TheBookShopOfBF t1_j9arbaq wrote on February 20, 2023 at 3:42 PM

The AAU equivalent in baseball is for sure killing Little League, which in turn kills high school baseball.

These kids are like 9 and being told they need to try out for travel ball and if they don't make it they must suck, etc., all while they're being asked to cough up $1500 for a season while Little League is sitting right there for $150.

Is the coaching better? Usually not really. They play the best kids, emphasize winning over everything, and blow smoke up the few good players' skirts until they start believing they're special. The uniforms and equipment are sometimes better, but they also convince parents to buy a bunch of shit no 10 year old needs.

In reality, most good 10 year old pitchers are that way because they happened to grow faster than their peers, don't have any special talent, and are allowed to go forward with crappy mechanics because they're "successful." Great!

Then, everyone catches up, they're 14 and mediocre, and they're terrible at taking coaching and so don't continue to get better. Welcome to high school! Where they quickly become frustrated because they're not very good, have no feel for the game, and it's all a mess.

What kids need is to play as much as possible in a way that keeps them enjoying the game and with feedback on technique that's appropriate to their level. That can be done on the town level just fine with some basic training of volunteer coaches.

Everyone has a story of some kid who bloomed late and was all of a sudden amazing. Too often, that kid doesn't even keep playing past 12 years old nowadays because it's not any fun being one of the kids who isn't that good while all your friends bail for travel ball. It sucks.

There are pockets of places where we're keeping the little league flame alive, but it's harder and harder every year.

Our league had 8 teams of 12 kids in the majors level as recently as 15 years ago. Now it's three teams of 10 if we're lucky.

c4boom13 t1_j9br0u4 wrote on February 20, 2023 at 7:35 PM

You can pretty much copy paste this for hockey and soccer too. It sucks.

all_stove_up t1_j9ha98w wrote on February 21, 2023 at 11:36 PM

Very spot on post! This is my take for what it is worth. All lower level athletics should be about skill development and creating a love for the game and teaching players to compete with sportsmanship. You never know when a kid will get a growth spurt and suddenly that kid blossoms into a great player. I have seen it happen plenty of times. As far as varsity athletics go, certainly the win-loss record matters.

In my opinion, sport specialization is hurting kids in the long run. Playing a sport year round is not conducive to athletic development (strength/speed, agility). It certainly leads to a higher level of skill development at an earlier age but often leads to overuse injuries. For example, AAU basketball starts (at least where I am) before the high school championship game is played. So kids on a team that have a deep playoff run go right from their season into AAU. Then comes summer league, followed by fall league. No wonder they complain about sore, stiff knees all the time. It isn’t surprising when stress fractures occur in the foot/lower leg or ligament damage in the knee. They put incredible demands on the body without allowing for strength development and recovery.
Unfortunately that horse is out of the barn and specialization is here to stay. And for the 2 or 3 sport athlete that never has much on an off-season, at least they are using different skills and movement patterns throughout the year.

I hate to see how things are trending for high school athletics. These were the things that athletics taught me 1. how to work together and be part of a team 2. how to dedicate myself and work hard to reach a goal 3. how to compete (much in life is still a competition). All these things have helped me later on in life.