I remember a member of the military telling me that when they went to basic training, their drill instructor gave them a speech. The speech began, "Today is the first day you wear the uniform. Just as there is a first day, you wear the uniform, there will be a last day..."
That really puts into perspective that something that is seemingly mundane will, eventually, be a large part of your life. It may be only a temporary chapter, but it will be a significant one. It will be a season that will come and go. Because of that, a servicemember should always strive to make their time in uniform a truly remarkable time.
This is my son's first year in a football uniform.
Baseball, as I have often said, is the most beautiful sport. It is elegant and graceful. It is explosive in exictement and operatic in tempo. It is the sport of poets and writers for a reason. It is said that you can't play baseball through clenched teeth. It is a game played with artistry and finesse. It is not played with anger.
Football, however, is a sport played on emotion. It's a much more perfect foil to the soul of a person.
Logan just started playing actual football (prior to this, he played flag.) He wears a real helmet and real gear. He hits and gets hit. He understands a new, informal set of rules like, "you should never play if you are injured, but you will almost always play hurt."
Football asks a lot of a person. Especially when those people are ten years old.
You can already tell a lot about the kids on the team. Some of my favorite players on the team are the tackles. Tackles are big, strong, usually heavy kids who are powerful and hard to move around. In most sports, these kids are at a disadvantage. They aren't fleet of feet. The muscles that give them the power to fend off a defensive lineman almost certainly guarantee that they won't ever hit a curveball.
That's one of the beauties of football, though. You can have a wide variety of types of body and still play. Basketball? Basically, it favors one type of body, that just comes in slightly different sizes and quicknesses. Baseball? You could take the better half of Logan's travel team and each kid wouldn't look all that different than the next. They all have basically the same traits: good eyes, quick hands, fast feet. Some are better than others, but they are all pretty much capable of doing the same things.
Football, though? A wide range of body types can play the sport. These tackles love the game. They're really good at it and they finally have a game where they can compete and win. We are also blessed with a couple of tackles who it is easy to see will grow up to be remarkable young men.
Another player on the team has been Logan's lifelong friend. He isn't the biggest or fastest, but he's fearless and will lower his shoulders and take on anybody. He's the team's "Rudy", playing with all the heart he can muster.
A couple of other kids on the team are troubled souls. It is amazing to me that the discipline of being on this team is changing them in profound ways.
One of them gets into a good bit of trouble at school. He was a bit unmanageable during the first few weeks of practice, but when he realized what was going on, he started to behave. I've been trying to find a starting position for him for the past couple of weeks, now. This might be the week he gets it.
Another has problems that run pretty deep. Probably some considerable learning problems and a pretty obvious case of ADHD. At first, I was convinced that it was ridiculous that we had to deal with him. We're not special ed teachers. We're volunteer coaches.
If he was going to stay on the team, though, he was going to have to do the same things everybody else on the team did. He was going to meet the same standard. I have ridden this kid pretty hard. I've made him run laps when he misbehaved. I've told him that whining and complaining have no place here.
At one practice, between plays, he'd jokingly half-tackle me. I'd tell him to knock it off. I'd ask him, "hey, is that smart?" when he'd wrap his arms around me when I wasn't looking.
One of the other kids asked, "Is he your son?"
No, why do you think he's my son? "Because he's always hugging you."
I wondered if that was what he was doing. Today for team pictures, he immediately tried to change seats once I sat down and said, "I'm gonna sit by Coach Strebler."
Why in the world would this kid ever feel any affection towards me? I'm fair, but I've certainly been hard, and he's gotten more than his fair share of attention, usually not positive. However, I'm also quick to compliment a kid when they do something right. I'll point out when they're showing improvement.
I also don't ever yell at kids. I may tell them to run laps. I may tell them to get up. I don't raise my voice at them except to praise them during a game.
Who knows what the rest of this kid's life is like. He seems to be angry and doesn't interact well with other kids. I suspect that a lot of the communication he gets isn't very positive.
I'm still undecided as to whether having this kid on the team is good for the team at all. His behavioral problems are so profound that he takes one entire coach away from the team at every practice. However, the difference in him? It's stark. He is benefitting from this experience.
It's amazing how much genuine affection I feel for everybody on the team. It's also amazing to me how quickly this whole thing is happening.
They will have 1 more year of youth football in pads, then 2 years of middle school. Then, Freshman Football in High School.
Just as there is a first season of football, there will be a last season of football. Just as my son will put his uniforms away, so will I also put away the era of my life when my son was a football player.
Because I know this, I cherish every moment of every game. Every minute of every practice. When I see the pageantry and spectacle of the high school football games, I get a little bit emotional. That will be him, soon. Then, just as quickly as his time in uniform came, it will go, and another generation will step up for their days under the Friday night lights.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
The boys drop their season opener in football
Boys did a pretty good job at the football game today, but lost 14-12. It's amazing how much heart these guys put into the game. Football is a game played on emotion to a far greater degree than baseball or even basketball. Some of the kids on the team really, really care about this.
We'll get 'em next time. I thought the boys did a good job. I feel like the coaches learned more today than the kids did.
It's hard to coach in this league. For instance, the quarters are only six minutes. Literally, the first half went like this: they had the ball first, punted, we drove and got the ball down into the red-zone and the half ended. 0-0 at the half.
Seriously, it went by that fast. Figure at this age, the clock runs between plays almost all the time because there's not a lot of passing.
I thought we beat them on both sides of the ball, but they beat us on 2 plays that resulted in TDs.
Hard to coach in this league, too. Every player is supposed to get 12 plays per game, which is darned near impossible. It basically means that everybody gets equal playing time.
For some kids, not such a big deal, but we have other kids (and one in particular) who is a behavioral problem and ends up being a danger to himself and others on the field. Ah well. Rec league sports. Can't do anything about it
This football league only lasts for 2 years, then they're in middle school where, I would hope, you don't have to give the worst player (or the biggest problem child) on the team the same amount of playing time as the better players.
Seems like a lot of the rec league rules are based on parents complaints. I'm sure a lot of folks have complained over the years that their kid is not getting enough playing time, etc.
Logan did okay. Had a few tackles including one of his patented "cross the field to the opposite side" tackles. On offense, he got open for a pass, but the pass sailed high.
So far, so good. The boys did well and they'll get one more crack at this team before the season is over.
We'll get 'em next time. I thought the boys did a good job. I feel like the coaches learned more today than the kids did.
It's hard to coach in this league. For instance, the quarters are only six minutes. Literally, the first half went like this: they had the ball first, punted, we drove and got the ball down into the red-zone and the half ended. 0-0 at the half.
Seriously, it went by that fast. Figure at this age, the clock runs between plays almost all the time because there's not a lot of passing.
I thought we beat them on both sides of the ball, but they beat us on 2 plays that resulted in TDs.
Hard to coach in this league, too. Every player is supposed to get 12 plays per game, which is darned near impossible. It basically means that everybody gets equal playing time.
For some kids, not such a big deal, but we have other kids (and one in particular) who is a behavioral problem and ends up being a danger to himself and others on the field. Ah well. Rec league sports. Can't do anything about it
This football league only lasts for 2 years, then they're in middle school where, I would hope, you don't have to give the worst player (or the biggest problem child) on the team the same amount of playing time as the better players.
Seems like a lot of the rec league rules are based on parents complaints. I'm sure a lot of folks have complained over the years that their kid is not getting enough playing time, etc.
Logan did okay. Had a few tackles including one of his patented "cross the field to the opposite side" tackles. On offense, he got open for a pass, but the pass sailed high.
So far, so good. The boys did well and they'll get one more crack at this team before the season is over.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
After the Storm
Funny thing, but I had a chance to really talk out the situation with my son's baseball with a couple of great parents from last year's team and now I feel pretty good about things. I think it just helps sometimes to talk things out with a patient listener, and to just get things off your chest.
In the final analysis, my opinion is unchanged. However, now, I think I accept it emotionally as well as intellectually.
Basically, it boils down to:
1. The tryout process is imperfect.
2. It is fair in the sense that no kid gets preferrence over any other kid.
3. Generally speaking, it gets things pretty much right, most of the time.
4. Every once in a while, they're going to make a mistake.
I don't think anybody who saw my boy play last year would say that he wasn't one of the better players on his team. So, for him not to make the team this year is probably an indication that things went awry one way or another.
However, it's not like he didn't make any team at all. He made the black / B / light team. He'll still play travel ball, though on a team that's a step down from his team from last year.
Again, I think this is actually a better situation for him. I think it'll open up doors for him to develop both infielding skills and pitching skills.
If he continued to play on A, he would have continued to be a gold-glove-caliber center fielder, but would also have reached his high school tryout having played virtually no infield at all.
He'll also get the chance to pitch, now.
On his previous team, he showed good fundamentals at infield. It's just that there were 4 kids on the team who were better. The league was competitive, and despite the coach's best efforts, the best he could manage averaged out to maybe an inning of infield every 8 games or so.
Pitching, same story. Logan needed a lot more work to develop into a pitcher and he just wasn't getting it on his old team.
Although the analogy isn't flattering, this is a little like going back down to AAA ball to work on some skills so you can come back better than before.
So, although this is disappointing and was a little shock to the system, I think, ultimately, that this is the best move for the boy's future development as a baseball player.
Now, the A team loses it's star center fielder, and a player who led the team in OBP. They picked up a couple of good players. All in all, for the A team, I think they came out a little better off.
The B team (my son's new team) picked up a guy who was one of the better players on A. They also picked up a very athletic kid who had previously been playing rec. I think, overall, they're much, much better as a team than they were last year.
In the A versus B game last year, B gave them a hard time. They eventually lost, but this year, who knows. On the right day, maybe they win. I'd say the B team rose from being a team who could beat A 1 time in 10 to maybe a team that beats A 3 times in 10.
Also, I think my son will benefit from playing for a different coach. Not so much that the old coach was bad in any way. I thought the world of him and he gave 100%, every day to these kids.
It's just that a new coach will bring different strengths and teach different things. This is the chance to study under two masters.
Though it was sort of funny. One of the other parents who saw my boy during the football scrimmage where he got hurt, said that although my boy may play baseball in high school, his sport is probably going to be football.
Lots of things can happen or not between now and then, but based on what I saw in that scrimmage, I think he may be right. The boy was a force to be reckoned with on the football field.
So, I think I internalized the realities of the baseball situation. Ultimately, I think they made a mistake, but they made it the right way. The tryout process, though flawed, is fair in the sense that it gives each kid an equal chance. For whatever reason, Logan didn't accumulate enough points on day 1, and a couple of other kids accumulated more.
I really wouldn't have it any other way. Those kids earned their spots and they should get them. In the final wash, Logan ended up in a better situation.
So, this is one of those rare win-wins.
In the final analysis, my opinion is unchanged. However, now, I think I accept it emotionally as well as intellectually.
Basically, it boils down to:
1. The tryout process is imperfect.
2. It is fair in the sense that no kid gets preferrence over any other kid.
3. Generally speaking, it gets things pretty much right, most of the time.
4. Every once in a while, they're going to make a mistake.
I don't think anybody who saw my boy play last year would say that he wasn't one of the better players on his team. So, for him not to make the team this year is probably an indication that things went awry one way or another.
However, it's not like he didn't make any team at all. He made the black / B / light team. He'll still play travel ball, though on a team that's a step down from his team from last year.
Again, I think this is actually a better situation for him. I think it'll open up doors for him to develop both infielding skills and pitching skills.
If he continued to play on A, he would have continued to be a gold-glove-caliber center fielder, but would also have reached his high school tryout having played virtually no infield at all.
He'll also get the chance to pitch, now.
On his previous team, he showed good fundamentals at infield. It's just that there were 4 kids on the team who were better. The league was competitive, and despite the coach's best efforts, the best he could manage averaged out to maybe an inning of infield every 8 games or so.
Pitching, same story. Logan needed a lot more work to develop into a pitcher and he just wasn't getting it on his old team.
Although the analogy isn't flattering, this is a little like going back down to AAA ball to work on some skills so you can come back better than before.
So, although this is disappointing and was a little shock to the system, I think, ultimately, that this is the best move for the boy's future development as a baseball player.
Now, the A team loses it's star center fielder, and a player who led the team in OBP. They picked up a couple of good players. All in all, for the A team, I think they came out a little better off.
The B team (my son's new team) picked up a guy who was one of the better players on A. They also picked up a very athletic kid who had previously been playing rec. I think, overall, they're much, much better as a team than they were last year.
In the A versus B game last year, B gave them a hard time. They eventually lost, but this year, who knows. On the right day, maybe they win. I'd say the B team rose from being a team who could beat A 1 time in 10 to maybe a team that beats A 3 times in 10.
Also, I think my son will benefit from playing for a different coach. Not so much that the old coach was bad in any way. I thought the world of him and he gave 100%, every day to these kids.
It's just that a new coach will bring different strengths and teach different things. This is the chance to study under two masters.
Though it was sort of funny. One of the other parents who saw my boy during the football scrimmage where he got hurt, said that although my boy may play baseball in high school, his sport is probably going to be football.
Lots of things can happen or not between now and then, but based on what I saw in that scrimmage, I think he may be right. The boy was a force to be reckoned with on the football field.
So, I think I internalized the realities of the baseball situation. Ultimately, I think they made a mistake, but they made it the right way. The tryout process, though flawed, is fair in the sense that it gives each kid an equal chance. For whatever reason, Logan didn't accumulate enough points on day 1, and a couple of other kids accumulated more.
I really wouldn't have it any other way. Those kids earned their spots and they should get them. In the final wash, Logan ended up in a better situation.
So, this is one of those rare win-wins.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Really good news
Just got a call from one of the light team dads to ask if Logan was going to play for Mavs light next year.
I was considering trying to find a different team for him. There are a lot of teams where he'd have been a great acquisition for them. Mavs light is here local, though, and keeps him in the Mavericks system.
That was always the way I was leaning, but right now, I'm sure that's what we need to do. They're getting one of the assistant coaches from the High School to coach the team. The team's manager is a guy I know who is really a good guy.
I think there's a lot of upside to Logan being on that team.
I'm still a little frustrated after the results of the tryouts, but I honestly think this is a better opportunity for Logan. This should be a great year.
I was considering trying to find a different team for him. There are a lot of teams where he'd have been a great acquisition for them. Mavs light is here local, though, and keeps him in the Mavericks system.
That was always the way I was leaning, but right now, I'm sure that's what we need to do. They're getting one of the assistant coaches from the High School to coach the team. The team's manager is a guy I know who is really a good guy.
I think there's a lot of upside to Logan being on that team.
I'm still a little frustrated after the results of the tryouts, but I honestly think this is a better opportunity for Logan. This should be a great year.
Friday, September 2, 2011
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the worst of times...
This year's tryouts for Mavs baseball didn't quite go like I expected.
I watched the tryouts and thought that my son played fine. However, after a few days, we got a call that said they wanted to put Logan through an additional assessment.
My guess is that a few kids did really well and were going to displace Logan, but the Mavs wanted to be able to compare the kids head-to-head.
Problem was, Logan had a football scrimmage the night before. Gashed his knee open. Took him to the ER and he needed stitches. So, he couldn't do anything athletic for a week.
The Mavs tryouts are, in my opinion, fair. They're not perfect. There are some rather obvious problems with them. However, the team is a community resource and as such, they really try to do what they can to make the process as fair as they can.
They don't share a lot of the rationale behind their decisions. That makes sense to me. There comes a time when you have to name a team and that's that.
In my opinion, the system they've set up gets things pretty much right, most of the time. However, it has the potential every now and then to really blow it.
I think that's what happened with Logan.
First day of the tryouts, which is basically the only day anything happens, they're evaluating the players on the classic "5 tools".
On one of the fielding stations, the players are graded on fielding three line drives and making throws to first.
Logan made two of the plays. The third one, though, was simply impossible for him to get. He ranged and dove and really did everything humanly possible, but the ball was still beyond his glove. Nobody could have made the play.
They mark up these scoresheets, and I've always wondered what they did in a case like that. Is there a way to note that although he didn't make the play, that it wasn't possible and that he gave 100% trying?
I doubt it. I bet after that station, he got marked for making 2 good catches and 2 good throws, and that was it.
Even though it was a pitching machine that was shooting the balls out, there was a lot of inconsistency there. Most of the kids were able to make all 3 plays, and some barely had to move.
That's baseball, and that's the frustrating thing about it. You can't be purely objective. However, once you add subjectivity, you muddy the waters.
The next station involved fielding pop flies. I'm not exaggerating that on Logan's team, nobody was as good as he was at tracking and catching fly balls. In fact, from what I saw in league play, if they'd have given a gold glove for center fielders, Logan would have been in the running for it.
I didn't even watch the station. However, even there, things were a little inconsistent. One of the other dads whose kid was in Logan's group told me what he saw.
Instead of using a pitching machine, they had a guy hitting balls with a bat. The boys were supposed to cover an area inside 4 cones. One of Logan's balls was hit outside the cones and to a place where, again, there was no way for him to possibly make the play.
Generally speaking, you expect little errors like that to even themselves out, but this is a very small sample set. It's possible to roll snake-eyes several times in a row.
Personally, I think if they run that same tryout 100 times, my son makes the A team 97 of them or more. Just a bad day. He got bad luck on a few things. He didn't have his greatest performance on another, and in the end, he ends up getting hosed on the final number.
Now, do I think it's right? No. But do I think it's fair? Yes. I really do.
They have to have some way to make decisions. The best way would be to analyze last season's performance. If they did that, my son would have made the team without even a moment's thought. He led the team in OBP, was beaten out by only 4 other guys on the team in hitting (and he was really close to 2 of them), and he played phenomenal defense last year, not just ranging all over the outfield, but making a few highlight reel throws, too.
Trouble is, what do you do with kids who didn't play on the Mavs heavy team? Or kids who are coming from rec? Or kids who moved here from out of town?
They need a way to put all the kids on even footing and having a tryout and assessing ONLY what happens during the tryout is the fairest way to do it.
Now, I think they could improve the format of the tryout, even in a 2 day tryout. For some reason, some genius decided that they'd evaluate skills on day 1, but on day 2, they'd put the boys in "game situations" and evaluate their play that way.
Trouble is, there's no way to evaluate anything on day 2. My son ended up playing right field almost the entire day, except for the inning he played catcher. (He is not a catcher). Half the kids pitching are not pitchers, they're just trying out. So, the kids don't get anything to hit.
It's a total waste of time. However, it was probably implemented because some parent whose kid didn't make the team griped that despite skills, their kid would do better in games. Thing is, it's not a game. It doesn't even rise to the level of a scrimmage. It's a total waste of time.
Also, some whiney parent complained and now parents aren't allowed near the kids (in the spectator areas) during tryouts. This might have come into play because for some reason, Logan decided to use a practice bat (that's 1 ounce heavier) than his usual bat for the tryout. Why? Because he's 10. It made sense to him. If I'd have been there, I'd have had him use the right bat.
Chalk up another victory for stupid rules that came about because some loser complained.
A 2 day tryout is bad enough, but since they basically waste the 2nd day, they basically have turned this into a 1 day tryout, which reduces an already small sample size by half. If only 2 of your fly balls are catchable? Oh well. You caught 2 out of 3. If only 2 of your line drives are catchable? Oh well.
So, that's what I mean by it's fair, but it's imperfect and clearly flawed. All the kids have the same shot at it, but the way it shakes out, some of them are going to be dealt a crappy hand and that's that.
As I've pointed out many, many times before, baseball is the most subjective of sports from a coaching / team selection standpoint. Throw in the fact that some players are great in practice but absolutely stink at game time and it's very, very difficult to know who should and shouldn't be on a team sometimes.
The best a coach can do is make their best guess and go with it. Usually, they're right.
Once in a while, they're wrong. Everybody knows that this is just a normal part of baseball.
They blew it on this one, though. The Mavs heavy team just lost one of their best players from last year. Not just as his Dad, but even the raw numbers are indisputable.
He can play on the light team, though. I will be pinging a few other travel teams, but at this point, I'm guessing they've got their rosters set.
However, there's a team somewhere that would take him in a heartbeat. He was one of the better players on one of the better teams in 10U last year.
That, alone, should put him in good shape for finding an 11U team that needs a player.
However, the other thing to consider is that he's also eligible to play 10U again because of his age.
Which means he will likely be one of the better players in 11U, or can play down a year and probably be an utterly dominant player in 10U if he plays that division again.
If he ends up playing Mavs light (which is likely), I think there's a lot of upside there, too. Logan really didn't get any infield or pitching time last year. Infield, he got less than a lot of players who were clearly not as good as he was, because he had a position he was great at: CF.
Pitching? He really needed some work there, and with things being how they were, he wasn't going to get it.
Also, despite his great offensive numbers, he spent almost the entire season in the bottom half of the batting order.
That's just the way things go when you have a lot of talented players on your team. If I had to rank him, on the heavy team, there was a top group of players, a middle group, and a bottom group. In 9U, he was in the middle group, but towards the bottom of it. In 10U, he was in the middle group, but towards the top of it and sometimes making a case that he was in the top group.
If he continues this trajectory, I think he would have been in the top group of players next year.
Next year, though, if he plays Mavs Black, there's no reason why he wouldn't start in the infield and he will probably have to pitch. Also, with his offensive abilities, I would think he'd find himself somewhere in the top 5 in the batting order.
So, in a lot of ways, I'm happier that he'll be playing Mavs light next year. I think for his overall development, this may actually be a better situation for him.
So, not-making the heavy team for the first time is a disappointment, but I think the end result is good and maybe even a little better than making the heavy team.
Right now, he's focused on football, though. Until he was injured, he was a dominant force on the field, especially on defense.
His stitches should be coming out next Thursday or so. So, he will at least be able to suit up for the scrimmages on Saturday. It'll give him a week or so to get in the swing of things before the first game of the season.
The stitches are sort of unfortunate, especially because they kept Logan from being able to do another assessment that might have kept him on the heavy team.
Still, all in all, things have worked out well. I'm sort of excited at the prospect of seeing my kid play some new positions next year.
In the mean time, the football season starts soon. Then, I gotta get the boy ready for basketball tryouts.
I watched the tryouts and thought that my son played fine. However, after a few days, we got a call that said they wanted to put Logan through an additional assessment.
My guess is that a few kids did really well and were going to displace Logan, but the Mavs wanted to be able to compare the kids head-to-head.
Problem was, Logan had a football scrimmage the night before. Gashed his knee open. Took him to the ER and he needed stitches. So, he couldn't do anything athletic for a week.
The Mavs tryouts are, in my opinion, fair. They're not perfect. There are some rather obvious problems with them. However, the team is a community resource and as such, they really try to do what they can to make the process as fair as they can.
They don't share a lot of the rationale behind their decisions. That makes sense to me. There comes a time when you have to name a team and that's that.
In my opinion, the system they've set up gets things pretty much right, most of the time. However, it has the potential every now and then to really blow it.
I think that's what happened with Logan.
First day of the tryouts, which is basically the only day anything happens, they're evaluating the players on the classic "5 tools".
On one of the fielding stations, the players are graded on fielding three line drives and making throws to first.
Logan made two of the plays. The third one, though, was simply impossible for him to get. He ranged and dove and really did everything humanly possible, but the ball was still beyond his glove. Nobody could have made the play.
They mark up these scoresheets, and I've always wondered what they did in a case like that. Is there a way to note that although he didn't make the play, that it wasn't possible and that he gave 100% trying?
I doubt it. I bet after that station, he got marked for making 2 good catches and 2 good throws, and that was it.
Even though it was a pitching machine that was shooting the balls out, there was a lot of inconsistency there. Most of the kids were able to make all 3 plays, and some barely had to move.
That's baseball, and that's the frustrating thing about it. You can't be purely objective. However, once you add subjectivity, you muddy the waters.
The next station involved fielding pop flies. I'm not exaggerating that on Logan's team, nobody was as good as he was at tracking and catching fly balls. In fact, from what I saw in league play, if they'd have given a gold glove for center fielders, Logan would have been in the running for it.
I didn't even watch the station. However, even there, things were a little inconsistent. One of the other dads whose kid was in Logan's group told me what he saw.
Instead of using a pitching machine, they had a guy hitting balls with a bat. The boys were supposed to cover an area inside 4 cones. One of Logan's balls was hit outside the cones and to a place where, again, there was no way for him to possibly make the play.
Generally speaking, you expect little errors like that to even themselves out, but this is a very small sample set. It's possible to roll snake-eyes several times in a row.
Personally, I think if they run that same tryout 100 times, my son makes the A team 97 of them or more. Just a bad day. He got bad luck on a few things. He didn't have his greatest performance on another, and in the end, he ends up getting hosed on the final number.
Now, do I think it's right? No. But do I think it's fair? Yes. I really do.
They have to have some way to make decisions. The best way would be to analyze last season's performance. If they did that, my son would have made the team without even a moment's thought. He led the team in OBP, was beaten out by only 4 other guys on the team in hitting (and he was really close to 2 of them), and he played phenomenal defense last year, not just ranging all over the outfield, but making a few highlight reel throws, too.
Trouble is, what do you do with kids who didn't play on the Mavs heavy team? Or kids who are coming from rec? Or kids who moved here from out of town?
They need a way to put all the kids on even footing and having a tryout and assessing ONLY what happens during the tryout is the fairest way to do it.
Now, I think they could improve the format of the tryout, even in a 2 day tryout. For some reason, some genius decided that they'd evaluate skills on day 1, but on day 2, they'd put the boys in "game situations" and evaluate their play that way.
Trouble is, there's no way to evaluate anything on day 2. My son ended up playing right field almost the entire day, except for the inning he played catcher. (He is not a catcher). Half the kids pitching are not pitchers, they're just trying out. So, the kids don't get anything to hit.
It's a total waste of time. However, it was probably implemented because some parent whose kid didn't make the team griped that despite skills, their kid would do better in games. Thing is, it's not a game. It doesn't even rise to the level of a scrimmage. It's a total waste of time.
Also, some whiney parent complained and now parents aren't allowed near the kids (in the spectator areas) during tryouts. This might have come into play because for some reason, Logan decided to use a practice bat (that's 1 ounce heavier) than his usual bat for the tryout. Why? Because he's 10. It made sense to him. If I'd have been there, I'd have had him use the right bat.
Chalk up another victory for stupid rules that came about because some loser complained.
A 2 day tryout is bad enough, but since they basically waste the 2nd day, they basically have turned this into a 1 day tryout, which reduces an already small sample size by half. If only 2 of your fly balls are catchable? Oh well. You caught 2 out of 3. If only 2 of your line drives are catchable? Oh well.
So, that's what I mean by it's fair, but it's imperfect and clearly flawed. All the kids have the same shot at it, but the way it shakes out, some of them are going to be dealt a crappy hand and that's that.
As I've pointed out many, many times before, baseball is the most subjective of sports from a coaching / team selection standpoint. Throw in the fact that some players are great in practice but absolutely stink at game time and it's very, very difficult to know who should and shouldn't be on a team sometimes.
The best a coach can do is make their best guess and go with it. Usually, they're right.
Once in a while, they're wrong. Everybody knows that this is just a normal part of baseball.
They blew it on this one, though. The Mavs heavy team just lost one of their best players from last year. Not just as his Dad, but even the raw numbers are indisputable.
He can play on the light team, though. I will be pinging a few other travel teams, but at this point, I'm guessing they've got their rosters set.
However, there's a team somewhere that would take him in a heartbeat. He was one of the better players on one of the better teams in 10U last year.
That, alone, should put him in good shape for finding an 11U team that needs a player.
However, the other thing to consider is that he's also eligible to play 10U again because of his age.
Which means he will likely be one of the better players in 11U, or can play down a year and probably be an utterly dominant player in 10U if he plays that division again.
If he ends up playing Mavs light (which is likely), I think there's a lot of upside there, too. Logan really didn't get any infield or pitching time last year. Infield, he got less than a lot of players who were clearly not as good as he was, because he had a position he was great at: CF.
Pitching? He really needed some work there, and with things being how they were, he wasn't going to get it.
Also, despite his great offensive numbers, he spent almost the entire season in the bottom half of the batting order.
That's just the way things go when you have a lot of talented players on your team. If I had to rank him, on the heavy team, there was a top group of players, a middle group, and a bottom group. In 9U, he was in the middle group, but towards the bottom of it. In 10U, he was in the middle group, but towards the top of it and sometimes making a case that he was in the top group.
If he continues this trajectory, I think he would have been in the top group of players next year.
Next year, though, if he plays Mavs Black, there's no reason why he wouldn't start in the infield and he will probably have to pitch. Also, with his offensive abilities, I would think he'd find himself somewhere in the top 5 in the batting order.
So, in a lot of ways, I'm happier that he'll be playing Mavs light next year. I think for his overall development, this may actually be a better situation for him.
So, not-making the heavy team for the first time is a disappointment, but I think the end result is good and maybe even a little better than making the heavy team.
Right now, he's focused on football, though. Until he was injured, he was a dominant force on the field, especially on defense.
His stitches should be coming out next Thursday or so. So, he will at least be able to suit up for the scrimmages on Saturday. It'll give him a week or so to get in the swing of things before the first game of the season.
The stitches are sort of unfortunate, especially because they kept Logan from being able to do another assessment that might have kept him on the heavy team.
Still, all in all, things have worked out well. I'm sort of excited at the prospect of seeing my kid play some new positions next year.
In the mean time, the football season starts soon. Then, I gotta get the boy ready for basketball tryouts.
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