watched 9yr old tourney today in Socal(throwing curve balls)

[callyjr]

We are on spring break vacation and there is sports complex less than a half mile from the house in Huntington Beach CA. There is usually a tourney every weekend of one age or another when we are here and its fun to go watch. last week there was 8u pitching tourney up to 13's. This week it is 9u. the distance is 43 feet I think, the 8u was 40 feet last week. The mechanics of these boys at 9 are really good and they are throwing high 40's if not in the 50's, one said after the game that they were facing 55 from a couple of those kids, it looked more like high 40's. Its doesn't matter what the speed was, they were throwing pretty well and the kids were leading off on the bases and each kid had a pretty good pick off move as well.

The reason for the post is to bitch a little I guess, team A which lost had his kid throwing curve balls at every batter, the kid pitched 5 of the 6 innings and had at least 1 curve ball if not 2 per batter. The sickest part is that the coach was coaching these kids like they were in HS. He was a very aggressive coach for a 9yr old. Yelling at them for most mistakes instead of well not yelling at them.

I listened to him talk to his team after the 3-2 loss and since they had a double header he was telling his team that he expected them to play better and he wanted the other team to not want to play them anymore because they are beating them so bad. It was really sad to hear this kind of coaching for 9yr olds.

I expected Socal coaching to be better, lot of things I did not expect to see or here.

Cally

[Jake Patterson]

We are on spring break vacation and there is sports complex less than a half mile from the house in Huntington Beach CA. There is usually a tourney every weekend of one age or another when we are here and its fun to go watch. last week there was 8u pitching tourney up to 13's. This week it is 9u. the distance is 43 feet I think, the 8u was 40 feet last week. The mechanics of these boys at 9 are really good and they are throwing high 40's if not in the 50's, one said after the game that they were facing 55 from a couple of those kids, it looked more like high 40's. Its doesn't matter what the speed was, they were throwing pretty well and the kids were leading off on the bases and each kid had a pretty good pick off move as well.

The reason for the post is to bitch a little I guess, team A which lost had his kid throwing curve balls at every batter, the kid pitched 5 of the 6 innings and had at least 1 curve ball if not 2 per batter. The sickest part is that the coach was coaching these kids like they were in HS. He was a very aggressive coach for a 9yr old. Yelling at them for most mistakes instead of well not yelling at them.

I listened to him talk to his team after the 3-2 loss and since they had a double header he was telling his team that he expected them to play better and he wanted the other team to not want to play them anymore because they are beating them so bad. It was really sad to hear this kind of coaching for 9yr olds.

I expected Socal coaching to be better, lot of things I did not expect to see or here.

Cally

Sounds like it's more about him than the kids. Shame on the parents.

[callyjr]

kinda looked that was as well.

[PhilliesPhan22]

Coaches like that are the reason why kids quit baseball and turn to other sports.

[Jake Patterson]

Coaches like that are the reason why kids quit baseball and turn to other sports.

There will always be coaches like that. Many are frustrated wanna be's who get their jolleys "building the character" of future players. I saw this type often when I was in the service.

Again I say shame on the parents...

[Baseball gLove]

.....

I expected Socal coaching to be better, lot of things I did not expect to see or here.

Cally

Wow, you have judged all SoCal coaching based an a single example of a poor excuse for a coach.

[PhilliesPhan22]

There will always be coaches like that. Many are frustrated wanna be's who get their jolleys "building the character" of future players. I saw this type often when I was in the service.

Again I say shame on the parents...

I agree. While I will encourage sports to my child (when he or she is born this year), I am not going to push it on them. It needs to be fun and should be something they enjoy.

[AltaLomaStorm]

Having coached in travel tournaments in So Cal for the past two years (10u and 11u) both callyjr and baseball gLove are both right. gLove because very few of the coaches are like what callyjr describes (as far as attitude goes). I have seen coaches pull kids in the middle of an inning for making an error and berate them as they jog off the field with tears in their eyes and their head down. They are the exception...as most of the coaches appear to have a desire to develop their kids through quality teaching and encouragement. Callyjr, however, is correct in his astonishment @ a kid that age throwing a curveball. No one on our travel team throws anything but a fastball and circle change, and I would not expect that to change anytime soon, as we don't want to risk a kid's arm just to say we won a tournament.

[callyjr]

Wow, you have judged all SoCal coaching based an a single example of a poor excuse for a coach.

No I just expected the top 9's teams in the state to have better quality coaching then that.

His post game comments were we just got beat by a good team, probably top 5 in the state and top 15 in the country and we were the better team out there. So assuming he says they lost to a top 5 team in the state then I would assume he thinks his team is in the top 4. I just didn't expect to hear and see what I did.

Our teams always do well, but you will never hear me putting a kid down nor will I be calling curve balls. Let the HS coaches do that.

Cally

[Encinitas]

No I just expected the top 9's teams in the state to have better quality coaching then that.

His post game comments were we just got beat by a good team, probably top 5 in the state and top 15 in the country and we were the better team out there. So assuming he says they lost to a top 5 team in the state then I would assume he thinks his team is in the top 4. I just didn't expect to hear and see what I did.

Our teams always do well, but you will never hear me putting a kid down nor will I be calling curve balls. Let the HS coaches do that.

Cally

Ha, Top 9 teams in the state I love it. 9 years old. I recall we once won a tournament at 8U (son is 10U now) near Huntington Beach (Winchester?), and we were suddenly nationally ranked.. Uhhh. yeah right. I wouldn't pay attention to these silly rankings at this age.

[Jake Patterson]

Ha, Top 9 teams in the state I love it. 9 years old. I recall we once won a tournament at 8U (son is 10U now) near Huntington Beach (Winchester?), and we were suddenly nationally ranked.. Uhhh. yeah right. I wouldn't pay attention to these silly rankings at this age.

The NFHS and the NCAA has their hands full with national rankings never mind some silly youth organization. Ranked anything at that age means nothing.

[Baseball gLove]

No I just expected the top 9's teams in the state to have better quality coaching then that.

His post game comments were we just got beat by a good team, probably top 5 in the state and top 15 in the country and we were the better team out there. So assuming he says they lost to a top 5 team in the state then I would assume he thinks his team is in the top 4. I just didn't expect to hear and see what I did.

Our teams always do well, but you will never hear me putting a kid down nor will I be calling curve balls. Let the HS coaches do that.

Cally

Best 9 year olds in the state? Give me a break. Who says? Was this USSSA? CABA? Little League? Babe Ruth? Pony? Pony Select? Many are just self serving daddy coached teams. Definitely a poor baseline to use as a measurement of SoCAL Coaching.

My son was in a league that had members of a 10U team that were supposedly the best in the USA. They were insufferably arrogant. Now six years later, they are just OK junior varsity material. Only one of them has decent arm strength.

You want to measure So Cal Coaching? Look at the dominance of SoCal High Schools vs the rest of country at the recent Anderson Bat National Invitational High School Classic. It included many Nationally ranked teams. West Linn High School from Oregon was there. They went 0-4.

[callyjr]

Best 9 year olds in the state? Give me a break. Who says? Was this USSSA? CABA? Little League? Babe Ruth? Pony? Pony Select? Many are just self serving daddy coached teams. Definitely a poor baseline to use as a measurement of SoCAL Coaching.

My son was in a league that had members of a 10U team that were supposedly the best in the USA. They were insufferably arrogant. Now six years later, they are just OK junior varsity material. Only one of them has decent arm strength.

You want to measure So Cal Coaching? Look at the dominance of SoCal High Schools vs the rest of country at the recent Anderson Bat National Invitational High School Classic. It included many Nationally ranked teams. West Linn High School from Oregon was there. They went 0-4.

Yes it was USSSA, I checked on the website and the team is ranked 4th and the team that loss was ranked 11th.

Went back today to watch some more abuse. Just finished watching the same team play. The coaches were still calling curves and they were blowing a lead in the 5th innings, error after error and all of the sudden the parents are pissed, the coaches are yelling at the kids(too funny). I guess I don't get to be on this side of the fence to often.

West Linn going 0-4 is not a surprise, but pat the coach on the back for taking his kids in the first place.

Cally

[Baseball gLove]

Yes it was USSSA, I checked on the website and the team is ranked 4th and the team that loss was ranked 11th.

Went back today to watch some more abuse. Just finished watching the same team play. The coaches were still calling curves and they were blowing a lead in the 5th innings, error after error and all of the sudden the parents are pissed, the coaches are yelling at the kids(too funny). I guess I don't get to be on this side of the fence to often.

West Linn going 0-4 is not a surprise, but pat the coach on the back for taking his kids in the first place.

Cally

9U rankings mean nothing. If I follow your example and judge all the coaches in Oregon based on one coach, one team, then your state really has horrible coaches and they can't buy a win. But I don't make generalizations based on just one team.

[TG Coach]

I expected Socal coaching to be better, lot of things I did not expect to see or here.

There are morons everywhere. Given there are more people in California there are more morons. Baseball knowledge isn't corralled in any one state. There are good coaches and bad coaches everywhere.