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Originally Posted by Flasch186
A 10/11yo meltdown last night during BP. "I'm terrible" and other negative things about himself. Luckily perhaps that we were the last ones there cleaning up and the coach took an opportunity to talk to Aiden for about :40 minutes and it lifted his spirits but he;s really gotta give himself some breathing room in regards to failing. Side note which applies: Aiden's been diagnosed gifted which means a lot of things to a lot of different people but for him it manifests in perfectionism, a need to learn the intricacies of a process, a desire to meet expectations AND wild mood swings about himself. The only thing I really struggle to manage (and there's a lot so this sentence doesn't make a ton of sense) is the negative words about himself. I struggle to know what to do when that's happening other then to try to counter them with positive words but it doesn't seem to equal things out.
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As I mentioned in an earlier post, development isn't a linear path upward. Perspective of where you started is really important.
It's been 8 and a half years since I wrote my dynasty about coaching my son's 10u team and I went through a lot of thr things you've experienced. One of the final straws that convinced me to coach was when he played on a team at 9u that failed to win a single game he finished the year completely frustrated with himself and down on his own ability. It was tough to see.
My Experience Coaching a 9-10 Year Old Baseball Team in a Rigged League - Front Office Football Central
I learned quite a bit from that season and 2 years later I found myself coaching a travel team while learning from ex pros. My final year coaching was 13u, but I've seen my son go through ups and downs all along the way. From the winless 9u team, to winning the league at 11u, to getting cut from the 8th grade team, to hitting over 500 on the jv team a year later and getting a late season call up as a freshman, to being the favorite to be an the all conference catcher as a senior, to covid shutting things down, and then finally signing with a top JC in the area that expects him to start next season.