your thoughts on this....

Good Coaches that know how to teach the fundamentals.

I think that it is important to get young players into competitive leagues. Many of these young athletes see better compitition in summer sports than in high school. I do very much agree that quality coaching is key, but I think Mom and Dad need to take the biggest roll in their childrens lives to make sure they become well rounded in all aspects of their lives, family, school, community, and sports. The cream will always rise to the top.

With baseball the summer leauges do not seem to be as competive as say AAU for basketball.

With baseball the summer leauges do not seem to be as competive as say AAU for basketball.

 

 

You must be refering to knothole . There are competitive leagues .The southwest ohio league is one of the most competitive in this area .there are teams from all over cincy,Dayton and Indy ,and parts in between .To make that comment ,you have never seen these teams play .Tournaments are held several weekends throughout the year that bring in teams from even further away because they know they'll play good teams here .

I can understand if all you see is knothole or little league .The competition is down in those leagues .

For one, check out the CABA World Series (one is held in Cincy) or many other tourneys as COACH pointed out which showcases many teams from the Southwest Ohio League. These tourneys have teams from Michigan to Puerto Rico show up to play, and the Greater Cincy area is well represented. Or two, check out http://www.leaguetime.com and pull up the schedule of 12 to 14 yr olds (for junior high talent) and go see a couple games of an american or national league team play.

 

It is a good brand of baseball.

I've coached a select summer team in SWOL for several years. It is indeed a very competitive league, especially at the NL level.

 

One of the things that I've noticed over this time is that it sometimes a challenge to convince kids the importance of learning to play the outfield position. Everyone wants to be a SS or 3Bman. So many kids view the OF as a "lesser" position or even punishment for not having a glove like Ozzie Smith. Not until they reach high school do they finally start to realize the true value of a quality OF. It's also important they understand there are THREE spots available at that position on their high school team - and only ONE spot at SS or the other infield positions. IMHO, all kids (except those too obviously slow) should be forced to play some OF at the pre-high school levels and be exposed to the fundamentals of that position. How fortunate it must be for a high school coach to have a number of players experienced and comfortable playing the OF.

The Babe Ruth leagues in Lexington have produced 2 first round MLB draft choices and numerous college players in the last 10 years, that sounds like a pretty good feeder system to me.

I've coached a select summer team in SWOL for several years. It is indeed a very competitive league, especially at the NL level.

 

One of the things that I've noticed over this time is that it sometimes a challenge to convince kids the importance of learning to play the outfield position. Everyone wants to be a SS or 3Bman. So many kids view the OF as a "lesser" position or even punishment for not having a glove like Ozzie Smith. Not until they reach high school do they finally start to realize the true value of a quality OF. It's also important they understand there are THREE spots available at that position on their high school team - and only ONE spot at SS or the other infield positions. IMHO, all kids (except those too obviously slow) should be forced to play some OF at the pre-high school levels and be exposed to the fundamentals of that position. How fortunate it must be for a high school coach to have a number of players experienced and comfortable playing the OF.

 

Good point. In the SWOL there are likely to be as many balls hit into the OF as the IF, so there is plenty of action out there. Plus, since these teams can play 6 (yes, 6) games during a Saturday/Sunday tourney, every kid needs to be skilled at several (or more) different positions.

A good feeder program has to consist of the high school coach being involved in the players that are coming through his system. The coach should make sure his young players are getting the instruction he wants taught. So when he gets them they already have an understanding to what he wants and expects. I personaly believe that each high school coach should have a summer team of 15&16,13&14 that all play together with someone they select to coach these players for the future of his program. Each team should play between 30-50 games with a few weekend travel tournaments to play against better competion that is in one league or county.

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