Russ I have a strong heart for kids just out there playing a sport and not trying to get to college. So I’ve coached Rec YMCA basketball in two states, rec soccer and rec baseball. I also have managed and run a travel baseball team since our kids were about 9 (meaning the guys that stuck with me). Even on the competitive travel baseball I’ve carried one or two kids who really shouldn’t be on the team, but they are loyal and work hard so we keep them. For me it’s not about cut-throat winning but about trying to get them to love the game since most of the kids are clearly above average skill-wise. Meaning if we have a bunch of potential college players here don’t chase them away screaming about mistakes in some meaningless 12 year old ball game.
But with the rec kids I bust my butt to make sure these kids have some good hits and have a good season, because most kids never play baseball again after 12. My dad used to manage and this guy I know in LA who played on our 8-9 year old team was telling me all these great stories about my dad and I was just dumbfounded, I didn’t remember any of it. For this kid though if those were the last years he played baseball he remembers it well, so that’s the impression I hope to leave on some of these kids.
Now this being the internet and me choosing to have fun with my words I am not nearly the blowhard I am coming across here on the macho stuff. The reality is I want to play with my kids, I only have two, and these are the last years I get to be a boy with them. Naturally they wanted to play with dad and learned to play the things dad was good at. I had a basement in Ohio and by the time they were 6 they could dribble with two hands, go between the legs and around the back (with one of those small balls). I thought for sure my kids would be basketball players like daddy, I am a 6’1″ PG, and my wife is 5’10” so they’ll be big kids. We even had 10-game passes to Cavaliers games, and I watch hoops all the time around the house. Neither one plays basketball anymore. So it’s true the kids will choose what they like. Mine have a knack for baseball so I educated the hell out of myself to help them succeed. And I get to play with the kids even longer because as I stop coaching them I can still pitch BP.
Now bringing all this back to the girls, notice I said I’d probably expose my girls, heavily to basketball and softball. Mostly because it’s what I know. I can help my kid in those sports. If my girl is Dance, I am a spectator. If she is a tennis player, same thing, I’ll master the tennis clap and that’s about it.
I just had a long talk with my 7th grader we were out hitting this afternoon with one of his buddies and the father is a PGA golfer that lives in Encinitas. My son asked me why I don’t golf since many of the dad’s do. I told him look I basically said once I have boys I am not golfing anymore. If I went and shot 18 somewhere by the time you get on, play through, have bite to eat afterward you’ve shot 8 hours on a Saturday. I’ll be damned if I am not going to miss my kids YMCA basketball game to chase around a golf ball. Plenty of time for that, I won’t even be 50 as both are finishing their bachelor’s degree. Now to be fair at this point in my life, not golfing is purely financial I just don’t have the means to golf a whole lot, but initially it was not wanting to take away time from the kids. The reality is if I had just a little more scratch, it would be a good time to get them into golf, so we can keep playing once I am too old to throw to them.
