Finding The Right Team For Your Child’s Ability

I am an Insurance Agent by trade but started selling baseball and fastpitch softball gloves on the side in 2013 after years of wanting to be in the sports industry for years. I expanded the glove business and opened up an internet business a little over a year ago, www.diamondreadybaseballgloves.com. I am learning lots about running an online business. More work than I could have imagined.

An insurance client that has given me advice about starting my website informed me about Medium.com and thought I should start writing articles about my website business and my sports knowledge. This article will not have much to do about my business but this subject has been on my mind for years.

I have been coaching kids since I was in 8th grade. OK there was not much coaching that first time around but I was asked and I did not have much of a choice. I was attending my junior high’s girl’s basketball game and I was sitting behind the bench when our school’s head coach got ejected from the game and told me to coach the rest of the game. That was the most terrified and embarrassed I ever been at a sporting event.

I had more advice from parents than you could imagine and that was in 1978. I had no idea what I was doing but I did the best I could. The coach did not get ejected from the gym so he was watching just beyond the stands and I would go ask what he wanted me to tell his team during timeouts. What I learned real quick was that some parents are crazy and they were going to coach the team through me by trying to intimidate me and yelling instructions at me and I was just 13 at the time.

After thinking about what just happened that night lying in bed, I realized that our coach thought enough of me to coach the girls. He could have asked more qualified people but I think he knew I would relay his message to the girls and do the best I could. I like to think that I was the stud of the school and that is why he asked me, but I doubt it. I did score 38 points in a 7th grade game against a poor little Christian School that did not have a chance. The final score was 72–15.

I give you that story because I literally started coaching at a very young age and have continued off and on until a few years ago. I still get the urge to coach but I don’t have time. My coaching experience goes back to coaching legion baseball while in college. I have coached ages 5 to 22. I have coached tee-ball, baseball, fastpitch softball, basketball, flag football, tackle football and even a little soccer.

Not to mention I played football, basketball and baseball from 7th grade to my Senior year in high school. I even ran track all those years except my Senior year which I chose to focus on looking for colleges to attend and working on baseball. Baseball was the sport I had the best chance to play in college and that is what I did until I hurt my shoulder my sophomore year in college. Back in those days you went to the doctor and he said to ice it and put a little heat on it and it will get better. My arm has never been the same. My best guess is that I tore my rotator cuff. My arm felt like it was going to fall off if I tried to throw hard. You guessed it, I was a pitcher even though I wanted to play second base in college.

I have coached and coached against lots of very good players. Coached Division 1 players and coached against some kids who have been drafted in the major leagues. Many titles under my belt including a National Title for an 11 year old team I was coaching in 2006. I have seen all kinds of players and that is why I am writing this article to help a parent or two to evaluate what is best for their child.

We all want our children to be the best and to succeed on that elite team. What you first need to do is get the rose colored glasses off your eyes and truly evaluate your child against the best players you know in what sport they are playing. You also need to look at the team they are on and to see if they are being challenged by the competition they are playing against and to see how they fit in with the team they are on.

Is your child playing the position or positions they want to play and if they are not why are they not? Are they not good enough to beat out the kid playing ahead of them? You also need to evaluate the positions they are playing or want to play that actually fit their skill set. Sometimes we think our child should play a certain position and actually they may be bet suited for something else. If you are not sure about what position best fits your child then ask the coach or someone who has seen your child play that you consider an expert in that sport.

All of these questions should help you determine what you should do with your child. You want your child to be challenged on their team and the teams they play against. If your child is dominating their competition and there is a level higher than what they are playing then you need to move them to a better team. If they are on the best team in your area and your child is doing very well then they are really good for their area. That does not mean they are great just because they are the best for their area. I have seen kids that think they are good but when playing against teams from a different part of the country, they find they are just average.

Being good or the best gives a child confidence. You want your child to have confidence because that is very key in developing a child playing sports. The best athletes in the world all have certain qualities in common. They are extremely confident in their abilities and they want to win in everything they do.

The bottom line is that you want your child playing the position or positions that best fit their skill set and on the best team they can be on. That ability to play the position or positions that best fit their skill set will give your child confidence and that will help them to keep getting better. Playing positions they do not like or does not fit their skill set does not help with their confidence or make the sport fun.

I will use my son as an example. He was on a team that won the National Title at age 11. He played first base, outfield and pitched a little. He wanted to pitch more. However, the team he was on was loaded with pitching. We literally had 9 kids who were quality pitchers. About 5 or 6 of those pitchers saw significant time pitching. My son was that 6th or 7th pitcher. He wanted more time pitching. I informed him that he needed to improve to pitch more. He did work hard but the next year was about the same.

I asked him before his 13 year old season if he wanted to move to another team where he would pitch more. Two of his former teammates from that 11 year old team moved on and became the number 1 and 2 pitchers for this other team. My son was ahead of those two pitchers on their old team. The other team was a solid team but did not compete at the same level as my son’s team. My son’s reason for staying put and being somewhat happy with eventually being number 5–6 was he wanted to stay on a winning team that played at the highest level.

In my opinion, my son would have been happier with the other team because he would have been one of the top 3 pitchers and would have been the main first baseman and hit in the top 5 of the lineup. Hindsight is always 20–20 but I think he would have been much happier being the go to kid rather than just a player on an elite team. I think he would have learned leadership skills being at the lower level. My son showed he could compete at the higher level but he was not necessarily being counted on to produce in crucial situations.

I know for a fact the most enjoyable season for him was his 10 year old season but he will not admit it because they were a .500 team that competed at a mid-level. He was the number 1 pitcher and played first most every game. He will tell you the most fun season was when he won the National Title. By the way, I did not coach his 10 year old team. I was an assistant coach and the one who picked the players for the 11 year old team. We were loaded and could have been even more loaded but I kept some of the 10 year old team’s players for continuity.

My son was a good baseball player but he was not an exceptional player. He could play at the highest level but was not one of the better players at that level. He was a very good player at the next lower level and showed that he could succeed better. He could play the positions he wanted to play at the mid-level but could not play the positions he wanted too on his team on a consistent basis.

It is a tough decision to know what is best for your child. Coaches, player dynamics and yes even parents come in to play on deciding what is best for your child. There were other high level teams that he probably could have went to and played his positions, however, we as parents did not think those teams fit in to our son’s best interests.

When evaluating teams please look closely at the coaching staff first and foremost. Look at the organization because if an organization has a bad reputation then you may not want to be a part of that. Then look at the team you are trying out for and do your research on how your son might fit in with playing time and playing the positions he or she wants to play that fit their skill set.

Sometimes a really good coach at an organization that has a mediocre reputation is better than playing for a poor coach at an unbelievable organization. Good coaches are really important. They can make your child a great player with their coaching skills.

Also, sometimes you do get two really good players that play the same position and one moves to another comparable position and they share their prime position. I do not mind this as long as everyone involved is happy. I have seen select teams with 10 shortstops and pitchers. Those teams last for one year and that is it. I have seen this happen and by mid season everyone is ready to move on despite them winning all their games. All the players want to play shortstop and pitch. The only one that is happy is the one that is playing short and pitching. Every parent is critical of every error the shortstop makes and think their kid can do better if only he or she gets a chance at short.

So when selecting that new team you better be aware of how happy the players and parents are.

You also better be aware of how good of coaches you are looking at. 
Ask around what people think of this guy or gal. If you are looking at a coach who has a kid on the team then you need to find out what position or positions their child plays and if they play favoritism toward their child. I would stay away from parent coaches whose kid plays your child’s position unless you know for sure favoritism will not be implemented. Some parent coaches can do a great job but others are only coaching for little Joey or Sara.

Remember to get the rose colored glasses off and truly evaluate your child’s ability and try to place them where they will play the position that best fit their skill set and put them on a team where they can succeed and play a leadership role. Remember to challenge them and play them at the highest level they can succeed at. Most of all, please let your child have fun because that is the most important reason for playing.