Haven't talked about this in a while and after talking to a kid, felt that it should be brought back up.

 

I was at a local restaurant and a kid that I have known for a while came over to chat and say hi. We got to talking about how baseball is doing and I asked him why he didn't come out since he did play on a little league team here. He told me that there were at least 3 that wanted to come out, but after talking to one of the other coaches, not baseball, they decided not to. I asked why and he said that the coach had told him that if they went to play baseball, they wouldn't play that certain sport again while he was a coach. To say the least, I was upset. And I told him that he and the others should come out next season. If that coach kicks them off of the team, they can always go to someone and see what can be done.

 

What gets me about this, is that these, so called, coaches know that college scouts love to see athletes that are able to play more than one sport. Our they are just too... :sssh:

 

KHSAA should have rules to keep this from happening no matter what sport. No coach, baseball, basketball, or football, should never tell a kid not to go and play another sport if that is what he/she wants to do. It's ridiculous, unprofessional, and unfortunate to these athletes. :irked:

They do grants for several KY youth programs and yes, BTF does deny some requests....:irked:

 

I had a facility, completed flooded, damaged and over homeplate was 18' of water...Ms. Bradley, said no, politely but determined after review the grant was denied.

 

With that said, this organization certainly does help and point being, if denied at first continue persevering.

 

I do agree, kids are starting to "specialize" at an earlier age, than I can ever recall. Perhaps some, is from overzealous parents and same, with some coaches who try and get youngsters, to commit to benefit them and often shortchange, other opportunities.

 

Well put strike 3.

no decline in Rockcastle, but we don't have soccer, tennis, wrestling, or mens volleyball as programs to coinside

With the time demands of a given sport being year-round, there are also non-sport related constraints that affect a kids' participation in sports. The most important one is performance in the classroom. There are a significant number of kids that cannot pass the grade in the classroom or have other problems. Although there are rules in place to prevent a "professional athlete" at the HS level, I know many parents have their own classroom performance criteria that is much higher than KHSAA standards.

I think we need Middle School teams for baseball. The High School coaches

should be more involved in Little League & Babe Ruth, as well as the players.

I,m not saying every day or even coach a team, but maybe have some

camps to go to, or just invite youth to a practice. Seeing older kids play

might help to get them interested. The parents need to be more interested.

 

I'm not sure how prevalent it is around the state, but I teach at a school that participates in a middle school baseball conference. Boyle, Casey, Danville, Garrard, Lincoln, Mercer and Rockcastle all field teams and have for about ten years.