Parents: Make TeeBall Fun

As parents, we all want our child to be the best ballplayer possible. We go to great lengths to give our children the best opportunity to succeed in sports. However, on this pursuit of excellence for our children, we sometimes forget the most important thing when starting a child out in sports. We MUST make sure the child enjoys his or her first experience with the game. If this first experience...in this case, TeeBall...is not enjoyable, the child may never want to play the sport again. So it is critical that we make sports, particularly on the entry level, fun and enjoyable for our children.

I believe that for you to make it fun for your child, TeeBall also has to be fun and exciting for you. You will more than likely be able to pass that along to your child. Being positive and supportive while trying to teach your children the game is important in TeeBall. Now I'm not saying let your TeeBallers play in the dirt and have no sense of the game whatsoever. I'm saying that as TeeBall parents and coaches, we must find a good balance of desired performance, discipline, and enjoyment. A good balance of these factors will more than likely have a positive effect on your TeeBaller.

I thinks it's important to teach a child the correct fundamentals of throwing, hitting, and fielding when in TeeBall in an enjoyable manner. That's what TeeBallers need to take with them from TeeBall when they move up to the next level. Most parents today are confused.....they think if their child's team wins every game they have done well. I think winning is very important, don't get me wrong. However, in TeeBall, there is a larger, more important goal. In TeeBall, one great player can win nearly every game for you....one that can hit, catch and throw. That's all it takes. Put him at pitcher where he can cut off every ground ball hit and get him to the plate with some runners on base. That's how most TeeBall game I've seen are won. But what about the other 13-15 children on the team? What did they get out of those victories?

Winning every game is not the objective at this level. Teaching EVERY child possible the basics of the game and allowing them to enjoy their first experience with the sport is what we should be looking to deliver to our TeeBallers.

We'll teach them the importance of winning a little bit down the road......


Have a nice day, Nick.