Eight and Under Baseball is NOT the Little League World Series
Our son is 7 and plays baseball. It is supposed to be fun…and most of the time it is. But there are some guys out there who clearly are trying to live vicariously (even though a 7 or 8 year old). Let’s lighten up and let kids be kids. A couple of rules of thumb from me:
- Are you trying your best and not quitting?
- Are you having fun?
If the answer to either of those questions is no, then the coaches and parents need to rethink the point. Kids need to learn the rules and fundamentals of baseball and yes, winning is fun, but at that age the first two points are much more important.
The coaches and the kids (as far as I know) don’t get paid and there is nothing on the line. So maybe there is some gratification for the adults who “win” through badgering the umpires (as an example). But let’s talk about that too. The umpires are high school kids who are trying to do their best. They are not trying to pull one over on a team. There is no point in calling a 16/17 year old kid the “worst umpire ever”.
As you can imagine, we have had some incidents. Let’s just say the coaches screw up and tell a kid that he is up to bat, but he is not. If you are a normal adult wouldn’t your reaction be for a 7 year old to put the right kid up instead of calling that kid out. No human should have the ability to look a 7 year old in the eye and say you are out because an adult messed up. Just my two cents, but you will not convince me I am wrong.
So let’s lighten up and let kids be kids and learn baseball instead of being cutthroat in order to win.
