Baseball

[CoeburnCane]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
And you can trust that the team my boys play on;it doesn't matter if their parents make $100,000 a year or $20,000 a year they play because of the athelete they are; because if it was about money my boys would not be there.

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Then you should be 110% against AAU and other leagues coming in and trying to take kids away from LL, just because it may be a little higher level &amp; competitive. It loses it's parity though...the rules governing innings pitched and playing a kid so many innings in the field and getting at bats is crucial to an overall league's development...and for the kid's own development.

[TPLLTTP_PV10]

WOW!!!!!!!!! i have sat and read post after post,from MLG,Baseballmom,nopain and now a football fan. First off football fan how did the subject of baseball become softball? I don't have time to reply to all so i'll do the best i can. MLG i agree with about all of your posts on here;except this time you r wrong my friend... Burnt out what is the definition? I have been playing and coaching a combined 31 years and i am yet to burn out. What every one needs to relize is there is a difference between loving the game and a passion for the game. I'm well past 40-50 games and my passion is the same as it was at 5yrs. old. Baseballmom i never thought i would see the day that a woman would even come close to using more logic about the subject of baseball more than two men could. Nopain wish i had someone with your passion for the game to help me with the younger kids in the game of baseball. Your comment about not excepting change is right. U have to accept it,their is sooner or later going to be consolidation;do i want it? HELL NO!!!! Do i have to accept it? HELL YES....Noone wants to change what works; but when it don't work anymore what choice do you have? You either change or get left behind....MLG think about it whether you want to admit or not the kids that have a passion for the game are few and far between,and for those kids you must move on. Last but no least a football fan. Safety my gosh it's baseball what do you want to do cover them in football pads c'mon. No i guess you want them to use those soft rift balls until the get to Senior League and when they finally get hit with a real baseball their wondering why it hurt so damn bad. As far as the number of games they pitch and hurting their arms. You are the adult here; know what kind of coach u r letting your kid play for. Make sure he is one that will not do something that would put his or her playing future in jepordey. Would u let a rapist babysit for u? no. So those comments have no basis. Out of all of this if someone has proof that beating teams 25 to 0 and making your kids quit running the bases and basicly quit playing the game the way it should be played versus getting more playing time and playing 5-4;4-3;7-5; type ball games where they never have that time to get bored and they never get "burnt out" with that passion of baseball...... As Forrest Gump said "That's all i have to say about that"

[imported_mega]

Moonlight knows what hes talking about, hes a college baseball player for gods sake. Its real easy for a kid to get burned out. It has nothing to do with the game, but more the pyschology and the fragile state of a young child's mind. I was a great little league player, but after playing so much, I never wanted to play again after little league. I stuck with basketball and tennis and ended up with a scholarship. The point is though, there are plenty of people that love baseball that do get burnt out. Im not arguing with what you have to say, but I dont think you realize how much times have changed. Moonlight is a young adult and has a pretty good grasp on this generation.

[Lb_Balla24]

Im hearing all this talk on here about being against AAU baseball and ill tell you something playing in little league that may be a lil extreme but when you get to high school ball and then into junior and senior league their is nothing better u can do for a kid than find him a AAU team to play on. The level of competition is so much better from around here it blows it out of the water and if you dont believe me take a trip this summer down to jefferson city on any weekend and you can watch you some baseball. Im not trying to down baseball from around here or anything like that but the level of comp is so much better and the teachings u will recieve from ur coach will really help you out in the future. I am all for AAU ball when u reach the high school level ,.

[TPLLTTP_PV10]

I only follow one twelve and under travel team and every one of those kids played in every game and got to bat at least twice which is more than what LL has done. Look at the new rules about playing time in 2006LL rulebook. You will see you should have been current with your info before making a comment; because it use to be they had to play 2 innings and bat once. Look on LLbaseball.com under rules and u will see that the mandatory play time has reduced. Please comment on that after your2006 season is over and tell me how that went. Their will be drama; and that is also what i do not seeon this travel team...... Back to playing time on a travel team and the faairness of the playing time from the coach.... I last year watched this team playing in a 1st game of double header and their best pitcher on the mound the kid made an arrogant remark to the coach; the coach called time and pulled the kid; and he did not play the rest of the game or any of the second game. You wonder about the fairness that is in travel ball,considering that was the head coach's son i would say u will not get more fair than that..... Their is more to it than just the game they are teaching them character, how to be good young men and that whether a parent wants to admit it or not; sometimes you have to fail to be successful..... Also these kids have to maintain a C+ average to play. I don't know about the rest of the travel teams...but their use to be a saying at PV HIGH "APES" if u r aggresive, positive and enthusiastic you will be successful and that is what the coaches of this particular team are all about.

[CoeburnCane]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
First off football fan how did the subject of baseball become softball?

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We were talking about being burnt out AND alternatives to Little League baseball. There is a softball division of Little League too that a lot of people like yourself forget about. Lots of the same problems in baseball happen in softball too...they're just ignored moreso.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Safety my gosh it's baseball what do you want to do cover them in football pads c'mon. No i guess you want them to use those soft rift balls until the get to Senior League and when they finally get hit with a real baseball their wondering why it hurt so damn bad. As far as the number of games they pitch and hurting their arms. You are the adult here; know what kind of coach u r letting your kid play for. Make sure he is one that will not do something that would put his or her playing future in jepordey. Would u let a rapist babysit for u? no.

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A) Hyperbole will get you nowhere on this forum. Having rules in place to make sure a kid doesn't throw too many innings (softball or baseball either one) protects the coaches &amp; player...and also puts strategy into the game--which is another thing that the kids are trying to be taught.

B) So, should kids be running around, no helmets, no chest protectors, no heart protectors, no visors, no cups, no nothing? Note--these are anywhere from 4-12 year old KIDS we're dealing with here. I'd like to teach them about the game on this level, not get them sliding into home spikes up. A lot of people forget that the level of baseball between about 4 &amp; 12 (maybe even on up to 14) should be purely instructional. The latter part of LL and into Senior League is when it starts to get competitive along with instructional. By the time you're in HS on JV &amp; Varsity, that's usually when it becomes less instructional and more competitive, trying to put a winning product on the field. Even though we have tournaments and stuff for Minor League and Little League age kids, it's still instructional--and you're taking the all-stars, the more advanced kids, to these tournaments...so it can be more competitive.

The safety guards and stuff that are in place in LL help to ensure that these kids learn the game at a developmental age, and then are still healthy and around to compete when they do reach a competitive age. I see nothing wrong with that at all...if you wanna dog it as weak or being a wuss--fine. It's common sense to keep these kids out of harm until they know &amp; understand better WTF they're doing.

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So those comments have no basis.

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I haven't seen a post of yours on any thread that's had any comment of basis yet...speak for yourself.

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I have been playing and coaching a combined 31 years and i am yet to burn out.

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Well we're sorry that some kids don't share your drive and passion for the game--but let's make it interesting for all the kids as a whole. If you care about baseball first and the kids second--then you'd better not be making it 32 years playing &amp; coaching combined--you're in it for the wrong thing if that's the case. You wouldn't be one of these parents that are vicariously living your shortcomings in a sport through the kids would you? [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[TPLLTTP_PV10]

Read my post again their is a diff. between loving the game and a passion for it. MLG if you are a college baseball player you have a passion for the game....

[imported_mega]

I think that there are 2 issues that go with what moonlight is saying LB

#1 being if you play a kid so many games a year, it gets tiresome and its so easy to get burned out. Keep in mind, baseball is a spring sport in high school and around here most kids play 2 or 3 sports. By the time basketball season is over who wants to play baseball. Especially when you think back to the days when you played 40 games a season for 6 years straight. Thats alot of wear and tear on a kid, maybe not physically(probably that too) but it breaks a kid down pyschologically. The All Star teams play all summer long. I couldnt imagine how tired kids are that show up in Williamsport in september.

#2) How good can a traveling team be around here. I have no idea about who coaches at PV, but at norton, the same sorry sacks of poopoo that coach the regular team coaches the traveling team. LB stated how good the AAU coaches were in tennessee, but I just cant see the same coaches that coach little league, then coaching a traveling team make kids that much better.

Moonlight is also right about certain kids not getting chosen to play on a traveling team. I have a nephew who plays on a traveling team and the coaches generally go out of their way to keep it exclusive and secret so that other kids cant play, so just because it doesnt happen in big stone doesnt mean it isnt happening in other places. Moonlight is on point with his arguements.

[CoeburnCane]

SOME travel teams go about it the right way...some get kids and let as many as they want to go and play on a squad--regardless of talent level and monetary ability to do so. Some do have good coaches that want to do the best by the kids and teach the game at the same time.

MOST of the time when I have seen these teams, you have a bunch of rich kids and maybe a couple of their friends if their mommies &amp; daddies can spring for the poorer ones that are in their clique, acting the drill sergeant role and being out for blood 24/7--sportsmanship be damned. Those are the types of travel &amp; independent league teams that I cannot stand to play against. It takes the fun and parity of competition out of the equation. It bastardizes a sport that should be fun for the kids and teach them how to be quality citizens first and foremost.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
I only follow one twelve and under travel team and every one of those kids played in every game and got to bat at least twice which is more than what LL has done.

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Well when you play 10 games in one day it's not so hard for this to happen.

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You will see you should have been current with your info before making a comment

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OH--I'm sorry--I should have known it all before I went up against you--your POV is right and no one else's can even come close. Discussion over... [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] You're really coming across as an idiot...

[CoeburnCane]

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coaches generally go out of their way to keep it exclusive and secret so that other kids cant play

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THAT is unacceptable.

It's unfair to other kids who don't have the means or the "popularity" to play. That sickens me, and why I'm against these independent travel teams and leagues that go with them.