Abington Little League: League News

2012 PICTURE SCHEDULE

ACKERLY FIELD

JUNE 2, 2012

  8:00                     F01     F07

  8:15                     L03     L08                                         

  8:30                     M11    M05

  8:45                     M04    M01

  9:00                     P35    P31

  9:30                     F02    F05

  9:45                     M07   M13

10:00                     M08   M12

10:15                     P32    P37

10:30                     L09    L05

11:00                     F08    F10

11:15                     M09   M14

11:30                     P36    P33

11:45                     P34    P38

12:00                     L01    L04

  1:15                     L07    L10

  1:30                     F09    F04       

  1:45                     M02   M10

  2:00                     P45    P41

  2:15                     P42    P47     

  2:30                     L02    L06      

  2:45                     F03    F06      

  3:00                     M06   M03

  3:15                     P46    P43               

  3:30                     P44    P48                                                                     

We will have All Star tryouts on June 3 and 10 at 5pm at the Ackerly complex.  There are 9&10 YO and 10&11 YO tryouts.  12 YO olds do not need to tryouts.  It is how old your player is on April 30, 2012.  Please remember All Stars are a big commitment.  9&10 and 12 YO games start the last week of June.  11 YO games start after July 4.  If you plan on going on vacation while the games are going on, please be considerate and don’t take a position away from some one that will make all of the games and practices.  Please talk with your coach with any questions.  Thanks. 

Thank You to everyone that helped make the 2012 Pasta Dinner  a succuss. 

Your help is appreciated!

We have extended Pasta dinner ticket sales until the last game on Saturday.  Tickets are $8 and $4 for kids.  Take outs are available.  The dinner is Sunday at the High School.  All proceeds to the Little League will go for a new tractor.  Please support the dinner.  We also need servers from 2-3:30 and 3:30—5:15.  We only have 2 volunteers for the 3:30-5:15 time slot which is the busiest.  Please see what you can do.

Thank you for your cooperation.  Please call Bob Horvath with any questions. Cell-215 470-0943

Please mark your calendars for May 6 at the Abington Heights High School.  We will be participating in the Annual Pasta dinner with the Rotary.  We will be asking for volunteers from the Little League and Major Farm divisions.  Boys & Girls 10 YO and older can help serve. We will have the team mom’s take care of the ticket selling.  The money raised will help buy a new tractor.  Please contact Bob Horvath with any questions.  Bobhorvath1@comcast.net or 215-470-0943 cell.

The season officially kicks off this weekend at Ackerly.  Parking is tight with five fields going at the same time.  Please pull far enough into the parking spots on both sides of the lot.  With SUV on both sides of the lots you can still drive 3 cars up and down the lot.  Please leave 18 inches on each side of your vehicle.  Remember there is parking behind field 4 that can accomodate 2 rows of vehicles.  Please car pool where you can to save space. 

Please remember ALL of our fields are Nonsmoking and NO Pets.  Please lets self police our fields.  If you see someone smoking or having a pet there, please remind them of our policy.  We are getting signs up at the field and some people are not on the email, so they might not know the policy.  This is OUR complex and everyone needs to help out.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.  Good Luck and have a Great Season!

We would like to thank everyone that made the clean up a succuss. 

Please mark your calendars for Saturday April 14 to clean up the Sheridan Ave Little League field.  We will need rakes, shovels and 3 wheel barrows.  We can use some weed eaters.  The cleanup will be 9-11.  Please all major farm teams send at least 3-4 adults to help get completed in the most efficient amount of time as possible.  Even if you can only give an hour of your time please come out.  Thanks. Please contact Jeff Armbruster with any questions.  Jeff.Armbruster@sanofipasteur.com

Please be advised that effective immediately there shall be no pets allowed at the Ackerly or Sheridan complexes.  We had signs posted, but they have faded.  There will be new signs purchased and posted.  Please be considerate and cooperate with the policy.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Thank you very much to all who showed up and helped clean up the Ackerly complex.  Your help is appreciated and the fields look the best they looked in years.  We could not do it with you.

Special thanks to Bob Crandle for organizing the clean up, Phil Medico, Dewey Petty, Tony Duboski, Jeff Haudenshield and Mark Pronitis for bring over their equipment to help make the job easy.

Thank you! 

The season is off to a great start! 

click above to register for Spring 2012 Ablington Little League. 

 If you have a PayPal account, you may pay using PayPal. Go to PayPal.com and send the fee to AbingtonLL@gmail.com If you prefer to pay by check, make check payable to Abington Little League and send to: Pat Andrisani, 139 Columbus Circle, Clarks Summit, PA 18411. Late egistration fee is now in effect -  $100 for first player and $75 for each additional player in the same family. Any questions contact Pat Andrisani at 586-0885 or 840-7103 or email Pat at AbingtonLL@gmail.com. YOU MUST RESIDE IN THE ABINGTON HEIGHTS SCHOOL DISTRICT TO BE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN ABINGTON LITTLE LEAGUE. Thanks!

What Makes A Nightmare Sports Parent -- And What Makes A Great One

Wednesday, February 15, 2012 8:20 pm

Written by: Steve Henson <http://www.thepostgame.com/author/steve-henson>

Hundreds of college athletes were asked to think back: "What is your worst
memory from playing youth and high school sports?"

Their overwhelming response: "The ride home from games with my parents."

The informal survey lasted three decades, initiated by two former longtime
coaches who over time became staunch advocates for the player, for the
adolescent, for the child. Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching
LLC are devoted to helping adults avoid becoming a nightmare sports parent,
speaking at colleges, high schools and youth leagues <http://www.proactivecoaching.info/> 
to more than a million athletes, coaches and parents in the last 12 years.

Those same college athletes were asked what their parents said that made them
feel great, that amplified their joy during and after a ballgame.

Their overwhelming response: "I love to watch you play."

There it is, from the mouths of babes who grew up to become college and
professional athletes. Whether your child is just beginning T-ball or is a
travel-team soccer all-star or survived the cuts for the high school varsity,
parents take heed.

Bottom of Form

The vast majority of dads and moms that make rides home from games miserable for
their children do so inadvertently. They aren't stereotypical horrendous sports
parents, the ones who scream at referees, loudly second-guess coaches or berate
their children. They are well-intentioned folks who can't help but initiate
conversation about the contest before the sweat has dried on their child's
uniform.

In the moments after a game, win or lose, kids desire distance. They make a
rapid transition from athlete back to child. And they'd prefer if parents
transitioned from spectator - or in many instances from coach - back to mom and
dad. ASAP.

Brown (pictured below at podium), a high school and youth coach near Seattle for
more than 30 years, says his research shows young athletes especially enjoy
having their grandparents watch them perform.

"Overall, grandparents are more content than parents to simply enjoy watching
the child participate," he says. "Kids recognize that."

A grandparent is more likely to offer a smile and a hug, say "I love watching
you play," and leave it at that.

Meanwhile a parent might blurt out ...

"Why did you swing at that high pitch when we talked about laying off it?"

"Stay focused even when you are on the bench."

"You didn't hustle back to your position on defense."

"You would have won if the ref would have called that obvious foul."

"Your coach didn't have the best team on the field when it mattered most."

And on and on.

Sure, an element of truth might be evident in the remarks. But the young athlete
doesn't want to hear it immediately after the game. Not from a parent. Comments
that undermine teammates, the coach or even officials run counter to everything
the young player is taught. And instructional feedback was likely already
mentioned by the coach.

"Let your child bring the game to you if they want to," Brown says.

Brown and Miller, a longtime coach and college administrator, don't consider
themselves experts, but instead use their platform to convey to parents what
three generations of young athletes have told them.

"Everything we teach came from me asking players questions," Brown says. "When
you have a trusting relationship with kids, you get honest answers. When you
listen to young people speak from their heart, they offer a perspective that
really resonates."

So what's the takeaway for parents?

"Sports is one of few places in a child's life where a parent can say, 'This is
your thing,' " Miller says. "Athletics is one of the best ways for young people
to take risks and deal with failure because the consequences aren't fatal, they
aren't permanent. We're talking about a game. So they usually don't want or need
a parent to rescue them when something goes wrong.

"Once you as a parent are assured the team is a safe environment, release your
child to the coach and to the game. That way all successes are theirs, all
failures are theirs."

And discussion on the ride home can be about a song on the radio or where to
stop for a bite to eat. By the time you pull into the driveway, the relationship
ought to have transformed from keenly interested spectator and athlete back to
parent and child:

"We loved watching you play. ... Now, how about that homework?"

FIVE SIGNS OF A NIGHTMARE SPORTS PARENT

Nearly 75 percent of kids who play organized sports quit by age 13. Some find
that their skill level hits a plateau and the game is no longer fun. Others
simply discover other interests. But too many promising young athletes turn away
from sports because their parents become insufferable.

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Even professional athletes can behave inappropriately when it comes to their
children. David Beckham was recently ejected from a youth soccer field for
questioning an official. New Orleans radio host Bobby Hebert, a former NFL
quarterback, publicly dressed down LSU football coach Les Miles after Alabama
defeated LSU in the BCS title game last month. Hebert was hardly unbiased: His
son had recently lost his starting position at LSU.

Mom or dad, so loving and rational at home, can transform into an ogre at a
game. A lot of kids internally reach the conclusion that if they quit the sport,
maybe they'll get their dad or mom back.

As a sports parent, this is what you don't want to become. This is what you want
to avoid:

* Overemphasizing sports at the expense of sportsmanship: The best athletes keep
their emotions in check and perform at an even keel, win or lose. Parents
demonstrative in showing displeasure during a contest are sending the wrong
message. Encouragement is crucial -- especially when things aren't going well on
the field.

* Having different goals than your child: Brown and Miller suggest jotting down
a list of what you want for your child during their sport season. Your son or
daughter can do the same. Vastly different lists are a red flag. Kids generally
want to have fun, enjoy time with their friends, improve their skills and win.
Parents who write down "getting a scholarship" or "making the All-Star team"
probably need to adjust their goals. "Athletes say their parents believe their
role on the team is larger than what the athlete knows it to be," Miller says.

* Treating your child differently after a loss than a win: Almost all parents
love their children the same regardless of the outcome of a game. Yet often
their behavior conveys something else. "Many young athletes indicate that
conversations with their parents after a game somehow make them feel as if their
value as a person was tied to playing time or winning," Brown says.

* Undermining the coach: Young athletes need a single instructional voice during
games. That voice has to be the coach. Kids who listen to their parents yelling
instruction from the stands or even glancing at their parents for approval from
the field are distracted and can't perform at a peak level. Second-guessing the
coach on the ride home is just as insidious.

* Living your own athletic dream through your child: A sure sign is the parent
taking credit when the child has done well. "We worked on that shot for weeks in
the driveway," or "You did it just like I showed you" Another symptom is when
the outcome of a game means more to a parent than to the child. If you as a
parent are still depressed by a loss when the child is already off playing with
friends, remind yourself that it's not your career and you have zero control
over the outcome.

FIVE SIGNS OF AN IDEAL SPORTS PARENT

Let's hear it for the parents who do it right. In many respects, Brown and
Miller say, it's easier to be an ideal sports parent than a nightmare. "It takes
less effort," Miller says. "Sit back and enjoy." Here's what to do:

* Cheer everybody on the team, not just your child: Parents should attend as
many games as possible and be supportive, yet allow young athletes to find their
own solutions. Don't feel the need to come to their rescue at every crisis.
Continue to make positive comments even when the team is struggling.

* Model appropriate behavior: Contrary to the old saying, children do as you do,
not as you say. When a parent projects poise, control and confidence, the young
athlete is likely to do the same. And when a parent doesn't dwell on a tough
loss, the young athlete will be enormously appreciative.

* Know what is suitable to discuss with the coach: The mental and physical
treatment of your child is absolutely appropriate. So is seeking advice on ways
to help your child improve. And if you are concerned about your child's behavior
in the team setting, bring that up with the coach. Taboo topics: Playing time,
team strategy, and discussing team members other than your child.

* Know your role: Everyone at a game is either a player, a coach, an official or
a spectator. "It's wise to choose only one of those roles at a time," Brown
says. "Some adults have the false impression that by being in a crowd, they
become anonymous. People behaving poorly cannot hide." Here's a clue: If your
child seems embarrassed by you, clean up your act.

* Be a good listener and a great encourager: When your child is ready to talk
about a game or has a question about the sport, be all ears. Then provide
answers while being mindful of avoiding becoming a nightmare sports parent.
Above all, be positive. Be your child's biggest fan. "Good athletes learn better
when they seek their own answers," Brown says.

And, of course, don't be sparing with those magic words: "I love watching you
play."

-- Steve Henson is a Senior Editor and Writer at Yahoo! Sports. He has four
adult children and has coached and officiated youth sports for 30 years. He can
be reached at henson@yahoo-inc.com and on Twitter @HensonYahoo