Youth baseball is a hobby shared by millions. In just about every city in the United States on a summer night, there’s probably going to be a baseball game. Perhaps 10,000 or more games can even be played simultaneously and the results, while important to the participants, are ultimately of little importance in world affairs. Still, many young people and their parents spend countless hours preparing for, practicing, transporting, and playing baseball because they enjoy the game. Dreams of becoming professional ball players intended for pre-teen and teen players. However, the reality for millions of these players is that few will actually realize a big league dream.
The talent and skills needed to become a professional gamer are scarce and only found in a select few. Of these players with a shot at a major league dream, how to realize the dream requires hours of practice and playing hundreds of baseball games during a youth career. The only way to get better at the game is to play. Repetition is the secret to being better at anything. Playing baseball and practicing baseball makes average players become good players and good players become great players or even exceptional players. Playing time combined with constant practice is often a recipe for success. In hot climates, players tend to play longer seasons and have a greater advantage over players in cold climates. For cold-weather players to improve, they have to play more games in shorter periods of time. To improve, players look for the best competition during these compressed periods of good baseball weather. However, some argue that there may be too much baseball if five, six, or even ten games are played in a week over an 8- to 12-week period in late spring and summer.
How much baseball can a young player play? Does playing five or six days a week make a player better? Is there something in the mental toughness that a player develops playing every day and even for more than one team? What other intangible attributes are learned, mastered, and developed when a player plays “a lot” of baseball? Does a player become more confident, exude stronger leadership, and maybe even have more fun by getting more involved with his friends on multiple teams?
This spring and early summer, I discovered some of the answers to these questions while coaching my son in three baseball programs simultaneously. While my son and I didn’t originally set out to be involved in three shows at the same time, the opportunity and whispers of divine places seemed to indicate that this was a way forward at this point in my son’s life in the game.
Another aspect related to this decision was my son’s age and the milestone at which he was moving on and leaving the game of baseball. As a twelve-year-old seventh grader, he has played with children mostly a year or more older than him. From the age of eight, he was playing 9U baseball and continued to play with older kids throughout his baseball career. When the kids move to 13U baseball, as many involved in the game know, the field dimensions change to Pony dimensions with longer bases, a 54-foot pitching distance and deeper fences. The game takes on larger proportions. 12U pitches are about 10-15% smaller on average and this can have noticeable results on players’ effectiveness and contribution to the game.
Recognizing this time as a one-year window for him to play both dimensions and perhaps have a great deal of experience mentoring and leading a 12U team while playing 13U baseball as well, we decided to take on the challenge of playing on two travel teams in the spring and summer. Also, due to our town rules, my son would also have to play for a local league team during the months of April, May, and early June. Therefore, he would be on three teams simultaneously, while most kids would only play for two teams.
The schedule would be rigorous from early April to late June, playing more than 60 games of baseball in this short 10-11 week period. The average player would play 30-35 games. There would be a number of days where he would play 3 games in one day for two different teams or maybe even all three teams. Some parents and coaches would wonder if this is possible without too much conflict occurring in the game, and conflicts usually would occur if some prior planning and scheduling were not done. To make this happen, we examined the usual routine of our local league and the opening and closing seasons of the two traveling teams he played for. While there was some overlap, we recognized that the majority of their home league games would be played on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from mid-April to mid-June. Therefore, your travel games with your U12 team could be scheduled for Saturday and Sunday and some Tuesdays and Thursdays. He would have games 5-7 days a week on average with some double headers on the weekends with tournaments etc.
For this baseball program to work, we had to have the coaches’ agreement that my son would miss some local league games to play with his 12U team in travel games and also that his 12U coaches would not expect him to do all the scheduled practices during the game. season. Also, he had to make his 13U team a priority if they had a game and miss 12U games if there was a conflict with a 13U game. In total, during the months of April, May, and June, approximately 8-10 game conflicts arose and my son honored the agreement to play where he was supposed to play.
One of the most interesting challenges in coaching him and helping him navigate this process was switching between the different uniform and equipment needs for the different teams. Baseball at 13U uses metal spikes and 12U still wears cleats, so I needed two pairs of shoes. He had four different uniforms, one uniform for the home league, one for 13U, and two for 12U (one for home games and one for away games). Many times we had to pack up three uniforms and walk out the door. We had to make sure he had both pairs of shoes, both batting helmets from his two travel kits, and all of his gloves.
As a parent and head coach for one of the teams and assistant coach for the other two teams, I also had to be very organized. I deployed my entire team daily and prepared all my lineups ahead of time. Email communication was critical to the success of this effort. Using GPS to find travel games throughout our region was also a necessary component. My wife and other family members showed patience as I played these games with my son. Getting rides from other coaches and parents also becomes necessary at times due to various work conflicts that arose.
In evaluating the value of the experience for my son, my conclusion is that he benefited from the intensity of the experience and the repetition of the game. He was given the great responsibility of helping his 12U team and was given the opportunity to play virtually every position on the field due to his abilities. For his 13U traveling team, he usually plays only second base and throws occasionally. By playing every position on the field, he learned the game from numerous perspectives and became a smarter baseball player. He also developed his defensive acumen of the game and became a stronger field general in the infield and outfield. He came to enjoy playing catcher; a position he had shown little interest in before and he showed great skill when the opportunity to play 12U baseball presented itself. His hitting improved in his home league from previous seasons and his confidence at the plate improved. While his overall batting numbers didn’t jump off the page, his quality at the plate improved as he was better able to foul off pitches, make contact with the ball and find ways to get on base.
There were some minor consequences of playing so much baseball in that he had little time for some of his other friends or interests during this time. He, too, was tired at times and perhaps had a reservation about putting on his uniform and playing one more time. However, he always moved forward and when he got on the field, he went about his business and gave his best on the field. I think he learned a lot about himself in this process. He learned that he is capable of doing more than he thought. He realized that he could be a leader in a team and others looked to him for leadership. He enjoyed his interactions on and off the field with 34 other players from three teams. Some of the core intangibles that his 12U coaches shared with me are how his presence on the field inspired his teammates to improve their game knowledge and skills. Having him around gave them more confidence.
My hope is that the experience translates into more success for him in baseball and in his life. While it’s too early to tell if he has a significant future in baseball, the odds aren’t likely, I know he does have a future in life. I am confident that the lessons learned on the diamond this year will translate into leadership in some future effort. I always like to think that we never know how far something we say or do today can have on someone or something in our lives. The last season of baseball is a reminder of this belief.
Dr. Warren Bruhl is a practicing pediatric chiropractor in Glencoe, IL. Dr. Bruhl has been a youth baseball coach for 11 seasons and has spent thousands of hours developing youth baseball players. Dr. Bruhl is available for questions and comments at [email protected].