_lefraud_ said:

---

I'm not excusing the actions of the coach in that video, as that should never happen in between the lines, especially in front of kids

But

The moment an official/umpire engages (negatively) with a coach, player or even parent, they have crossed a line and are no longer protected by their title as official, IMO. Officials/umpires have a duty, responsibility to remain professional, have thick skin, whatever you want to call it.

From some accounts, the ump in the video was anything but professional for several games. Again, he doesn't deserve to be pushed down, and I hate that kids had to see and experience a grown man acting like that, but if a person is going to run their mouth, then they have to live with the consequences that come with that.

---

There is no reason for any person anywhere around a youth baseball game to touch another parent/coach/ump etc...unless someone is a perv and touching a kid. ZERO EXCUSE

I'm sure none of those parents will have a hard time finding someone that will take their money to be on a team

_lefraud_ said:

---

I'm not excusing the actions of the coach in that video, as that should never happen in between the lines, especially in front of kids

But

The moment an official/umpire engages (negatively) with a coach, player or even parent, they have crossed a line and are no longer protected by their title as official, IMO. Officials/umpires have a duty, responsibility to remain professional, have thick skin, whatever you want to call it.

From some accounts, the ump in the video was anything but professional for several games. Again, he doesn't deserve to be pushed down, and I hate that kids had to see and experience a grown man acting like that, but if a person is going to run their mouth, then they have to live with the consequences that come with that.

---

Just out of curiosity, if you are against umpires being assaulted what exactly do you think are appropriate "consequences" for those umpires you deem to not have "thick skin"?

As an umpire who has 17 years experience and hundred and hundreds of select baseball games under my belt I can say that people with your mindset are why I wouldn't step onto a youth select tournament field for any price these days. Trash parents who think they can say whatever they want because an umpire made a decision that they didn't agree with are part of the reason so many of us think these tournaments have become a toxic environment to be avoided. And that is before we even get to the assaults.

Kids never ruin youth sports, it is always the parents and coaches who cross the line.

OK it is story time for Agsalaska. I may have told this story before but if so it was a few years ago. And, for the record I have been pretty clear on this thread that our teams have zero tolerance for any harassment of umpires by anyone and we do not even complain in any way about bad calls in front of the kids. We are an umpire's wet dream(that's not to say we do not chirp a little, appeal calls, etc. We just do it with respect). We respect umpires.

However,

I was suspended one game in the TTAB District T-ball tournament several years ago for an altercation with an umpire. I have never in my life seen another human being act this way in person on a ball field of any kind. It was our team and another team from our town and two local umpires. All coaches are friends. All the kids are friends. All the wives are friends. etc. And familiar umpires. What could go wrong.

One umpire went wrong. I can't really put into words how bad he was to both coaches the entire game but it was like R Lee Ermey in his Full Metal Jacket character doing a t ball game and everyone was Private Pyle. And without going into details about individual calls, it culminated in him throwing a bat helicopter style at me as I was walking back to the 3rd base dugout with my player who had just grounded out(who still plays for me.) I looked up in time to see the bat about six feet away from me and caught it about six inches from the little boys face. I caught the umpire's eye as he walked away with this **** eating F you grin on his face.

If I had it over again we would not have taken the field, but it was the last half inning and I was frozen by the shock of it. The game ended like one run later or something and I walked up to the other umpire to ask him if so and so was in charge of umpires this week so I could try to keep the bad umpire off the field. Bad umpire hears this and literally charges me chest out like some badass rooster. In the exchange which I quickly walked away from I cursed, pretty sure it was an S word.

By the time I got to the directors he had reported my foul language. But it didn't take long for the entire story to come out. The coaches on the other team didn't see it, but the coaches waiting on our field did as did about ten parents, some of whom were lined up behind me to tell what they saw. By the next morning the TTAB home office had received several calls and emails about it, many from people I didnt know.

It ended with me serving a one game mandatory suspension because I cursed. The umpire was banned from league play for life. The two teams and coaches involved ended up combining to make the Select team my son plays on today, and I still coach many of the boys in league too. The other umpire is a good dude and called a game for us the other night. Yes, he made a few calls I disagreed with. No I didn't give him any grief. He is a good umpire.

Not sure of the moral to that story and I am not telling it in any defense of this waco coach from Abilene. But, like any other profession, there is such a thing as umpires that should not be allowed around children, coaches, or frankly anyone else. But the story is somewhat of a legend around here and I get constantly harassed about it. Even last weekend when the umpire made a bad call one of the coaches said 'Hey Agsalaska go talk to him about it' and the story was told to some opponent coaches at the bar that night.

Quote:

---

Kids never ruin youth sports, it is always the parents and coaches who cross the line.

---

Exactly. Watched a video today where a 10U kid running from 3rd on a pickoff attempt chose to lower his helmet/shoulder instead of sliding. The way some parents reacted was pathetic. Since when has a youth baseball game become more important than the safety of a player?

agsalaska said:

---

OK it is story time for Agsalaska. I may have told this story before but if so it was a few years ago. And, for the record I have been pretty clear on this thread that our teams have zero tolerance for any harassment of umpires by anyone and we do not even complain in any way about bad calls in front of the kids. We are an umpire's wet dream(that's not to say we do not chirp a little, appeal calls, etc. We just do it with respect). We respect umpires.

However,

I was suspended one game in the TTAB District T-ball tournament several years ago for an altercation with an umpire. I have never in my life seen another human being act this way in person on a ball field of any kind. It was our team and another team from our town and two local umpires. All coaches are friends. All the kids are friends. All the wives are friends. etc. And familiar umpires. What could go wrong.

One umpire went wrong. I can't really put into words how bad he was to both coaches the entire game but it was like R Lee Ermey in his Full Metal Jacket character doing a t ball game and everyone was Private Pyle. And without going into details about individual calls, it culminated in him throwing a bat helicopter style at me as I was walking back to the 3rd base dugout with my player who had just grounded out(who still plays for me.) I looked up in time to see the bat about six feet away from me and caught it about six inches from the little boys face. I caught the umpire's eye as he walked away with this **** eating F you grin on his face.

If I had it over again we would not have taken the field, but it was the last half inning and I was frozen by the shock of it. The game ended like one run later or something and I walked up to the other umpire to ask him if so and so was in charge of umpires this week so I could try to keep the bad umpire off the field. Bad umpire hears this and literally charges me chest out like some badass rooster. In the exchange which I quickly walked away from I cursed, pretty sure it was an S word.

By the time I got to the directors he had reported my foul language. But it didn't take long for the entire story to come out. The coaches on the other team didn't see it, but the coaches waiting on our field did as did about ten parents, some of whom were lined up behind me to tell what they saw. By the next morning the TTAB home office had received several calls and emails about it, many from people I didnt know.

It ended with me serving a one game mandatory suspension because I cursed. The umpire was banned from league play for life. The two teams and coaches involved ended up combining to make the Select team my son plays on today, and I still coach many of the boys in league too. The other umpire is a good dude and called a game for us the other night. Yes, he made a few calls I disagreed with. No I didn't give him any grief. He is a good umpire.

Not sure of the moral to that story and I am not telling it in any defense of this waco coach from Abilene. But, like any other profession, there is such a thing as umpires that should not be allowed around children, coaches, or frankly anyone else. But the story is somewhat of a legend around here and I get constantly harassed about it. Even last weekend when the umpire made a bad call one of the coaches said 'Hey Agsalaska go talk to him about it' and the story was told to some opponent coaches at the bar that night.

---

And as extreme as that story is bravo for keeping your cool. As much as anything I take that as a perfect example of why a physical altercation shouldn't happen.

My point is that there are some umpires out there that act a lot like some ******* cops with a badge. I've officiated with some before. It doesn't excuse the actions of a coach ever getting physical with an official, especially in front of kids, but if you play with fire, if you poke the bear...you'll eventually pay a price. Just as this coach will pay the price for his actions.

This coach didn't just push down the umpire for making a call...and if you believe that, well then I can't help you.

Lonestar_Ag09 said:

---

agsalaska said:

---

OK it is story time for Agsalaska. I may have told this story before but if so it was a few years ago. And, for the record I have been pretty clear on this thread that our teams have zero tolerance for any harassment of umpires by anyone and we do not even complain in any way about bad calls in front of the kids. We are an umpire's wet dream(that's not to say we do not chirp a little, appeal calls, etc. We just do it with respect). We respect umpires.

However,

I was suspended one game in the TTAB District T-ball tournament several years ago for an altercation with an umpire. I have never in my life seen another human being act this way in person on a ball field of any kind. It was our team and another team from our town and two local umpires. All coaches are friends. All the kids are friends. All the wives are friends. etc. And familiar umpires. What could go wrong.

One umpire went wrong. I can't really put into words how bad he was to both coaches the entire game but it was like R Lee Ermey in his Full Metal Jacket character doing a t ball game and everyone was Private Pyle. And without going into details about individual calls, it culminated in him throwing a bat helicopter style at me as I was walking back to the 3rd base dugout with my player who had just grounded out(who still plays for me.) I looked up in time to see the bat about six feet away from me and caught it about six inches from the little boys face. I caught the umpire's eye as he walked away with this **** eating F you grin on his face.

If I had it over again we would not have taken the field, but it was the last half inning and I was frozen by the shock of it. The game ended like one run later or something and I walked up to the other umpire to ask him if so and so was in charge of umpires this week so I could try to keep the bad umpire off the field. Bad umpire hears this and literally charges me chest out like some badass rooster. In the exchange which I quickly walked away from I cursed, pretty sure it was an S word.

By the time I got to the directors he had reported my foul language. But it didn't take long for the entire story to come out. The coaches on the other team didn't see it, but the coaches waiting on our field did as did about ten parents, some of whom were lined up behind me to tell what they saw. By the next morning the TTAB home office had received several calls and emails about it, many from people I didnt know.

It ended with me serving a one game mandatory suspension because I cursed. The umpire was banned from league play for life. The two teams and coaches involved ended up combining to make the Select team my son plays on today, and I still coach many of the boys in league too. The other umpire is a good dude and called a game for us the other night. Yes, he made a few calls I disagreed with. No I didn't give him any grief. He is a good umpire.

Not sure of the moral to that story and I am not telling it in any defense of this waco coach from Abilene. But, like any other profession, there is such a thing as umpires that should not be allowed around children, coaches, or frankly anyone else. But the story is somewhat of a legend around here and I get constantly harassed about it. Even last weekend when the umpire made a bad call one of the coaches said 'Hey Agsalaska go talk to him about it' and the story was told to some opponent coaches at the bar that night.

---

And as extreme as that story is bravo for keeping your cool. As much as anything I take that as a perfect example of why a physical altercation shouldn't happen.

---

Thanks. And it was really close. I will say that everyone was a little lucky. I was probably 40 at the time and have mellowed out quite a bit. But the kid who almost got hit, his dad doesn't mess around. A bad country dude that would have pounded that ump if he witnessed it but he was in the dugout yelling 'hats and gloves.' By the time he knew what happened with the bat the game was over.

I can only imagine what would have happened if I didn't see the bat and the boy got hit in the face. It would have been a very dark day I can tell you that.

Cooler heads prevailed and the league did a great job. The league commissioner watched the following game from the field, and by the next day that ump was gone never to be seen again. And he had been doing games around here for years all the way through high school. Not sure what happened in his life to make him turn like that but it must have been something.

_lefraud_ said:

---

My point is that there are some umpires out there that act a lot like some ******* cops with a badge. I've officiated with some before. It doesn't excuse the actions of a coach ever getting physical with an official, especially in front of kids, but if you play with fire, if you poke the bear...you'll eventually pay a price. Just as this coach will pay the price for his actions.

This coach didn't just push down the umpire for making a call...and if you believe that, well then I can't help you.

---

Doesn't matter if that umpire called that coach's wife a cheap whooer and talked about banging her sideways or even called the coach's kid "sofa king we todd ed" you don't put your hands on him like that. Especially in front of the kids.

Yea If I was able to avoid a physical confrontation in my situation I documented above then….

No excuse.

It's been sort of an open secret for about a month now in the Houston area but now it's 100% official- the Gulf Coast Marlins organization where my oldest plays is no more. We've been bought by the Houston Wildcatters.

The same Wildcatters that bought the Dynasty organization and has had their "Black" major level squads playing under the aegis of the Wildcatters organization for a couple months now. Not entirely sure the uniforms and hats will be in by this weekend but they're supposed to be.

I'm not privy to all the ins & outs but we're now a sponsored organization for the AAA and major teams, the same as with Dynasty. Wildcatters also "bought" the ZT Elite 12U Burgos team which is the #6 ranked 12U Major team in the country and #2 in the South Region. No more dues for fields or paid coaches, uniforms and tournament fees paid too.

We've been told the owner wants 30-40 teams in the Houston area, all AAA and major, at the various age levels. And it sounds like Chip Ambres who was the owner of the Marlins is in charge of the HS/showcase teams. It also means a lot more competition for the teams going forward as there will be kids who are talented athletes but maybe couldn't afford the dues associated with the organization(s) now under the Wildcatters won't have to pay any more. But the owner doesn't even have any kids who play baseball either.

To be perfectly honest I am glad we have, so far, avoided the major organizations. We get approached several times a year and always turn them down.

My son is so excited about this weekend. As I am sure most of y'all have experienced the older kids get the less cute little kid stuff they do. My son is 10 and those moments are fewer and fewer now, but he gave us one last night.

There has always been this group of boys that are a year older who always beat the crap out of us in league. First year of coach pitch they crushed us and then moved up. First year of kid pitch same thing as they move through the 6u-8u-10u age groups a year earlier than my boy.

Anyway they are on one of the two 11u select teams in town and their coach called asking if my son wanted to pick up with them this weekend. He jumped up and down yelling like a toddler on Christmas morning. It was awesome. He was picked up by their league team last year for TTAB summer ball but that ended in disappointment. This is the first time he has played with their select team.

How do the economics work there? Just tons of fundraising? A handful of big donors?

Bassmaster said:

---

How do the economics work there? Just tons of fundraising? A handful of big donors?

---

My son's team plays the ZT National team (#1 12U Majors team) on occasion, and I've wondered the same. They bring kids into these big tournaments from all over the country (they had numerous Hawaii, TX, Cali, etc. kids for these tourneys). My understanding is the players' families paid for nothing and even transportation and hotels were paid for. They also had 2 professional announcers and a producer with all kinds of A/V equipment broadcasting the game live online. It was pretty crazy and definitely some serious money going in there.

My son's team was ranked top 30 PG last year, but we have fallen off a bit this year. We also have numerous kids that are eligible to play 11U, but it makes it tough when competing with a team like that ZT team who is funded like that while also bringing in several "Age Exemption" 13 year olds to each of these big tournaments.

I just can't wrap my head around who is paying for all of this. The only thing I can come up with is that all of the lower level teams in the organization are funding the top team or two.

Bassmaster said:

---

How do the economics work there? Just tons of fundraising? A handful of big donors?

---

I'm told it's a multi-million dollar tax write off.

ZT is a long play. The guy who owns ZT is an Aggie who made a pile on Wall Street and founded his own PE company. They own hospitals systems and are partnered with Alex Rodriguez on his Mercedes dealerships. They also have a sports agency. My understanding is that they're seeking to bring kids up through their baseball program and rep them as agents.

AggieJ2002 said:

---

Bassmaster said:

---

How do the economics work there? Just tons of fundraising? A handful of big donors?

---

My son's team plays the ZT National team (#1 12U Majors team) on occasion, and I've wondered the same. They bring kids into these big tournaments from all over the country (they had numerous Hawaii, TX, Cali, etc. kids for these tourneys). My understanding is the players' families paid for nothing and even transportation and hotels were paid for. They also had 2 professional announcers and a producer with all kinds of A/V equipment broadcasting the game live online. It was pretty crazy and definitely some serious money going in there.

My son's team was ranked top 30 PG last year, but we have fallen off a bit this year. We also have numerous kids that are eligible to play 11U, but it makes it tough when competing with a team like that ZT team who is funded like that while also bringing in several "Age Exemption" 13 year olds to each of these big tournaments.

I just can't wrap my head around who is paying for all of this. The only thing I can come up with is that all of the lower level teams in the organization are funding the top team or two.

---

You are 100% correct. The big organizations run multiple for profit teams to feed one or two super teams. Their blue, pink, purple, black and gold 11u teams, just feed their national 14 majors team.

TarponChaser said:

---

Bassmaster said:

---

How do the economics work there? Just tons of fundraising? A handful of big donors?

---

I'm told it's a multi-million dollar tax write off.

ZT is a long play. The guy who owns ZT is an Aggie who made a pile on Wall Street and founded his own PE company. They own hospitals systems and are partnered with Alex Rodriguez on his Mercedes dealerships. They also have a sports agency. My understanding is that they're seeking to bring kids up through their baseball program and rep them as agents.

---

There are exceptions to every rule. I run free teams, which are mainly self funded. Elite RBI runs a free team. With that said, LBC, THZ, Banditos, Canes, 5 Star, etc. are all about the funnel.

Bring in bulk money on the backs of a few super teams. Keep the brand and fleecing going.

And I love baseball and select as well. Just being honest on how some organizations operate.

Yeah, that's definitely the case in a lot of organizations. I don't know for sure how it works with the Wildcatters but I'm happy to not have to pay.

I know the coaches have mentioned being able to bring in talented kids who previously couldn't afford the costs. I'm all for that and my kid knows that he's got to continue to develop and perform to keep earning his spot every day.

TarponChaser said:

---

Yeah, that's definitely the case in a lot of organizations. I don't know for sure how it works with the Wildcatters but I'm happy to not have to pay.

I know the coaches have mentioned being able to bring in talented kids who previously couldn't afford the costs. I'm all for that and my kid knows that he's got to continue to develop and perform to keep earning his spot every day.

---

Wildcatters are strong. Seems like every team is out to win. I don'know much about them outside of that, but I would put my kid on their team, if need be and I lived in H town.

I am a little drunk, watching the Express today. Sam Huff is a beast. Rangers need to trade Huff to us and roll with Garver.

TarponChaser said:

---

Yeah, that's definitely the case in a lot of organizations. I don't know for sure how it works with the Wildcatters but I'm happy to not have to pay.

I know the coaches have mentioned being able to bring in talented kids who previously couldn't afford the costs. I'm all for that and my kid knows that he's got to continue to develop and perform to keep earning his spot every day.

---

From what I have seen, you are with a great organization.

I am in the DFW area, and my son plays for a small org in Nevada, TX in Collin county. I know we have some great upper teams in 10u to showcase. My son is currently AA 9u working their way to AAA. I am fascinated by all of you guys in the Houston area

Brad 98 said:

---

I am in the DFW area, and my son plays for a small org in Nevada, TX in Collin county. I know we have some great upper teams in 10u to showcase. My son is currently AA 9u working their way to AAA. I am fascinated by all of you guys in the Houston area

---

I have a number of buddies heavily involved in travel baseball in North Texas. One of them is the father of former Aggie pitcher and current Astros farmhand, Tyler Ivey. They have another son who, IIRC, is 13U or 14U right now and is a study lefty. I have several other friends heavy into it who are into it on both the north & south sides of the Metropolex.

Go look at the success of North Texas HS programs in the UIL playoffs and state championships at all levels. Those kids ain't getting that experience just playing league ball. https://www.uiltexas.org/baseball/archives

Until a couple years ago USSSA was the dominant organization for top-level competition in youth baseball across the state. Then Perfect Game hired the state director for USSSA, Darren Larson, and literally overnight USSSA dropped almost completely off the map in South/Southeast Texas while PG took over.

There was also Nations but it was almost all AA as AAA and Major tournaments routinely didn't make- there was also a lot more problems at the younger ages with Nations letting teams sandbag and play down so top-tier AAA and Major teams often played in AA tournaments. Nations was then bought by V Tool (Five Tool) which gave them a youth presence where V Tool had just been HS.

PG took over so strongly that V Tool and USSSA partnered up in some cases to try and attract more talented teams and just more teams in general. I don't know if they're still doing this though.

It seems USSSA is still the organization that most teams in North Texas play with though. There's also an organization called "National Championship Sports" ("NCS") that sanctions tournaments and seems to be big in North Texas and Central Texas.

I have no clue where the stronger competition is at though. But go check out the websites for USSSA and NCS and search tournaments. They're giant and apart from the March Super NIT with PG here in Houston which had like 750 teams from across the country in 7U-14U these USSSA and NCS tournaments are plenty big.

Brad 98 said:

---

I am in the DFW area, and my son plays for a small org in Nevada, TX in Collin county. I know we have some great upper teams in 10u to showcase. My son is currently AA 9u working their way to AAA. I am fascinated by all of you guys in the Houston area

---

Also, as a point of fact, I'm pretty sure that a number of the folks posting in here about their kids are NOT in the Houston area but more in Central Texas.

Doesn't make sense to do it (or anything else) solely for a tax write off though.

Every parent who has a kid in youth sports needs to hear Hall of Famer John Smoltz on the latest Engel Angle. He's here for the @clubcorpclassic & he never misses.
Plus, I reveal why spring is the worst season of the year.@roxomediahousehttps://t.co/Xr22ZP8myR

— Mac Engel (@MacEngelProf) April 20, 2022

Schloss retweeted this

Quito said:

---

Every parent who has a kid in youth sports needs to hear Hall of Famer John Smoltz on the latest Engel Angle. He's here for the @clubcorpclassic & he never misses.
Plus, I reveal why spring is the worst season of the year.@roxomediahousehttps://t.co/Xr22ZP8myR

— Mac Engel (@MacEngelProf) April 20, 2022

Schloss retweeted this

---

Good listen.

That being said, I don't hear Smoltz condemning the idea of travel baseball but more the focus on one sport, the loss of athleticism among players, and the scam of convincing parents that their kids will automatically earn scholarships just by playing select starting at 6 years old.

I don't disagree with him at all though that you can't overcome genetics. If you're an athlete you're an athlete. That doesn't mean you can't work hard to improve the God-given gifts you have or that if you don't work hard your natural gifts will be enough. Just that no matter how hard you work, if you're not destined to throw 95mph no amount of work or lessons or reps will get you there. And if you're not 6'10" the odds of having a chance to play power forward in the NBA are minuscule.

Take pitchers for example- look at the Aggie roster. We have precisely one kid under 6'0" and he's 5'11". Hell, on the entire roster there are just 6 guys under 6'0" and they're all 5'10"-5'11".

I 100% agree that travel ball takes a lot of the fun out of it for the boys. That's one of the reasons that 8 of our 10 select kids also play league. My 10 year old son looks forward more to the weekends than the league games during the week. But he absolutely has more fun during the week. The weekends are more like hard work.

I think kids playing league through 12 years old fixes some of the problem.

But he spent most of the time talking about the problems the changes in the MLB have caused. They just burn through pitchers at the highest level and velocity has taken over the game. That was bound to creep into even the lowest age levels.

The most entertaining baseball to still watch on TV is the SEC and some other schools and the overall Div 1 NCAA. But I am not sure how much longer that will last either.

Any of you playing in the PG Super Nit in "Beaumont" this weekend?

Couple of thoughts & observations from Beaumont this weekend.

-We went 1-2. Lost at 8am this morning 3-2. Didn't play bad, just didn't hit today and had a few breaks go against us. We probably should have won all 3.

-12u kid throwing 83 from 50'. #1 team in the country flew him in from New Jersey to win a $5 ring in Beaumont. Why?

-14u kid touching 85. Nice arm, but he's 15 years & 7 months old. My buddy's kid, who they no hit, is still 13. Once again why?

-A team before us lost a close game on Saturday. Their coach had them behind the dugout cussing and degrading them for a good 20 min straight after that. Out game was in the 2nd inning before he finished threatening to cut everyone of "their F'ing asses". The parents were all standing right there. I've never heard a speech that bad for kids that young. They ended up winning the tourney today, so I guess it worked. Or did it really?

We did. 12U AAA got sent to play in Lake Charles.

Is your team based out of Beaumont and named for a baseball equipment company? Or still based out of Beaumont with a really good 12U team coached by a former Aggie baseball stud?

We didn't play that poorly but nowhere near what we're capable. We were up 5-0 in our first pool game and ended up losing 9-6 to the eventual champs. Then lost the first round of bracket 8-5. In both games our pitchers just couldn't find the zone and we walked a lot of guys. Only 2 errors in 3 games but they were costly. Went 1-2 when we're capable of so much better.

And, if we face a kid who throws slower than about 60 and/or can locate a curve for a strike about 3 out of 7 pitches we just will not hit it. We've been working on it and the coaches drilling it into them to recognize the pitch and try to hit it the other way but they're not getting it yet. I know my boy struck out 3 times this weekend, all swinging at curves- one would have been ball 4 that bounced 2 feet in front of home plate and the other two he was so far in front of it he could have swung the bat 3 times. He did get a hit off a curve where he was way out in front but managed to pop a little blooper off the end of the bat over the 3B.

It doesn't matter if they face 70-75mph they don't get beat by velocity but slow it down and they're lost.

The fields in Lake Charles were nice. Pretty much brand new turf infields. The one problem I have is that the mounds were so short that my kid and our two other hardest throwers (all between 5'5" and 5'10") had natural strides that had them landing right at the front lip of the mound so their plant foot slips off the mound on every pitch. So my kid and one other kid shortened up their stride to be able to throw strikes but it also robbed them of their velocity because they could only throw about 60% effort which had them throwing low-50's instead of mid- to upper-60's and they got shelled. And the 5'10" kid who throws low-70's didn't adjust and walked in a bunch of runs.

That's probably my biggest issue with the turf fields is a lot of places cheap out on the mounds or they get torn up and don't fix them. I know with my kid I can look at his game by game stats and tell you from those whether or not the mounds were in good shape or were too small.

As for the ZT Elite 12U National Prospects team you're referring to, the answer is in the name. They're billing that team as a "national" team. They have 4 kids from Texas and the Jersey kid when most of the kids are from California. ZT and lots of other organizations try to have a truly elite, "sponsored" team where the kids' families don't pay a thing that can go out and win huge tournaments so they get skins on the wall and "develop" talent that signs with college programs or gets drafted. They use those credentials to sucker in in Little Timmy's parents with promises of development and future scholarships or getting drafted and Little Timmy's parents (along with all the other AA kids) pay the freight for the elite teams plus profit to the organization.

And the parents who have their kids playing so they're the oldest kids in their classes and taking full advantage of the age cut-off rules do it so their kid can dominate and be seen a stud in their respective age classes.

This is the kid's profile that you're referring to. I don't know anything about him or his family but he's playing 12U and is a full year older than my 11-year old playing 12U as they're both 6th graders (class of 2028). This kid looks like a grown ass man already and has clearly hit puberty. My kid still looks like a little kid. So while they're in 12U this other kid is a far, far better player. But will he still be when he's 17 and mine is 16 in their junior year of HS? Has he come close to his peak because he's going to be 6'0" when he's done growing?

I agree with the Gladwell theory about holding kids back so they get more reps and exposure and time to mature relative to their peers but I think that analysis needs more context in relation to physical tools. Meaning, if a player is fairly average in physical tools (size, speed, hitting power, throwing velocity) then those extra reps vs. their peers matter more. But, if you're an "outlier" (pun intended) in those characteristics (either better or worse) than all the extra reps don't matter as much. So if you're a 6'4" pitcher throwing 94mph at 17 but you're the youngest kid in your senior class and graduate at 17 you're actually probably going to get more looks than the 6'1" pitcher throwing 94mph who is already 18 and closer to being topped out. How many of those kids have already hit puberty and are close to their peak while others haven't popped yet?

For example, there's a pitcher for McNeese State named Cameron Foster who played for my kid's coach from 9U through HS. He was younger for his grade and played at a HS with a poor baseball program. Anyway, he was only about 175-180# in HS and throwing 86mph (Perfect Game prospect profile). Well, he played juco ball and is now a 5th year senior at McNeese who is now supposedly closer to 6'7" than his listed 6'5", weighs about 245# throwing 96. He still has some control issues but being 6'7" 245 and throwing 96 with room to grow will get him drafted.

As for coaches cussing out kids, I think a lot has to do with age level. But some parents are OK with it. I was having a talk with my oldest the other day and asking him why he did better with one coach vs. another and he flat out said, "I think I do better with Coach X because he's constantly on my butt to do better and pushing me." Said coach got on to him recently because my boy was visibly tired and the coach said, "Are you tired? Good. Because let me tell you, no coach will feel sorry for you if you're acting tired. That's just a sign for us to push you even harder."

The only high point of losing early in Lake Charles was that we got to hustle home and see my 7-year old play on Sunday. Saw the last half-hour or so of their first bracket game (W) and then see them win the semi-final vs. the #1 seed but lose in the championship. Regardless of losing that championship game he got his first ring and was over the moon about it. Or it might have been the Dippin' Dots he got after the game. Either way he was ecstatic.