the league in my community is coach-pitch ages 6-8. the kids get 5 whacks at it, and then the tee. most of the time we dont need the tee, but for kids who are in their first year of playing organized ball, i have no problem with it. its a developmental league. this year i have a couple 7-8 year olds who have never swung a bat before, so im not in favor of telling them to hit a pitch or grab some pine. they get their coach pitches and then the tee. after all, id like for them to grow a love for the game and that is hard to do when they strike out every at bat, never put a ball in play and never get on base.

now the 9-10 year olds, thats a different story. survival of the fittest.

I think you would be shocked to learn you can tell who is going to be good almost immediately even at an early age. I know it suprised me. Kids may develop well but they still are below those ones you identified as good fromt he beginning. It's kind of sad in a way.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Arc, ha I'm a dumbass.



You can also tell who is a natural athlete, who is a baseball player, and who just needs to be worked with. It's not set in stone but I agree you can make prety good assumptions.

Everyone needs work, even the good players. The mechanics of pitching/hitting don't come naturally and I'd say 20% of the coaches know what to teach. A kid may be able to hit or throw from the beginning but there is a lot that goes into being a good hitter/pitcher/fielder down the road.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

i have heard rumblings down at the baseball complex of a traveling tee-ball league forming. i laughed when i was told of it, but the look i got in response wasnt a joking one. now parents want to take their "prospects" on the road so they can get the "quality coaching" their youngsters need to "take it to the next level".

If it's an 11-12 year old house league every kid should play whether or not they show for practice. Suprised your league doesn't have a rule stating every child must play at least 3 defensive innings. Also at that age everyone should get placed in the batting order. Sounds like a badly run league to me. Odds are it's not the child's fault he couldn't make the practices.

I have coached my son for the last 6 years, now I'm coaching my daughter's coach pitch softball team. It's a blast, and always a plus when the head coaches child looks like they know what they are doing.

No.

The kid can walk, ride a bike, or call another parent and/or coach for a ride to practice. He no calls/no shows for a practice, he doesn't play that week. If he calls ahead of time to let the coach know he can't make it, of course that is understandable.

_________________

You may say that Frank, but that is not the way it is in a lot of the leagues today.

_________________
2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

It's a scourge on kid baseball and plays more on the vanity of the parents than the children. Your child can be an all star for the low low price of $1,000

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

His mom is a drunk. She said she'd drive him but she passed out in her Ex BF's trailer. Kid is waiting with his glove at the house ready to go. She never showed up.


Bench that little fucker!

Really disappointed that no one started a "Has anyone here ever coached T-Bone" thread.

_________________
-- source

yeah Bud, i disagree with that. at that age you learn the importance of practice. It is a hard lesson, especially in situations like you mention where it isnt always the kids fault, but that is up to those parents. pick up a phone. on the day of the first practice the importance of being at practice was stressed, and everyone was told that this isnt tee-ball or future league anymore, and that these kids need to be at practice to play. no calls, no practice, im sorry, you arent playing.

for the record, in our 11-12 year old league, all eligible players do bat even if they arent in the field. however, if you dont show up for practice for the last 4 practices leading up to opening day, you will not be in the lineup. the kid missed practice again sunday, so there will be more disappointment if he shows up thursday night for our next game.

I understand Mofo benching him. But there are definitely instances where making a practice/game is out of a kid's hands...and its usually a pretty sad/pathetic story

I'd like to punch the snack/drink people. Worst sports idea ever.

yeah, no doubt. thats why we explained to the mom that all she had to do was get jr to practice sunday, get in the field a little, get in the batters box for some live pitching, and there you have it, he is in the game Thursday night. the kid hadnt even had any live batting practice in over 2 weeks.

I 100% agree with Frank and if you don't, you dont know shit. Might even up the age to 8.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

why shouldnt a 7-year-old be allowed to hit off a tee?

Another 100% agreement!

Me "Jason you're on deck! Jason, you're up! JASON! WTF is JASON?"
Jason's Mom "He is having a snack"
Me "Where? At the bar?"
Jason's Mom "He was hungry...I'm sorry" as she points to him sitting in the stands
Me "Is Jason going to play, or finish his snack?"
Jason's Mom "Let me go ask him."
NOTE : I WAS FUCKING JOKING

Other coach now yelling for automatic out and I agreed with him.

Then other coach sees it is his wifes friends kid, so he goes over and waits.

Jason struck out.

Pussification of Amertica

And yes, there is a "snack schedule"

My nephew last game asked to leave in the middle, for no other reason than he wanted to go home and play Madden.

The no parent rule is one that should be thought out.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I said 7 is when they should start.

On our 5-6 year old team, I think we had 5-6 kids that could not lift the bat to swing and hit. Yes, then it is too much.

Now at 7, I think every kid on our team could hit off a tee, though many can't get the bat around at the slowest slow slow pitch.

So 7 would be a good time to start tee ball, not 5.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

That's because the tree huggers won.

_________________

His dad, my Bro Inlaw, who is not Mr Sports, even gave the kid a big flat NO.

My Nephew is the pure average player. He actually bats 2nd, because he does have a good eye and can ht when he swings and makes contact, s he isnt the kid who is terrible and thus wants to leave.

Still, the fact it is even considered an option blows my mind.

_________________
"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

When my boys went through, the t-ball was 5-6 yo, maybe a 7 who had not played before. I think hitting off the machine gives the batter a more consistent chance to learn a swing, the pitch eye will develop later, give 'em strikes to hit. kids move up to minor league/machine pitch 7-9 and about half of the 10yos. More talented 10s played little league/kid pitch with the 11-12s. I still remember my son's first game of LL- the 12 yo pitcher was 6'3", 200 lbs and threw like 80 from 46 feet. I didn't want no part of that shit (he's 6'6" now playing college ball).

Our little rural league would have 6 tball teams, 8-10 each of minors and little league teams. the whole travel ball explosion has destroyed the numbers now, barely field 4 teams each level, forced to travel to other communities for games(i know, wah wah)etc.

I usually wanted more practice time- we crammed 30 game regular seasons in then playoffs before the July All-Star tourneys would start, with rain outs we rarely ever had an in-season practice, just play games

This would never happen in shakes' league.

I don't ever recall being able to take snack breaks when I was in 5th-8th grade softball....water, yeah, but what's with all the snacking? Eat some before then after game....quite simple.

By the way, was I just totally out of the loop and deprived, but I don't seem to recall T-Ball being around when I was a kid. I'm talking 1976-1982 ish.

_________________
-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

How much are machines and are they portable? heavy?

BF and Spaulding nailed it.

Most of the boys on my sons team can't remember who they follow in the order that day, but they all know whose turn it is to bring the snack next game. And the first question they all ask when they show up to each game?

"What did Johnny bring for snack?"

_________________

Don't forget the list of things we can/can't bring, and the snack police if something is not healthy.

Drinks maybe. When I played softball every once in awhile we'd get Jewel pop. Now it's 100% organic juice or some shit only. We never got snacks, what is the freaking obsession with snacks? It's stupid, then some complain the snack isn't healthy, I got news they aren't going to eat freaking fruit!

At what point do parents become morons?

I've got a couple friends with kids, and they all seem fine. Why not tell these over-bearing parents to pound sand?

_________________

ahh..gotcha.

Eh, no organics or healthy stuff in my son's league. Then again I can't afford to play in the Naperville leagues like some people.

When I was a kid, we got orange slices. That's it. Every week was a different kids turn to bring the oranges. Yay.

_________________

Yeah, some 5 year olds are not into it. I can see where BigFan is coming from. The day of our first game (parade before hand) 8 of the 12 kids asked me when T ball was over (granted it was a three hour day for them at this point)


I do think my daughter is learning a little bit about responsibility. One day she told me she didnt feel like going to practice. I asked her if she liked playing in the games. She said yeah, but today she wanted to play with her cousin. I explained that when you commit to something you have to see it thru and everything. I think she got that once you join something, you have to finish and do it all the way.



With snacks we have juice and one snack AFTER the game. Never during. We use it in a carrot dangling way.


Although with this new Peanut allergy taking over, im not sure any food sharing is a good idea