whoever is the navy seal, confirm if being waterboarded is part of the training. always heard that, never knew if it was real. for the record, i think i could be waterboarded and handle it with flying colors.
OT: Youth Travel Baseball
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offensive lineman? little running, mobility really not required in youth football. play offensive guard if you are fat and you are probably gonna play and be good up til high school.
baseball requires hand/eye coordination in hitting a ball. fat kids usually dont have a fluid or quick swing, fast hands. disagree bigly with your assumption that fat kids will do well in baseball. football definitely.
I agree. I was a somewhat fat soccer player and then quit to play baseball in middle school. My lack of speed and skill was always on display with soccer. With baseball, I got on base regularly and my lack of athleticism could be largely hidden in right field. So while I was bad at soccer, I was mediocre at baseball. Funny that I quit both before 9th grade and then got my growth spurt out of being a fat kid.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
I doubt he could confirm or deny that. You have a waterboarding kink? Not shaming but it's probably not easy to find a "top" that knows what they're doing.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Is that like how you lie about being a Pitt fan? You're kind of an amazing dude in that you know everything about everything. Really sad you wake up around noon and argue about things you know nothing about.
I know a lot about youth soccer. I would love to know how his kid is playing 6 games every single weekend because he's the only kid in the nation doing that.
Yeah, for a tournament in the fall or spring, sure. Anything May-September and it gets tough. My daughter had two games on a Sunday a few weekends ago when it was pushing 90 and it was rough.
you guys are bragging about your special ops friends to try and win an argument on an anonymous message board about youth soccer.
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It's possible, if you have a weekend tournament, to play 5-6 soccer games in a weekend. The first teams eliminated usually are guaranteed 3 games, then as you advance, the winning teams probably at least get to 6. But most teams don't have a tourney every weekend.
My son plays on three soccer teams.
He has had 4 games in a weekend at least two weekends a month.
I've seen this in all levels of baseball. The anxiety of kids and parents to get to the next level, at the expense of enjoying the game today. I was a head coach in college, head coach in HS, high level travel ball coach (without charging kids a dime) and a parent. My son is now in college and I believe that travel ball is way over the top, and parents need to understand that people are in the business of travel ball to make money. Just like any business, it runs the gamut from great people to money grubbing jagoffs. I could write volumes on this, and I wish every parent and coach would read Mike Matheny's book the Matheny Manifesto. Every dad wants their kid to succeed and be happy, and many will pay top dollar in an effort to believe they are giving their kid every opportunity. That in turn leads to hearing what you want to hear about your kid's ability and the possibility of getting a scholarship. My bottom line advice, make sure your kid has fun, let him play in local leagues, maybe go to a few tournaments every year to get the experience. Take all the money you would have spent on travel ball organizations, coaches and trainers and put it in a 529 plan for your kids' college. That investment will give you a much better statistical opportunity than a hope of getting a baseball scholarship that is in any way significant.
I’ve never related to a post more - I played in the high level travel ball circuit about 10 years ago. Was playing 30 some games for my high school, 60ish games for my summer team and another 25 or so in the fall. Literally all across the country. You name it, I played there. USA Baseball in Cary, Virginia, Baltimore, the spring training facilities in florida, all the way out west to vegas. It got to the point that it was a chore and I hated it because all that stuff is is a gimmick. Yea, its cool to play high level talent and I had a ton of teammates who got drafted or I played against guys in the MLB now but missed out on so many opportunities to just be a kid. One of the only good things that came out of it was that it teaches you to be extremely discipline and I got to spend a lot of time with my dad and we have a really strong relationship because of it. Outside of that, its not worth it. Just have fun.
I am just not sure what the purpose us for a 9, 10, 11 year old kid to be playing 90 baseball games per year. How do they have time for anything else?
as a parent, there does seem to be this underlying pressure that you are selling your kid short if he/she is not involved in these travel leagues and just playing rec is setting them up for failure.. it's silly and it's the meathead sports dad usually that perpetuates this myth.
little man is going in 4th and kinda thinking about getting him into football and it's like we are way to late because these kids have been playing since Kindergarten. again, stupid because i've seen these little kid football games and it's 21 kids standing around while the one tall fast kid just runs sweeps the whole time. not exactly a foundation for football knowledge..
little man is going in 4th and kinda thinking about getting him into football and it's like we are way to late because these kids have been playing since Kindergarten. again, stupid because i've seen these little kid football games and it's 21 kids standing around while the one tall fast kid just runs sweeps the whole time. not exactly a foundation for football knowledge..
Exactly. There is time for stress and crazy schedules later in life, not as kids.
I think its incredibly stupid to play on an organized tackle football team until middle school. Kids should be playing flag football until then. Football is purely an athletic/size/speed game with little to no "skills" that need to be developed from a young age. Either you are big, fast, and athletic, or you arent
When I was younger it had benefits. I’m talking the 10-13 age range. I was able to play in my local little league when I was home and generally traveled only on the weekends so I got the best of both worlds despite my parents really suffering after working all week. But at that point it exposes you to better competition when you’re younger that you can’t get at your local little league. Don’t take this the wrong way b/c trust me I’m not trying to make it sound like this is like some massive accomplishment but I was the best player in my hometown little league and didn’t get much exposure to higher level players unless I traveled. Ultimately it made me a better player for when I was older because I had been exposed to more.
but playing 90 games as 9-14 year old is absurd. I probably never played more than 60 at that age and realistically the number is probably closer to 50. Kids should play as many sports as they want and should never specialize. It doesn’t allow you to fully develop as an athlete and frankly they are just generally fun.
pittdan77
Athletic Director
Crap, my sarcasm font was off. My bad. I also don't care. There's no argument to win. Just funny that a dude is calling someone he doesn't know a liar because he knows everything.
I hate agreeing with SMF but I agree with him here. I spoke many times about Daddyball. It is the worst and nothing good happens there. Everything you can learn there, can be learned in flag football too.
Post 9. I wrote others but this is the most complete.
Jester Weah's cousin
Tim Weah had a hat trick today to lead the U17 MNT to the Round of 8 at the World Cup. He plays at PSG and figures to be a mainstay with the senior national team eventually. His dad and Jester's Uncle George is one of the greatest ever.
pittsburgh.forums.rivals.com
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Why do you worry about this stuff. Travel golf. Golf is very established in junior golf. Between high school and American League baseball I probably played 90 games and I lived.
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what did i tell you earlier? this is the most dominant sport on the planet. no - fat kids can't play soccer. no - it's not running. track guys can't play football or soccer. stop making soccer comments. you literally have the worst takes on the sport. you say you watch it but i don't believe you. i'm literally losing respect or your intelligence over the most stupid posts on this site. it's you.
watch this. all of it. never once is he running. let me see tom brady do this.
"no skill." you're an idiot. swear to god you know nothing about this sport or any other. "no skill." what sport can you say that about? none. ####'ing moron.
go say this to the vidovich or waldrum. i dare you to send this post to them. do it.
don't EVER post anything about our soccer teams doing well. FOTH. asshole MF'er.
let me state this:
ECNL is the top kid league. then there is EDP neither have tournaments every weekend. it's a league format. if you're kid is playing in multiple games every weekend, then that kid is not playing at the highest level or remotely close to it.
below that level is probably some form of county level or something akin. they do not have tournaments every weekend. no kid is playing multiple games of soccer every weekend.
trust me - i live this with 2 boys. soccer gets you 1/2 tournaments per season. that's at the top level.
Haha! When I was 8 I hit a kid while pitching during a baseball game. Actually three. My old man bitched at me the whole drive home and threw a baseball at me in front of the garage door when we got home. I was terrified of hitting another batter so I pitched like Greg Maddox for the rest of the year..... just slow and hitting spots. By the time I was nine I could tell my old man to go to hell, throw with 9 year old power, and actually hit my spots! Also a very questionable parenting tactic though.
Before he gets too old I should throw a baseball at him in front of his garage to even the score. That is the way it works right? 🤔
The best part of playing all those travel games over the year is that it allows you to become the fourth outfielder for Shippensburg. This means four hour bus trips to Mansfield to play a seven and a half hour double header in 34 degree weather in front of 17 fans. Even you mom didn’t go.
When my kid was 9 or 10, he literally hit every left handed batter he faced.
Should’ve thought of the garage door thing 😂
Should’ve thought of the garage door thing 😂
Being that baseball is an individual sport, not really a team sport, I dont think there is any need to be "exposed" to better players when you are 9-12. Your dad can pitch the ball to you harder than some kid can so you are better off having your dad pitch to you in the backyard or the local cage.
It's funny about that. And I am not disagreeing with you. But for an "individual" sport (which it essentially is in many respects) I see less impact of a high priced player in any sport than baseball. I mean, you get a top QB, OLB, CB, WR, RB OT in football, they make impacts. Hockey? A Crosby, a Lemieux an Ovi? Basketball is most obvious, you have a Lebron, a Giannis, a Curry, you are a contender, soccer you get a top guy and he can make an impact.....but everyone agrees Mike Trout has been the best MLB player for the past few years, hows that worked out for the Angels? Or Jacob DeGrom for the Mets?
I was thinking about this last night looking at the top salaries, and wonder why MLB teams pay these exorbitant salaries because they don't seem to get the bang for the buck.
Moneyball....while Billy Beane's version did not win a world series, it has been adapted. I think the New England Patriots use the concept.
i say this all the time. my town is uppper middle class and they all spend gobs of money on lacrosse (and others - but lacrosse is crazy - this is the epicenter of lacrosse). it's a status symbol for them. they don't need the scholarship. and as a friend once said, "there is no such thing as full scholarships in lacrosse."
unstructured play > structured play for kids. you can't rob kids of that time. too much, "activities," time isn't healthy.
is there such thing as unstructured play for kids in baseball? Maybe in the boomer generation they really did this sandlot thing where 16-18 kids met on the corner and walked to a ballpark and played pickup baseball games but truth be told, im in mid 40's and never once have met or done anything resembling a pickup baseball game.
maybe a few kids playing wiffle ball in a backyard and even occasionally a few of us went to field to hit but very rare. i hear people talk about how they used to play pick up baseball games as kids and i roll my eyes and think they saw it in a TV show in the 60's and counted it as an actual childhood memory..
unstrucutred play, for me, is any non-parent directed activity. so not just baseball focused.
we played wiffle ball all the time as kids. we played regular baseball at times but not a ton - you need too many kids and the field.
baseball is boring - no offense to the lovers of the sport but kids just don't play baseball these days as recreation.
im with you on this. love when kids go out and just play whatever. my kids will ask me if they can go out and play and i get so pissed that they ask. go, just go, dont tell me, dont ask, go out and go break some stuff, dont get caught and be back when it gets dark.
like the pirates but like hockey and the pens, i love pirates i love penguins but if either left pittsburgh, i wouldnt watch a pro baseball or pro hockey game to save my life. really enjoy my two kids playing baseball and daughter plays softball. now i just got to get them hitting the ball in games.
little guy baseball is a horror show. i'm talking like 4-7-ish. our one league said games should end after 90 minutes - UNLESS you're starting a new inning. the opposing assclown coaches would always be at 87 minutes ("rules say we can play another inning. let's do it!"
it's just brutal to watch. thankfully my youngest was in that age group but didn't care about baseball. my oldest's buddy's dads were all in so we played for a few years.
i literally love little kid sports and would watch it all day if it was on tv. almost any sport except baseball. just brutal.
the LLWS annoys me to no end and i used to like it back when abc would televise the championship game on labor day weekend. now it's pathetic, watching the quarterfinals of 11 year olds is just weird. i actually used to go up to williamsport in august for work and was up there during one of the world series and it was brutal. everyone asked me if im there for this and im like "no, im an adult with no kids playing, why in the hell would i go to this."
with real little kids baseball, it's not bad with "coach" pitch. they keep it going quickly. im past that stage but a few years back my little man was in it. coach pitched but they could strike out, 4 run max innings. it was 90 minutes and no longer and wasnt too bad.
Objectively speaking, with little kids sports, i'd have to say watching little kids play basketball might be the biggest S**tshow there is. Football isnt bad, the fast kid runs sweeps all day. soccer, everyone runs and little kids seem to get the basics. but watching 9 and 10 year olds play basketball is flat out nauseating on any and every level. zero skill, no basics, no concept of spacing, cant pass, most not strong enough to shoot unless they are under the hoop. i'd rather watch grass grow than endure little kids hoops games.
any sport or activity with 4-7 year olds is a horror show. my twp wont even do soccer games at this age, they just do a skills thing on saturdays with 4-6 year olds. they just go out and kick a ball around a cone for 2 hours and he parents pay 100 bucks for this. kids arent even listening either, would rather climb a hill somewhere.
shouldnt even be sports leagues of any kind for these age groups. i think it's more for the parents than the kids at this age group..
little kid soccer is ok with proper expectations. they're silly and it's just fun but you can't put anything else into it. 2nd grade is when you can see some gears going in and it's fun to watch them grow.
we played basketball at 4 and 5 years old and that was just stupid. our friends were doing it so i coached and it was a little fun but largely a waste of time. but 3rd grade the boys took off and it was a lot of fun.
little guy baseball, coach or not pitched, is just brutal. some kids can hit - some can't. they all run over each other in the field b/c it's so GD boring that they'll do anything to be active.
we're doing flag football (4th grade) this spring and summer. that's a lot of fun. they have it for my 1st grader but that's just stupid b/c none of them can throw the ball.
It's a scam, LOL! Setting them up for failure? The thing is if you're really good, you'll probably make it, if you aren't the thousand$ spent for travel leagues and coaching won't matter. My daughter played soccer 12 years, was an all star in high school, one year of college, she played 2 years travel and probably 10 years rec. She hated the travel culture and wanted to stop, she loved playing for her school and got a chance to play on a great D3 program NJCAA. Her team went to the National Finals the year she was on the team. But she wasn't very good at the college level. Maybe that's because she was too raw and didn't do all those years of travel to hone her skills with intensive coaching you don't get in rec? On the other hand, some of the girls she played travel with, who played travel for a decade while she played rec, couldn't even make their high school JV. And even if you're really good and trained by the travel team, in girls soccer anyways, you pay $10K a year for travel and iike 14% of D1 women's soccer players are on scholarship and most less than 50%. So you pay all that money for travel baseball, how many of the kids get scholarships? How many go pro? What's the use really, only very few ever get to the point that investing the money was was worth something.
I'm 62, we did that, we had neighborhood teams, no adults involved, we'd challenge the kids from another street, meet at the park, wasn't always 9 on 9, maybe 7 on 7, but we'd have games, but one difference was every street was filled with families with 3-6 kids in like 50% of the homes, those days are gone. For me it's true, we also did football, maybe it was 6 on 6 or 8 on 8, instead of 11 on 11, but we'd have all out tackle games no pads.
Honestly no organized youth sports should start until they are 7-8 years old. Contact football, 10. What sense does it make for 4-5 year olds to be playing any kind of structured sport? Even at 7-8 it is funny, you go to youth soccer games or baseball and you see kids out there picking dandelions or just twirling around in circles not paying attention. Let kids be kids before they are the next Mike Trout.
And basketball is really tough with a 10 foot hoop, a kid can't get a ball to the rim until they are about 7-8 years old on a layup.
And basketball is really tough with a 10 foot hoop, a kid can't get a ball to the rim until they are about 7-8 years old on a layup.
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