood games year around, whatever was in season in addition to our league school sports. Kids don’t do that much any more.

[Reunion Dog]

In the late 70?s and early 80?s I would put Starkville High & Starkville Academy up against anyone.. and combine the two? anyone in the country. Many all-Star teams won their World Series any given year. Hell Chris Correro went 10 for 10 with 10 Home Runs in that age groups WS win playing Dizzy Dean.

[bulldawg28]

It costs too much to play youth baseball and truthfully it's not enough action for black players. If the game changes and they put and emphasis on base stealing and the hit and run game it would attract more black players. Instead the focus is on pitching and hitting homers. That's a boring game to black athletes.

[Saltydog]

In the late 70?s and early 80?s I would put Starkville High & Starkville Academy up against anyone.. and combine the two? anyone in the country. Many all-Star teams won their World Series any given year. Hell Chris Correro went 10 for 10 with 10 Home Runs in that age groups WS win playing Dizzy Dean.

Agree.......Funny you say that.......I played on the team that finished State runners-up to that exact Starkville team that Correro played on and won the Dizzy Dean W/S.....Lost game 1 to them and came back thru the losers bracket only to face them again in the championship and lose a 2nd time........Several good players and great athletes on that team........One of their H/S teams in that era (I'm thinking '84 or '85) was actually ranked number 1 in the "country" and I remember that because I pitched against them.....

[gtowndawg]

35 years ago Legion Ball and such was made up of all-star players from various schools. I played with guys from Callaway, Lanier, and Murrah that would go on to play minor league baseball. Now those teams cant finish 4 innings against teams like MRA, Prep, NWR, Brandon, etc without being beat ridiculously.

I played American Legion for 4 years during high school in Memphis (30 years ago). It was legit back then because for high school players there was only one legit travel team in Memphis (the 18 year old Memphis Tigers team). Everyone else played American Legion. In fact, my senior year there were several guys drafted that played American Legion. That's just where all the players played back then.

[Johnson85]

Youth wrestling, travel baseball are the two I saw close up burn a lot of kids out. There are travel youth football teams but not so much, I don’t see kids get burn out early in football although year round practice and lifting has made some kids quit I know of in HS. Basketball has aau and I suppose kids can get burnt out, but mine didn’t play that so I haven’t seen it up close as much. When I was a kid Aau/travel basketball wasn’t a thing.

Travel baseball at least where I’m at is crazy/parents are crazy and a lot of keep their kids going year around from the age of seven/eight even younger.

I think kids are pushed into specializing in a lot of cases. I think the old way was better, we would have neighborhood games year around, whatever was in season in addition to our league school sports. Kids don’t do that much any more.

We're "lucky" in that our travel parents up to about age ten generally take most of August off and all of December and January. So they're only practicing two times a week for a little over 9 months of the year. I don't know how many of the kids really like it that much versus how many of them only do it because if they don't all their friends would still be unavailable to play with because of baseball versus how many of them have dads that make them play.

But it's also shocking how many of the families do travel baseball and travel soccer. Generally one is more important than the other (mostly baseball), but it's still putting them at 4 practices a week (or maybe only three if there is overlap) for 6 months of the year (september and october, and then February through May), and then ensures they have at least two practices a week the other months. And then lots of travel on weekends. At 8 and 9 years old.

[WhiskeyPirate]

We're "lucky" in that our travel parents up to about age ten generally take most of August off and all of December and January. So they're only practicing two times a week for a little over 9 months of the year. I don't know how many of the kids really like it that much versus how many of them only do it because if they don't all their friends would still be unavailable to play with because of baseball versus how many of them have dads that make them play.

But it's also shocking how many of the families do travel baseball and travel soccer. Generally one is more important than the other (mostly baseball), but it's still putting them at 4 practices a week (or maybe only three if there is overlap) for 6 months of the year (september and october, and then February through May), and then ensures they have at least two practices a week the other months. And then lots of travel on weekends. At 8 and 9 years old.
It’s really ridiculous. Most of these parents think their kids are future mlb players, it completely burns out a lot of them, including the kids with the most natural talent. I saw it up close for several years. I would advise against it until kids are older.

[Johnson85]

It’s really ridiculous. Most of these parents think their kids are future mlb players, it completely burns out a lot of them, including the kids with the most natural talent. I saw it up close for several years. I would advise against it until kids are older.

Pretty much all of our friends with older kids are seeing their kids drop sports in Jr. High. Some of that is natural attrition because they're not going to get playing time, but several of them are good and are dropping all sports or picking up a new sport. And hell, at that point, they've played more baseball and soccer than I did all the way through high school, and I was sort of burned out spreading that through Rec leagues, jr. high and high school, so I can get how they're burned out cramming all that in between 7 and 13 years old. But it's crazy to me that when they could have been playing in their neighborhood, they had organized practice 4 days a week and games on the weekend. And now that they're old enough to actually get in trouble with their free time, they mostly have no structure. They're basically living like I did the one year in college I didn't work, where they have 20 to 30 free hours just during the weekdays and then have their weekends open. I think they mostly stay out of trouble and they do still do some extra curricular stuff so it's probably not as much free time as it looks like, but I still really have no clue what they fill their time with.

[Goldendawg]

My local HS has a storied history of winning state championships in girls BB. They have also won two state volleyball titles in a row. They have also been involved in travel VB the last two seasons. Almost all now choose between the two sports. Only two girls are playing both. VB season overlaps the beginning of fall practice in BB. Many girls have gotten CC or SR College BB scholarships for many years and now some are beginning to get VB scholarships at various levels.

[WhiskeyPirate]

Pretty much all of our friends with older kids are seeing their kids drop sports in Jr. High. Some of that is natural attrition because they're not going to get playing time, but several of them are good and are dropping all sports or picking up a new sport. And hell, at that point, they've played more baseball and soccer than I did all the way through high school, and I was sort of burned out spreading that through Rec leagues, jr. high and high school, so I can get how they're burned out cramming all that in between 7 and 13 years old. But it's crazy to me that when they could have been playing in their neighborhood, they had organized practice 4 days a week and games on the weekend. And now that they're old enough to actually get in trouble with their free time, they mostly have no structure. They're basically living like I did the one year in college I didn't work, where they have 20 to 30 free hours just during the weekdays and then have their weekends open. I think they mostly stay out of trouble and they do still do some extra curricular stuff so it's probably not as much free time as it looks like, but I still really have no clue what they fill their time with.
It’s also a money deal for a lot of the travel teams and their associated training centers. I saw a lot of kids who played with their buddies in league ball had fun, didn’t get burned out and then kept playing in high school. The travel ball weekends for 8-9 year olds were literally 12 hour days a lot of times it would be 100-110 out. Just too much.

Football and basketball are just not the same drudgery for kids that small. It’s also remarkable that the kids who have amazing mechanical skills at nine aren’t necessarily the same players after the kids get to be 14-15. I think this is all obsessed parent driven craziness.

This isn’t to say travel ball isn’t a good and valuable experience for older kids when they reach 13-14 and above, as some have mentioned legion ball has died off.

[Reunion Dog]

Meredith Sanford pitched for SHS and went to Bama and pitched for Cincinnati. He was 6?10? and I was scared to death of facing him in summer league. Hell he was actually on the cover of Rolling Stone his senior year in high school.

[Johnson85]

It’s also a money deal for a lot of the travel teams and their associated training centers.

It's amazing how much parents are willing to be suckered by all the people making money off travel ball. A new one I recently learned about was from a parent complaining about travel ball. They bought in with the understanding that they would mostly play within an hour of home and always within two hours. So they were thinking they'd drive an hour, maybe two, play a couple of games and come home. But he says they basically always have an early game and a late game on Saturdays and early game on Sunday. He said since hotel groups often pay taxes for the debt on the sports complexes they play at and/or sponsor the tournaments, tournament organizers try to make it as inconvenient as possible for people to drive back and forth for games. So the other week when they were two hours away, they had a 9am game and a 5 pm game Saturday and 9 am on Sunday. So for an extra four hours of driving, they could enjoy about two hours at home. Or they could hang out with nowhere to go and then drive back and wake up before 6 am the next morning. Or they could just stay at one of the hotels associated with the tournament that offered early check in. Said between how inconvenient it is and his son wanting to hang out with his friends, they end up staying the night a lot more than they planned to.

Not sure if they really put that much thought into planning to make it inconvenient. I would think the organizers make so much money off of tournament fees it'd be more important to make it easy for teams than try to get money from hotel groups. But it sounds at least plausible.

[Saltydog]

Never understood why State didn't sign him.......He was one of the most intimidating pitchers I ever played against in HS......The other was Randolph Salter from Mooreville, MS. Salter was a huge guy and til this day still has the national high school record for wins in a season (26)........YES, 26 and K'ed 381 batters...........Rex Berryman pitched the kid to death and he ended up signing with Jackson State if I'm not mistaken.......The other one I well remember is Ronnie Richardson from Columbus.........Max preps shows he is the career K king in HS baseball history........Anyway, back to your original point but Starkville was definitely bad ass back in those day.......

https://www.maxpreps.com/news/0cr-fNf-C0qXnLJK1CiMeQ/high-school-baseball-no-hit-king-nolan-ryan-among-pitchers-with-at-least-500-career-strikeouts.htm

[Commercecomet24]

Travel/Showcase ball gets a bad rap, but it's just like anything else. There's idiots that are only in it for the money and parents who think their kids will be the next Hank Aaron. There's also a ton of great coaches and organizations that do it right and teach it right. I coached it for 20+ years and I made great friends along the way and I got to coach some of the best baseball players in Mississippi, many of who went on to play college baseball and above. I got to coach against and my 2 sons got to compete against some of the best players in the country. Our organization played from April/May through July and then we let the kids go play football and basketball and resumed in the spring. We also did fundraisers and got sponsors to help alleviate the financial strain on the kids and parents. I had several kids along the way who couldn't afford it and we all chipped in to make sure these talented kids could learn and play baseball the right way. We wanted to make sure that kids had the opportunity if they wanted it. As I said there's a ton of idiots and daddy ballers in travel/showcase ball who are only interested in their kids being the star and winning "rings", as opposed to developing the player, but there's also a lot of organizations/coaches who are doing it the right way, in teaching kids the game the right way and teaching them how to be more than just a baseball player but also a good person. If you're looking for a travel/showcase team do some searching and ask for references and you can find the good ones, because they're out there. JMO.

[WhiskeyPirate]

Travel/Showcase ball gets a bad rap, but it's just like anything else. There's idiots that are only in it for the money and parents who think their kids will be the next Hank Aaron. There's also a ton of great coaches and organizations that do it right and teach it right. I coached it for 20+ years and I made great friends along the way and I got to coach some of the best baseball players in Mississippi, many of who went on to play college baseball and above. I got to coach against and my 2 sons got to compete against some of the best players in the country. Our organization played from April/May through July and then we let the kids go play football and basketball and resumed in the spring. We also did fundraisers and got sponsors to help alleviate the financial strain on the kids and parents. I had several kids along the way who couldn't afford it and we all chipped in to make sure these talented kids could learn and play baseball the right way. We wanted to make sure that kids had the opportunity if they wanted it. As I said there's a ton of idiots and daddy ballers in travel/showcase ball who are only interested in their kids being the star and winning "rings", as opposed to developing the player, but there's also a lot of organizations/coaches who are doing it the right way, in teaching kids the game the right way and teaching them how to be more than just a baseball player but also a good person. If you're looking for a travel/showcase team do some searching and ask for references and you can find the good ones, because they're out there. JMO.
The level of daddy ball is outrageous. I had never experienced this when I played. Back when I played, nearly all the coaches were non parents and there really wasn’t much nonsense, bull or politics.

Well, my son starts playing and I see a tiny kid who can barely get it to the plate, I can’t figure why they are pitching him and he’s batting fourth. Well I learned pretty soon what daddy ball was.

[Homedawg]

Meredith Sanford pitched for SHS and went to Bama and pitched for Cincinnati. He was 6?10? and I was scared to death of facing him in summer league. Hell he was actually on the cover of Rolling Stone his senior year in high school.

He was 6'6"

[Commercecomet24]

The level of daddy ball is outrageous. I had never experienced this when I played. Back when I played, nearly all the coaches were non parents and there really wasn’t much nonsense, bull or politics.

Well, my son starts playing and I see a tiny kid who can barely get it to the plate, I can’t figure why they are pitching him and he’s batting fourth. Well I learned pretty soon what daddy ball was.

I grew up the same way. I'll tell you when I recruited kids for my teams I recruited the parents first. Crazy parents, scratch them from the list, and even then you still make some mistakes. I've cut kids mid season because of their parents. I had one kid who was a super talented athlete, fast good arm but he was horrible as an infielder. Well his dad thought he should be playing SS and batting first. I put him in the outfield because if he was gonna play at the next level it would be as outfielder because of his speed and arm. I put him out there for a couple of games and his dad told me if he didn't play ss, he was gone, I said, "Bye". He thought because his kid was such a great athlete we would just cave. The dad threatened the same with his high school coach and he caved and put the kid at third where he was good for about 2 errors a game. The kid had potential as on outfielder but because of his dad he never realized that potential. sad.

[WhiskeyPirate]

I grew up the same way. I'll tell you when I recruited kids for my teams I recruited the parents first. Crazy parents, scratch them from the list, and even then you still make some mistakes. I've cut kids mid season because of their parents. I had one kid who was a super talented athlete, fast good arm but he was horrible as an infielder. Well his dad thought he should be playing SS and batting first. I put him in the outfield because if he was gonna play at the next level it would be as outfielder because of his speed and arm. I put him out there for a couple of games and his dad told me if he didn't play ss, he was gone, I said, "Bye". He thought because his kid was such a great athlete we would just cave. The dad threatened the same with his high school coach and he caved and put the kid at third where he was good for about 2 errors a game. The kid had potential as on outfielder but because of his dad he never realized that potential. sad.

Yep for some reason baseball is the worst for this. I got better as a parent as my kid got older, to the point I’m completely mellow and see the big picture now. Youth wrestling is another crazy parent sport, but the nice thing about wrestling is it’s an individual sport, there really aren’t any politics you either win or lose and it’s all on you.

I think travel ball is good for kids 13 and over, and you sound like a good coach. The worst craziness I saw was from age 8-12, I think league ball at that age is better for a lot of kids as far as not getting burned out and just having fun.

My kid ended up liking football better than baseball. You really can’t play both where he’s at. He still wrestles and that’s probably my favorite sport as a parent.

[State82]

The worst craziness I saw was from age 8-12, I think league ball at that age is better for a lot of kids as far as not getting burned out and just having fun.

I always said the best thing for youth ball would be to have all fields with 8' high walls around them so nobody could see from outside the field. Then the players could play, coaches could coach, umpires could call the games. All with no distractions. The players and coaches could all have fun as it should be.

[Johnson85]

Travel/Showcase ball gets a bad rap, but it's just like anything else. There's idiots that are only in it for the money and parents who think their kids will be the next Hank Aaron. There's also a ton of great coaches and organizations that do it right and teach it right. I coached it for 20+ years and I made great friends along the way and I got to coach some of the best baseball players in Mississippi, many of who went on to play college baseball and above. I got to coach against and my 2 sons got to compete against some of the best players in the country. Our organization played from April/May through July and then we let the kids go play football and basketball and resumed in the spring. We also did fundraisers and got sponsors to help alleviate the financial strain on the kids and parents. I had several kids along the way who couldn't afford it and we all chipped in to make sure these talented kids could learn and play baseball the right way. We wanted to make sure that kids had the opportunity if they wanted it. As I said there's a ton of idiots and daddy ballers in travel/showcase ball who are only interested in their kids being the star and winning "rings", as opposed to developing the player, but there's also a lot of organizations/coaches who are doing it the right way, in teaching kids the game the right way and teaching them how to be more than just a baseball player but also a good person. If you're looking for a travel/showcase team do some searching and ask for references and you can find the good ones, because they're out there. JMO.

I don't know. I can buy this for kids once they hit puberty, but I just can't buy this for elementary school kids. Even the ones that do it "right" and focus on development, practicing 2 nights a week for over 9 months the year (on just one sport) plus playing tournaments is just the right thing to do for a vanishingly small number of kids. And even when you do have 8 year olds that really love it that much, very few of them come from families where spending thousands of dollars on travel ball is a good use of resources. And this isn't aimed at the people involved. Most of the people making money off of it at this point are just offering a service where there is a demand. The only coach I know well enough to judge that is involved with it is a great guy who loves baseball and probably was that 8 year old that could have practiced three times a week 52 weeks a year and loved all of it. He does a great job with kids on not just skills but also attitude and hustle and generally just being a good example for them with the way he acts. But I just think baseball and to a lesser extent soccer have evolved in a way that is worse for the vast majority of kids and parents playing it.

[Commercecomet24]

I don't know. I can buy this for kids once they hit puberty, but I just can't buy this for elementary school kids. Even the ones that do it "right" and focus on development, practicing 2 nights a week for over 9 months the year (on just one sport) plus playing tournaments is just the right thing to do for a vanishingly small number of kids. And even when you do have 8 year olds that really love it that much, very few of them come from families where spending thousands of dollars on travel ball is a good use of resources. And this isn't aimed at the people involved. Most of the people making money off of it at this point are just offering a service where there is a demand. The only coach I know well enough to judge that is involved with it is a great guy who loves baseball and probably was that 8 year old that could have practiced three times a week 52 weeks a year and loved all of it. He does a great job with kids on not just skills but also attitude and hustle and generally just being a good example for them with the way he acts. But I just think baseball and to a lesser extent soccer have evolved in a way that is worse for the vast majority of kids and parents playing it.

That's what I'm saying though, the ones that are doing it right aren't practicing 9 months out of the year. They're practicing during the normal spring/summer baseball season. Also, yes they're some that do make you spend thousands, others like what we did, use fundraisers and sponsorships to reduce the cost where it isn't at that level. Like I said you have to do some searching but they're are organizations and teams our there that do it the way, we used to do it.

ETA I 100% agree kids should not be playing just one sport for the majority of the year, no matter the sport. As much as I love baseball, I couldn't do it all year long. Take a break, play other sports and just be a kid.

[Schultzy]

We always shut it down mid-June after starting practice in January and playing 7-10 tournaments. No fall ball was the rule except maybe one tournament if we were acclimating a new guy.

[Johnson85]

That's what I'm saying though, the ones that are doing it right aren't practicing 9 months out of the year. They're practicing during the normal spring/summer baseball season. Also, yes they're some that do make you spend thousands, others like what we did, use fundraisers and sponsorships to reduce the cost where it isn't at that level. Like I said you have to do some searching but they're are organizations and teams our there that do it the way, we used to do it.

ETA I 100% agree kids should not be playing just one sport for the majority of the year, no matter the sport. As much as I love baseball, I couldn't do it all year long. Take a break, play other sports and just be a kid.

Gotcha. I was missing what you were saying. I am more familiar with the elementary age teams just because of our friends, and every one of them are doing fall ball and spring and summer ball. Maybe we just don't have a big enough population to have a full range of options though.

[Commercecomet24]

Gotcha. I was missing what you were saying. I am more familiar with the elementary age teams just because of our friends, and every one of them are doing fall ball and spring and summer ball. Maybe we just don't have a big enough population to have a full range of options though.

Yeah that can be an issue with not having enough good options available. Man I love baseball and my boys love baseball but if I did it as much as some of these idiots try to do I would wind up hating the game and I love it to much for that. I've seen kids driven from the game because of parents and coaches pushing it down their throat 12 months out of the year and it's a shame and makes me sad that a kid who starts out loving the game grows to hate it because of adults.

[WhiskeyPirate]

I know a kid who was a bat boy for Mike trouts minor league team, trout told him not to specialize and to play as many sports as he can. Mickey Mantle played football. As an aside, Mantle ran to first in 3.1 seconds, same time as bo.Jackson. Can you imagine if Mantle was healthy and never blew out his knee ,and lifted weights like these guys today.

[Commercecomet24]

I know a kid who was a bat boy for Mike trouts minor league team, trout told him not to specialize and to play as many sports as he can. Mickey Mantle played football. As an aside, Mantle ran to first in 3.1 seconds, same time as bo.Jackson. Can you imagine if Mantle was healthy and never blew out his knee ,and lifted weights like these guys today.

Lol, i remember hearing an interview with Mick back before he died. The guy asked him if he played today with all the training advances how much he thought he'd be worth. Mick said "I'd just call the owner, partner!"

[WhiskeyPirate]

I always said the best thing for youth ball would be to have all fields with 8' high walls around them so nobody could see from outside the field. Then the players could play, coaches could coach, umpires could call the games. All with no distractions. The players and coaches could all have fun as it should be.
That would be really good for the kids playing.

It was almost like that back when I was a kid. Non parent coaches for football and baseball and parents usually did not attend practice but would just show up to pick up their kids after practice. Some of the coaches I had would have told the parents to leave/stay out if they tried to get around the field too much. That was a good thing.

Today the dads are all over the field, the parents are at every practice in lawn chairs. Just not as good a situation.

We always had neighborhood games going year around.

[WhiskeyPirate]

Lol, i remember hearing an interview with Mick back before he died. The guy asked him if he played today with all the training advances how much he thought he'd be worth. Mick said "I'd just call the owner, partner!"

Lol. That guy had amazing genetics, full ride to Oklahoma in football as a running back. Think about it, he could hit the ball with equal power from both sides of the plate, probably rarely get a curveballby him. I’d say he is the greatest player of all time.

[Commercecomet24]

That would be really good for the kids playing.

It was almost like that back when I was a kid. Non parent coaches for football and baseball and parents usually did not attend practice but would just show up to pick up their kids after practice. Some of the coaches I had would have told the parents to leave/stay out if they tried to get around the field too much. That was a good thing.

Today the dads are all over the field, the parents are at every practice in lawn chairs. Just not as good a situation.

We always had neighborhood games going year around.

Those were some good time and great memories! We played what ever sport was in season at the time. Worst thing in the world is dad's(and now a lot of moms) coaching from the stands! Here's what I mean about recruiting good parents. I had a player that's playing at Eastern Kentucky now and played at Oak Grove. He was pitching for me one time and nibbling around and not challenging hitters. I went out and reamed him and he responded and finished the game. When we got outside the dugout he was kinda pouting about getting reamed and his mom told don't you pout or put your head down, Coach is just trying to get the best out of you and she reamed him too. I took him aside and told him the reason I did it was because I loved him and saw his potential and it was my job to get that potential out of him! 2 years ago we played Oak Grove and we talked after the game and he remembered that moment and thanked me for doing it and teaching him the right way.

[Commercecomet24]

Lol. That guy had amazing genetics, full ride to Oklahoma in football as a running back. Think about it, he could hit the ball with equal power from both sides of the plate, probably rarely saw a curveball. I’d say he is the greatest player of all time.

He's probably the most talented of all time for sure! I was in Commerce, Ok last year and got to go see the house he grew up in and the barn they used as a backstop for his dad to pitch to him everyday. Sacred ground for me.

[ArrowDawg]

This thread recalled a memory of a segment in Matt Wyatt's documentary "Uneven."


https://youtu.be/C7cKh4fo6Bg?t=1278

[Political Hack]

Saw the earlier post about keeping parents out of the field...

There's a park in Marietta, GA (ATPP) that is 8' below the bleachers. The dugouts are under the seats so parents can't access the dugouts or stand on the fence. It's only two 200' fields so they age out of it pretty quickly, but Training Legends plays a lot of tournaments there. One of my favorite parks to coach at.

[Apoplectic]

My 6? 3? son didn?t even consider basketball - wish he would have had an NBA role model