Whats Important?

When it comes down to it, how important is the game of baseball?

I’ve been reading some posts about travel or showcase. What is really a travel team? What is an elite travel team? What is a showcase? Etc?

How much does it really matter? Why do “we”(coaches, parents, players, fans) do whatever it is we do(coach, parent, play, cheer)? This may be harder than I think to put these thoughts into words but I’m going to give it a shot.

To me, baseball is the best game, and has always been the best game, ever. I played other sports and coached other sports, but baseball holds my heart. The older I get, the more the reasons have changed about why I love the game and why it has a grip on me. The thing is, the game itself is nothing special. The people involved in it are. All of us. The coaches, parents, fans, players, etc. are special. Sports, athletics and specifically baseball, in my opinion should be used to make great people. So to me, showcase, travel ball, AAU, legion, rec league, High School or whatever, should be used as a tool to teach. As adults in baseball we have a responsibility to teach young men how to be real men. The influence and molding of a young man can be far reaching as they progress through life.

Just seems we all get caught up in focusing on things such as player promotion, playing time, umpires, win’s and losses, what team you play for, coaches and event organizers “agendas”, etc. and lose sight of what I feel is the most important part of the game – the people within it.

The winning of championships and trophies, the breaking down of pitching mechanics, turns at second base, or base running are awesome. I love it. But no matter what, the nuts and bolts to what I feel is important is the development of values, work-ethic and integrity. As a parent, I am certainly not going to rely solely on my sons or daughters coaches to teach them my beliefs or what it means to be a good person. But I will hope to search out the best people(coaches) who reinforce these things no matter what type of team my son plays on.

Lastly, by no means am I saying that trying to reach a certain level of personal play and winning are unimportant. Simply feel like we lose track of the most important aspect of the game sometimes. Or it gets discussed very little.

 

Could not have said it better!!

 

JTB....I agree with you a 1000% and if the game is played and coached the right way these things should happen....

But, in the real world not all things are done with the right or best intentions.....from day one when the first dollar was offered to a ball player to play the game and the first scholarsship was offered things were looked upon in a different light.

I agree with you that baseball is the best game every played or will be played.....I love the game.

There are still plenty of people out there (coaches, players, parents, fans) that do it for the right reason....we can continue to use platforms like TBR to hopefully promote these people and continue to teach the great game of baseball......and who knows, we may help turn out some pretty good young adults in the process as well.

 

Mentoring and Teaching

Wow. You are articulate and right on the money!

I wish the parents would get out of the way and let the coaches (positively) influence their children instead of spending the entire car ride home telling the boy "your coach doesn't know what he is doing, you should be starting at SS and hitting 3rd."

The parents undermining of the "volunteer" coaches that have a lot of mentoring AND baseball experience to share is what drove me to stop coaching "kid ball." The kids were great but the parents...........weren't.

I really like helping coach the older boys and letting D'Backs do my public relations for me.

 

Trust me....this is no easy task......

 

I know you were venting, but you said two things that made me laugh:

- He gets with her, and she gets with him and low and behold we have kids. (I like this better than the birds and bees)

- I had some jackass sit behind me and tell me my strikezone wasn't meeting the KZone standards

Those two comments are classic!!!!!

 

Your point is one that I make frequently with this pic

 

What's important (IMO)? Have fun, be yourself, enjoy the day.

That can apply to baseball, work, fishing, yard work.

I remind my kids this everytime they go to practice and before a game. I don't shout hitting instructions or try to coach them up during a game. Too late for that. When I do speak, it's simply a lil shout (reminder) of "Hey, Have Some Fun".

All the other trivial crap that goes on or gets bantered about don't really mean anything in the big scheme of things.

You only get one chance to be a kid... you spend the rest of your life as an adult. And that my friends (as we all know), ain't easy.

 

Overlooking

Important

1. a good seat (with or without the crowd)

2. Peanuts, seeds and a couple of hotdogs

3. Ice cold beverage th_90edab00 if available

 

Braves.....get out the PD "translator"....a good "what"?