TIPS FROM THE COACH

“Ideally, travel is the way to go (if the roster is small,if the team is carrying more than 12, I would look elsewhere).”

I read this quote on the Infosports youth baseball discussion board in response to an inquiry as to what would be best for his 10 year old son. I gather from this mentality that 9 is the ideal number on a squad so that his son would never have (get) to sit on the bench. I remember when I coached an 18U “travel” team that we carried 14 if possible and could pick up players after each level of play in the Connie Mack tournament! We NEVER played more than 2 games in a day.

I watched a team of 11 year olds play their 4^th game in one day recently. They had played 2 the previous day. They would play again the next day and play as many as 4 games assuming they keep winning. They have 11 on the squad. One is limited because he is returning from a broken wrist! That's 10 games in 3 days!!! I don't want to even get into the workload on the pitchers. I just wonder how many would give up Santa for an opportunity to sit on the bench for a few games?

It seems to be a consensus that if you play travel ball, that 70 games is about the right number to play. Assuming that a kid plays for his local Little League and All Star team, that's say, 20 games. That leaves 50 games to be played with the travel team. Assuming he starts travel after the Little League All Star run ends in say Mid June and ends Labor Day Weekend , that's 10 weeks, 5 games per week most crammed into weekends. That's almost as many games as THE KID plays and he is a pro!

How many catchers should a team as I have described previously carry? BTW the temp is about 95 here during the day. Do you think it would hurt any of the catchers' feelings to grab some pine time in the shade?

The watershed summer in THE KID'S baseball career was the summer before his FR. year in HS. He was 14. He was on the Bombers, the top 18U travel team in Houston. I said ‘on' not ‘played on'. He probably averaged 3-4 ABs per weekend. Prior to the Bombers, he was slotted on the Soph/FR ‘B' team. But he ended up starting on the Varsity as a FR. How did he improve so much in one summer when he basically just sat on the bench? He learned a whole lot. He listened to the coaches. He listened to how the players approached the game. He learned that ‘dippin' is foul and nasty. He learned to sleep anywhere because the big boys made him sleep in the closet. He learned that you suck it up when hurt and play. A player slammed his hand in the car door prior to the first game in a tourney. The fingertips' swole up' like light bulbs. While other players held his hand down on the hood of the car, the coach jammed a needle down through the fingernails, squeezed the blood out and said ‘lets go play ball'. The kid batted .700 and pitched a shutout in the tourney!

One of the hardest problems confronting a Fr. in college is how to deal with never having sat the bench. It wasn't a problem in Youth League. He understood there were ridiculous ‘Must Play Rules'. But now for the first time in his life he is sitting because the coach deemed him to not be the best player! This is a major problem! Does he mope and ***? Does he accept sitting? Does he take it as a challenge to learn what he needs to do to get PT? The wrong approach dooms this player not because he doesn't have the ability to become a successful player but because he hasn't learn in the past how to deal with ‘pine time'.

I guarantee, it does not bother kids to sit on the bench. It bothers PARENTS! They are sitting up in the stands ***in' and second guessin'. They have traveled all this way and spent all this money and Little Bobby is sitting! Little Bobby is not unhappy (unless prodded by Mom and Dad and he thinks he is letting them down). Little Bobby is learning to be a better ballplayer. It is Mom and Dad that need to learn a few things! Playing 4 games in a day does not make you a better baseball player. It makes you TIRED! If you're the only one on the bench, it is boring. If there are 4 or more, it's a party. Parents, if you can't deal with pulling for the TEAM when your son is on the bench, STAY HOME . He probably will enjoy himself more and be a better ballplayer