I just got back from a baseball camp at an ACC school. There were 3 division one coaches present, multiple other college head coaches, pitching coaches, high school coaches and current professional baseball players helping at this camp. During the pitching lessons, there were a handful of helicopter dads standing right next to the gate still trying to coach their son. It's not only ridiculous, but it is also flat out embarrassing.
Too many of those dudes think their kid is the next Chipper Jones and the only way they’ll ever get to the bigs is with the sage advice of their dear old dad... Even Chipper’s dad knew when to buzz off and let the coaches coach.
I knew Julian Mock (longtime scout and eventual director of scouting for the Cincinnati Reds) before he died recently and he used to go on about how over involved parents have probably prevented more talented kids from ever making it to the pros than anything...
I know enough to know I don't know jack shit about anything sports related. And if my son was in college (and an ACC school to boot), I sure as hell wouldn't be trying to coach him. Talk about retarding your son's growth.
In the 60’s and 70’s Julian brought a lot of the talent in that became the Big Red Machine... I used to razz him about passing on Derek Jeter though.
And they live vicariously through their kid. On a couple different occasions when I have been doing lessons and I have a helicopter dad, I make him get a bat and get in the box. You spray line drives all over the place? You can help me coach your son up. If you can't... STFU and go buy a book and sit in the corner and read.
I'll stand so the boy can't see me and watch. Only thing I'll ever say is nice hit and ask the guy to explain something again to make sure I understand it for home.
It's like clockwork. Always happens. It's a vicarious thing to them. I sucked because my coach didn't allow me to play, or someone else's fault. So I am going to be the guy that never leaves, makes my kid do stupid amount of reps and the moment he gets in the car to leave I am going to bombard him. The hell with having fun and growing... MLB scouts may be at this 7u game.
Several years ago, when my daughter first started pitching, she was going to a college softball coach for lessons. I was on a bucket catching and it was early in her first lesson. I said something trying to correct her and the coach casually walked up to me, handed me the check I had just handed to her and said, "I have a really nice field outside of this indoor facility. You and your daughter are welcome to use it if you'd like to continue coaching her while I'm trying to work." She fixed my shit on the spot and my daughter and I have enjoyed ball together ever since.
I’ll stand by this to the day I die... The only question a dad should ask his child after the game is did you have fun? There is a time and a place for coaching. And it usually doesn’t involve a parent. If your child isn’t getting sufficient advice and coaching on their craft, go play elsewhere for a coach that will. I can’t tell you the kids I see on a daily basis who hate the game because not only is the game hard as [uck fay], they then have to answer for every one of their actions on the field when they get in the car or go home.
My daughter is on her middle school swim team and quite frankly, she’s not very good at it. She can swim fine but as far as being competitive... not so much. Whenever I take her to practice or to meets that is the only thing I ever ask her. “Did you have fun?” . As long as the answer is “yes” I’ll continue to take her to practices and swim meets. When it stops being fun, I’ll ask her if she wants to keep doing it. If the answer to that is “yes” then we’ll keep going. If it ever becomes “no”, she’ll finish the season and we’ll re-evaluate, but she’ll finish that season no matter what.
That’s what killed my budding sports career as a kid... my old man was a coach (he had state champions in 3 sports at Whitehaven Memphis in the early-mid 60’s) and I learned to hate organized sports from him. As long as it was casual, backyard stuff away from his criticizing ass it was ok but other than that? No thanks.
I don’t have the parenting thing down. My kids may both wind up in prison, be like Tenny, or worse be Democrats. But I’ve been passionate about allowing my son to develop his own love of baseball and football. He practices with my guys whenever he wants. But when we are at home I refuse to do any sport related stuff with him unless he asks me to. He damn well may have a lengthy career in baseball, but it won’t be because his dad is a coach or his dad is pushing him to do it. It’s going to be because he loves it and values all the attributes that comes with being part of a team.
You can stand back and just watch a parent absolutely ruin sports for a kid. I hope that I don’t, and if I am ever at risk of it, that someone tells me so. I demand that my kids do their best, play hard, be good teammates, do what they’re asked, don’t sass and don’t quit - as it’s all that they can control. Not just in sports, but in life. A microscopic few will even play D1, much less professionally, but every one of them will have to turn pro at being an adult.
Doing it wrong. Got to make your son cry multiple times in a season of coach-pitch and apologize to him for being a jackass multiple times to do it right.
