TeeBall Baseball Parents Guide Blog: t-ball parenting tips

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Friday, November 19, 2010

Baseball Tips - Unruly Parents - Here is a Solution

Tee-BallBaseball Tips - Unruly Parents - Here is a Solution
by Guest Author Tom Read

You Know This Parent

My wife was a self described bad sport. She had been thrown out of games, argued with the other teams' parents, yelled at the umpires, and embarrassed my son and I. I would talk with her before and after games, reminding her to not get out of control, but it did not help. Someone from the other team would say something, or the umpire would make a questionable call, and she would start in. What was I going to do?

It Can Start At the Beginning

When I was coaching tee ball, I once had to break up a verbal fight between my first base coach and the other team's coach. Another time, I noticed that a dad, who had been to every practice and game, started missing the games. I asked him at a practice if his work was keeping him from the games. He told me no, Johnny was feeling too much pressure with him at the game. This is still tee ball. I guess it was good that the dad at least realized where the pressure was coming from. Most of the time parents do not realize that the things they say can put undue pressure on their kids.

Travel Teams Are the Worst

It seems travel teams have the most vocal parents, good and bad. I have always assumed the reasons for this are either one, they have spent a lot of time and money involved with this team and are expecting a big return, or two, they are on the road and friends and family are not around. But, on the other hand, I've seen travels teams stay home to play and behave just as badly. And I have seen bad behavior at recreational games. So it can happen anywhere.

Solution - Put My Wife in Time Out

Back to my wife; a few hours after the game would be over she would feel bad about her behavior. I thought about asking her to stay away from the games, but she really did enjoy watching our son play. Finally it came to me. I needed to remove her from the home plate area, get her away from the other teams' parents and away from our son when he was batting. We moved down the outfield line; pass the dugouts and about half way towards the outfield fence. Out there we didn't hear the other team, the home plate umpire couldn't hear us, and the game became real enjoyable. Our view wasn't as good, but that was a small trade off. We were having fun again.

It Is Easy to Involve Others

Other parents were asking us why we were sitting so far down the line. My wife did not hesitate to answer that she was in "time out". Like a child, she couldn't be trusted to behave properly when located near a potential bad situation. Soon, others that had the same problem were joining us. A few games into this idea, and half the parents were down the line with us. It became an enjoyable social event. Maybe it even helped a few marriages.

Start Your Own Cheap Seats Section

There are certain situations where adults will act like little children. If you have these types on your team, ask them to take a stroll down the line with you. Everyone, especially their sons, will thank you.

Preaching to the Choir

I know most of the people reading this are not the problem. Parents with bad behavior usually do not seek out advise. But in the right way you can make a difference. To see other baseball tips and stories I have written please visit my website at http://baseballknowledge.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Read

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Monday, October 11, 2010

Baseball Parent Guide - What is the Key to a Youth Baseball Player Becoming a High School Prospect?

Youth Baseball Parent Guide - What is the Key to a Youth Baseball Player Becoming a High School Prospect?
by Nick Dixon

As a high school baseball coach, I see players of all sizes, shapes, and ability levels try out for our JV and varsity teams. Baseball is the one sport that will never be ruled totally by size, speed, and power. I am not saying that power, speed and size do not help a player. What I am saying is that having certain physical attributes is not the key to baseball success. There is a place for all body builds to succeed. In this article, I discuss what I feel is the #1 key to a player becoming a prospect to make the high school team.

I think the #1 key to making the high school junior varsity and varsity teams is how much skill building homework a player has done during his youth baseball playing years. The key to becoming a stand-out player is how much practice a player gets year round and between regular team practices during the season.

Time after time, I see proof that the players that excel in baseball are the players that put forth that extra effort in making sure that their bat, glove, and arm are worked enough to help them reach their fullest potential as a player. It is hard for a player to reach their potential if they do not get proper instruction, receive adequate practice time, and workout enough to make their baseball skills stronger and their baseball play instinctive.

Players can not expect to excel if the only times that they ever pick up a, a ball or bat are at team practices during baseball season. Achievements in baseball are just like achievements in life. You get what you deserve. You deserve what you earn. The more time and effort that a player and his parents put into baseball in the early years is crucial to success in high school. In most cases, the outstanding high school prospects are the players that have baseball training equipment in their backyard or that have received baseball batting or pitching instruction from qualified baseball instructors.

To be a big time prospect, you need to throw, hit, and field in workouts on your own as well as with the team. Going above and beyond is the key to becoming a top rated baseball prospect. If you are unwilling to commit the time, put forth the energy, or stay on a regular practice routine, your chances of becoming an accomplished high school player can be reduced.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article. You can find more like it at the Baseball Parent Guide, Baseball Coaching Digest, Youth Baseball Digest, and the Little League Digest. Have a great day, Nick.

The CoachesBest and Baseball 2u Baseball Store has a great selection of 1400 Baseball Products. Check out the Hurricane Hitting Machine baseball pitching simulator. This high speed training machine is 100% Guaranteed to raise Batting Averages.

Nick Dixon is the President and founder of Nedco Sports, a sports training company established in 1999. Dixon is also an active and full time high school baseball coach with over 25 years experience. Coach Dixon is better known as the inventor of the BatAction Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Derek Jeter Hurricane Hitting Machine, the SKLZ Target Trainer, the SKLZ Derek Jeter ZipnHit Pro, and the SKLZ Strikeback Trainer. Dixon is also a contributing writer for BaseballCoachingDigest, the Youth Baseball Digest, the Baseball Parent Guide, the Baseball 2Day Coaches Journal, and Blog4Coaches.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nick_Dixon

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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

The Importance of Team Sports For Children

The Importance of Team Sports For Children
by Guest Author Susan T Roberts

As their children grow up, every set of parents has a different idea as to what should be the main focus of their upbringing and how they should spend their free time, especially when it comes to extra-curricular activities. Some parents place a huge emphasis on academics and want their children doing extra reading or working with a tutor. Other parents are heavily into sports and want their children to focus on sports. Some parents simply want their children to be children and don't push them in any particular direction at all.

In most cases, schools give children at least some opportunity to participate in a team sport. Along with the team sports that are taught during physical education classes, there are usually a few varsity sports teams that will represent the school while competing against other schools in the area. In addition to this, most communities have a few organized sports leagues that children can be active in.

In my opinion, participation in team sports is vital to healthy social, physical and emotional development. Participating in a sports team exposes children to a range of challenges in a team environment where they are forced to work with others, rely on others at times and also to encourage or root for others on their team. All of this leads to the development of a cooperative mindset. Now although all of this sounds ideal, I am aware that it does not always work out this way. Some times a child might be a 'ball hog' and refuse to pass the ball, or want to score all of the goals themselves. But with time, even this child learns at some point that they must work with others if they want to see true success.

Some kids just love sports and have a natural tendency towards them. There is very little that a parent could do to stop a child like this from participating in sports. Other children are quite nonchalant about sports, and some children even hate sports. A variety of factors can influence the way that children feel about sports. Sometimes they are shy or insecure about the abilities yet with a little encouragement they will get out there and do fine. At times, a child may have a physical attribute that they are conscious or overly conscious about that stops them from doing a sporting activity they would love. I encourage parents to find at least one team sport that their children can become involved in. Not all team sports have to be high impact activities or 'popular' sports. A swim team is great for a child that is not boisterous or overly physical. Some schools have sailing as an extra curricular activity which again falls outside of the typical team sport.

I believe that team sports teach children not only how to compete, but how to compete fairly within structured boundaries. This is an important life lesson and the skills and the disciplines that they learn in sports will definitely last them a lifetime. Team sports will teach children how to communicate, since most team sports require children not only to talk to each other while the activity is taking place but also how to plan strategies for an upcoming event and how to debrief or review things that have happened in a game. Perhaps most importantly, team sports teach children how to succeed and how to fail since inevitably throughout each season of their sport their team will do both. With every win and loss, children learn coping skills. These again are important skills to develop in a child and they will last them throughout life.

Susan Roberts writes freelance for a number of different companies including KS Child Locate on locate child mobile. She has many years experience working with teens and families and also publishes on HubPages on subjects such as "My Childhood and my Children's Childhood".

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Susan_T_Roberts

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Thursday, September 2, 2010

What You Need to Become a Great Baseball Player

What You Need to Become a Great Baseball Player
By Guest Author Jack Perconte

I am not sure that I can write anything about how to become a great baseball player that you do not already know or that is not stating the obvious. Having played major league baseball though, I will discuss some of the ingredients that I believe helped me make it to the major leagues. I will not go so far to say that I was a great baseball player, but I believe I reached my potential using the attributes listed below.

First of all, it is important that a player develops a "Love of the Game." This may not happen at a young age but develops somewhere along the way. Many young athletes are like I was, where they are in love with all sports at a young age and developed a love of baseball when greater success came at baseball. Love of the game often leads to the next ingredient, which is necessary to become a great baseball player - a never give up attitude.

I often tell people that if all the current major league players quit playing baseball when they were told, at sometime in their life, that they were not good enough, there would be a whole set of different major league players. Just like in every aspect of life, a never give up attitude is essential to make it to the top. I always had the thought process that no one would make the decision when I would hang up the spikes but me.

The next ingredient that is necessary to reach potential is focus. Players, who stay focused on the goal, have the edge when it comes to competition. Many talented players play to prove something, where as the great players play with the idea of constantly "improving." Obviously, the players with this latter attitude are the ones who usually go the furthest. Even though there were times that I lacked confidence when playing, I remained focused so that, in the end, I reached my goal of becoming a major league player.

All of the mentioned ingredients allow players to have the next ingredient necessary for development into a great baseball player - a solid work ethic. Baseball, not unlike many sports but maybe even more so, requires fundamentals that need to be repeated over and over. It has often been stated that, "hitting a baseball may be the hardest thing to do in sports," so great fundamentals are needed. Pitching and fielding a baseball are equally tough, so players must combine the dedication and motivation into a great work ethic if they hope to have success. One thing that I am proud of was the work ethic I applied to playing baseball, and even to the point of over-working, which became detrimental to good performance at times.

The next ingredient is similar to focus but is an added characteristic of great players. Great baseball players have the ability to "calm the mind." Many players have talent and qualities to be good baseball players but lack the ability to tune out distractions, which come either during games or in their everyday lives. Many a great athlete had their career end because of off the field distractions that did not allow them to keep a clear mind during play. Many players become distracted easily and lack the intense mental focus necessary to excel under game pressure. When I first made it to the big leagues, I had a difficult time believing it was still just a baseball game. This led to a lack of a calm mind, leading to many misplays and wasted at-bats. Eventually, I overcame this and was able to keep the mind calm and play baseball like in the "back yard" when growing up.

All of the above ingredients lead to confidence. All great athletes play with self-confidence in their abilities, believing they belong where they are at the top level of sport. The intense pressure packed game moments or the major league atmosphere does not overwhelm them. As mentioned earlier about a calm mind, it took me a while to gain the confidence necessary to be a somewhat successful major league player. Playing with confidence leads to a long successful career for many, whereas a lack of confidence often leads to an abbreviated career.

Finally, there is another ingredient that leads to greatness and that is the overall physical attributes that players are genetically given. This is not to say that all of the other ingredients are not necessary to become great, but players who are more physically gifted than most, obviously have a higher athletic ceiling than those less gifted. When they apply the above characteristics with their physical abilities, a great baseball player is the result.

Former major league baseball player, Jack Perconte gives baseball hitting tips and batting practice advice for ballplayers of all ages. His baseball playing lessons, books and advice can be found at http://www.baseballhittinglessons.com/baseball
Jack is the author of two books, The Making of a Hitter and Raising an Athlete - his positive parenting advice and books can be found at http://positiveparentinginsports.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jack_Perconte

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Friday, August 20, 2010

Coaching Tee Ball

Coaching Tee Ball
Posted on YouTube by davidcomora

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