Dads who didn’t think they did well enough in HS, college, junior high or even in life and are living through their kids.
KXNO Sports Fanatics
- Thread starter Acylum
- Start date
AAU isn't really a player anymore, it's all about USSSA. At least here in the DSM area those high end teams are all tryouts and then offers are extended. Plus these clubs have multiple tiers so they may have a Majors tier, a AAA tier, etc. Either way you are talking about some serious $$$ though.
Baseball is a dying sport. Not sure any kids would play if their dads didn't tell them to.
Coaching your kids team while wearing cleats and baseball pants is a punchable offense.
Whoops, didn’t catch all the convo and realize you were talking strictly baseball. My bad.
Baseball viewership is dying but youth baseball numbers are healthy.
Yeah the clubs are dumb. I see my town has one.
There was a guy on my team that wanted to play more so would play with another team when we were off. He ended up throwing his arm out by his sophomore year.
I'm a relatively new parent (only child is 2.5, a girl), but I've seen a lot of guys with older kids turn out to be that kind of Dad. Guys that I thought were normal people before they started acting that way. My question is, is that just something that sometimes happens to guys? When their kids turn a certain age they turn into weirdos that live vicariously through them? Christ, I hope that doesn't happen to me.
It happens. Trust me, I caught myself one time and realized what I was doing early on. We want our kids to be successful and those of us that played athletics can accidentally slide back into the competitiveness. Boys have a natural competitive nature usually. Girls are up and down. I coached my daughters BB team during youth and one dad came and helped me because he couldn’t believe a girl would be eating popcorn on the bench. I had 12-13 girls so I didn’t have time to deal with those type of things while I was trying help the girls on the floor.
We moved to a new town in the 90s and the #3 scenario soccer team was better than the #2 scenario because of typical/predictable reasons. Two brothers on our team ended up playing NCAA soccer yet weren't selected for the "in crowd" team, they were the best players in our town easily living and breathing soccer. I really enjoyed wrestling because you didn't have to deal with any of that BS, just go out and beat somebody directly.
LL is important. Once you get older it is not very competitive for the most part. People also lump club teams into always travel around. Not all clubs and teams are that way. They have 3 levels for a reason. If you want to play ball there is a club out there for you that fits you, what you want, and what you want to spend.
If you talk to any college/professional coach or any sport and ask them if kids should focus on one sport to get better at it or play several different sports I think they'd all say it's better to play several sports.
Each sport generally requires different motions and abilities so you're not overworking one muscle or ligament and as a bonus you're also learning new abilities that you can use in the sport you care most about.
If I were a high school football coach, I'd greatly "encourage" my safeties to play baseball, specifically as outfielders, my receivers to run track to work on explosion of the line, and my linemen and linebackers to all wrestle to learn the best techniques to use their body weight and hands in 1 vs 1 competition.
I wouldn't want my QB to be a pitcher because it may hurt his arm but more and more middle infield training and learning how to throw from different arm angles and platforms is becoming an important tool to have.
Each sport generally requires different motions and abilities so you're not overworking one muscle or ligament and as a bonus you're also learning new abilities that you can use in the sport you care most about.
If I were a high school football coach, I'd greatly "encourage" my safeties to play baseball, specifically as outfielders, my receivers to run track to work on explosion of the line, and my linemen and linebackers to all wrestle to learn the best techniques to use their body weight and hands in 1 vs 1 competition.
I wouldn't want my QB to be a pitcher because it may hurt his arm but more and more middle infield training and learning how to throw from different arm angles and platforms is becoming an important tool to have.
There have been studies done that show exactly this. Now excuse me while I drop 6 figures trying to get my kid a 1/4 scholarship on some non-revenue sport.
I'm surprised football coaches aren't more into encouraging every player on defense to wrestle. The conditioning alone is worth it but I'm sure every great wrestler is automatically an above average tackler.
Two of my friends that played a D1 sport at Iowa state also played another sport their senior year.
I've always said I think basketball is best for lineman that need to pass block. It focuses on your feed and hips. You need to shuffle and stay in front of the defender in pass blocking. In wrestling, its more locking on and getting leverage to get behind them or into the legs. Pass blocking if you can stay between the defender and the QB, you have most of the problem solved, now just don't let them get ahold of the QB.
I coached against one of these guys. He only did it one year and took a verbal harassing from all of the coaches.
Daddy ball has existed since youth sports has existed. All sports. Not just baseball. Mommy ball is a thing too. Let's not be sexist here
. I had daddy ball coaches in Little League, and I had hippy dads who gave everybody a sticker, and I had dad's who smoked and drank beer in the dugout. They've all existed forever. My personal favorite was the coach who drank and smoked in the dugout but was somewhat competitive.
Things are just getting more specialized. Baseball being one of them. If dying means not every single 9-12 year old is playing Little League, then yes. But baseball is alive and well in youth sports.
