I'm starting this thread today because my oldest son, a 14 year old Freshman, has his first HS scrimmage today. I wanted to start this thread for a couple of reasons - one is the serve as a sort of blog to ramble on regarding youth baseball up until high school and the high school experience. The other is to get advice, maybe sometimes give advice, about our sons' experiences and learn from each other.
For me, I was a baseball ignoramus, and in a lot of ways I still am. I played two years of Little League growing up because that was all we had where I grew up. No tee ball, no machine pitch and nothing after LL - no HS baseball. The football coaches were allegedly concerned that starting a HS baseball team would interfere with track season (aka football offseason) and football offseason. We were a football school, and no baseball was going to interfere with that.
I passively watched a little baseball here and there growing up, but never appreciated the game because I didn't understand it. Throw ball, hit ball, catch ball, run bases isn't that exciting to a kid who doesn't understand the game. When I got to A&M, I really enjoyed going to A&M baseball games. Probably more because of the fun fan experience than the game itself. I loved the Raggies and yelling at the other team from the 2nd deck. Watching the Aggies win was always fun though, and one of my favorite all-time moments as an Aggie sports fan came when we beat Clemson in the Super Regional to go to the CWS. I still have a foul ball from that game and when Fossum closed the game out, we all went insane. I'll never forget it.
Then, I met my wife. She grew up in a baseball crazy house. Her Dad is and always has been a huge baseball fan. Her older brothers played baseball and she dated baseball players in HS and college. She understood the game and had that deeper appreciation than I never had. So, when we found out that our first child was a boy, he was going to play baseball. My father-in-law wouldn't have had it any other way.
My son started playing in the yard as soon as he could throw a ball or swing one of those fat plastic bats. He showed an early attraction to the game, but what kid doesn't enjoy playing outside with Mom and Dad - especially if it involves throwing things and hitting things. He wasn't some sort of prodigy or anything. He was just a normal kid whose parents played with him outside. He started tee ball at 6 - not at 3 or 4 like I see now days - and he was almost good. Definitely not the best kid on the team, but not the worst. The biggest difference in kids at a young age is how much time their parents spend with them just playing catch or playing "hit" in the yard.
He ended up really liking baseball, so we decided to put in more time at home to get him better, and he enjoyed it. I ended up being an assistant coach in his first year of machine pitch LL, and then ended up being the head coach on his last LL machine pitch team when he was 8. By that time, he had progressed to the point where he was really good compared to his peers. Not because he had been blessed with great genetics or athletic ability, but because he had fun playing baseball and enjoyed working on it at home. It was all still play to him, which is the point at a young age.
But, I noticed that I was taking things too seriously as a Dad / coach. I was nervous about every little thing, and I was harder on my son than I was the other boys on the team. I also was self-aware enough to know that my baseball knowledge was so rudimentary that any coaching I did after an 8 year old level was going to be detrimental to the kids. So, we made the decision to let him tryout for a tournament team which was 8U coach pitch, and turn him over to other coaches who knew what they were doing.
That move to tournament baseball started a 6 year journey from 8U through 14U which was great at times and trying at times. My son will tell you that his dream growing up, and to this day, is to play college baseball. I tried to focus on high school baseball. I hate to allow myself to dream too big because I think I would end up putting unfair pressure on my kid to fulfill my big dream. I told many people throughout the years that my goal was for him to have a good high school experience, and be a good high school player.
So, since this is ridiculously long already, I'll close out that I'm nervous as a cat about tonight. It's stupid because I don't think my son is nervous at all. But, dumb old Dad can't help it because this is all new to me, and I have no idea what to expect. Here's to a 4 year journey - a 4 year learning experience for me.
For me, I was a baseball ignoramus, and in a lot of ways I still am. I played two years of Little League growing up because that was all we had where I grew up. No tee ball, no machine pitch and nothing after LL - no HS baseball. The football coaches were allegedly concerned that starting a HS baseball team would interfere with track season (aka football offseason) and football offseason. We were a football school, and no baseball was going to interfere with that.
I passively watched a little baseball here and there growing up, but never appreciated the game because I didn't understand it. Throw ball, hit ball, catch ball, run bases isn't that exciting to a kid who doesn't understand the game. When I got to A&M, I really enjoyed going to A&M baseball games. Probably more because of the fun fan experience than the game itself. I loved the Raggies and yelling at the other team from the 2nd deck. Watching the Aggies win was always fun though, and one of my favorite all-time moments as an Aggie sports fan came when we beat Clemson in the Super Regional to go to the CWS. I still have a foul ball from that game and when Fossum closed the game out, we all went insane. I'll never forget it.
Then, I met my wife. She grew up in a baseball crazy house. Her Dad is and always has been a huge baseball fan. Her older brothers played baseball and she dated baseball players in HS and college. She understood the game and had that deeper appreciation than I never had. So, when we found out that our first child was a boy, he was going to play baseball. My father-in-law wouldn't have had it any other way.
My son started playing in the yard as soon as he could throw a ball or swing one of those fat plastic bats. He showed an early attraction to the game, but what kid doesn't enjoy playing outside with Mom and Dad - especially if it involves throwing things and hitting things. He wasn't some sort of prodigy or anything. He was just a normal kid whose parents played with him outside. He started tee ball at 6 - not at 3 or 4 like I see now days - and he was almost good. Definitely not the best kid on the team, but not the worst. The biggest difference in kids at a young age is how much time their parents spend with them just playing catch or playing "hit" in the yard.
He ended up really liking baseball, so we decided to put in more time at home to get him better, and he enjoyed it. I ended up being an assistant coach in his first year of machine pitch LL, and then ended up being the head coach on his last LL machine pitch team when he was 8. By that time, he had progressed to the point where he was really good compared to his peers. Not because he had been blessed with great genetics or athletic ability, but because he had fun playing baseball and enjoyed working on it at home. It was all still play to him, which is the point at a young age.
But, I noticed that I was taking things too seriously as a Dad / coach. I was nervous about every little thing, and I was harder on my son than I was the other boys on the team. I also was self-aware enough to know that my baseball knowledge was so rudimentary that any coaching I did after an 8 year old level was going to be detrimental to the kids. So, we made the decision to let him tryout for a tournament team which was 8U coach pitch, and turn him over to other coaches who knew what they were doing.
That move to tournament baseball started a 6 year journey from 8U through 14U which was great at times and trying at times. My son will tell you that his dream growing up, and to this day, is to play college baseball. I tried to focus on high school baseball. I hate to allow myself to dream too big because I think I would end up putting unfair pressure on my kid to fulfill my big dream. I told many people throughout the years that my goal was for him to have a good high school experience, and be a good high school player.
So, since this is ridiculously long already, I'll close out that I'm nervous as a cat about tonight. It's stupid because I don't think my son is nervous at all. But, dumb old Dad can't help it because this is all new to me, and I have no idea what to expect. Here's to a 4 year journey - a 4 year learning experience for me.
