Little League Baseball...Yesterday v Today

Competition isn't taught anymore. My son is in t-ball and they don't let kids get out and they don't let anyone run past first base no matter how well they hit. Everyone must be a winner. This stuff doesn't stop at t-ball and at home there can be no winners and losers. How do we expect these kids to just flip a switch in high school?

Respect is taught at home, and unfortunately the traditional family has been under attack for many years. Divorce is normal, two working parents is now normal and parents are being very selfish. I know friends of mine who are nice people who wont let 'kids change their life'. Well, kids do change your life, and they should. Sacrifice and giving to others, especially your kids should be seen as a good thing and not a burden.

Another parent on my kids t-ball team is the head coach of our HS baseball team. I talked with him a little bit and he has the same problem, even at the high school age. The kids have no respect and just don't care about winning. He says they have the talent to be a great team, just not the focus or the drive. Sad.

Bradword:  "parents are being very selfish. I know friends of mine who are nice people who wont let 'kids change their life'. Well, kids do change your life, and they should. Sacrifice and giving to others, especially your kids should be seen as a good thing and not a burden."

-Amen. 

On the topic of youth sports, it's definitely a delicate balance.  SGriempsa's story is horrifying, but happens all the time. (btw, the 1st time any adult screams at my kid is the second they'll have me tapping them on the shoulder.  There are more effective methods of teaching.  No way I'd let my kid stay on that team...if I couldn't get the coach relieved of his or her duty) 
Bradword, trust me, that competitive switch gets turned on by high school...almost too much.  I don't think the disrespect comes from not having competition in t-ball level.  The disrespect is the result of pi$$-poor parenting.  Show me a kid who disrespects adults, and I'll show you parents who didn't do their job well.

I do agree that the "trophy for every kid" deal is garbage.  That said, with the really young kids, I think there should be a full rotation employed that makes sure each kid (who follows all the rules and is trying their best) gets equal time on the field.   

When I was a kid back in the '80's, by the time I was in 4th and 5th grade, Little League was getting silly.  Some coaches were seriously loading their rosters with all the great talent.  I never understood why they didn't spread the talent out a bit in the name of good competition.  Oh well.

Ya know what makes me think of Little League baseball when I'm out on a training ride?  It's when a car drives by reeking of cigarette smoke.  I think over half the coaches smoked back in the '80's when I played.  

One more thing...having officiated 100's of basketball games in my officiating days, I've gotta say, ultra-competitive coaches are the worst at teaching values.  Win at all cost coaches stink.  They're the coaches who leave the super-talented punk jerks in the game even after the kids don't tow the line.   

I went to my first LAX game last week.  I asked what happens if the game is tied at the end of regulation play.  Is there a "sudden death" play period?  I was told there is a "sudden victory" play period.  Give me a freaking break.  Sudden victory??

I miss the Little League of the 70's and everything about it.  

I coach T-Ball.  Keeping my comments specific to that...... For some of these kids, I think it's the only outside play/exercise they get.  When I was younger, I spent the majority of my hometime outside.  This age group is made up of kids who are just learning the very very basics of how to hold the bat, where the bases are and what order to run them in, which hand to put your glove on, and how to grip the ball in order to throw it overhand.  It's a great age to educate them, as they are sponges for information and at a basic level - they want to have FUN!  Make it fun for them while they learn and they will work hard for you.  We teach the kids to take one base at a time because the majority of them cannot catch a thrown ball, and each hit would result in the batter running around the bases with the fielder chasing behind.  Most of the kids are hitting dribblers straight to the pitchers mound anyway....However, we've had a couple of really nice line drive hits and those kids were given the green light to touch 'em all.  Some of the 6yr olds are beginning to understand the whole "winning/losing" concept, as they ask periodically.  When they ask, I tell them (even though T-Ball is everyone hits in every inning and outs/runs are not counted).  

The two biggest challenges I see are the lack of parental involvement in kids development, and technology (tv,dvd,ps3,etc)

So is the issue seen as lack of commitment, lack of a sense of competition or a lack of working as a team?  I personally was NOT an athletic kid, or adolescent.  I played little league in the late 60's more or less out of a sense of obligation - I thought I HAD to, and never really enjoyed it.  The coaches of the time cherry picked teams so that less athletic kids (like me) were grouped together (like ChineseDemocracy's experience 20 years later). While it didn't help that my nearsightedness went undiagnosed for another couple of years, the unending string of losing pretty much ensured that I would have little to do with team sports for the rest of my life.

HOWEVER - when I found a passion in high school for drama, I spent literally dozens of hours each week working with my cast mates and tech people, staying late, coming in early, and generally having a strong devotion to the group experience.  There was no "winning" or "losing"- there was just doing the best d*mn job you could, working as a group to ensure the end result, regardless of obstacles. THIS is the life lesson that I carry to this day, working most effectively as part of a team in my professional life, without a sense of having to win or lose (or by extension, having to make someone else lose).

While I realize that in a board of triathletes, there will be a self-selection bias for the primacy of sports as givers of life lessons, the reality is that it is too easy to suck the joy out of physical activity, especially in the name of competition.  Not all kids want to compete, and not all kids are going to do well in competition.  I was at a 5k walk/run this morning, and noticed before the main event a small grooup of young kids, some of whom had race numbers on, racing with themselves and their younger siblings to and from some trees, playing tag, and generally being active and having fun.  This was a totally spontaneous expression of the joy of being physically active, without a strongly competitive or teamwork element to it.  THAT is what we need to preserve in kids if we want them to maintain healthy and active lives. Conversely, if we want to instill a sense of teamwork and accomplishment, using sports works only for those kids who are (a) interested in and (b) competent at the given sport.  I would not put 100 pound cross country kid on the football team, for example.  And for those kids whose sense of accomplishment and teamwork comes from non-sport activities (like my daughter who was in Model UN for 6 years of junior and senior high school and marching band for 5, plus college), we need to respect those avenues equally with the kids whose glory is achieved in a more athletic endeavor.