Too Much Baseball?

Too much baseball? Bite your tongue!

This is one of my favorite discussion topics.  The proliferation of clubs / travel teams sparks all kinds of debate when talking about overextending our youth with one sport year round.  My friend Lisa had a great New York times article, detailing one side of the story, which sparked some pretty heated discussion in its Comments section.  Bottom line, clubs, or travel teams, aren't for everyone, so there's no single, right answer.  And not all clubs carry the generalized intensity that is a commonly-held perception...though many sure do. But some don't.

My own personal opinion -- just let the kids play. It's not rocket science. "Play" is what they want to do. They're not obsessing about playing Varsity high school ball, or a Division 1 scholarship, or the pros.  Nay, that's what the parents who are carrying that vicarious baggage are dreaming about.   Another article I like, spells it out so perfectly in its title "Parents Ruin Sports for Their Kids by Obsessing About Winning."  Sure, kids want to win (and so do I!), they all do and that's the purpose of any game.  But the ice cream or pizza after the game is often equally, or sometimes more, important.

I like Mike Matheny's take on it on his blog.  Here are my favorite nuggets from his post:

• The problem is that most parents think that they are not being the best parent that they can be, if they aren't allowing their child to play on the most sought after team in town. The reality is that often times, when the parents go beyond their means to allow a child to play on a particular team, this adds tension. The tension is naturally going to flow down to the parents expectations on a return of their investment, and the kids will inevitably sense it and be effected
• I believe that this is a great time to remind parents that first of all, this should be ALL about the kids. Don't let yourself fall into the trap that "The only way my son will make it to the next level is if he plays on this particular team." If someone is feeding you this line, they are not telling you the truth …..If your son (or daughter) can play...they will be seen. As they get older, do they sometimes need some help getting exposed?...Yes, and there are ways that you can do that within a budget
• Where this gets ridiculous, is when these clubs start making their way down to 5-10 year olds and the parents buy into the sales pitch that this particular club is putting 80% of their kids into Division 1 schools, and the only way for your child to be seen by the college recruiters, is to start them at the lowest level in their club...GARBAGE! We have so many guys on our team, and in our minor league system that just played recreationally until they got into high school and then they had plenty of teams to choose from that would get them exposed

Play ball...and Just Let the Kids Play (great saying, and the title of a really good book).