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well, the roller coaster ride that was his 2016 baseball season came to and end Saturday afternoon.

this was his absolute worst baseball season of his life and the first time he's really faced any adversity on the field.
playing up in age with a travel team was a terrible idea in hindsight. he wasn't ready for that and it showed.
his struggles absolutely wrecked his confidence which actually made him struggle even more and it snowballed out of control for him.

so we also put him on a rec team to try to get him some playing time and boost his confidence a bit.
stitches in his throwing hand followed by two weeks of pneumonia sidelined him for the first month of that season.

took him a while to get it going again but finally came around toward the end of the season and into the tournament.
his rec team finished 2nd in the parish. going into the championship game, he was stoked knowing they would finish no worse than 2nd.
but losing that game stung. you can see it in his face in the post game pics, don't care what he actually says.

got invited to tryout for All Star team. 4th invite in 5 years, but had never made it.
this year he finally got onto the roster.

that meant he had to choose between travel and All Stars due to both scheduling conflicts and the cost of all this.
he chose All Stars.

his team swept through the District tournament without breaking much of a sweat.

at the state tournament 2 weeks later, they placed 4th out of 16 teams. Highest finish ever in a state tournament for our parish. first time a team from our parish ever even won a game at the State level.

so for the first time ever we also got to participate in the Cal Ripken Southwest Regional. Regionals is comprised of 7 states.
we were seriously overmatched once we got there. Finished pool Play as the 8th and final seed to get into Bracket Play.
and were smoked by the #1 seed and eliminated in our first game.

8th place in the Region is BY FAR the most successful run our parish has ever had in youth baseball at any age group.
Kids was upset that they season is over, but held their heads up knowing that they fought like hell and made it farther than they ever were expected to go.


My son went from down in the dumps and in the worst funk of his life early in the year, to making an all star squad, to getting a rally sparking RBI in an elimination game at State, to starting 2B in bracket play at the Cal Ripken Regional.


Was one hell of a ride this year, but it was a rife i think he needed to take.
Everything came easy for him before this year. But through all his struggles, he learned that quitting wasn't an option. But more importantly he learned how to fight through the tough times and how hard he's got to work to get what he wants. All on his own, he started going to the cages to get more swing in. He begged anyone who would listen to go hit grounders at him. He put it in as much time with baseball (outside of regular practices) as he possibly could to elevate his game to where it needed to be.
Travel teams have absolutely KILLED little leagues and all star teams.

It really is a shame and huge expense for all involved.
 
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Travel teams have absolutely KILLED little leagues and all star teams.

It really is a shame and huge expense for all involved.

and I am far from convinced their value or improvement in the skill levels... mainly for those that have the time and money to do it

of the kids who had exceptional talent that I have seen... I blame travel ball as the reasons their bodies broke down and in four cases, completely destroyed them.. shoulders and backs

we did it for baseball and basketball... it was fun when the parents were pals... but the competitiveness can cause strain...
of all the kids my sons played with, only 4 are in the minors and neither of the 2 pitchers played travel
 
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and I am far from convinced their value or improvement in the skill levels... mainly for those that have the time and money to do it

of the kids who had exceptional talent that I have seen... I blame travel ball as the reasons their bodies broke down and in four cases, completely destroyed them.. shoulders and backs

we did it for baseball and basketball... it was fun when the parents were pals... but the competitiveness can cause strain...
of all the kids my sons played with, only 4 are in the minors and neither of the 2 pitchers played travel

don't know about other areas, but here the only real value is just the sheer amount of games played and the experience that comes with it.

our All Star team scrimmaged (and beat) a few of the local travel teams to help prepare for our tournaments.
the talent level isn't nearly as huge as travel proponents will tell you. and the level of coaching isn't any better either.

other than a select few organizations, it's just one of the kids' dad who is the coach.

my son wants to give travel another shot though. he said he ain't going out like that and wants another crack at it.
but he wants to find a team his age and one whose current 2B isn't the head coach's kid.

2B is his best position (has played some 3B, SS and OF). He's built like a second baseman, thinks like a second baseman.
he played on 3 different teams this year (travel, regular rec, and Cal Ripken All Stars). All 3 teams starting 2B was the coach's son.

so he would really like to find a team where he's on at least somewhat of an even playing field with his competition for 2B.
 
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Traveling on business today, actually, all week. Will see the Atlantic twice and the Pacificic once in between.

Older kid playing lacrosse tonight. First game I've missed in his entire career of playing.

That includes games I wasn't coaching and was just a dad on the sidelines... and plenty of games that involved getting on planes to travel for... Nine year streak broken. Nine frickn years.

Good thing is that he's fine with it. Me? Not as much.

Break a leg kid. Will miss watching you enjoy playing our game.
 
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Traveling on business today, actually, all week. Will see the Atlantic twice and the Pacificic once in between.

Older kid playing lacrosse tonight. First game I've missed in his entire career of playing.

That includes games I wasn't coaching and was just a dad on the sidelines... and plenty of games that involved getting on planes to travel for... Nine year streak broken. Nine frickn years.

Good thing is that he's fine with it. Me? Not as much.

Break a leg kid. Will miss watching you enjoy playing our game.

i know that feeling.
i've been stuck in Texas since beginning of March.

Missed first two games of baseball season already.
First two games i've missed since he was 5.

eats me up to jot be there for games.
and because of my work schedule, i can't even talk to him right after the games to discuss it.
 
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i know that feeling.
i've been stuck in Texas since beginning of March.

Missed first two games of baseball season already.
First two games i've missed since he was 5.

eats me up to jot be there for games.
and because of my work schedule, i can't even talk to him right after the games to discuss it.



Yeah, sucked missing it. I'm sure it eats you as much as me. At least our kids know that we wanted to be there... some kids should be so lucky that their old men are posting in a relatively anonymous fourum commiserating their inability to spend time watching their kids play a game.

At least one of the kids moms sent me text updates. Sad I missed it. They lost but he had a good game. Scored 25% of the goals for the team. Don't know about assists or how his rides were, but it is what it is.
 
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At least one of the kids moms sent me text updates. Sad I missed it. They lost but he had a good game. Scored 25% of the goals for the team. Don't know about assists or how his rides were, but it is what it is.

i got to watch his first at bat of the year (base knock up the middle) via facetime.
wife has sent me a few videos and pics.

the little midget is 2 for 3 so far, 3 stolen bases and 2 runs scored.
pitched one inning to earn a save. 2Ks, 0 BB, 1 run allowed.

through 1 full and one partial game (game didn't even make it through 2 full innings before it was called).

4A44B43A-71C1-4DA3-A37C-7036FC01AADE_zpsgp3kgnq5.png
 
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Not that I want you fellas to feel worse...
but 25 years from now...
you'll still remember the games you missed
just sayin.. voice of experience

Oh, and imagine missing his 1st HS Varsity HR to left center
Don't worry.. ALL the other parents will tell you about it
a hundred times
 
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finally got to go to a game last night.

midget went 1 for 1 at the plate (brings his BA up to a dead even .500 on the year).

ripped a single up the middle, a walk, stole 2 bags, scored a run. was also sniped trying to steal 3rd.
pitched to one batter and got a pop up to end the inning and give his team a shot at a comeback, but they weren't able to push any across and lost 8-4.
 
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the midget ended the season with a .571 batting average.

lead off guy, so not many RBI, but led his team in: BA, hits, stolen bases, and runs scored. only struck out twice all season.

played 2B, 3B, pitched, and got one inning at CF when they was blowing a team out and gave some of the weaker players some time in the infield.

got the call this afternoon that he made the All-Star team again this year.
 
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the midget's team finished 2nd in district tournament.

lost game 1 of the tourney. then stormed through the loser's bracket to get to a shot at the title.

on last day of the tourney had to play (and win) back-to-back-to-back games to take it home. including having to beat last year's state champ twice in the finals.

beat them once to force a winner take all game where they slap ran out of steam (and pitchers) and got smoked in the final.

finishing top two earns them a spot in the State Tourney in a couple weeks though, so we still get to play ball a lil longer.


my midget son getting his runner-up medal:

F1FCA498-0C47-4086-8CCF-8886033FF669_zpsntp9fjoe.jpg
 
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