So why does it seem that football coaches have something against baseball? Mine and my son's first experience.
So why is it that football coaches downplay baseball?
This is my son's first year playing football. We have been a baseball family for seven years, so getting use to the football dynamics was quite a foreign thing. We figured if he was going to play in high school, we better get him some experience now, since he is in junior high school.
For his first year, he is an animal. He has made it on occasion to starting defense. Although, some games he gets little play. On Halloween, his first play in, he caused an encroahnment penalty for the opposing team. His second play in he sacked the quarterback for an 8 yd loss. This happens every game they play him. Now, mind you he is a 92 lb. nose guard and defensive tackle. Some of these kids have 40 plus pounds on him. This is where determination, heart, natural ability and tenacity come in to play. Now, most people would look at him as an offensive player. With his history of baseball, one would think he would be a receiver, running back or quarterback. He is tall and lanky. He has big hands and a strong grip (comment made by coach after shaking my son’s hand their first meeting ). Yet the coaches have him where they want him for some reason or another, and to be honest he loves to take the other guy down. It doesn’t wear out his arm and he see‘s where the tackle is coming from, so he isn‘t blind sided. He really digs the tackling and he is great at it. All is good there.
My son has also come to realize mentally it is a different game. He isn’t used to beating up on his own team mates. He has realized he needs to make his team mate look bad if he is going to get into the game. He has to be the first off the line. However, like baseball it can be about teamwork. If they don't work together they will not advance. His team went 10-0 after the last game of the season and took first place in division. Now off to play offs, championship and hopefully super bowl.
About that dreaded “b” word. This past baseball season (his seventh) he made it to lead off batter because of his ability to steal bases (including home) and he has a great eye for the ball. He rarely strikes out, although sometimes he gets walked more than he would like. He is the master stealer. He takes huge lead offs and pitchers think they can pick him off. Having only been tagged out three times in seven years of play, they have not had much success. None of these times, was he really out. Once, he got the wrong signal from his coach, who was apologetic afterward. Mind you, he looked at the coach like ‘what“, but the coach is the coach and he did what he was told. The other two times, the umpires made a bad call. One time my son's coach ended up being thrown out of the game, he was that safe. You see he has reflexes that my age can only remember as a lovingly, far distant memory.
My son is a third baseman and a relief pitcher. Now, he is developing his speed, but the key here is his accuracy. Knowing where to put the ball against certain batters and it also doesn’t hurt that he throws some junk. Now, I have been told you can’t teach someone to throw junk, you either have it or you don’t. One coach has compared his style to Nolan Ryan. Although that might not be a good thing, as Ryan has had surgeries. My son's junk ball wobbles as it comes at you and the batter rarely seems to find it. On the rare occasions they do find it, it doesn’t go anywhere. He has pitched hitless innings and has had less than a handful of runs against him. Although he likes to pitch, third base is his passion. He loves to get into a pickle with the catcher. He has earned the right to play third because he will throw his body at the ball if he has to in order to stop the ball from getting outfield. He loves the sport for it’s civilized play. He had to earn his play time based on his ability. Now, if he played draft, it would be more about politics. That is something that really has no business being in youth sports.
Football however, is different, as it does have more politics. Play time in the game seems to go by years in the organization, having played before and then the newbie. That is not to say they won't play a newbie but they do have to pay their dues. I’m not trying to start a holy war here, but that is just the way it is. My son probably has one of the top records for sacking the quarterback based on a per play average. This is not to say the others are not as good. The coach is extremely blessed this year with amazing talent from many. Many that do not get much play. My son gets in on his own killer offense at practice to the point the coach yells "who is blocking him, you got to stop him”. Then he usually gets double or triple teamed. He also brings down the running backs and wide receivers by wrapping their legs. This is something other teams have had difficulty doing as indicated by our last score of 46-0. His teammates want him beside them and have spoken up for him and others. He has given 110 percent every time he takes the field.
What I can say for sure, is that he has learned a lot. The coaches have done their job well and now my son has a great base to improve upon. For this we both will be forever grateful. We both have realized that his killing it at practice, has helped to make his team better and he should be very proud of that. Yet he is a newbie. Maybe we will stay for next year, maybe we will look elsewhere. This is the one part of football he could live without. If you ask most kids "do you want to play or do you want to win", I think most would say play. My son knows what it is like to do both. If you asked him, he would say no one likes to lose but he would choose to play.
I hear this comment a lot from people “football is a contact sport, baseball isn't”. I hear this comment a lot from football coaches "This isn't baseball boy‘s". I never hear baseball couches saying the reverse. Now, what are they trying to imply? Does it take a man to play football? In baseball, there is no padding. There is no face guard. When you get hit in the face it hurts. When you get hit with a pitch it can cause injuries. When you steal a base, you have no pads, watch out for those metal cleats. I have seen some serious injuries requiring players to leave the game. I can't tell you how many times my son has bled form diving back to base, been hit, or stepped on as a baseman tries for the ball and his cleats end up in his skin. He has fractured his fifth metatarsal and played on it for five weeks before the second set of x-rays confirmed there was a fracture. Yes, I did take him when he first injured his foot but the x-rays were misread. I have seen kids play with taped fingers, sprained ankles and various other injuries.
Football can be more physical but there are injuries in both. Both also require the ability for speed and athleticism. Both take all heart, physical ability and brains. I will concede the main difference between football and baseball is that they are two totally different mindsets and that is where I will leave it.
P.S. Yes, I am a proud parent!
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A parents view.
You may agree or disagree, with this blog. It was based on our experience and I am sure there are many whom have a different take on things. I wrote the above blog in support of my son, for whom I am very proud of. You see he never gives up and that is what it is all about.
I'm not sure there is a conspiracy against baseball from...
I'm not sure there is a conspiracy of tendency for football coaches to talk smack about baseball. I think they are just so gall-darn competitive they want nothing to get in the way of "their" game. I've heard the same remarks in the 12 years my son has played football. In fact, when he wanted to play baseball and football in high school, his football coach had a little chat with the baseball coach in an attempt to discourage my son from playing baseball in the spring, rather than training for football.
Kids should be allowed/enabled to participate in a variety of activities. Forcing them to choose one thing over another in junior high sin't in their best interest.
For the record, I never said or meant to imply a conspiracy
I did not mean to imply a conspiracy. This was only meant to be an observation based on our experience. It is very true that football coaches are more competetive and do not like to share athletes with other sports. We waited a long time to put him into football because we knew it would take dedication from our whole family. That is not to say we don't support baseball. It is just a little less of a time consuming sport.
You are very right that kids should participate in a variety of activities. That is why we had him try football. He also wants to try wrestling. One day he will need to choose between the two as they will overlap but for right now he is just a kid who loves to play sports. If I am allowed to brag a little more he has done an awesome job for his first year and he is loving it.
welcome to high school
welcome to high school sports, were the two and three sport athlete is done very rare why? cause highschool coaches want the kid to focus one one sport only. A.D dont care as long as the coach follow the guide lines from the school and some coaches dont like other coaches for what ever reason.
yes your son may gifted for all sports but, reality is he must choose one in high school coaches wont come out and say it but they will make it a point to some how tell the kid to play one sport.
thats life in this era back in the days when all coaches use all kids to play different sports are all gone now. now its about which coach can win a championship first.
I believe the (Coaches/School Adm) make H/S sports
to competitive. It's not so much about participating with others and learning about "team concept" as it is about winning. Even in H/S now, we see coaches violating rules big time in order to win. The next level for a H/S coach is college and that is the jump they look for.
The sorrowful part of all of it is that it's does nothing to make sports fun anymore. And the truth is the vast majority, well over 90% will never play any sport beyond the H/S level.
Problem with playing one sport year round
My husband and I thought long and hard about how we wanted to handle the sports deciscion. We see alot of kids that play one sport year round from a very young age and by the time they get to high school they are all used up.
We didn't want that for our kids. Our oldest(who is the one in this blog) will be thirteen next week. He didn't start pitching until he was eleven and we got him some lessons from a pitching coach to make sure he had the proper mechanics. This year his baseball coach wanted him to play fall ball to improve on what he has. We decided to give his arm a break and have him do football.
I have read studies that they are finding overuse do to excessive play in one sport. He is blessed that so far, what he has tried, he has done well in. Alhtough, he didn't start out as the good baseball player that he is now. Age may have been the factor. We chose not to put him in football at a young age because of the higher risk of injury.
When he first started this season they (coaches) joked around saying after he plays football he won't want to go back to baseball. He loves both now, but, because of the politics of who gets play he likes baseball just a little bit more. He appreciates both, but he has realized that in baseball he will get more play. This is where we will have to make the decision to stay or go to another team. Many are thinking about next year as well.
Because of the veterans on the team he wasn't given much of a look at for offensive positions. Everyone who meets this kid sees him as a quarterback or receiver. Yet, the politics dictate where he plays. Mind you, this is okay for him because he really loves where he is on defensive line. Problem I have is he has taken and given some hard hits to his throwing arm and I have to wonder if it is worth it? He says he wants to play next year but maybe not for the same team. You see his brother is going to play next year too and would have to go through the same thing. I just don't think I have the heart to watch it again. It really sucks that they get penalized for having interest other than football.
Winning is everything and sometimes the adults forget what really matter.
first, as a student
first, as a student traninner for sports medicine. at a young age you should never let a coach tell you how to take care of your sons health.
case in point:
back east a young boy at the young age of 11 threw some very serious heat and moved up a div. the coach was all gung -hoand wanted to teach the kid to throw curves, sliders, everything in the book. parents had no clue but wanted more answers about this.
the coach showed this 11 year old everything winning wasnt problem they went 35-0 went to simi in national tournament. this kid record was a good
21-0 ERA. 0.25 10 PERFECT GAMES THIS KID WAS THE ONE. the only issue with this kid the coach didnt want to hear the trainner about this young kid arm. this kid is now 25 and never played beyound high school. at 16 he had 6 surgeries on his arm.
the kid arm was not fully develope yet but coach didnt want to listen. the talent of the kid is second before the coaches dream.
justpaytheofficails, that is exactly why...
... we found someone responsible to teach him
We were lucky(researched) to find a pitching coach that did not believe in teaching curves, etc. He taught him the basics and as he gets older he will introduce more. My son was throwing side armed and we knew that was not good. He corrected my son and taught him how to throw properly so as not to damage his arm. I agree though there are coaches that will do anything to win, both in basebal and football.
My other son age 10 has a rocket for an arm, At age 9 he was throwing in the forties, Now at 10 he throws in the fifties. We have held him back not allowing him to pitch much because he is not developed. He is considered to be in the 2-5% that have the natural ability to do this. He also plays a mean first base, splits and all. He is great at sticking to the bag on an overthrow. Last year he only pitched one inning a game and not every game. This is our rule, not the coaches.
My eldest son also pitches one inning and not every game. You see we want them to enjoy what they are doing, but we are also protecting them for their future. Whether it be in sports or as surgeon.
No curve balls here!
They do not go on a regular basis
I should probable clarify one thing. They have only had a handfull of lessons in the past year or two. It is not a regular thing we do. When the seasons starts that is when they get a few lessons and then they work on the proper mechanics at home.
Football political
Too much so
There has to be a better way than private organizations within the High Schools. The schools should expad their programs and these sub teams which limit plays I believe to four plays per half teach what?
Ever watch the exchange of funds and the coaches? That is not limited to football but MYSA and Modesto Youth Baseball, is appalling at the greed and theft. I stand by these words as i have encountered the consequences of those politics
its all a joke
its all a joke
Tis true
There are politics in all sports but I find football to be the most. I did not realize when I signed my son up, how expensive it would be. First. we paid a registration fee $150, we had to buy socks, practice jersy and under armor. Then there were two scrimmage games and so far 11 other games. Admission costs my family $12 per game, we are there for close to 5 hours, then add an extra $20 or more because you cannot bring in food or drink. Then consider the gas to all the practices and games over the four month period. It takes a huge commitment of time and money to watch the kid on the sideline..
My biggest problem is they take on as many kids as they can for the almighty dollar. Clearly, you do not need 40 players per team in youth football. We did win last game and are now 11-0, heading for championships this weekend and hopefully to superbowl. I am loooking forward to down time until baseball. In baseball you are limited to 12 players per team and they make up as many teams needed to achieve this. They do not charge to watch the game. Though, I could do without the fundraising.
I am looking forward to when they start high school sports. At least it should be an improvement.