Son's Bday Present Arrived Today

[Newyouthcoach]

For my son's 9th bday I ordered him an Akadema Wood Bat. I am pleasantly surprised. I came within 3 weeks as promised. The finish looks really good. They even engraved his name into the wood. I thought it would come with his name painted on the barrel. He actually stayed home from school today. He was sick almost all night. He was really bummed to have to miss practice today.

He has his final game of the season on Thursday nite. I told him that he could use it then, if he wanted. This fall season he has improved tremendously at the plate. I credit part of it to swinging wood. Funny story from this weekend(well part of it is a proud papa story). He has been using wood since about the end of July. It is a 29 inch bat and on the heavy side. I found a 30 inch Easton Synergy on sale at a sporting good store. It was on clearance. I think it is a -10. It definately feels lighter than the wood. I have been packing it in his bag and trying to hit grounders to him with it to help break it in.

Well on Saturday he was playing at 11:00 am and it was quite a warm day already. While he was taking bp. I took out the Easton and put it out in the sun. He strikes out swinging his first at bat. He did foul it twice. His team is down like 12 to 2 and it is the third inning. He is behind in the count 1-2 with two more fouls. I am the first base coach. I tell him to step out and take a deep breath. His whole team starts chanting "Let's go Wilson. Let's go" over and over. Suddenly the whole bleacher stand is clapping and chanting it too. I am going crazy inside thinking "let's put even more pressure on the kid." Next pitch is on the low side, but could be a strike . He whips the bat around and bam. He crushed the ball. I have never seen him kill one like that. The center fielder is running back but it is clearly going to pass over him. The center field fence is marked 300. The ball bounced twice before hitting the fence. He cleared the bases and the third base coach held him up at second. Parents cheering him. He opposing coach came up to me and asked who's kid he was. I smiled ear to ear and said mine. He said that was an awesome hit.

They lost the game 16 to 9 but it still was awesome to see him smiling running to first and again when the play was over.

This fall ball season has been a real good experience for him I think. He has faced kid pitchers. He has got to pitch a couple of games. His first game pitching, he struck out the first three batters on 10 pitches. He came to the dugout and said "that was awesome!" about 100 times. He got to pitch the next inning and faced 4 batters. He struck out two. Walked one and the fourth grounded out to first to end the game. His team won 1 to 0.

One game while playing SS he got all three outs of the inning. First out a grounder to his right. He scooped it on the run and still made the throw to first. Second out a line drive that he caught on the run toward second. He tried for the third out but everyone got back to their bases. The last out of the inning, chopper hit to his left. He plays the hop correctly and gets a running tag to end the inning.

After that inning, the umpire comes over to the dugout and says I would like to see your SS. The coach tells my son to come up. My son is incredibly shy. Blue says" Young man, I just wanted to come over here and shake your hand. You have been playing some tremendous baseball today and I wanted you to know it." My son shook his hand and looked him in the eye and said "Thank you, sir."

I am being the bragging dad because I am proud of my son. He is a shy kid that will sometimes hold back because he doesn't like when other kids pick on him for doing better than they are. Example, one of the first practices he was fielding grounders and was making all of them. Some kid called him a show off and he missed 3 easy ones. His coach asked what was wrong and he didn't want to tell him. He continued to miss grounders until the coach insisted that he tell him. The coach and myself told him that he had to ignore that and focus on the task on hand. I can tell he finally has started to understand the ignoring part. If he never played the game another day, I am proud of what he has learned so far from the game.

[Jake Patterson]

Nothing wrong with a little bragging!!

Great job!

[TG Coach]

Your nine year old only hit the ball 300 feet? When mine was nine he hit one 500 feet. Get real! 300 feet?

[AltaLomaStorm]

Your nine year old only hit the ball 300 feet? When mine was nine he hit one 500 feet. Get real! 300 feet?
I think he said it bounced a couple times before the fence...either way, a pretty good shot for that age group.

Like Jake said, nothing wrong with being proud of your son's accomplishments - keep working with him, encouraging him and spending time with him...and have fun.:highfive:

[Drill]

What a great and proud feeling to watch your son grow and succeed.

God has Blessed us all, now all we got to do is work on our God given talents.


congratulations on a good afternoon.

drill

[Newyouthcoach]

Oh TG, I actually think I took your post the right way.:rofl:

That is what is so cool about baseball, you can celebrate the accomplishments of the individual. I started doing this thing with the kids. I bring stickers of baseballs to the game. I give the kids stickers based on their little victories. One kid that has never played ball before this year gets a sticker for everytime he put the ball into play even if he got out. Another kid gets them for every RBI and every base hit.The boys put the stickers on the back of their batting helmets. I watch them after a game count the stickers. They love it.

Next season I am planning to bring glove stickers for defensive plays, baseballs for offensive plays. I am toying with using the letter K for the pitchers.

[Jake Patterson]

Your nine year old only hit the ball 300 feet? When mine was nine he hit one 500 feet. Get real! 300 feet?

center field fence is marked 300. The ball bounced twice before hitting the fence.

After politely enduring all the stories of your son's accomplishments, I am suprised you would pick on someone else's.

[TG Coach]

After politely enduring all the stories of your son's accomplishments, I am suprised you would pick on someone else's.

I never talked about hitting the ball a distance a kid his age can't hit a ball. I only used accomplishments in context of the thread. I don't start posts, "Guess what my kid did." I don't believe a nine year old can hit a ball the 285-290 feet it would take to bounce to a 300 foot fence on two hops. A typical twelve year old (don't want to hear from those few who have) can't hit a ball 300 feet.

[shake-n-bake]

You sound like your very well liked by the kids and parents alike. I've taken a little bit of a break from coaching because the way in which I treat my son has become so different from how I'd be expected to treat his teammates. At age 9 (my son played league age 10 this year), his teammates and the majority of the parents would've loved the sticker idea. I couldn't do it though. My son was in complete understanding that the expectation is you're supposed to execute and make plays. If he hit an over the fence grand slam, I might take him to Applebee's or do his chores for a couple days. I wouldn't make that big a deal over most everything else though.

I'm looking forward to coaching next year where the ability and maturity level is more consistent. But at 9, you've got kids that can compete in any 12u league on the same team with kids that have never played before. Its not fun for everyone, at least in our LL, and the forcing up of 12 y/o's has made the situation worse (not better).

That must be some wierd looking field, 60' diamonds, 300' to the fence. Your son must have just crushed that pitch. Our fences are 225' and even in our best division of 12u, not a lot of balls draw chain link.

[Newyouthcoach]

Shake your right. Our fields look funny. They are designed to be used by all of the age groups. With the smaller kids, the outfielders stand at the edge of the infield. There is no grass in the infield at all. I miss having the fields like when I was a kid. You played on fields that were proportioned to the infield for your age group.

TG , I attribute the hit to a multitude of things.

Bat was hot - I purposefully left it out in the son.

My son being pumped up by the crowd.

Colorado's elevation.

Him swinging a wood bat for months and me slipping him the much lighter bat.

Unlike you, I have never felt the need to constantly compare my son with any other person's on the board. I thought you were just acting the part that others erceive you here on the board. I was wrong, you are an asshat.

[Newyouthcoach]

I agree shake. I want to stop coaching and start umpiring. I have a hard time with all the daddy ball I see. I hate seeing it so rampant. Yes the parents and kids seem to like me. I am way harder on my son than the other kids. Last season coach made a kid run laps for horseplay and I asked why wasn't my son running too then. My son looked at me like I was crazy, but he started running too.

My son doesn't understand why I won't give him a sticker for hitting a ground out but I will give one to another kid, who has had a hard time staying in the box and he gets lucky and hits it to first.

My theory is this about youth baseball today. Head coach's son is starting pitcher, first batter or cleanup. When he is not pitching, he is SS. I don't I have ever seen them in the outfield.

[shake-n-bake]

Nyc, if your son plays in the same league next year I've got a couple of suggestions. Sounds like he'll be sort of a man amongst boys type thing. Guard against bad attitude. It might sound to you now like, "no way that's going to happen." But it does, even to the most mature and nicest kids. Lack of competition for a competitive kid made my son disinterested in team practices. The answer can be convincing him to be like another coach and teach the other kids what he knows. My son did a lot of that and I was really proud of him.

[NY16CATCHER]

Shake your right. Our fields look funny. They are designed to be used by all of the age groups. With the smaller kids, the outfielders stand at the edge of the infield. There is no grass in the infield at all. I miss having the fields like when I was a kid. You played on fields that were proportioned to the infield for your age group.

TG , I attribute the hit to a multitude of things.

Bat was hot - I purposefully left it out in the son.

My son being pumped up by the crowd.

Colorado's elevation.

Him swinging a wood bat for months and me slipping him the much lighter bat.

Unlike you, I have never felt the need to constantly compare my son with any other person's on the board. I thought you were just acting the part that others erceive you here on the board. I was wrong, you are an asshat.

Nothing like being a proud parent, and you have every right to be.

And well done on the use of the word "asshat", that is one of my favorite words, and you definately applied it correctly.

[Jake Patterson]

TG , I attribute the hit to a multitude of things.
Bat was hot - I purposefully left it out in the son.
My son being pumped up by the crowd.
Colorado's elevation.

Leave at bragging... Like I said we've politely endured TG's stories. Yours is fine.

[TG Coach]

Unlike you, I have never felt the need to constantly compare my son with any other person's on the board. I thought you were just acting the part that others erceive you here on the board. I was wrong, you are an asshat.

I wouldn't have posted anymore. But you got personal and chose to name call. I don't care if your son was on the moon. I've coached a lot of ball and never seen a nine year old hit a ball 300 feet. I've seen kids who became D1 college baseball players not do it at twelve years old. Your nine year old didn't hit the ball 300 feet.

And here's where you have it wrong. I don't compare my son to others. I relate stories that coincide with the topic of a the thread. Sometimes it involves accomplishment. I've also posted negatives about my son if it relates to a thread. I don't initiate lies like my kid hit the ball 300 feet at nine years old. Don't forget to come back and tell us about his 80 mph fastball at ten years old.

[Newyouthcoach]

whatever TG.

To the others, thanks for allowing me to share.

[bob_r]

It's very easy to be proud of our kids, and we sometimes see there performance differently than others. I here all the time from parents that there kid is better than the kid who was in all stars, but in reality they are not. If he hit 300 on a two bouncer that is quite impressive. In our junior league which is only for 13 year olds on the big diamond, there is a 300 foot fence to all fields and last year there was only one foul ball home run.

[Newyouthcoach]

Uh uh,

I went to the ball fields today to check the signs at the field my son played last week. I smiled when i saw the sign at center reading 300', but cringed when I saw the sign at left and right field also saying 300'. It was being used, but I plan on taking a tape to the field. I will post the actual distance once I can measure it.

[mudvnine]

Uh uh,

I went to the ball fields today to check the signs at the field my son played last week. I smiled when i saw the sign at center reading 300', but cringed when I saw the sign at left and right field also saying 300'. It was being used, but I plan on taking a tape to the field. I will post the actual distance once I can measure it.

Be careful Nyc, if you do that, you'll have guys here accusing you of thinking it was some sort of "tape measure shot" or something. ;) :laugh

Hey, it's not really that important how far he actually hit it; I get the idea that he really got a hold of it and hit it a ton and you have every right to be proud.

It's a great feeling for son and father when you get to witness his successes, regardless of how big or small. Congratulations to the both of you . . . have fun and enjoy it all.

[bob_r]

Be careful Nyc, if you do that, you'll have guys here accusing you of thinking it was some sort of "tape measure shot" or something. ;) :laugh

Hey, it's not really that important how far he actually hit it; I get the idea that he really got a hold of it and hit it a ton and you have every right to be proud.

It's a great feeling for son and father when you get to witness his successes, regardless of how big or small. Congratulations to the both of you . . . have fun and enjoy it all.

Perfect response Mudvnine:
I find it's those great hits and great fielding plays that motivates kids to work hard and try and get more of those moments. Same as in golf when it's that one beautiful shot that makes you forget about the 10 bad ones.

[shake-n-bake]

Really depends a lot on your expectations. By "your" I mean the person accomplishing something, but in youth sports it could also be the dad and the kid (not you Newyc in particular). I point out kids to my son who act like they've already reached the finish line. They've got some natural ability and have had some success and think because of that it will automatically continue. They're lazy and don't take practice the same way as the kid who is sincerely interested in being a better ballplayer.

We all know what confidence can do for an athlete, but you've also got to stay hungry. I'd make that hit the new bar. Every single time my son wants to admire his own play, I immediately pull a Crash Davis on him. Remember in Bull Durham when Nuke asks, "Why can't you just let me enjoy the moment?" - Crash says, "The moment's over! Your fastball's up, your curve ball's hanging, ..."

I guess I'm a lot like my dad. I got maybe a grand total of 8 or 10 grades other than an A all the way through school and my dad never celebrated one of my report cards. My brother used to get a lot of C and below grades and he'd get really excited over his report cards. I asked him why. He said that I could fall out of bed and get A's, "your brother has to work to get C's." I once got grounded for an entire marking period for a B on a report card because the term before I got an A in the class and the teacher made a notation that I fooled around in class. I thought my old man was going to have a cardiac. I can still hear him, "You've got to be the class clown? Instead of straight A's, you bring this rag of a report card (like 6 A's and a B) home." I didn't understand then, but I do now. We live up and down to our expectations a lot of the time. He blamed himself if I didn't get straight A's - not me. He thought I was capable and must have misunderstood his expectations. He later told me that high expectations aren't bad, only unspoken expectations.