Well, after game 1 we had a few days off. On Monday Rabbit went to his "swing doctor" and then a practice on Tuesday night. Game 2 was scheduled for Wednesday. Since it is a double elimination format we needed to win or we would be out of the tournament.
We were visitors and batted first. Nothing too exciting, no runs across. In the bottom of the inning we played good defense (Rabbit started on first base) and looked good. In the second we scored 3. Rabbit walked his first time up and came around to score on a wild pitch. The pitcher for the opposing team hit his arm when he fell and came out of the game after 1.2 innings and we had a 3-1 lead. Sadly, we did not get any more runs that inning. In their half of the second we got two outs quickly, but struggled mightily to get that last out. The coach pulled the starter when the game was 4-3 and brought in Rabbit to get the last out. He got 3 ground balls, none of which were fielded. A bloop single over our 3B who was playing shallow for some reason, and a sleepy catcher (he knelt down to tie his shoe before calling time) led to 7-3 deficit by the end of the inning. We scrapped and fought, but finally ended up on the wrong end of a 10-6 score. Rabbit got a real nice opposite field hit in his second at bat. The team was guilty of several mental mistakes, for everyone, that really cost them a chance to move on. However, the baseball they played was a far sight better than what we witnessed on Saturday.
So we are now, officially, super-duper mean it done with Little League for this season. We will not be playing "fall ball" as we are with the travel team now.
Rabbit's new bats will be here today. Even though we have a day off I suspect he will want to hit later. Nothing serious, just a bucket of whiffles. We actually have the entire weekend off as well. Crazy! We are playing in a tournament with Blue Wave on July 5-6, then off that next week to Florida on vacation before coming back for the USSSA World Series July 23-27 held at Big League Dreams fields. By the time that is over we will already be in August. Wow, it sure is moving quickly.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
My rant about District 30 Little League
It is almost a week since this happened. I have purposely waited to let my emotions calm down and try to find a good reason for what has happened. But I am still amazed at what has happened.
As I mentioned earlier, Rabbit was selected to participate on the All Star team. Another boy from our team was selected also. Rabbit and this boy have been friends for 4 years and my wife and I are good friends with the parents. In fact, the other dad helped us coach this year. Both boys deserved the honor and were excited to play.
I was given a list of "acceptable" documents that I could provide to prove my residency. Keep in mind that this is after we had to prove our residency in order to sign up to play in the regular season. Among the allowed documents was a driver's license, utility bills, insurance cards, vehicle registration, school records and other similar documents. One mandatory document that was required was the birth certificate. But not the abstract, the actual full document. A photocopy was not allowed, neither was a notarized copy, it HAD to be the original. I even asked if I could supply his passport, a government issued photo ID. And we were supposed to leave it with the league for up to two weeks for them to verify that it was, in fact, the original. Sorry, not going to happen that way.
I supplied 4 forms of ID and made arrangements to drop off the birth certificate at the league offices the day it was needed. I simply was not comfortable leaving it with them for any length of time and knew that I would get it back the next morning. Please let me clarify that the people from our league were great. It is the district personnel that I have an issue with. I did not have faith that the district would keep track of my documents. So, I hand over the certificate at 5PM and off we go to a ChivasUSA soccer game.
We get home about 10PM and there are 3 messages on my phone. The first one is the manager of the All Star team asking me to call him immediately, the second is from our league informing us that Rabbit has been disallowed due to a problem with the documents and the third was our league trying to reach us again to clarify an issue. They had disallowed our son. I was furious. I fear that Rabbit learned some new words that night, or at least heard those words in new combinations. The basis for their disqualification was that I use my middle name. I have done that for over 20 years. No one at the league even knows my first name. My driver's license, vehicle registration and Rabbit's birth certificate had me listed as First Name Middle Name Last Name. The phone bill was listed as Middle Name Last Name. For that, that one item, they were going to disqualify us. The addresses all matched, if they bothered to read any of the documents, or cross check them it would have been obvious. But no, they refused to allow it. This is the worst form of power hungry twit I have ever dealt with. Anyone with half a brain could connect the dots. The district people are fools and spent hours trying to discredit players and parents. The were calling me a liar and accusing me of trying to game the system. This was stupid, petty and beyond unreasonable. Exactly what I expect from dealing with these clods.
They finally allowed that we were not perpetrating a massive fraud and accepted that some people do actually go by their middle names. We found that out the next morning, after a long night of no sleep. I spent hours trying to find a way to explain to my son that he would not be playing because some district flunkie had no sense of logic. Once we were reinstated we found out that Rabbit's friend had been disqualified as well. He was removed because he lived 2 blocks outside of the district boundaries. They have lived in that house nearly 20 years. For each of the last 5 seasons this boy has played in our league. They have dutifully taken their money and never raised an eyebrow in notice. Now this boy is excluded. This family can literally see the fields from their backyard, but allegedly belong to a Little League that plays 7 miles away. They "should have known" or gotten a waiver. The family was notified two weeks after the waiver deadline passed.
I have heard that an entire team of 9-10 All Stars was dismantled under the scrutiny of this district board. This is embarrassing. The district needs to reconsider their commitment to the kids. This petty, discretionary application of the rules, for a team that cannot advance to a national level anyway reeks of a power grab. They should be ashamed.
As I mentioned earlier, Rabbit was selected to participate on the All Star team. Another boy from our team was selected also. Rabbit and this boy have been friends for 4 years and my wife and I are good friends with the parents. In fact, the other dad helped us coach this year. Both boys deserved the honor and were excited to play.
I was given a list of "acceptable" documents that I could provide to prove my residency. Keep in mind that this is after we had to prove our residency in order to sign up to play in the regular season. Among the allowed documents was a driver's license, utility bills, insurance cards, vehicle registration, school records and other similar documents. One mandatory document that was required was the birth certificate. But not the abstract, the actual full document. A photocopy was not allowed, neither was a notarized copy, it HAD to be the original. I even asked if I could supply his passport, a government issued photo ID. And we were supposed to leave it with the league for up to two weeks for them to verify that it was, in fact, the original. Sorry, not going to happen that way.
I supplied 4 forms of ID and made arrangements to drop off the birth certificate at the league offices the day it was needed. I simply was not comfortable leaving it with them for any length of time and knew that I would get it back the next morning. Please let me clarify that the people from our league were great. It is the district personnel that I have an issue with. I did not have faith that the district would keep track of my documents. So, I hand over the certificate at 5PM and off we go to a ChivasUSA soccer game.
We get home about 10PM and there are 3 messages on my phone. The first one is the manager of the All Star team asking me to call him immediately, the second is from our league informing us that Rabbit has been disallowed due to a problem with the documents and the third was our league trying to reach us again to clarify an issue. They had disallowed our son. I was furious. I fear that Rabbit learned some new words that night, or at least heard those words in new combinations. The basis for their disqualification was that I use my middle name. I have done that for over 20 years. No one at the league even knows my first name. My driver's license, vehicle registration and Rabbit's birth certificate had me listed as First Name Middle Name Last Name. The phone bill was listed as Middle Name Last Name. For that, that one item, they were going to disqualify us. The addresses all matched, if they bothered to read any of the documents, or cross check them it would have been obvious. But no, they refused to allow it. This is the worst form of power hungry twit I have ever dealt with. Anyone with half a brain could connect the dots. The district people are fools and spent hours trying to discredit players and parents. The were calling me a liar and accusing me of trying to game the system. This was stupid, petty and beyond unreasonable. Exactly what I expect from dealing with these clods.
They finally allowed that we were not perpetrating a massive fraud and accepted that some people do actually go by their middle names. We found that out the next morning, after a long night of no sleep. I spent hours trying to find a way to explain to my son that he would not be playing because some district flunkie had no sense of logic. Once we were reinstated we found out that Rabbit's friend had been disqualified as well. He was removed because he lived 2 blocks outside of the district boundaries. They have lived in that house nearly 20 years. For each of the last 5 seasons this boy has played in our league. They have dutifully taken their money and never raised an eyebrow in notice. Now this boy is excluded. This family can literally see the fields from their backyard, but allegedly belong to a Little League that plays 7 miles away. They "should have known" or gotten a waiver. The family was notified two weeks after the waiver deadline passed.
I have heard that an entire team of 9-10 All Stars was dismantled under the scrutiny of this district board. This is embarrassing. The district needs to reconsider their commitment to the kids. This petty, discretionary application of the rules, for a team that cannot advance to a national level anyway reeks of a power grab. They should be ashamed.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
All Stars - Game 1
The All Star Tournament is a double elimination format and seems to encompass about 14-16 different leagues. I will go in greater detail in a later post, but let me clearly state how frustrated and angry I am with the way this is being run. It is a joke! We did not know the time or location of our first game until 22 hours prior to first pitch! Anyway, on to the game.
Our first game was against Orange Olive. We expected them to be a good team, and they were. They were also huge! Add in the fact it was well over 95 degrees at game time and I think our boys were intimidated. At least I hope that is the excuse, because we were awful. Our outfielders had no idea where to stand and the strikezone was so minuscule that any ball that could have been called a strike was drilled to the fence. Add in some other miscues, such as 4 players letting a popup drop between them and we were trounced. It was a frustrating day.
For bonus measure, I ended up as the assistant coach. This was different since I had not been helping at the practices and had to spend some time learning the players names. The manager had 2 assistants, one of whom we knew was not going to be available and another who did not show. So when I was asked to help I did what I could, but it did not have a dramatic effect the 14-1 final score.
Rabbit was OK, but was playing LF for the first time ever and had no help from the CF so he got to run after balls that were not his responsibility. He went 0-1 with a strikeout and a walk and played some 1B and handled himself well there. He was going to pitch the last inning, but the "mercy" rule applied so we did not need him. I expect he will pitch in the next game.
Not a lot of good things to say about the game other than it is over. If these boys want to play more than just two games they really need to get aggressive and play smarter.
On the personal side, Rabbit starts with a hitting coach (the previously mentioned Jason Corapci) on Monday. His new swing looks better and I think it will be a good thing for him. But if I was that smart I would be a major league hitting coach. ;)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Let's spend more money!
I learned something new at last weeks tournament - all the cool kids use "big barrel" bats. These are bats that are not legal for use in Little League play, so if we get one for Rabbit he will be using different bats over the course of a year. Yikes.
I found a cool website at justbats.com that has some nice closeout specials. There is even a buy one get one offer where I could get 2 years worth of bats for less than $150. This seems like the way we will go once I get a chance to talk to the coaches about their recommendations.
We went to the cages again last night and made a big change to Rabbit's swing. He is now standing very open and closing his foot as the ball comes in. He is not quite as exaggerated as Andres Galarraga was, but if you remember his swing it is a similar idea. The change was dramatic. He began driving the ball and hit 19/20 and 20/20 in his last two rounds in the cage. Prior to the change he had been hitting 12-15 each round. We will keep looking at that swing and positioning but the early results are encouraging.
We had Little League closing ceremonies last night and took home some hardware. The trophies they gave to the All Stars are about 2'6" tall. He was also named defensive MVP, threw the most innings and strikeouts and tied for most HR hit this season. It was a good year for him and it was fun to get the team back together one more time. All Star practice is tonight with the first game on Saturday --- we think.
I found a cool website at justbats.com that has some nice closeout specials. There is even a buy one get one offer where I could get 2 years worth of bats for less than $150. This seems like the way we will go once I get a chance to talk to the coaches about their recommendations.
We went to the cages again last night and made a big change to Rabbit's swing. He is now standing very open and closing his foot as the ball comes in. He is not quite as exaggerated as Andres Galarraga was, but if you remember his swing it is a similar idea. The change was dramatic. He began driving the ball and hit 19/20 and 20/20 in his last two rounds in the cage. Prior to the change he had been hitting 12-15 each round. We will keep looking at that swing and positioning but the early results are encouraging.
We had Little League closing ceremonies last night and took home some hardware. The trophies they gave to the All Stars are about 2'6" tall. He was also named defensive MVP, threw the most innings and strikeouts and tied for most HR hit this season. It was a good year for him and it was fun to get the team back together one more time. All Star practice is tonight with the first game on Saturday --- we think.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Tourney 1, Day 2
Happy Birthday to Me! I wake up at 6:45 to drive back to the Inland Empire. Never let it be questioned the amount of love I feel for my son. We were playing in the 9am game and then a semi-final at either 11am or 1pm. If we won the semi-final the championship game would be at 3pm. That is right, 3 games in one day. Yikes!
Rabbit was the starting pitcher for the first game. He was excited and nervous. He threw well, but some missed opportunities and errors limited him to 1/3 of an inning. If the team had made all of the "routine" plays he would have made 4 outs during the same span of hitters. Oh well, the coaches needed to find outs so Rabbit was sent back to RF. Rather than mope Rabbit decided to hit. In the first at-bat he was walked on 4 pitches. The second time up, now with runners on the corners, he missed a "take" sign and blasted a double into center field. Both runs scored and by the end of the game it ended at 11-11. We were now 1-1-1 in the tourney.
It turned out that we played the same team from the morning again in the semi-final. This was a great game and the lead changed hands 3 times. It was not until the last inning that we, well, the 9 year old boys, built a lead that would last. Rabbit walked, again, and grounded out twice. But he did advance runners both times he was up. He played a good RF again and was thrilled when it ended at 9-6 Blue Wave, meaning they had earned a berth in the Championship Game!
In between games (we had all of 15 minutes) we did whatever we could to cool him down and get water and gatorade into him. I am pretty sure it was hotter on the second day, were that even possible. The final was to be played against the team that had beat us the day before. Our coaches were happy that we had made the final and were impressed that this team of 10 boys, 3 of whom had not played in a game with them before, had come together so quickly. Rabbit sat (finally) for the first inning. Unfortunately, we went a quiet 1-2-3 while the opponents put up a 6 run cushion on some timely hitting. Our boys were tired and got shocked by that inning. The second inning we still could not muster any offense, but the defense was much better. Please note, I am biased, but when Rabbit was off the field they scored, when he was on the field, they didn't. Enough said. :)
In the bottom of the third he was playing 1B. And he had a great inning. His first opportunity came and he made a great stretch to get the runner on a bang-bang play. After a walk and steal there was a runner on second when a ground ball was hit to the SS. SS made a great throw to get the runner and Rabbit came up gunning to the Catcher to get the runner trying to come home. Just a nice, easy 6-3-2 double play. Even the umpire came over to congratulate him on a great throw.
Defensively he played great, recording two more putouts and just missing another 6-3-2 double play opportunity. His last at bat was another grounder, to the right side, to move the runner along. While not flashy, he played a solid game that really made him feel like he belongs playing with this type of a team. Alas, it ended 9-1 with California Legends winning the title and Blue Wave as runner up.
After the game there was an awards ceremony on the field. Each Blue Wave player received a T-shirt designating them as a finalist at the tournament. Last night Rabbit slept in his. I expect he will every night for a month. He told his mom as we were packing up that he "could have died" he had so much fun out there. It was an amazing thing to watch him, and his teammates, grow up in two days like that. It was the best present I could have ever received.
4 1 1 2 2 1
Rabbit was the starting pitcher for the first game. He was excited and nervous. He threw well, but some missed opportunities and errors limited him to 1/3 of an inning. If the team had made all of the "routine" plays he would have made 4 outs during the same span of hitters. Oh well, the coaches needed to find outs so Rabbit was sent back to RF. Rather than mope Rabbit decided to hit. In the first at-bat he was walked on 4 pitches. The second time up, now with runners on the corners, he missed a "take" sign and blasted a double into center field. Both runs scored and by the end of the game it ended at 11-11. We were now 1-1-1 in the tourney.
It turned out that we played the same team from the morning again in the semi-final. This was a great game and the lead changed hands 3 times. It was not until the last inning that we, well, the 9 year old boys, built a lead that would last. Rabbit walked, again, and grounded out twice. But he did advance runners both times he was up. He played a good RF again and was thrilled when it ended at 9-6 Blue Wave, meaning they had earned a berth in the Championship Game!
In between games (we had all of 15 minutes) we did whatever we could to cool him down and get water and gatorade into him. I am pretty sure it was hotter on the second day, were that even possible. The final was to be played against the team that had beat us the day before. Our coaches were happy that we had made the final and were impressed that this team of 10 boys, 3 of whom had not played in a game with them before, had come together so quickly. Rabbit sat (finally) for the first inning. Unfortunately, we went a quiet 1-2-3 while the opponents put up a 6 run cushion on some timely hitting. Our boys were tired and got shocked by that inning. The second inning we still could not muster any offense, but the defense was much better. Please note, I am biased, but when Rabbit was off the field they scored, when he was on the field, they didn't. Enough said. :)
In the bottom of the third he was playing 1B. And he had a great inning. His first opportunity came and he made a great stretch to get the runner on a bang-bang play. After a walk and steal there was a runner on second when a ground ball was hit to the SS. SS made a great throw to get the runner and Rabbit came up gunning to the Catcher to get the runner trying to come home. Just a nice, easy 6-3-2 double play. Even the umpire came over to congratulate him on a great throw.
Defensively he played great, recording two more putouts and just missing another 6-3-2 double play opportunity. His last at bat was another grounder, to the right side, to move the runner along. While not flashy, he played a solid game that really made him feel like he belongs playing with this type of a team. Alas, it ended 9-1 with California Legends winning the title and Blue Wave as runner up.
After the game there was an awards ceremony on the field. Each Blue Wave player received a T-shirt designating them as a finalist at the tournament. Last night Rabbit slept in his. I expect he will every night for a month. He told his mom as we were packing up that he "could have died" he had so much fun out there. It was an amazing thing to watch him, and his teammates, grow up in two days like that. It was the best present I could have ever received.
4 1 1 2 2 1
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Tourney 1, Day 1
Rabbit played RF for the entire first game, and easy 15-8 win in which he went 0-1 with a strikeout and 2 walks. He also came around to score twice, stole two or three bases depending on the opinion of the scorer, and played some decent defense. He is still trying to figure out where to stand out there.
Game 2 was against the Legends, who had also won their first game. It was very tight until a few costly errors by us gave them a comfortable lead and an eventual 9-3 win. Rabbit came in to pitch and went 2/3 inning with 1H, 1K, 2R, 0ER and no walks. He played a great RF including an out and not letting any ball past him. In Little League a ball to the outfield usually means 3B or HR. Today, it usually meant long single. At the plate he was 0-1 with a strikeout and a walk.
He pitched well, and most importantly, confidently. He has 5 innings of "eligibility" left for tomorrow. The coach came over and congratulated him on a good job and that meant the world to him. I must admit I was quite nervous when he came in. His first pitch was called strike one. In fact, of the 5 batters he faced (we had some fielding issues to work out) he was ahead to all 5.
Hitting will need to be addressed. He is just not comfortable up there and does not know how to go about fixing his swing. We have many friends and coaches who can help us get him into shape and Rabbit knows that it will be an uphill battle until he is proficient. But, I am sure he is up for the challenge.
How did I hold up? Well thanks for asking. I did great. It was 97 degrees and I am happy to report that the easy up worked perfectly. Tomorrow we start even earlier (leaving the house by 7:15) so we shall see how it goes.
2 1 0 0 3 2
Friday, June 13, 2008
And away we go
Wish us luck, first tournament is tomorrow. So far we have purchased 2 hats ($50), an easy-up ($90), new socks, pants and belts ($75) and various balls, whiffles and other fun stuff ($50). That is right, we are roughly $265 into this, not counting tournament fees, initiation fees and coaching fees (appx. $600 so far) before we have played even one inning. I knew this was coming, but this is wildly different than the $55 Little League season.
Speaking of Little League we had our first All Stars practice last night. Rabbit was tired, but he hit very well. Those who know him realize this is quite a feat as he is generally not a strong hitter. He played real well in the field as well and seems to enjoy playing with the boys he has known for years again.
His arm looks great for this weekend and he is so excited he can barely sit still. Our games are in Moreno Valley (hour drive into the desert) and we need to leave Saturday morning by 8am. On Sunday we need to leave by 6:30. Anyone who knows me realizes what a sacrifice this is for my child. It is supposed to be stupidly hot this weekend, and there are 9 boys going. 24 innings without a rest over a two day span. The good news is that the most they can pitch is 6 innings in one day, 7 in two days. We still have a practice tonight, then home by 9 PM to pack up the car. It will be fun to see how he responds to all this playing time. The good news is that with next week being the last week of school it will be OK for him to be exhausted on Monday.
Speaking of Little League we had our first All Stars practice last night. Rabbit was tired, but he hit very well. Those who know him realize this is quite a feat as he is generally not a strong hitter. He played real well in the field as well and seems to enjoy playing with the boys he has known for years again.
His arm looks great for this weekend and he is so excited he can barely sit still. Our games are in Moreno Valley (hour drive into the desert) and we need to leave Saturday morning by 8am. On Sunday we need to leave by 6:30. Anyone who knows me realizes what a sacrifice this is for my child. It is supposed to be stupidly hot this weekend, and there are 9 boys going. 24 innings without a rest over a two day span. The good news is that the most they can pitch is 6 innings in one day, 7 in two days. We still have a practice tonight, then home by 9 PM to pack up the car. It will be fun to see how he responds to all this playing time. The good news is that with next week being the last week of school it will be OK for him to be exhausted on Monday.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
And so it begins.....
This morning Rabbit asked me if we could go to the batting cages tonight. And on Thursday. We also have practice Wednesday and Friday. And an All-Stars meeting tonight. Tournaments Saturday and Sunday. This is starting to get silly.
In order to help maintain some form of balance my wife and I have decided to try out a "get out of jail free" card for practices. Once per month, for any reason at all, on 2 hours notice Rabbit can excuse himself from a practice. While I do not expect he will use it, I want him to know that this is fun activity, and not a full time job, previous paragraph not withstanding.
I came a cross an interesting letter from Little League headquarters. While I appreciate the sentiment, I have several problems with their position. Every Little League activity is pointed towards a tournament. Every game counts. Every trophy matters. While I whole heartedly endorse pitch counts and safety measures it is ridiculous to say that "Travel Ball" ignores those issues. I especially find this sentence noteworthy:
In reality though, those who support travel ball are in many cases fulfilling a self-serving goal by seeking out a “higher level of competition” for the expressed purpose of supposedly increasing their child’s chances of landing a major college scholarship, or professional contract.
That is absolutely correct that I want my son to play with a higher level of competition. I want him to fight for every opportunity. That is how he gets better at something he loves. Do I honestly believe that he will play baseball professionally? Not for a second. I just hope he plays baseball so long as it is fun. There are parents with $ in their eyes at these tournaments, but not more than I see in the stands of any Little League game. After managing for the last several years I have lost count of how many times I get spoken to by parents who know their child has the "something special" and that I am directly stunting their development.
I have yet to meet a 9 or 10 year old who is playing in the Major Leagues. Think about what you wanted to be when you were 10. By the time I was 14 I had my entire life and career planned out. Not a single aspect of my life today is how I envisioned it back then. And that is a good thing.
My hope for my son is that he develops discipline, camaraderie, problem solving skills and teamwork from his baseball "career." Everything else is gravy.
In order to help maintain some form of balance my wife and I have decided to try out a "get out of jail free" card for practices. Once per month, for any reason at all, on 2 hours notice Rabbit can excuse himself from a practice. While I do not expect he will use it, I want him to know that this is fun activity, and not a full time job, previous paragraph not withstanding.
I came a cross an interesting letter from Little League headquarters. While I appreciate the sentiment, I have several problems with their position. Every Little League activity is pointed towards a tournament. Every game counts. Every trophy matters. While I whole heartedly endorse pitch counts and safety measures it is ridiculous to say that "Travel Ball" ignores those issues. I especially find this sentence noteworthy:
In reality though, those who support travel ball are in many cases fulfilling a self-serving goal by seeking out a “higher level of competition” for the expressed purpose of supposedly increasing their child’s chances of landing a major college scholarship, or professional contract.
That is absolutely correct that I want my son to play with a higher level of competition. I want him to fight for every opportunity. That is how he gets better at something he loves. Do I honestly believe that he will play baseball professionally? Not for a second. I just hope he plays baseball so long as it is fun. There are parents with $ in their eyes at these tournaments, but not more than I see in the stands of any Little League game. After managing for the last several years I have lost count of how many times I get spoken to by parents who know their child has the "something special" and that I am directly stunting their development.
I have yet to meet a 9 or 10 year old who is playing in the Major Leagues. Think about what you wanted to be when you were 10. By the time I was 14 I had my entire life and career planned out. Not a single aspect of my life today is how I envisioned it back then. And that is a good thing.
My hope for my son is that he develops discipline, camaraderie, problem solving skills and teamwork from his baseball "career." Everything else is gravy.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Practice makes perfect
One of our core reasons for continuing playing over the summer with a travel ball team was that Rabbit would be constantly improving from the direct supervision. That and the fact that he asked us if he could play baseball every day all summer long. He cleans his room, loves his mother and does his homework so there was no way we could say no.
During the Little League season we practiced 2 days a week and had 2 games a week. Rabbit was a starting pitcher and 1st baseman so he would, usually, pitch one game and play in the field the other. He is working on a change up right now to go with his 3 different fastballs. Coach Louis from Blue Wave taught him the grip just last week so we are still figuring it out.
Blue Wave practices are twice a week, Wednesday and Friday, from 5pm to 7pm or so. I say or so because the fielding practices tend to go a bit longer and the conditioning practices a bit shorter. These are hard-core working practices also. Lots of running and drills. It is fun to watch a group of motivated boys try to out hustle each other while maintaining a healthy competitive spirit. As an added bonus, Rabbit sleeps real well on the nights after practice.
We are spending a fair amount of money for this instruction and have had to make some internal rules regarding priorities. We have told our son these and so far (it is still new and exciting, let's see how we all feel in 6 months) he is 100% on board.
For the summer, our order of priorities is as follows:
1) Family
2) Baseball
3) Friends
Meaning that baseball practice and games take priority over sleep overs and going to the movies. In addition to the twice weekly team practices we will be going to the batting cages once a week and also continuing our Sunday morning baseball at the local fields. It is realistic that we will be spending almost 15-25 hours a week on baseball between practices and games. I must be honest and say that I am concerned about that much time and focus. We wanted to do this to help our son get better at something he enjoys and has done well at. The last thing I want to do is burn him out at the age of 9.
To avoid this we have 3 weeks of no baseball. A family trip in July and a week at his cousin's house will provide a nice break. It is very easy to toss in a mitt and play catch if you want to. It is also very easy to not play catch if you would rather do something else that day.
During the Little League season we practiced 2 days a week and had 2 games a week. Rabbit was a starting pitcher and 1st baseman so he would, usually, pitch one game and play in the field the other. He is working on a change up right now to go with his 3 different fastballs. Coach Louis from Blue Wave taught him the grip just last week so we are still figuring it out.
Blue Wave practices are twice a week, Wednesday and Friday, from 5pm to 7pm or so. I say or so because the fielding practices tend to go a bit longer and the conditioning practices a bit shorter. These are hard-core working practices also. Lots of running and drills. It is fun to watch a group of motivated boys try to out hustle each other while maintaining a healthy competitive spirit. As an added bonus, Rabbit sleeps real well on the nights after practice.
We are spending a fair amount of money for this instruction and have had to make some internal rules regarding priorities. We have told our son these and so far (it is still new and exciting, let's see how we all feel in 6 months) he is 100% on board.
For the summer, our order of priorities is as follows:
1) Family
2) Baseball
3) Friends
Meaning that baseball practice and games take priority over sleep overs and going to the movies. In addition to the twice weekly team practices we will be going to the batting cages once a week and also continuing our Sunday morning baseball at the local fields. It is realistic that we will be spending almost 15-25 hours a week on baseball between practices and games. I must be honest and say that I am concerned about that much time and focus. We wanted to do this to help our son get better at something he enjoys and has done well at. The last thing I want to do is burn him out at the age of 9.
To avoid this we have 3 weeks of no baseball. A family trip in July and a week at his cousin's house will provide a nice break. It is very easy to toss in a mitt and play catch if you want to. It is also very easy to not play catch if you would rather do something else that day.
Welcome, now light your summer plans on fire
After another very strong Little League season (AAA this time, capped with an All-Star invitation) we decided to give travel baseball a try for the summer. If you had asked me in March to describe the options for a 9 year old to play travel baseball I would have been amazed that such an animal even existed. Now I am just starting to realize how huge an animal this really is.
We met with people we trust and went to several different organizations. Special thanks to Jason Corapci at Real Deal Baseball camps for his input. In the end we chose Irvine Blue Wave as our team of choice. I may go into greater detail later about the whole process, but I have too many things going on right now to lay it all out.
We are just now preparing for a busy schedule of tournaments encompassing both All Stars and travel ball. Our first travel ball tourney is scheduled for Father's Day weekend, the 14th and 15th of June. All Stars starts on the 21st of June. I am still unsure of what format the All Stars tournament will take, but expect it to mostly be a Saturday thing with a day or two of practice midweek.
My plan for now is to relate my experiences, solicit help, shout into the wind and brag when appropriate.
We met with people we trust and went to several different organizations. Special thanks to Jason Corapci at Real Deal Baseball camps for his input. In the end we chose Irvine Blue Wave as our team of choice. I may go into greater detail later about the whole process, but I have too many things going on right now to lay it all out.
We are just now preparing for a busy schedule of tournaments encompassing both All Stars and travel ball. Our first travel ball tourney is scheduled for Father's Day weekend, the 14th and 15th of June. All Stars starts on the 21st of June. I am still unsure of what format the All Stars tournament will take, but expect it to mostly be a Saturday thing with a day or two of practice midweek.
My plan for now is to relate my experiences, solicit help, shout into the wind and brag when appropriate.
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