God Bless the children

I went and watched my nephew play baseball today. It's a step above tee-ball. They have a pitching machine tossing the ball over the plate, so it does take a bit of skill for these young children to smack one into play. I was surprised what these kids were doing. There were little kids rounding the bags and actually stealing bases. In one inning, I saw two plays at homebase ending in outs, which for little kids is amazing.

One thing I did notice, however, is all the information given to these little guys during play. I've never seen so many coaches in my life. Actually, there were two coaches technically for the team, but sometimes the dads just gotta get in there. I was proud of my brother, he actually did his pre-game speal to Cade, and let him play his own game. But for some of the others, there was dug-out advice mixed in with a little direction from the stands. All this while the coaches were demanding attention. A lot of the coaching was just trying to get some of the younger guys to pay attention. It was nothing for a kid to be standing in the field counting clouds when the ball was about to be pitched, but for the most part, these little guys did extremely well. I will say this. If you ever think about coaching a kids team thinking it's all just 'fair play' and 'sportsmanship', you better rethink it. These coaches were actually very skilled in teaching baseball fundamentals to children at a key point in there lives when these habits become foundational. The last thing you want to do is step in there and allow a child to play a season forming 'bad' habits. Most of all, make sure you read the rule book. These may have been children, but as I watched a couple games before Cade's, I did see the parents, umpires and coaches going around about a 'no strike' call when the kid missed a bunt. Ouch!

-Gary