We play one of y'all's Belton teams tonight on 8u. Belton Hooks
Jbob04 said:
We play one of y'all's Belton teams tonight on 8u. Belton Hooks
Awesome, congrats! We know a couple of kids on that team.BurnetAggie99 said:
We won today the 10U Majors PG Invitational National Championship out in Sanford FL with our Banditos 10U Majors.
Doesn't LL combine multiple age groups anyways though?Quito said:
I believe USSSA and PG is May 1, but schools in Kansas and most other states is Sept 1.
I believe LL is Aug 1. I theorize that folks don't play LL because they use Aug 1.
Agreed, the 4 oldest on our team are a grade ahead but nothing extreme. We do have one kid playing way up on our team to play with his brother. He came out to practices a few times a couple years ago and I saw him throwing on the side with his dad (better than multiple of my players) so the next practice we had a few out and I offered him to field grounders with us. At the end of the season I told his dad if he was interested he could play up and the parents loved the idea. He is small like my son obviously but he has better fundamentals than his brother even who is the oldest of the team.3B Paul 97 said:
My son is May 15th, but he plays "up" to stay with his grade (14u now going to 15U in the Fall). While he is always the smallest on the team, he hold his own and it pushes him to be better. Always a personal choice for folks.
These are the kids he will be competing against to make a high school team, so perfect he see how he stacks up.
Typically our kids play their respective grade level. We do in some cases like for certain national tournaments like this one add kids that have late birthdays that can play down on case by case deal.Bassmaster said:Awesome, congrats! We know a couple of kids on that team.BurnetAggie99 said:
We won today the 10U Majors PG Invitational National Championship out in Sanford FL with our Banditos 10U Majors.
Don't take this the wrong way, because I don't ask to take anything away from that accomplishment. Just a point of discussion and something I always wonder when I see it. I noticed that there are several kids playing below their grade level on that team. I understand the rules allow it. My question is what is the typical age where those kids make the jump back to their grade level? I get that they compete at a national level and it is probably pretty common in those circles. I know one of the kids who used to play on the 2029 Scorpions major team in the past, so I was surprised to see him on your roster. That Scorpions team doesn't compete on a national level, but a high level nonetheless. Kid was a stud for that particular team, he was always a handful for us when we would play them.
TarponChaser said:
<Broken up into 2 posts because they're long>
Something I've noticed is that the parents get less crazy as the kids get older. When they're little every parent seems to think their kid is the next Mike Trout and is gonna get signed because of all their 10U rings. By 12/13U a sense of reality starts to kick in and they're just hoping to make the HS team.
When kids start hitting puberty in 12U there's a whole lot of kids who mature early and basically top out by 14. Others keep growing and working and top out later. Going to bigger fields and maturing at different times really equalizes things.
Frankly, you see it a lot with these teams who are almost exclusively Mexican kids. They're typically studs young but mature early and by 13/14U are passed up because they top out at 5'8". Some do keep growing but it's a pretty ubiquitous observation.
I say we're playing the long game. Because while I want my boys to have enough success that they have fun and see rewards for their hard work so that they keep doing that hard work we're not worried about rings these days. The goal is to be an athlete, work hard, love the game (other games too), and keep growing so that when they're 16-17, have hit puberty (and grown), and are on the big field that their work ethic and development in mindset and fundamentals intersect with being big, strong, fast athletes. If things go right, with their projected size they're both going to be "first off the bus" kind of guys with the older one definitely having the potential to throw in the 90's in HS.
In fact, my older one got 2nd in a tournament a few weeks ago. On the drive home I could tell he was kind of pissed off so I asked him what was wrong. He told me he was mad they lost. I mentioned that they still got a ring and he replied "I don't care about the rings, I just want to win." I was pretty proud of that mentality.
Overall, I want them to control what they can control- attitude, effort, and intensity. I also want them to understand that failure is inevitable. Especially in baseball where the best hitters in the game fail 7 out of 10 times. And they will make mistakes but if they give their absolute best in what they can control then they have the physical tools that they will be able to succeed enough to forget about their mistakes and failures.
IMHO, focus on those things and your boys and mine will be successful not just in sports but in life.
Looks like we were successful once again in keeping our team together. We had ten and lost two. One is an elite soccer player that is committing himself to soccer. He is the captain on a nationally ranked team. The other boy is stepping down to our friends' team which is AA. Good luck to both of themQuito said:
Seems July is tough month of transition from team to team. Lots of drama, politics, hurt feelings, and pride.
We've stayed away from this in large, but clearly know it exists. It's really a shame these kids get out in middle of this.
From all I can tell, it's best to pick your team like you pick your church…where the best preacher (coach) is.
Good stuff and alot true insight that sometimes players and parents don't understand. One thing we do extra with the Banditos is we make both the players & parents sign each season a Code of Conduct agreement. So when some of the things happen like you listed we have that signed agreement.agsalaska said:
Parents are crucial. We have a certain culture as a team and want to maintain that. But parents who have kids that play for us have to understand that your kid is going to learn the outfield and have to compete to see the field. They will also sit the bench some if we plan on pitching them a lot.
Some parents don't like that. They want their son playing a certain position all the time or not sitting or whatever. That's fine just not for us.
We also have a very, very, very low tolerance for umpire abuse. Zero tolerance really. That right there eliminates a bunch of parents.
We also understand it's a game. Short story. My son played for the older team a couple of weeks ago in USSSA. Another 10u kid went with them and this boys parents approached me about joining us. Watched him play six games and he made the play of the day to get the last out to make the final. But, BUT, he made a crucial error in the final that cost us maybe the game, though we ended up losing by 5.
Anyway the dad was so upset with his son that instead of coming out to the field for the ring ceremony he went and sat in the car. That is ridiculous on a lot of levels. My son has made an error in a final before that cost us a game, and it was nothing but hugs and support from all the coaches and parents. In the end we decided not to invite him. Tough call but ..
This happens all the time and it's a shame cause it's not on the player. We had it happen many times in my 15 plus years as Head Baseball Operations Bandito Director. This is why like I mentioned we started about 8 years ago having the players & parents sign a Code of Conduct agreement which is done for each season.TarponChaser said:
My older son's coaches had to cut a kid at the end of the season when really they cut the parents. It's a shame too because he's a good kid and a good player but he's got really fcked up parents.
I won't get into all the stuff away from the team but at tournaments the parents would get completely bombed. The last tournament he was in for us the coaches were positioning him (he was our #1 CF) and the parents were constantly screaming for him to line up somewhere different. The coaches repeatedly had to tell them to be quiet but they kept doing it and their behavior was ongoing for a couple seasons. The coaches gave them this season to reform and they just didn't do it so they cut the parents and unfortunately the kid with them.