Tag Archives: Parent Player Tips Guidelines

The  seasons are about to start again and several of you have been asking for a list of guidelines that might give some insight on how to best prepare your boys and girls for the summer season.

Guidelines:

1. Always play the game for fun. Always play to win. (when your kid plays for fun, winning will take care of itself. Kids that enjoy playing usually win.)
2. Winning is important. Play to win and you’ll have fun. (sure, it’s not politically correct to play to win any longer, but if you understand guideline #1 you’ll realize that it’s fun to win!)
3. Don’t vicariously play the game through your kids! (that totally screws up guidelines #1 and #2)
4. Always rely on common sense. (remember your kid is not a pro, don’t expect your child to perform above conceivable levels of play. Example: I heard this from a parent last season, “What! I can’t…geez, damn…I can’t believe you didn’t hit your cutoff man! Did you ever see Sizemore miss his cutoff man?! what’s wrong with you?!”) (Okay, guidelines #1, #2, #3 and yep, #4…all broken.)
5. Understand the game itself before you try to teach it. (you can’t explain things that you don’t understand yourself)
6. Expect them to try their best, it’s not okay when they don’t try.(if you broke guideline #3 kids usually stop trying)
7. Teach them the meaning of team. (nothing better than when your kids learn how good it feels to contribute to a cause greater than themselves)
8. No coaching your kids during the game! (umm..it’s too late pal, if you wanted to teach your kid how to field a ground ball you should have done it at home. Trying to do so while the game is in progress, screaming over a fence, is not going to get results.)
9. The manager and his coaches are in charge, find a seat and use it. (when your kid sees how you respect the manager, they will learn to as well.)
10. Swinging at the first pitch? Not good in most cases 8 and younger. (patience at the plate is a key to good hitting because it takes “plate time”, not just “at bats” to learn how to hit.)
11. Watch games together…at the park! (going to a game and having discussions about the action is incredibly important to understanding how the game works as a whole. When kids start to play, they only understand pieces of the game; seeing all the action first hand, from one point of view, will help them solve the puzzle. Even TV, at best, will just give you a split view.)
12. Practice at scheduled times. (be consistent with practice, kids like to follow routines. Incentivise practice with a small reward for having a good practice. It gives your kid the extra immediate goal to reach. Practicing while trying to win something helps kids stay focused. Example: In practice, every fly ball caught equals a 1 minute later bedtime for my kid. the max is 20 fly balls that must all be caught in a row to stay up an extra 20 minutes-if one is dropped, the count goes back to zero. I give my kids 5 tries at 20 in a row. Oh…and staying up an extra 20 minutes is max!)