chitownsportsfan Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) 2 hours ago, Kyyle23 said: When I was a kid it was pervasive and totally Wild West, kids were pitching every game start to finish parents were the “agents” . Kids nowadays are playing a lot of sports, and fortunately attention has started to fall on arm health so they have done things like pitch counts for the league and stuff like that, and the overbearing parents have been called out a lot. it’s not nearly as bad as the Greg mommy daddy scenario Yea I don't have kids but I'm fairly involved in local sports and most the kids from what I can tell are playing at least two sports. I'm always a little surprised as someone that grew up during the height of "just do one sport" era parenting that a lot of guys looking to go D1 in football are also pretty damn good on the baseball diamond or basketball court. I don't think that specialization is behind the arm injuries. I just think it's physics. Guys are throwing harder, younger, than ever. The elbow just can't handle it unless you are some super freak, and even then eventually it will likely go like Verlander. Edited August 21 by chitownsportsfan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldsox Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 Japan has the same dilemma. Most of their 300-pound high school athletes go into Sumo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 6 hours ago, fathom said: My boys play on very high level travel teams, and about 80 pct of their teammates play other sports. Glad to hear about multi sport kids. It's good for them IMO. Questions for Fathom: a.) How many of the parents are already talking about having their kid pick one sport soon? b.) How much pressure is there to join a travel team if you want your kid to have a chance at a schollie someday? c.) What's left for the kids who don't have the $$ to join travel teams or aren't talented enough to make the team? d.) Do you agree the youth sports world would be a better place if there were no $$ travel teams and kids simply played Pee Wee, Little League in a stationary place? e.) Do you sense any problem with poorer kids having no chance to play travel team cause of the $$ involved and the system is broken? Peace out. I am glad to hear about the kids playing more than one sport in your experience. At what age will there be pressure to pick one, however? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 5 hours ago, Kyyle23 said: When I was a kid it was pervasive and totally Wild West, kids were pitching every game start to finish parents were the “agents” . Kids nowadays are playing a lot of sports, and fortunately attention has started to fall on arm health so they have done things like pitch counts for the league and stuff like that, and the overbearing parents have been called out a lot. it’s not nearly as bad as the Greg mommy daddy scenario You mean it's getting better? It WAS as bad as the greg scenario? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) 3 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said: A lot of guys looking to go D1 in football are also pretty damn good on the baseball diamond or basketball court. Tell me about it. It was no fun in grade school when our buddies from the football team showed up at basketball practice after their final game. Oops ... poor greg has been moved down the hoops depth chart, from a promising starter to scrub. Not complaining. They were good players. I didn't specialize. I just knew very little about football and nobody in family taught me squat so on first day of football I picked the wrong position to have fun: center. I quit by the end of week one. Not my game/position. On to basketball baby and baseball in the spring and hockey in winter as well as tennis/bowling. Edited August 21 by greg775 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 4 minutes ago, greg775 said: Glad to hear about multi sport kids. It's good for them IMO. Questions for Fathom: a.) How many of the parents are already talking about having their kid pick one sport soon? b.) How much pressure is there to join a travel team if you want your kid to have a chance at a schollie someday? c.) What's left for the kids who don't have the $$ to join travel teams or aren't talented enough to make the team? d.) Do you agree the youth sports world would be a better place if there were no $$ travel teams and kids simply played Pee Wee, Little League in a stationary place? e.) Do you sense any problem with poorer kids having no chance to play travel team cause of the $$ involved and the system is broken? Peace out. I am glad to hear about the kids playing more than one sport in your experience. At what age will there be pressure to pick one, however? There are so many teams, it’s very possible to find an inexpensive one. Heck, there are some programs that will give you a sponsored roster spot. There’s no pressure at all to choose one sport. I swear that’s just created by travel teams in all sports to get people to play. And yes, if you want to face good competition, you have to play travel. Rec league competition is like the White a Sox of Major League Baseball. I wish all the kids just played for their town team, but in the Illinois area, I don’t blame any kid for playing for Sparks, etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 Also, if you want to know another thing that stinks about youth sports, it’s the stats on GameChanger. These poor kids have all their friends and family see their stats, good or bad. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 4 minutes ago, fathom said: Also, if you want to know another thing that stinks about youth sports, it’s the stats on GameChanger. These poor kids have all their friends and family see their stats, good or bad. OMG. I can't imagine having one's batting average available from Little League. Shouldn't surprise me but sounds like a bad idea to let parents brag about their kids' BA and high school scouts. Now as an adult I'd love to know what I hit in Little League and Babe Ruth or Legion, whatever we called it. Now that I think about it as a kid we definitely didn't stress about our personal stats, just winning. Winning was really important in Little League to the kids on our Chicago southside team. Of course I think my BA and RBIs etc woulda been fine if published. Not Luis Robert-like. Nobody hit homers with no aluminum bats. Lot of action inside the lines not over the fence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 10 minutes ago, fathom said: There are so many teams, it’s very possible to find an inexpensive one. Heck, there are some programs that will give you a sponsored roster spot. There’s no pressure at all to choose one sport. I swear that’s just created by travel teams in all sports to get people to play. And yes, if you want to face good competition, you have to play travel. Rec league competition is like the White a Sox of Major League Baseball. I wish all the kids just played for their town team, but in the Illinois area, I don’t blame any kid for playing for Sparks, etc. Glad to hear kids without much money are able to find an inexpensive option. Hope they can get rides to practice, games etc. In Wichita they have the Jackie Robinson League where a full season of non travel league baseball is 25 bucks with equipment provided. Businesses have chipped in and given $ or donated mitts and bats and balls for hundreds of kids. It's growing every year. It's not a travel league and it's got great instructors. It's given opps to play to kids who otherwise don't have the money to play travel ball in Wichita. If anybody is rich on here and wants to donate to a great cause, youth, send some dough to the Jackie Robinson League 42 in Wichita. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 4 minutes ago, greg775 said: OMG. I can't imagine having one's batting average available from Little League. Shouldn't surprise me but sounds like a bad idea to let parents brag about their kids' BA and high school scouts. Now as an adult I'd love to know what I hit in Little League and Babe Ruth or Legion, whatever we called it. Now that I think about it as a kid we definitely didn't stress about our personal stats, just winning. Winning was really important in Little League to the kids on our Chicago southside team. Of course I think my BA and RBIs etc woulda been fine if published. Not Luis Robert-like. Nobody hit homers with no aluminum bats. Lot of action inside the lines not over the fence. You should see Facebook every Sunday night. All it is, is bragging, by parents about how their kid’s team did that weekend. Away travel tournaments bring out the worst in the parents, as you’ve never seen so many drunk people in a hotel. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 White Sox Ace program is great, as I don’t believe the kids have to pay. They get a ton of regional exposure and do a great job developing kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) 23 minutes ago, fathom said: You should see Facebook every Sunday night. All it is, is bragging, by parents about how their kid’s team did that weekend. Away travel tournaments bring out the worst in the parents, as you’ve never seen so many drunk people in a hotel. It all drives me insane. Not sure what happened to adults the past few decades in relation to their kids. Glad you have a brain that functions in that regard. I know it's hard to imagine but when I was a kid playing 3 years of Little League and one of Babe Ruth my dad came to one game and no practices. When I played basketball at Queen of Martyrs and we played 30 or so games my parents and sibs came to zero games. They wouldn't be caught dead at one of my cross country or track events in high school. ... Not cause they hated greg. That's the way it was. Parents didn't go to games just made sure you had a plan to get to and from the games/practices. Usually they didn't even ask me if we won or lost or how I did, lol. Compare that to now ... WOW. Edited August 21 by greg775 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrathofhahn Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) This is a great example of a time I was told about the dangers of holding onto Cease during the offseason, and my response was that the player we traded for might also require TJS at some point during the season. We made a terrible trade, and now that Thorpe is hurt, the return is even worse. Stupidity has a way of snowballing. Edited August 21 by wrathofhahn 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snopek Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 34 minutes ago, wrathofhahn said: This is a great example of a time I was told about the dangers of holding onto Cease during the offseason, and my response was that the player we traded for might also require TJS at some point during the season. We made a terrible trade, and now that Thorpe is hurt, the return is even worse. Stupidity has a way of snowballing. Well sure, anyone can get injured at anytime. But I'd argue that a prospect you get back in a trade missing a year and a half for TJS is not nearly as bad as your biggest trade chip missing a year a half for TJS when there's only two years of team control left. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenSox Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) Wrong thread again Edited August 21 by GreenSox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted August 22 Share Posted August 22 14 hours ago, greg775 said: You mean it's getting better? It WAS as bad as the greg scenario? Yea kids were thrown in the lake for not throwing 70mph. There was a big story about Carol stream in the 80s but it got buried. All the boys in Ms Jenkins class were gone after the championships 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 On 8/20/2024 at 8:47 PM, Lip Man 1 said: There are dozens of theories out there as to why pitchers are breaking down like they are. You touch on some of them. Another being discussed is that kids are specializing at an early age (i.e. just play baseball, just play tennis et al) and they are not developing an overall muscular structure, wearing things out to soon. Trainers are suggesting let kids play all sports, different sports to gain overall strength and lateral motion and quickness. The athletic periods are part of the problem. Changing kids schedules around when they switch sports interrupts the academics. At least in my district we focus the off season training in the other muscle groups and skills. They might not be competing in that other sport but the conditioning and training is for that variety. Well except tennis. They have team tennis in the fall and individual in the spring. Swim kind of breaks it up with water polo in the fall and swimming and diving in the spring. I just told a freshman today that you can play golf all your life, your baseball career is going to end in high school. When baseball has tryouts give it a try, we'll keep fitting golf around it. Now for my players who have college and pro aspirations, the margin of success and failure is so slim they have to be all in. They need to be working out and hitting balls everyday. The folks that survive win. It's ugly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BamaDoc Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 Wonder how NIL being allowed in some states at a high school level will further emphasize some parents to cash in on their kids? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
46DidIt Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 On 8/21/2024 at 10:26 AM, JoeC said: How old? Early specialization is a huge problem, or at least it was up through like 5 years ago when I was still paying close attention to youth sports. I know USA Hockey and the USOC are actively trying to address it. Why’s it a problem? Worked pretty well for Tiger Woods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chitownsportsfan Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 1 hour ago, 46DidIt said: Why’s it a problem? Worked pretty well for Tiger Woods Apples oranges. Teams sports are clearly different. A lot of the skills in team sports, especially at the middle and HS level, are applicable across them, including leadership, playing withing a team concept, knowing your role, etc. With the individual sports there is none of that and in many ways you need to grow as your own advocate / best coach / sports shrink early to get an advantage. DFW has a good essay about this on his tennis career that stalled out after college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg775 Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 (edited) This thread, while educational, has done nothing to make me feel positive vibes about youth sports. Or should I call them 'parents living their own sports careers thru their kids' sports? If anything back in the day there was no parental coaching/no coaching at all besides your Little League coach, your grade school basketball and football coach. No private lessons. We learned from from watching guys shoot the basketball on TV or hit and pitch the baseball on TV and took it outside. Unfortunately we played baseball every day during the summer to go with official LL stuff and yes it probably ruined our arms pitching the rubber ball against the school wall for 9 innings every day in what they called 'fast pitch' on the southside. My friend peaked in high school, wrecked his arm. Was a special talent ruined by overuse I'd think. Edited August 23 by greg775 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 1 hour ago, greg775 said: This thread, while educational, has done nothing to make me feel positive vibes about youth sports. Or should I call them 'parents living their own sports careers thru their kids' sports? If anything back in the day there was no parental coaching/no coaching at all besides your Little League coach, your grade school basketball and football coach. No private lessons. We learned from from watching guys shoot the basketball on TV or hit and pitch the baseball on TV and took it outside. Unfortunately we played baseball every day during the summer to go with official LL stuff and yes it probably ruined our arms pitching the rubber ball against the school wall for 9 innings every day in what they called 'fast pitch' on the southside. My friend peaked in high school, wrecked his arm. Was a special talent ruined by overuse I'd think. You have no idea how bad it is 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 4 hours ago, 46DidIt said: Why’s it a problem? Worked pretty well for Tiger Woods Or Todd Marinovich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 3 minutes ago, caulfield12 said: Or Todd Marinovich. Worked out great for Tyler Bush Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeC Posted August 23 Share Posted August 23 43 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said: Worked out great for Tyler Bush Patrick O’Sullivan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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