Youth Basketball: GBA Nationals Last Second Shot

Is your young athlete ready for the pressure of a last second, do or die shot?

Yesterday, my daughter CC played a pool play game in the 2011 GBA Nationals Tournament. While her team does not really have established positions, CC typically plays the 2 guard or shooting guard. My daughter is one of the smallest players on the team and really needs to be on her game to get playing time against teams that play an aggressive, physical man to man defense. She shines when teams play a tight zone to prohibit our big girls from getting the ball inside. 


Yesterday, CC struggled to get minutes, but she did get involved in the most important 3 seconds of the game. The team was losing by 3 points with seconds left on the clock. The team forced a turnover and the coach called timeout with 3 seconds left. The team huddled around the coach. The coach picked out 4 of the biggest girls on the team then looked around for CC. She then pulled CC by the uniform and said, "CC you are in". Then she devised a play to free up CC for a potential game winning shot. CC is regarded as one of the best outside shooters on the team. The thinking was that our star player would be double teamed and CC would be open. The play did not work as planned, CC's path to the planned shooting spot was block as she ran toward the inbound passer, so she improvised and went the other way. She got the ball and had time and space. A defender flashed out. CC rushed the shot. She did not get her legs under her and the ball hit the backboard.


The Main Point


That was a new situation for my daughter. A learning situation for my daughter. She was not upset about missing the shot, she was proud that she was selected to make it. After the game I told her that 3 seconds is really a long time. I had her say out loud - one, one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand. Each time she will get better. We have never practiced the last second shot at home. We will start doing that now.

Youth Sports: Lessons Learned from Youth Sports Tryouts

I write about the drama and the pressure of youth sports all the time. There is nothing more emotionally and politically charged than tryouts and cuts. No matter the age U10 or HS, it can be a traumatic process.

Note to parents: Do not avoid the tryout process by opting for rec sports or not playing at all to protect your kid. Make it or not, this process helps teach young kids about life in the real world. A world which is very competitive.

More importantly there are three ways the process may just help a young kid find him or herself.

1. It may make a young athlete dig down to try harder and teach them what it really takes to succeed.
2. It may lead to a new team and a new coach. A better coach who connects with the player to help the player get to the next level.  

Youth Baseball: How to Block the Plate to Avoid Injury

Some say that the triple is the most exciting play in baseball. I say it's a close play at the plate. Last night during my son's youth baseball game, there were three plays at the plate. Each resulted in a crucial out.

As a parent of a youth baseball catcher these types of plays are both exciting and a bit scary. Even though the runner is required to slide in youth baseball, plays at the plate are often rough.

In the pros, the catcher is allowed to block the plate without the ball and the runner is allowed to knock the catcher over. Super Star catcher Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants knows this all to well. He was recently involved in a nasty collision at home plate and broke his leg. In youth baseball, the runner is required to slide or he / she will be called out automatically. If the runner knocks the catcher over the player will be called out and may be suspended for a game.



How to block the plate

My son, Nic, demonstrates an almost text book execution of how to block the plate without getting hurt in the following 5 pictures.

Hot grounder down the line. Runner moving on contact. Nic moved up the first base line slightly to give the 3rd baseman a direct line to throw the ball pass the runner. The ball was thrown in the dirt. Nic was able to pick up a tough hop because he was waiting for the throw in an athletic position (like a SS would await a ground ball).

Youth Baseball: Cooperstown Dreams Park Keeping the Scorebook Tips

This website has become one of the top sources of information for Cooperstown Dreams Park. Often people find the site through Google searches. I watch the search key words to see what information people need. If my site does not answer the question I add new information to help my readers. This is the latest question:

Who keeps the scorebook during the games at Cooperstown Dreams Park games?

1. The Cooperstown Dreams Park Official Scorebooks are given to each coach prior to the event. 
2. Each team keeps a book for each game. 
3. The home team is considered the official book. 
4. Prior to each game, the home coach receives a form to record the final score, the pitchers involved and the notable players or plays in the game. 
5. The visiting scorekeeper meets with the home scorekeeper during the games to confer. 

Youth Baseball: The Politics of All Star Team Selections

I recently received the comment below (truncated for this post) that intrigued me regarding the selection of all star teams in youth league baseball. (Follow this link to the full comment). This comment piqued my interest because I have not been exposed to the politics of the all-star team selection process in youth baseball since I was a kid. My son plays AABC baseball in Southern Ohio and they do not have an all-star game or all star-post season. I guess since he plays at the highest level of select each team is considered an all-star team.

But I do remember playing in an All-Star game when I was a kid. I was one of the better players in the league, but my dad was the coach and on the selection committee. Did I make the team because of my dad or because of my ability? 


The coach who posted the comment below shared how the Dixie Youth Ozone League picks their all-stars. The league put rules in place to mitigate the politics or so they thought. I think that the process they they follow seems fair but not full proof. How does your league determine the all-star team?


My reader shared this story

I am a coach of 11-12 year old Dixie Youth Ozone league. I am about to embark on coaching Allstars because my team won the league. My league has tried to put bylaws that would prevent politics from taking place. For example, the first round of all star slection each coach will submit 15 players from teams in the league NOT on his team. The kids who receive the most votes move on to the top 15 in the 2nd round. in the 2nd round you can then vote on your kids, and then the top 9 from the 2nd round automatically are on the all star team. The third round was my decision on who the next three pics would be, however if you did not receive a single vote during the first round you are unable to be selected for all stars. This year we went 18-2 and won the league by 5 games.

Youth Sports: My Daughter is a Better Athlete Than I am

I was approached by Sportsgirlsplay.com to write a guest post for the site. I was honored to do so. I wrote an honest post called Confessions of a Youth Sports Dad.

The story was inspired by a simple question that my daughter asked me just the other day.

"Daddy, if I were a boy, what was my name going to be?"

The question brought back memories of when my wife was pregnant with our daughter. I remember process of figuring out two names prior to the ultrasound appointment. We selected a name for a boy and a name for a girl. I also remember how I wanted another potential Major League Baseball player, not a girl. The story details my ignorance about women's sports.

The Main Point

My wife and my daughter have taught me that women can be great athletes.

Youth Baseball: Nations Baseball Memorial Day Tournament

My son's baseball team participated in the Nations Baseball Memorial Day Weekend Invitational U13 baseball tournament this past weekend. It was a really well run tournament at a great baseball facility. This post provides tips and tricks for the event.


The Facility

The Tournament was held at The Summit of Softball / Baseball complex which is amazing. It is a beautiful complex that sits on a big hill next to the retired Summit Landfill. (There is no odor at all and it was hot.) The complex consists of eight adult softball fields. The infields were made from crushed bricks that have been laser graded to optimize playing conditions. The fences are unmarked but I would guess that the fences were 300' from home plate to all fields.

Tip 1 - Bring detergent and stain remover to wash the uniforms. The crushed red brick infields leave red stains on the uniforms. Find a hotel that has a laundry facility.

Tip 2 - There is a sign that prohibits bringing in coolers and outside drinks, but it was not enforced during the tournament and lots of people ignored the sign. There is a Walmart less than 2 miles away to load up on Gatorade. We bought PowerAde at the concession stand. ($2 / bottle)

Tip 3 - The complex has a pretty good concession stand that serves Hot Dogs and Hamburgers to feed the athletes between games.

Tip 4 - Park far away from the fields. Lots of cars got pounded. Fast pitchers tend to induce lots of foul balls.

Tip 5 - The crushed brick looks great, but it is a little rough on knees, elbows and forearms when sliding and diving. Neosporin came in handy.

The Competition

This tournament attracted some really strong baseball teams from a 400 mile radius. Our team traveled the farthest. The only disappointment of the event was that only 5 teams competed. We heard that one super team from Texas cancelled out at the last minute. This caused some other super teams to opt out too. That probably worked out well for our team. Regardless, the remaining teams were strong baseball clubs and made our team looked like a bunch of 7th graders playing against high school teams. I have never seen so many 6' 2" 210 pound 13 year olds in my life. 

Our team was outclassed in the tournament although we did beat the eventual tournament championship team from Alabama. 

Youth Sports: Holiday Weekends

When I was a kid youth sports leagues did not schedule games on holiday weekends. (Or at least the leagues that I played in.)

Holiday weekends were reserved for family events. And if you grew up in New Jersey, that meant going to the shore. I spent every holiday weekend in Ocean City, New Jersey with my family. Those weekends were so memorable.

Every morning, my dad would go out an buy raisin sticky buns from Dot's Bakery. We would eat the pastries while they were still gooey and warm. We would then get our bathing suits on and run out to the shed to grab our pails, shovels, beach games and beach chairs. We would hit the beach beach at 10:30. Once we got to the beach, the competitions would begin. We would compete all day long at games like horse shoes, hand ball, paddleball or whiffle ball.

Ocean City Beach

At night, we would go to the boardwalk. We would go on the rides at Wonderland Pier, grab a slice of pizza at Prep's, and eat Johnson's famous carmel popcorn. Once we were full of great food, the night competitions would begin. We would have a family skeeball tournament and crown a putt-putt golf champion.

Youth Soccer: Goalie Facing an Opponent 1v1

As a dad of a soccer goalie, the 1V1 situation is the most exciting and the scariest. Scary because the goalie has to sacrifice their body to protect the goal for the team.

My daughter, CC, is particularly good at this. During the Final Four game of the Ohio State cup, CC made a great save and I caught it with my Nikon (below). The pictures prompted me to research and write this post about the 1V1 situation.

Top 15 things soccer goalies need to remember in a 1V1 situation

Read the situation - attacker breaking through

1. The shooter has the advantage over you. 
2. You need to leave the goal line. 
3. If you sit back and wait, the striker will have the luxury of choosing the optimum time to shoot.
4. Conversely, if you come out aggressively, the shooter will be forced to shoot under duress. This makes mistakes more likely.
5. If the you sit back and wait, the striker will have more goal area to shoot at.
6. Converstly, if you come out aggressively, you will cut down the angle and reduce the amount of exposed goal area.

Youth Sports: The Confidence of a Daughter and Awe of a Father

Have you ever just looked at your young athlete from afar in awe?

Sometimes my daughter catches me in a trance like state staring at her and she will ask "What?" I simply reply, "you amaze me".

I am amazed by her athletic talent, but I am in awe of her confidence.

I watch her in wonder as she plays sports, or sings in the car, or does her homework without asking for help. I marvel at how easily she makes friends or the comfort she exhibits while conversing with adults. As I watch, I wonder where she gets all of her confidence and I secretly wish I had as much confidence as she.

Where does one get confidence

Did my wife and I give her that confidence or is that the confidence that all children (who just don't know any better yet) possess? Were we all born with unbridled and unwavering confidence before the reality of life gave us periodic episodes of self-doubt? I can't remember ever being as confident as my daughter, but maybe I did have it at one time.

But then again, maybe you are not born with confidence after all. Maybe confidence is developed through achievement. At 10 years old, my daughter has accomplished so much athletically, socially and academically.  She is a straight A student. She has countless friends. She plays point guard on perhaps the best 4th grade basketball team in OH. She plays goalie on one of the best soccer teams in OH (Final 4 in State Cup this year).

If success leads to confidence, where does success come from?

Famed Football Coach, Lou Holtz said that "Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."

Youth Soccer: The Pressure of a PK Shootout

There are youth sports administrators who take scoring out of games so that little Johnny or Suzie will not get his or her feelings hurt. These are the same types of people who would arrange 10 chairs in a circle for 10 kids playing musical chairs. When the music stops all the kids would have a nice comfortable place to sit and no one would get their feelings hurt by being left out.

These mamby pamby administrators would have a coronary watching a penalty kick shoot out to decide a U10 girls State Cup Soccer game.

A penalty kick shoot out is soccer's version of musical chairs.

Waiting for the ref to blow the whistle for the PK

My daughter's team was seeded 6th in the Ohio State Cup. They met their arch rival and undefeated
premier league champions, the Lightning, in the elite eight. Our team got off to a fantastic start scoring two quick goals. The Lightning did not panic and eventually tied the game on a low rocket shot through traffic that took our goalie, my daughter, by surprise. My daughter made up for it with about 1 minute left in the game when she thwarted a 1v1 by aggressively coming out and deflecting a shot wide which forced overtime.

Overtime

Overtime in the State Cup consists of two 10 minute periods. At the end of these two periods the two teams remained tied at 2-2. The game would be decided on penalty kicks.

Penalty Kicks

When the two overtime periods end in a tie, the game is decided by penalty kicks. This is how it works:

1. The players on the field at the end of the overtime are the ones eligible for the shoot out, so the coach must make sure his top shooters and goalie are on the field. 
2. At the end of the game, the players on the field cannot leave the field. This rule is in place so that the ref can ensure that the players on the field at the end are the ones participating in the shootout.
3. The coaches submited their shooting order to the ref. Each list consists of 5 shooters.
4. A coin flip determined who shoots first, the opposing team elected to go first.
5. The fans on the sidelines moved closer to the goal chosen for the shootout.
6. Goalie one (my daughter in this case) took her spot on the line between the pipes.
7. All passersby stopped to watch. You could hear a pin drop.
8. Goalie two was instructed to stand next to the corner flag on the sideline (not the end line)
9. The ref instructed the goalies that they must stand on the line until the ball is kicked.
10. The ref pointed to the position on the field where the kick should be placed - usually it is marked with a line. The field my daughter was playing on did not have a line.
11. The shooter placed the ball on the ground making sure it is sitting up and not in a hole.
12. The ref blew the whistle.

Youth Sports: US Youth Sports Parents The World's Worst

We're the worst!#@!

I was surprised, but not really, when I read that US youth sports parents ranked the worst in terms of sideline behavior in a well written post on the blog Ask Coach Wolff by Doug Abrams called If Parents and Coaches Were Angels. 


Reuters News and Ipsos conducted a 22 nation poll that ranked parents in the USA as the world's worst behaved at youth sporting events.

Percentage of people who reported that they had attended youth sports contests and witnessed parents being verbally or physically abusive toward coaches or officials: 

#1 USA (60%)

#2 India (59%)

Suck it India USA is #1

#3 Italy (55%)

#4 Argentina (54%)

#5 Canada (53%)

The Main Point

60% really. It has to be much higher than that. The only way it could be 60% is if 40% of the people who attend youth sporting events in America with any regularity are deaf and blind. 

I'm considered a calm person and I've barked at incompetent refs, annoying coaches and my kids on occasion. Almost every game I watch I see one of the behaviors listed below. The other polls Doug Abrams quotes show the numbers much higher.

Here are all the scenarios - lets √ to see if my kids and I have witnessed the following behaviors:

√ Youth athletes watched parents yelling at children

√ Youth athlete watched parents yelling at coaches or officials

√ Youth athletes had watched coaches yelling at officials or children

√ Youth had watched violence by an adult fan in the stands against other adults

√ Youth had watched violence by an adult fan against a ref

Youth Sports : How to Save Money

Karen Datko, a writer for MSN Money, recently quoted this site in an article called The High cost of Youths Sports. MSN Money also linked to a post that I wrote for Coachhub.com called How to Save Money on Youth Sports.

The Main Point

As of today the 131 day for the year, we have spent $4750 dollars on youth sports ($36/day). We use a some of the tips that I outlined in the links above to save money, else the total would be higher. I thought that I would share my learnings with you.

Youth Baseball: Metal or Molded Plastic Cleats What to do? (Part 2)

On January 3rd, I wrote a post questioning metal cleats for 13 year old baseball players. I enumerated the risks involved.

Injury Risk Number Two - Getting Cleated by your opponent - One of the most common "metal cleat injuries" occurs when a base runner slides into a base and spikes the fielder. As the runner slides the cleats are exposed toward the fielder's glove, leg or foot. Of course a runner sliding head first can get his hand stepped on by a fielder with metal cleats.

During the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday, my son Nic was diving back into first base when the first baseman stepped on his hand. The metal cleat lacerated the webbing between his pinkie and ring finger and cut the fleshy part of the side of the hand above the pinkie.

Nic was playing catcher in the game so the coach used a courtesy runner to allow Nic to go to the dugout without officially leaving the game. In the dugout, the team mom cleaned up the wounds and determined that the cuts would not need stitches. His hand was swollen and he had trouble closing his hand at first, but he had time to ice it before his next at bat. I was making plans in my mind to go to the urgent care to get the hand x-rayed,  while his coach was trying to figure out how to adjust his defensive game plan. Nic's turn to bat came up and he was determined to give it a go. Nic hit a double over the right fielders head. We all figured he was going to be ok. He also played the second game of the doubleheader and had 2 more hit.


At night, we watched Celtics Rajon Rando dislocate his elbow, go into the locker room for treatment and then return to lead the Celtic's in a win over the Lebron James, Dwayne Wade Heat. 

The Main Point

I still question whether the extra traction worth it. My son thinks that it is worth it for the cool factor alone. He loves his Nike Swingman cleats. 


And he got a big smile on his face when I compared his situation to the Rondo injury and return.

Youth Baseball: Rare night Second Base

Note to coaches. Don't tell a young kid that he cannot do something or will never be something. Especially when the kid is only 12 years old.

My son had been the primary catcher for his previous team. He played off and on in right field too, but wanted to play infield (2nd base) on occasion. He wanted to become more versatile for high school.

I told my son to approach the coach and ask him if he could get a chance to play 2nd base in practices with a chance to earn some playing time in games. His ex-coach, chuckled at him and said, "Nic your not an infielder" and turned away. My son walked away without comment, but was absolutely furious. He was close to tears telling me the story in the car ride home from the practice. I wanted to approach the coach and plead my son's case, not for playing time but for respect and a chance. My son forbade me. I told my son to hang in there that this was our last year with this coach.

This season, my son is on a new team with a new coach. He has been playing second or catcher all year long.  Tonight he was at second base and had a terrific game, a once in a lifetime type of game.

My son made 12 of the 27 outs at second base. He fielded 8 grounders to get 8 force outs at first base. He also caught 2 pop ups and 2 line drives, one of which was spectacular and turned out to be a game saving grab.

He did not make a single error. In fact, he has only made one error at second base all year long.

The Main Point

Coaches, I am going to state the obvious. Kids change continuously. Their bodies, their confidence level, their attitude and their courage can and will all change year after year, maybe even month after month. As such, don't pigeon hole a kid into a position or prevent a kid from practicing a position he wants to learn. Who knows maybe he will be spectacular at a position.