The Reality of High School Sports

You go along like I did as an assistant coach starting in T Ball. And then you move along through the In House Leagues. The playing gets more intense and more fun. The kids are starting to know what they are doing and talent springs eternal and you start to think your kid really has something. There are the standouts. The kids who in sixth grade are pounding the ball into the outfield. And then there are the kids who can pitch and have a fastball that freezes kids at the plate. All of this is with Dad Coaches and the parents are way into the games now and people scream because they are glimmering something bigger. High School ball.

And then it happens. Everyone troops off in the ninth grade and the numbers move in along with a reality that just seems so unfair. The majority of kids who have been playing baseball for nine years will not play anymore. They will either not make the team or they will make the team and sit on the bench. The chosen few continue on in high school but for most kids it is the end of playing sports. How did it come to this?

Too many people. The large high schools of the Chicago land area are a good example. The level of competition is such that only the very best of the best get to play. The influence of personal coaching and high priced sports clinics and programs. The parents who shell out the heavy duty cash just have a better chance of seeing their kids play in high school. Maybe it starts with the mentality of travel ball where kids wear uniforms like major leagues and parents again shell out thousands for the best teams.

So the reality of high school sports is that for most kids is marks the end of playing not the beginning. Gone are the days when everyone could get a chance to play. That belongs to a time when there just weren't as many people.

The Pitcher...sometimes a dream is all you have



 

Money in Kids Sports

The fact that money is now a factor in kids sports is not surprising in our comodified culture where everything is for sale including our politicians (see gridlock). But as a parent there is that ta da moment where you realize money does influence who will  make the team and who wont. My new novel The Pitcher is about a Mexican kid with no money at all and a broken down World Series pitcher who coaches him to make the high school team. On the other side is his nemesis, the kid who has everything and every lesson. The question is then will talent or money win out?

And in real life I was confronted with this as my own son developed a terrific arm but we did not give him the high powered pitching lessons. I had played sports all through high school without one lesson but of course the times have changed. The competion is intense and there are parents who spend thousands so junior can have a leg up. I still remember when we played travel ball and the price tag of about three thousand dollars was batted around at a parent meeting. Was my wife and I the only ones who stared at the people like they had just bought the proverbial Brooklyn Bridge.

But of course then I found out what travel ball was all about and three thousand dollars later we ended up in fields in St Louis and a few other states with a promised trip to Coopers Town. And again we were in the caboose of family Olympic sport spending. We just couldn't compete at the higher end levels of personal trainers and personal lessons. And so when high school came along my son made the team but we found out the real positions were for the few who had logged many hours at Finish Strong camps.

And in my novel I put this maxim to the test. Will talent ultimately win out? Or have we reached a point where cream will not rise to the top...unless it is pushed there by a lot of buoyant greenbacks.

Sometimes a Dream is all you have...The Pitcher