Youth Sports Parents are Awful People #10,783

[miked]

Seems like private, travel leagues are taking over. In our area, there are so many soccer programs and most of the kids prioritize academy soccer over middle school and high school soccer. Same with baseball. For swimming, if you are serious about it you do Swim Atlanta or Dynamo rather than the local HS. The scouts are following as well, there are many less scouts at HS games these days, only going to showcases and tournaments.

[Ghost Econ]

I don't really even want to know what we spend per year between private school, HS swim, year round gymnastics, and summer swim for our only child. And she wants to do year round swim but doesn't have time because of gymnastics. To be honest she's a better swimmer and has the potential to swim for a small college if she focused on it, but she's always loved gymnastics even though she knows she won't do it past high school. Of course, she's going into 8th grade so there's plenty of time for the teenage years to change things.

Her best friend is 1 of 4 kids and they all do year round swim now, and she just stopped round gymnastics, her brothers also do football, baseball, basketball. I have no idea how their parents find the time, let alone the money, for all of it. The mom not working helps with the time part, but I know roughly what her husband makes and it makes no sense.

[Ksyrup]

I'm so glad we got out with Caitlin when we did. It was expensive, no doubt, but - at least in softball - the final year is when things really seemed to start turning, where all tournaments became "pay to play" dictating which hotels you could go to, jacking tournament fees from several hundred dollars to $1500-2500, expanding the number of teams beyond ridiculousness for recruiting tournaments and adding fields dozens of miles from the core set of "preferred" fields where the vast majority of college coaches were watching teams. I would talk to coaches who talked crap about how outrageous the tournament fees were and how they were taking advantage of teams by promising college coaches would be watching, and then sticking them on rec fields 30 miles away.

Many of these tournaments had a list of the biggest, most prestigious organizations who of course got the preferred fields. Although we weren't a big name, we had earned the right to play on the good fields for the most part (won a couple of national tournaments and qualified for ASA and PGF in multiple years) and we certainly enjoyed beating the big name teams who thought they were hot shit.

Once Mackenzie had a couple of major injuries and concussions by 8th grade, I shut down her participation in travel ball for two reasons - one, I wanted her to get healthy and at least have a full high school career, and two, I wasn't going to pay $5-10K a year for her to play on a third-tier team on rec fields when she could just as easily play HS ball and get recruited by NAIA/D2-3 schools in our area. Spending the money for Caitlin made total sense. She was a pitcher, got big money, and I only paid about $10K total for her to go to school (and most of that was because she had to go an extra semester to do her in-school teaching which she couldn't do in the spring because it interfered with SB season). Just off her HS play, Mack got a basketball offer and never really pursued SB, but could have played at a small school if she wanted. But due to injuries and Caitlin's bad experience in college, she opted to be a NARP (non-athletic regular person).

If I had to do it all over again and knowing her propensity for injury, I probably would have pushed Mack into tennis or golf and seen whether she took to either sport. There are schools dying to give away scholarships to women in those sports.

[bob]

We looked at the costs of travel lacrosse for this summer for my 4th grader. Travel alone would have been $8k+ for all the tournaments they were traveling to. Insanity.

[thesloppy]

All of these sports costs are insane to me, who can only reference my own forays into shitty public-school athletics through the 70s and 80s.

Seems obvbious this will/has result(ed) in some sort of classism within sports, where only the rich can afford to compete at the highest levels, regardless of skill & the talent of the athletes at the highest levels will regress,

[bob]

Maybe, but honestly so much of this is about money vs sports or coaching.

A few things we've noted:

- Official team gear is only available via a specific shop, that not surprisingly, is owned by a member of the board or coach.

- Practices will get cancelled, but hey don't let the day go to waste, one of the coaches is having an optional* extra clinic for the price of $35 / kid for two hours.

* - be prepared for playing time to drop if you don't attend.

Also, some of the tournaments are financed by hedge funds. Its all about money, just like everything else.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

All of these sports costs are insane to me, who can only reference my own forays into shitty public-school athletics through the 70s and 80s.

Seems obvbious this will/has result(ed) in some sort of classism within sports, where only the rich can afford to compete at the highest levels, regardless of skill & the talent of the athletes at the highest levels will regress,

Well, it infiltrated baseball first in America and I think you can see how white the American contingent has gotten.

Soccer was next but with higher level academies supposedly having scholarships we'll see how that progresses.

I think all the backroom shenanigans with AAU basketball has mostly kept the costs lower for the really talented kids. They mostly get subsidized by the rich kids with their hoop dreams.

My wife has a cousin who spends about $50k a year on his daughters swimming in Florida and she is on track to battle for the Olympics aound 2028. He probably spends at least $10k a year for his son's golf. I can't really blame him, I don't know what I'd spend money on if my parents gave me a multi-million job out of college. Probably do everything I could to have my kid pursue her dream. Unfortunately he's a massive prick.

[RainMaker]

My company makes trading pins for these teams and it's really wild how much parents spend on that stuff. Trip to Cooperstown might be $4000 in pins for the team.

[JonInMiddleGA]

And suddenly a high-end gaming PC and a concentration on eSports doesn't look nearly as harsh

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

All of these sports costs are insane to me, who can only reference my own forays into shitty public-school athletics through the 70s and 80s.

Seems obvbious this will/has result(ed) in some sort of classism within sports, where only the rich can afford to compete at the highest levels, regardless of skill & the talent of the athletes at the highest levels will regress,

The annual survey by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA) in 2021 found that 24% of kids ages 6 to 12 from homes with $25,000 or less played sports on a regular basis, compared to 40% of kids from $100,000+ homes

Anybody else think 40% is shockingly low or am I stuck in a youth sports bubble?

EDIT: To be clear, I am not saying $100,000+ homes are rich homes.

[RainMaker]

I feel like general youth sports has diminished over time. As mentioned, travel teams and such have really taken over which has done a number on the local little league type programs that might have been where your average kid played.

It's purely anecdotal, but I just don't see fields being used much in the area. Baseball game here and there and soccer does seem busy on the weekends. I know football has been hurting bad in my area. The youth team I played on as a kid is a shell of itself. Not sure if that's parents not letting their kids play or what. Also maybe kids are moving toward competitive gaming or alternative sports like skateboarding.

But the money has been an issue for a long time. It's why we don't develop a ton of talent in skilled sports that are competitive across the world. Baseball and football are where we dominate and you can make a case that the Caribbean is far better at developing young talent than we are because their system isn't pay to play.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Anybody else think 40% is shockingly low or am I stuck in a youth sports bubble?

EDIT: To be clear, I am not saying $100,000+ homes are rich homes.

Felt about right to me. I asked my kid, who felt like it was closer to 50-50 here ... but remember that we're in a very "I'm gonna play for the Dawgs someday" locale.

Theater kids, music kids, heavy family travel kids, and (he just added) kids who realize they are NOT athletic, plus the much higher mobility society ... add it up and it takes a toll on the numbers

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by molson

This thread isn't in my lane of life really but I have gotten an interesting insight into summer club teams. I can only imagine what they charge parents for this, using some kind of implied or direct pitch that their kid is "really good" and is going to punch his ticket to a scholarship someday. I have a friend whose kid is 10, and just starting to do this stuff. Went to one of the last games of their little league season and....he is not good. And he looks absolutely bored out of his mind. And they're giving up a summer of family activities to chase this baseball dream. I feel like a judgey Karen saying this, and I'll keep it to myself, but, it all feels a scam.

You've described it exactly, actually. A lot of sports clubs (soccer, baseball, etc...) actively promote that they have a "college identification" program on top of (for younger kids) making a deal about how many former players made it onto their high school teams. It's tremendously easy to get sucked into "I'll sign up my kid for whatever will help him/her get as good as they can be" and miss out on asking whether the kid wants to do it in the first place.

[miami_fan]

Any youth track & field parents on the board? My cousin's daughter competed in a track meet at the University of South Florida this weekend so I got experience that for the first time. Some observations.

1. It felt like tailgating with a bit of sports on the side. Some of the tent set ups were amazing. I did not see anyone cooking inside the venue but good food that looked freshly cooked kept appearing on paper plates as I walked past different tents.

2. The parents were actually pretty positive from what I saw. Maybe I just caught a good meet but I saw or heard very little negativity from the parents towards the athletes, the coaches, the officials or other parents. The biggest blowup was from a parent that was pissed a boy went out too fast in the first lap of an 800m heat.

3. Track meet days are loooong I tell ya looong! The meet began on Thursday and ended today. My cousin's daughter was competing in three events so she had to be there each day. Thursday was the easy day. My cousin's family only had to spend two hours as she just had to run her heat. They spent two hours at the venue. Friday and Saturday she had a heat in the morning and a final in the afternoon/evening. They ended up spending about nine hours Friday and ten hours on Saturday at the venue because of rain and lightening. Finally today was a six hour day. I was told seven to eight hours at the venue was a regular meet for them. When you combine her daughter's times in her three heats and three finals, it barely added up to eleven minutes of running on the track. I will never complain about bracket day of a baseball tournament again. Salute to those parents.

4. This may be a sign I am getting old and soft but oh well. Why are seven and eight year olds running 1500m races? 800 meters is not long enough for that age group? I am sure my opinion is tainted by the fact that the heat index was at 102 degrees as I was watching them run while adults were having cold rags put on their necks by the medical tent. I also did not get one of those Disney movie scenes where someone ran alongside the kid in last place who finished more than thirty seconds behind the kid that finished in front of her or the boy who faced the same from and finished more than two minute behind the winner. Nope, they were out there struggling for that last 100-150 meters by their selves. Full credit to the kiddos that dominated both races in that age group though. Even at that age, watching a runner sprint away from the competition on the bell lap like they just joined the race is always impressive.

[Ghost Econ]

So we felt it coming, but our daughter officially wants to quit gymnastics. Mixed feelings. Glad because finally our life won't be consumed. Sad because she's been doing it for a decade and because if she has decided 2 months ago we wouldn't have paid for her new uniforms, etc. for next year and saved a thousand bucks.

I'd say she wants to quit 60% because all her friends have stopped, 30% because it sucks all of her non-school time, and 10% because it's finally gotten to the really difficult parts if she wants to be good.

Now she wants to switch to swim year round, mainly because that's what her best friends do... but not at the team 5 minutes from our house but the one 1/2 hour away. She's actually one of the better non-year round swimmers in the city based on her times this summer and high school swim, so she could be pretty decent. Just wish she'd be open to the closer team.

[flere-imsaho]

Our 14-year-old son quit soccer in May similarly.

Had been playing for 10 years and was good at it and overall athletically gifted, but starting with the HS team last fall and then moving to a more competitive club after that, started to realize that it was a huge amount of work for a payoff that no longer excited him as much, and was taking a ton of time away from other things he wanted to do (like spend time with friends).

He's going to spend the rest of HS just having fun trying out different sports and activities and whatnot, and we're 100% good with that.

Since his younger brother broke his wrist at about the same time (he's fine now), we went from having our weekend consumed by soccer to COMPLETELY FREE (I even got some reffing in).

But yeah, a bit sad because it's an "end of an era" thing, but glad because he's much happier now and it's one less thing to eat up so much time each week.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Since his younger brother broke his wrist at about the same time (he's fine now), we went from having our weekend consumed by soccer to COMPLETELY FREE (I even got some reffing in).

But yeah, a bit sad because it's an "end of an era" thing, but glad because he's much happier now and it's one less thing to eat up so much time each week.

Enjoy your new life. It's fantastic. Great chance for more family activities that can involve everyone, and not just the active child.

[Poli]

Our kiddos are splitting between football and cheerleading. Our son plays for a program without cheer. Our daughter is cheering for a program that he won't be playing against.

He's not super talented. He'll probably hang it up in the next year or two as he heads into 5th grade. I'll enjoy the moments while I can. I'm not coaching him this year so I can go to his game or his sister's if I have to make a choice.

He'll probably end up running in some fashion or another.

[albionmoonlight]

Where Have All the Officials Gone? by Kendall Smith - Mississippi Scoreboard

[miked]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

So we felt it coming, but our daughter officially wants to quit gymnastics. Mixed feelings. Glad because finally our life won't be consumed. Sad because she's been doing it for a decade and because if she has decided 2 months ago we wouldn't have paid for her new uniforms, etc. for next year and saved a thousand bucks.

I'd say she wants to quit 60% because all her friends have stopped, 30% because it sucks all of her non-school time, and 10% because it's finally gotten to the really difficult parts if she wants to be good.

Now she wants to switch to swim year round, mainly because that's what her best friends do... but not at the team 5 minutes from our house but the one 1/2 hour away. She's actually one of the better non-year round swimmers in the city based on her times this summer and high school swim, so she could be pretty decent. Just wish she'd be open to the closer team.

My daughter is starting freshman year and level 8 gymnastics. She does gymnastics M-F from 4:30-8:30 (only 2 hours on Wednesday) and I think it's probably just a matter of time. Scholarships are not easy to come by and she has no time for anything else. She wants to do diving in HS, but her practice time would be limited and she has significantly less time with friends. I have mixed feelings because she has been doing it so long and loves it, but it's probably only a matter of time until she gets hurt. I'd rather her leave it on a high note and save myself the $7k/year.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Where Have All the Officials Gone? by Kendall Smith - Mississippi Scoreboard

Knowledge of the rules, or lack thereof is a huge part of umpire abuse. I couldn't begin to count how many times I saw opposing coaches trying to argue a rule they didn't understand or misinterpreted. The few times I saw someone in the right and arguing it was always done the wrong way. They put the ump on the defensive and they dig in.

In all my years of coaching I successfully argued and got a call changed twice. Neither time did I yell or berate the ump. I simply went out and asked what he saw. I then referenced the rule and asked if he was OK checking to see if the other umpire had a better view. Once was the field ump making the change to the call the other time it was the behind the plate ump. Both times the other coach came out absolutely passed they changed the call, but I found yelling at these guys (and sometimes kids) did absolutely nothing to help you. And if they're not interested in getting help from the other ump there's nothing you can do but head back to the dugout.

I also had my fair share of opposing parents yelling at me and misquoting rules while I questioned a call. My favorite instance was we had confusion when the opposing catcher went to throw down to 3rd on a steal attempt and hit the bat of my player in the batters box. The ump mistakenly called the play dead and sent my runner back to 2nd. I went out to discuss the call and had several opposing patents politely telling me how wrong I was to claim that its a live ball. Then the very next day it happened in a MLB game involving Buster Posey.

[Ghost Econ]

Watching little league and didn't realize they now have a continuous batting order for the tournament. That means everyone bats from the start and can swap positions at will.

The game has changed in the 30 years since I played.

[Flasch186]

I think the biggest problem is that many umpires have no idea how to diffuse situations and in some cases I’ve witnessed actually go out of their way to increase the fires.

The absolute easiest thing an umpire can do to diffuse a situation is volunteer quickly to speak to the other umpire, go over, talk about the weather, and then uphold their call

Puts everyone on notice that the guy is not an ego pig and willing to get help while also sticking to his calls

Every single time they refuse to do that I’ve seen the temperature increase throughout said game


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ghost Econ]

Watching the SE game right now, the umpire has lost track of the count twice in the last inning. And now his 2nd base ump had time called for about 5 seconds and the home ump ignored him causing a strikeout by counting a pitch that shouldn't have counted.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ghost Econ

Watching the SE game right now, the umpire has lost track of the count twice in the last inning. And now his 2nd base ump had time called for about 5 seconds and the home ump ignored him causing a strikeout by counting a pitch that shouldn't have counted.

Sounds about par for the course. That's become completely unwatchable to me, the umpiring is more inept than Congress.

[flere-imsaho]

Bill Simmons, of all people, just did a podcast with Malcolm Gladwell, of all people, about how horrible youth sports are in this country. Listened to it on the drive home (it's the second half of the podcast that came out yesterday or the day before). Some odd stuff from Gladwell and some of Simmons' usual awkward stuff, but overall a lot of echoing of stuff we've talked about in here and a really good discussion overall.

[molson]

I love Bill's podcasts but he's one of those bad youth sports parents (at least if his soccer game antics and ref harassment he brags about are real).

He even has the standard justifications for it. "We just want the kids to be safe out there".

[miami_fan]

St. Louis cancels youth football team's season after parent allegedly shot the coach | CNN

A St. Louis youth football team had the rest of its season canceled after a player’s parent allegedly shot the coach multiple times for not putting his son as a starter for the team, according to city and police statements.

Yeah this makes sense. What are the college/pro teams going to think if this guy's kid can't start for *checks other sources* A TEAM OF 9 AND 10 YEAR OLDS!

There is a bit of levity at least for me. My favorite defense has made an appearance. The shooter's brother claims that the coach was the aggressor and pulled his gun first so the shooter is innocent because "he acted in self-defense because he feared for his life."

I guess that seals it then.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

St. Louis cancels youth football team's season after parent allegedly shot the coach | CNN



Yeah this makes sense. What are the college/pro teams going to think if this guy's kid can't start for *checks other sources* A TEAM OF 9 AND 10 YEAR OLDS!

There is a bit of levity at least for me. My favorite defense has made an appearance. The shooter's brother claims that the coach was the aggressor and pulled his gun first so the shooter is innocent because "he acted in self-defense because he feared for his life."

I guess that seals it then.

Are there witnesses? What would be the verdict if it is determined the guy came at the coach yelling, the coach feared the guy was going to hurt him and pulled his gun, then the other guy fearing he was going to get shot pulled his gun and shot him?

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

What would be the verdict if it is determined the guy came at the coach yelling, the coach feared the guy was going to hurt him and pulled his gun, then the other guy fearing he was going to get shot pulled his gun and shot him?

That we have way too many fucking guns in this country and a bunch of cretin gun owners who think it's the only way to solve an argument?

Probably not the exact question you asked.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

That we have way too many fucking guns in this country and a bunch of cretin gun owners who think it's the only way to solve an argument?

Probably not the exact question you asked.

No it wasn't, but I also saw how this is the consequence of everybody being armed. Arguments that probably would have never escalated beyond a verbal exchange become a murder case.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

There is a bit of levity at least for me. My favorite defense has made an appearance. The shooter's brother claims that the coach was the aggressor and pulled his gun first so the shooter is innocent because "he acted in self-defense because he feared for his life."

This isn't about Han Solo and Greedo is it?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Are there witnesses? What would be the verdict if it is determined the guy came at the coach yelling, the coach feared the guy was going to hurt him and pulled his gun, then the other guy fearing he was going to get shot pulled his gun and shot him?

The shooting happened in front of the team and other parents so there are witnesses. Unfortunately, at least two witness accounts that contradict one another. One says the parent came after the coach. Another says the coach came off the field and to confront the parent. Both men were carrying guns because well America. There are also accounts of the coach handing his gun to a friend before the practice, the coach handing his gun over preparing for a fistfight and being shot during that exchange and the coach handing his gun to a friend, getting into a fistfight with the parent, asking for his gun back during the fistfight and being shot shortly afterwards. Yeah, there is still a lot to be sorted out.

While I was being a bit flippant, I do believe the "I feared for my life" defense is the ultimate get out of jail free card (pun not intended) if it is applied fairly and evenly. As I have said, everyone gets to be scared and being scared seems to be consistently accepted as a justified defense for shooting someone. I get that there is supposed to be more than just that but it just seems like fear is all that is needed to not be found guilty. Based on your scenario, my guess is the parent is not guilty. Does that also mean that the coach has a right to fear for his life every time he sees the parent that he knows is afraid of him and shot him because of that fear? Does he get to shoot him out of fear as well?

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Does that also mean that the coach has a right to fear for his life every time he sees the parent that he knows is afraid of him and shot him because of that fear? Does he get to shoot him out of fear as well?

I wonder the same thing. "Stand your ground" laws seem to make very argument a legal reason to shoot someone.

[flere-imsaho]

The fact that firearms are allowed anywhere near a facility hosting youth sports is also insane.

[flere-imsaho]

Three games this weekend, four yellow cards.

U9 & U10 Club, and then U12 AYSO (that game had two yellows, one for a coach and one for a player, ironically).

The AYSO one has also resulted in a write-up about both coaches being requested that will go to the district LOL. I dunno, guys, maybe don't treat AYSO like the UCL final or something.

[miami_fan]

Advisory for parents: If you are going to hide in a hotel bar and get drunk while your kids are running around the hotel hallways, don't be surprised if

A) Someone actually catch your kids and scares the living daylights out of them.

B) Law enforcement is called in because the hotel is nice enough to have cameras in the hallway which are able to catch your children in 4K in the act.

And finally C)

Your kid is shot or shot at. At least here in Florida, people actually carry their guns into their hotel rooms and if you have not noticed, there has been an increase in "Shoot first, claim being in fear of your life late" incidents down here lately.

Advice to the kiddos: If you are to engage in this activity, don't do it while still wearing your team practice and your game hat. That and your Jersey accent are dead giveaways.

[miami_fan]

Perfect Game banned certain sizes of the the Easton Hype Fire Bat. PG is saying it did so for safety and integrity of the game issues. Travel Baseball parents suggest other more devious reasons on social media.

I have seen the described as "hot straight out of the wrapped" and "not requiring any break-in". I have know been around youth baseball for six years. I have never heard of a bat being suspended and have no real clue what those terms mean. My "safety" assumption is this has something to do with balls coming off these bats too fast for fielders and specifically pitchers to protect themselves. My "integrity of the game" assumption is kids using this bat are having their Brady Anderson circa 1996 season.

Am I right in either of my assumptions?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

I have seen the described as "hot straight out of the wrapped" and "not requiring any break-in". I have know been around youth baseball for six years.

Highest exit velo ever recorded by some of the bat YTers, swing YTers, etc.

116 with the wrapper still on, 120 wasn't unheard of.

I saw the phrase "makes every little leaguer a blue chipper" used several times.

[Ksyrup]

There was a softball bat several years ago that got banned. Made every hitter a HR hitter. It got banned about a quarter of the way through the HS season and some of the girls who hit double digit HRs maybe had 1 or 2 the rest of the season.

[Atocep]

The Louisville Slugger Meta was banned a few years ago at high school and NCAA levels along with Perfect Game and most tournaments. The bat was simply outperforming every other bbcor bat out there.

For PG to ban it there has be something egregious, as Jon's data shows. Most tourneys don't care about that stuff as long as they're getting money and banning bats is a good way to get teams to avoid your tourneys.

[miami_fan]

If it is that obvious, how are these bats allowed in the first place? I assume that there are certain specs that companies have to meet to get the USSSA, BBCOR, etc. seal of approval. I also assume these approving organization have people who test the bats to ensure the bats meet those specs. So how did this pass the tests?

A quick Google search suggest that USSSA bats are "juiced" as a standard.

USSSA regulations are generally utilized for tournaments or “travel ball.” They provide a performance advantage over alternative options such as USA, BBCOR, and Wood Bats. Another competitive advantage provided by a USSSA bat can potentially be found in the barrel size. While USABats and BBCOR models enforce a maximum barrel diameter of 2 ⅝”, USSSA does not follow suit. USSSA models can have a barrel as large as 2 ¾” to provide a larger hitting surface and, in turn, more confidence for each player.

It is probably not appropriate to use the steroid comparison when talking about youth sports but those comparisons keep coming to mind for me. This Easton bat is too "juiced" when compared to the other "juiced" bats for a "juiced" bat seal of approval?

[miami_fan]

Dola,

Of course I am asking under the assumption of a desire for fair competition. Let me naive for at least one post.

[Flasch186]

The bigger problem that exacerbates all of this is the reclassing.

At tournaments there are kids that started school a year late and then are reclassed a year as well so they’re in essence 16yo’s playing against 14yos. With puberty hitting for some and some not so much, the danger is real.

I’ve seen the ball come off the bat in a way that a slash bunt or comebacker has a real danger of hurting someone seriously.

The tournament scene is absolutely silly but luckily I don’t give a shit about wins and losses. That being said, I can see a difference in confidence in some kids when they see what these other comparable kids look like and what their metrics compare like.

It’s not wonderful to have to say to a 13/14yo that that kid over there is 15/16 and your day will come. It’s within the rules that these tournaments and organizations have set up but it’s really a money grab by them. I’ve witnessed the tournament directors be presented with clear evidence of rule breaking and they literally don’t want to be bothered and literally let you know that.

If you don’t let that bother you it’s fine and I don’t give a shit but will say this. If my kid was pitching and got hurt by a come backer off of a 2 yr older kid I’d sue them as hard as a possibly can.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[miami_fan]

See this is where my ignorance hampers me. Before we knew anything about the different types of bats, we bought a USSSA bat for Little League. I think it lasted four pitches of BP before the coach came over, explained the different types of bats and told me Michael could not use it in a Little League game. By the time he started playing travel, he had already outgrown the bat. I did not see the sense of using tournament for like two tournaments when every other situation required BBCOR. Maybe others were using USSSA bats and I had no clue.

I never had an issue with reclassification. To be fair having a kid who was always bigger than most than the kids he played with and against would make it a bit harder to see the effects physically. He was the one that elicited the calls for checks of his birth certificate to make sure he was of age and shock when they found out he was among the youngest on the team.

I understand why the combo is extremely dangerous especially now seeing firsthand the effects of two years of strength training can do for a high school player physically. On the other hand, it also does enough for their confidence the player doesn't need the boost of confidence that comes with using a juiced bat.