Little League, sew my lip up !!!

[Steel]

My son is 10 years old and he has been playing Little League for 2 years. I have noticed that every coaches kid is the pitcher and that every coaches kid always makes the All Stars. The politics in little league are far beyond anything I could have imagined. Its sad to see that every coach puts his son into pitch and gets to bat first and their kids never come out of the game. The politics and bullshit in baseball are ruining baseball for my son. My son is a very good athlete and he is the starting pitcher on his team. I am not the coach but my son is pushed a side a lot so the coaches son can pitch. The coaches kid throws side arm and has a herky jerky motion when he pitches. He is wild and he has hit 6 batters so far this season. We have 5 games left and I can't wait until its over. I am teaching my son that life isn't fair and neither are sports. My son has already been put on the All Star team and he has been asked to move onto the winning team in his division for the playoffs. He has been ranked the best pitcher in the 10 year old group yet the coach he has would rather start his son who is 9. Is side arm bad for kids? I have been told that it will ruin your shoulder in time and that you will eventually not be able to throw at all. The coach is passing up talent to pitch his son incorrectly. We have some 9 year olds that are far better then the coaches son yet they never get to play. I have been sewing my lip up all season and I can't wait for it to end. The coaches kids in our league get away with murder. One kid came up to me and said he will never make the All Stars as his father is a doctor and he has no time to coach a team. That is truely sad coming from a kid who deserves to be an All Star yet he will be over looked again. I coach football so I have rules and regs for all the kids. If my son was playing for me he would have to work EXTRA hard to make the All Star team. Any thoughts or opinions would be welcomed. I just decided to vent here rather then sew my lip yet again. Hope someone can show some insight and let me know if its the same where you all are from. A friend of mine in Chicago tells me that its not like that there. Small communities suck when it comes to sports. Another bitch I have with Little league is that all the kids HAVE to play 2 innings. It doesn't matter if they come to practice, they have to play 2 innings. What a joke, some kids don't deserve to play and they know they get to so they do nothing but disrupt practice and make a joke of the qwhole team. Sports are turning into a Mommy's boy game and I am glad that I don't coach baseball. Its football or nothing for me.. GL

[Dj Bo]

Why don't you hire a hitman to kill your son's coach. Seems to work for cheerleaders. lol

[Dj Bo]

... or figure skaters.

[Steel]

Kill my coach ??? I like the guy.. LMAO

[Dj Bo]

A priest, a minister, and a rabbi walk into a bar. The bartender says.. "What is this, a joke?"

LOL i got a kick out of this joke.:thumbs:

[Rooster Booster]

Tell him to shoot for the NBA and then he can choke his own coach ! Every kid I knew growing up whose Dad was a coach,
always started and made the all stars. It is a fact of life. If your son has talent, he will bump that kid out in school sports, when daddy aint around. Of course those kids usually wind up being pretty decent later in sports because of all the playing time under dad. Tell your son to hang in there and have fun !

[Dj Bo]

One word... GOLF

Man that is the best professional sport to get into. Never get injured. Physically easy. Just have to start them off young like Tiger's dad did. Win one tournament and you're a millionaire.

[Steel]

Great ideas guy's. My son I am not really worried about as he is already the starting pitcher. I am referring to other coaches and other teams. The coach my son has is a good friend of mine I just don't like that he thinks his son is a pitcher but he is a great guy off the field. Thanks for the points they always help.

[Queen of Football]

It dont just happen out in California. Come to a little league game here in the sticks. The mothers swear like sailors, and you would think that you was at a MLB game the way they carry on. LOL

Queen :cool:

[Kevin]

What bugs me is the parents that get on the little guys and make a game that is supposed to be about solidifying fundamentals, a game about winning and losing.

I dont think winning/losing matters much until you hit high school age ball. Ive seen some real drama from parents about kids giving up hits, making errors ,etc.

I could make a solid case for a fist fight at every single game. The mf's bitching are probably the dads that sucked in school and are trying to live vicariously through their kids. Sad shit.

[BillyBarooooooo]

Agree 100 percent Kevin!!!!

[DJTranks]

Yes I agree and same way when I was growing up.

Every coach had his son on the AS team and I remember one of the kids flat out sucked! He still made it and there was one kid who was the best on the team got cut out of the AS game because the coaches son made it.

Its the way it goes, but I agree with the points made here..

[Steel]

Kevin, I also agree 100 %. I love these coaches that scream at the kids. They make complete jack-asses out of themselves. I umpire games for the kids and I actually threw one coach out of the game because he was being to hard on the kids. When I told him to get in his car and leave as he was setting a bad example for the kids, he said, "you can't make me leave". I looked at him and said, SEE YA !!! Before he left he looked at me and said any place any time. What a loser some of these people are. They took the fun right out of the game. Kids come first in my world and the parents can take a flying leap... Thanks for all the insight. GL

gang....i have been a little league coach for 8 years now and i gotta tell you that kinda stuff doesnt go down in our league...we are all about basics and fundamentals....dont get me wrong...we play to win.....but our kids learn a lot each year and its very heart warming to see them develop over a period of years....little league rules state a pitcher can not throw more than 6 innings in a week (sun-sat)...if they pitch 3 they need 3 days off before they can throw the other 3....also....no team in little league can throw 12 year olds more than 12 innings a week....so if you have 3 great 12's they can combine for only 12 innings in a week....as a pitching coach i use # pitches as opposed to innings....our team is blessed with a deep pitching staff....i have heard of little league nightmare coaches and parents but havent really been exposed to anything like you steel....i'd tend to bust the guy upside his friggin head to knock some sense into him.....

[Steel]

The baseball here is the same as yours. Innings pitched are the same as yours as are all the other rules. The team my son is on has only 3 descent pitchers on it. The coach wants his son to pitch and he throws side arm and he is 9 years old. I have told him that he is taking time away from a kid that deserves more and is pitching correctly. Am I wrong to say that they should brake him of this habit ? Anyways,, He lets his son pitch nearly every game and we have kids behind him that are pitching correctly just not getting any time in the box. I have told him over and over again that he is taking time away from kids that deserve more time and he just laughs it off. My son pitched his last 3 innings and the score was 1 - 6 we were ahead. He throws his son out there and we lose the game 7 - 6. Another fine example, and believe me I know the basics about baseball but, we were facing the best team in our league and my son had them up 1 - 3 in the bottom of the third. In the 4th he pulled my son and let his son pitch only to lose the game. In close game why do you pull out your best pitcher ? He was untouched and the run that scored was on a pass ball so don't you leave him in there ? I told him after the game that he is giving the kids no chance to win. He blamed it on the fielding behind his son. Never mentioned one thing about the run that came home on a pass ball with no pitcher covering home. Winning isn't everything and having fun is the main goal. If the kids are laughing and smiling it makes it a lot easier to swallow. My son says he will not play next year. Let me know your thoughts Dead, You have been in this a lot longer then I. Thanks

[qwerty90210]

should continue to play. next year he will be on another team and some of should not exist.

growing up, i was luck enough to be in a great little league program in the south side of chicago. in 1992, one of our teams made it to the little league world series only to lose 4 straight games. they played against sean burrough's long beach CA team.

i played against mark mulder. i tall lanky first basemen/ace pitcher. just looking at the kid you knew he was special. his dad did not coach him one year. but his father was at every game and probably pushed him off the field behind the scenes. you could say his dad made him the pro that he is today by sending him to pitching camps etc. but, all in all, its the kid who has to want to paly, to be better, to achieve.

we had coaches that cared not only about winning but also teaching. there were 2 coaches that stood out. one was also an umpire, his son was not great, and treated him on the level of the 6-10th best guy on the team. he did not bat first or get pushed to pitch. he just put him where he fir in, be left field etc. he was honest that his so was so so. a rarity about coaching a son.

another coach was a younger guy, somewhere 28-32 at the time, no child, just loved the game. best coach ever. every coach knows who are good and who you have to hide in right field. his team was well coached and overachieved because of his presenatlity in making the game fun. if the game was a blow out, he would put his right fielder at 2nd base or something to give him an opportunity to play/be in the game closer.

yes, every coach's son was probably on the all-star team, but you could see that kid was better than little joe who is just dropped off to be baby sat for a couple hours.

the bad kids are usually the kids where there is no parental support. the right fielder's parents are never at the game. joey would rather picking dandelines or playing in the sand than paying attention for that lone fly ball to right.

the star kids are usually the ones who are early to practice and the last one to leave, "hey coach, one more pitch!"

little league is also the learning experience like you mentioned there are lessons learned on those hot sweaty days that can be applied to my life today. like rejection, no all-star team= i did not get hired.

its was a great time, and i ever had the opportunity to get in a time machine and go back to circa 1991 i'd to in an instant...even if i do have to write those dam school papers again.

i made add more later. i have to remember to reread this thread


90210

[Steel]

qwerty, that was awesome. Yes my son is going to finish the season. We have 4 games left and the rule in the family is that when you start something you finish it. My boy's both know when the sign on the dotted line they are in baseball, football, etc. for the entire season. If the whole team stopped playing my son would be out there with me. Sports a must in every boy's life. Thanks for sharing yours, my son sat and read it. Lifes lessons, wow... Thanks..

[Rooster Booster]

There is no question that when I am busting my tail at work, I can
think back to football spring practice. Two a day, hot and humid as
forty hells, sweat, bruises, strawberries, staff infection, smelly lockers, sore ankles, ass chewings, wind sprints, eating grass,
sand in your pads, etc,etc.
We used to run a drill at the end of practice called 10 perfect plays. No offsides, no missed routes, no fumbles, etc. Sometimes it would take us two hours and we would be in pitch black dark. I think about that to this day when I am trying to get something just right at work. Work is a piece of cake compared to that, and you guys are right. Another life lesson from sports. I would go back and do it tomorrow.

My wife and I have no children, so I cannot speak from a father's
perspective. I just know I am glad my dad put us in sports, and
had I been able to be a father, I would of encouraged mine. The
good far out weights the bad.

[Kevin]

I can speak from a fathers perspective.

My kid is 5 and gonna start playing ball next year. The over and under for me getting in fights with other parents is probably 3.5.

Take the over.

[SkinsFan]

LMAO Kevin!

[Steel]

LMFAO, the politics will kill you my friend... I am glad my son is playing but it sure is tough... Good luck to you when your baseball starts. Think of me every time you have to bite your lip. LOL GL