Two Quick Tips For Baseball Parents

So you want your kid to be a great baseball player? Here are 2 quick tips that can help you become a better baseball parent while nudging him in the right direction! Why trust us? We’re division 1 baseball players that have been playing the game for close to 20 years and have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, when it comes to baseball parents. And trust us when we say this, we’ve seen some brutal baseball parents. So what do the best baseball parents do?

#1 Try to remain composed during the game

Dad’s – You are not Joe Maddon sitting on the steps of the dugout with your color coated lineup card and tendency chart but you can certainly remain composed like him. There is a reason the higher up you go in baseball the more composed the coaches/managers are. It’s simply because the data is there to prove that a more relaxed baseball player is a better baseball player study. Mom’s – Try to keep calm (even though its baseball season). I don’t know what it is about mom’s but they get more fired up about bad calls and bad coaching than anyone on the whole field. Don’t be that mom that’s loud an obnoxious, instead, try to be knowledgeable, laid back, and supportive. My mom helped me out of some of the worst slumps in my life and its because she always let me come to her first. I think if you smother/bombard him, he wont be vulnerable with you. That’s why being laid back if your a baseball mom is the way to go.

#2 Have a little feel

A couple of definitions before we start:

• *Sav – short for “savvy” and means that you’re aware of your surroundings, and that you know a lot about the game.
• *Feel – almost exactly like sav. someone that has no feel is someone that isn’t aware of their surroundings, doesn’t realize the situation they are in, or hasn’t been around the game long enough to in any way know what’s going on.
  • An example of someone with no sav and no feel would be like Smalls from The Sandlot when he doesn’t know who Babe Ruth is.
• Salty Vet – An older person who has a lot of feel and/or sav.

Every baseball player will get to that age where he starts to develop some feel for how baseball functions should go on. If you are still going to want to encourage and help your kid when he gets to that age, you are going to have to know your stuff as well! Baseball is a game of endless situations, and the more you watch intently the more you can learn about the game. D1 coaches tell their players to watch baseball on tv because it makes you a better baseball player, and it teaches you feel and sav. For a parent, the goal is to become a salty vet that knows the game and is respected, rather than the laughing stock of the bleachers. Below we’ve mapped out a few guidelines: Parents with no feel:

• Yell at the umpire at every close strike call
• Second guess the head coach, and try to talk to him about playing time
• Scream and yell at their kids like a crazy old ice cream truck salesman
• Make everything about them and not about their kid

Parents with feel:

• Under-promise and over-deliver with stuff like gear and dinner/ice cream after (depending on age).
• Dress athletic and are up to date on what they wear.
• Never ever ever talk to the head coach about playing time, it can only hurt.
• Make things look effortless like social media, baseball gear knowledge, or overall knowledge of the game.

  In baseball parenting you can either be the windshield or the bug. Don’t be the embarrassing, loud, overbearing, no feel bug. Be the windshield.   – Authors Anonymous 1 and 2 (for NCAA reasons we are not able to disclose the D1 Programs we play for) *Both authors are pro prospects   Camps can be the highlight of your child’s summer! Great camps create memories that stick with a child for a lifetime! Enough with all the media. Encourage your kid to put the phone down, and get outside and make memories that he’ll never forget!  

– Guest Author: Nick Rotola Professional Baseball Player

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