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View Full Version : Another Bad Hop To The Forehead


rkbenn
04-07-2009, 12:48 PM
Not sure if any of you remember about a month ago my son too a bad hop to the forehead playing SS. Well, friday he took another one from one of the bigger kids that was a shot, and hit another rock and popped him good in the forehead. We took him to the hospital and everything was okay. Funny thing was, the play before that, he made a nice backhandes spab and threw out their fastest runner.

I really thought he would be done playing for good. He turned 10 in Nov and is 65 lbs at the most and is the backup SS in Majors. It was easy to convince him the first one was a freak accident, this one I said nothing. He has the second best glove on the team, and is tough as nails, gets in front of every ball, unlike the rest of his teamates. I was leaving it all up too him on what he wanted to do. There was no way I was going to tell him to suck it up and get back out there.

I told him he had nothing to prove to me, because after the first one he proved to me he was tough.

I told him to go to his coach and tell him what he wanted to do. I told him to talk it out with his coach, who respect and was a terrific ballplayer in his day. This is what he told his coach: I want to take a break from SS, and play in the outfield, until I'm ready to give it another try. I told you he was tough. He told me he still wanted to play SS again. I told him that he needed to listen to me and prepare himself to go back out there. We are now working on, not rounding, but playing on the Left side of the body. I taught him this in the past but he never would do it. He is more open to it at this point. We are repositioning his throwing hand to be high and more out in front, and work more on the hops. Not sure if he did all this it would have made a difference on those two hops, but it may have helped. I told him no matter if he thought he was ready, I can't allow him to go out there if he can't do these basic things.

He did ask for one of those facial masks for his face, which his mom said he will wear if he goes back out there in the infield You know what? I have to agree. I seen Pro-softball players wearing them. The players that seen what happened to him would not hold it against him for wearing one.

mudvnine
04-07-2009, 02:19 PM
RK, happy to hear your son is no worse for the wear, sure has been a tough couple of months for him, that's for sure.

I think you and he are handling the incidents excellently and your advise about when and how to get back into the position is right on the money.

Your son is fortunate to have you on his side to guide him through what can sometimes be a "make or break" situation for many ball players. :clapping :clapping

rkbenn
04-07-2009, 02:35 PM
RK, happy to hear your son is no worse for the wear, sure has been a tough couple of months for him, that's for sure.

I think you and he are handling the incidents excellently and your advise about when and how to get back into the position is right on the money.

Your son is fortunate to have you on his side to guide him through what can sometimes be a "make or break" situation for many ball players. :clapping :clapping

Thanks Mud, the last thing I want to do is have this game affect our relationship. We are 6 games in and he's been HBP 3 times as well. I had one of the best players in the league that plays SS and is 12 tell my son, after he told me, that he gets a scared when some of the heavy hitter step up to bat, and to hang in there. We have a lot young men like this in our league, which is refreshing. Willing to support the other players when they need it.

RK

baseballdad
04-07-2009, 02:51 PM
IMO LL should not be as overlapping in age eligibilty for its rookie, minor and major leagues. As a LL coach in the minors I often think about the balance of the benefits for players of "playing up" to majors at 9 or 10. For many I see they are overwhelmed by the 12 year old pitching and end up playing mostly outfield. And these are darn good players for their age. I'd like to see many of them stay in the minors until they are 11. With good coaching they can learn just as much and the minor league game level would be higher.

rkbenn
04-07-2009, 03:41 PM
IMO LL should not be as overlapping in age eligibilty for its rookie, minor and major leagues. As a LL coach in the minors I often think about the balance of the benefits for players of "playing up" to majors at 9 or 10. For many I see they are overwhelmed by the 12 year old pitching and end up playing mostly outfield. And these are darn good players for their age. I'd like to see many of them stay in the minors until they are 11. With good coaching they can learn just as much and the minor league game level would be higher.

I completely agree. Almost all 9-10 are not ready. We have 5 10 year olds in Majors and all play OF and only play the minimum. It is rare that a 10 is playing Majors, starting, and is the utility player on the team, backup SS, plays the whole game and they sure don't bat 3rd. Yes he does struggle against some of the 1 pitchers, but everyone does. And no, I'm not a coach. There are curtainly many 11 and 12 year olds that I would never put at SS or 3rd that play there right now, because I would worry about their safety.

Not to say my boy is all that, but he is the exception.

Your point is very much valid.

RK