Well, as I am finding out competitive baseball is just that, a competitive business and managed year round. Just as soon as the season is over the recruitment is underway, practices start and teams are starting to form. Don’t kids get burned out from this much intense baseball? Some don’t I guess and they eat, sleep, breath and love baseball. It is America’s favorite pasttime and I love the game and participating myself but my staff and I absolutly need those 6 months of down time to participate in life’s other pleasures, work, cutting grass, school, raffles, golf tournaments, swimming and fireworks.
If you’re one of those kids that likes the game that much then by all means suit up and get after it. There is nothing in this world better than watching our kids on the field of sports playing their hearts out for a sport them deeply love. But if you are one of those parents out there that signs your kid up and is the driving force behind them to participate every year all year then you might want to back up a second and review the playbook. So you kids is a great athlete, he\she said they love the game and want to play but do you really hear the enthusiasm or are you just overlooking that aspect? Are they saying it to appease you as a parent and need the attention it gets them?
Personally I feel that competitive baseball for kids below 10 years old is way too soon especially if they are burned out of the game by the time they reach high school when the skill level actually counts for something to a real scout.
Some of these season are 100-160 games. Taht is as much as a full Pro Baseball players season. C’mon, at 8, 9, or 10 years old what does that actually do for a kid but speed up the process to a quick fade from the game and it’s rigorous discipline?
I am sure there are kids that can hang with that and thos players do rise to the top. It’s the ones that don’t even turn away from a structured environment like sports and regress to something else. This could be just as bad as the ones who don’t ever play sports and hang out in small packs with no direction every day. We’re all familiar with this avenue right? The cautionary tales are there for parents, even if their children aren’t old enough to appreciate them. More than a decade ago, Jennifer Capriati turned pro in women’s tennis at 13, dropped out of the tour at 17 and was arrested on marijuana possession charges the following year. She has since returned to be one of the world’s top players. ….. Click the link for more information.
Coach Carl Butera, whose daughter Ashley plays on the team, said he and his assistants try to keep the game fun for the Fury, hosting sleepovers for the girls at each other’s houses. But Butera also has seen parents reluctant to commit their children to playing on the team.
“” excerpt from IS YOUR KID SUFFERING FROM BURNOUT?
“There are a lot of good players that we can’t get to come out,” Butera said. “The parents don’t want to do it year-round at this age.”
From crisscrossing the country for tournaments to special sessions with sports psychologists, the demands of playing youth sports only have increased. On the Patriots, only a couple of Boersma’s players play another sport in addition to baseball, usually basketball in the winter.
The coach, meanwhile, said the traveling team was created for one purpose: To prepare players for the rigors of high school baseball.
“We try not to overwork overwork
the condition produced by working a draft animal or working dog, an eventing or endurance horse too hard. See also exhaustion. them,” Boersma said. “But next year they’re going to go into high school and are going to be practicing and playing every day.
“(High school baseball) is highly competitive,” he added. “If you don’t play travel ball, you’re going to have a hard time making the team.”
What am I saying here? Parents, coaches, while you are hammering the best of your knowledge and experience of your sports into your children keep in mind they do have a breaking point and you may not be able to see it until it’s too late. Keep checking and gauging the temperature of enthusiasm of your offspring to make sure this is what they want and if its time for a break or not. See you on the field or at Chuck E Cheese
