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Baseball Mom: Parents Role in Youth Baseball is Easy

A baseball mom can be a huge benefit to the baseball family by bringing a lot of wisdom and knowledge to the baseball season.

Baseball moms can set the tone for much of the kid’s enjoyment when playing baseball.

Armed with knowledge of what is the best approach to make sure your kids have the best chance to enjoy playing baseball, moms can be a powerful influential force in today’s youth baseball world.

Know the Baseball Stats
for 'Dropping Out'

One of the first things for a mothers guide to youth baseball is to have the facts about baseball longevity.

In baseball today the data tells us that 75% of kids will drop out of youth sports by age 13 & 14. Three out four kids will never play past middle school age.

The large majority of baseball players just want to have fun with their friends and hopefully the parents will be able to sit back and enjoy watching their kids play and have some fun.

We know this ball playing career is likely short lived. Let us make it something to look back on in 10 years and have some fond memories instead of stress and turmoil.

Why Players Might Drop Out

The reasons kids drop out of baseball are many. The central theme usually branches out of ‘lack of ability’.

The game of baseball gets dramatically more difficult to play when children move to the bigger diamond dimensions at 13 & 14 years old.

When the kids struggle to have success and the parents stop the praising the kids quickly look for other stuff to do that they are a little more successful at.

Chances of Going Pro or College

Many a baseball mom and baseball dad looks at college scholarships dancing in their heads. The truth is college baseball rarely if ever give out full scholarships.

Division I college baseball teams only have 12 or less scholarships to work with so they divide them up in quarters.

Baseball parents would be far better suited to hire tutors to increase the chances of getting an academic scholarship as these are way more common and easier to snare.

The NCAA research study article states that 1 out 225 or 0.44% of high school participants will turn professionally in baseball. Further study shows that there are typically 854,200 high school senior athletes. Of these about 44,000 (5%) will make a roster spot in college athletics.

Approximately 1000 of these 44,000 will get drafted by a professional team and 850 of these 1000 are in baseball and football. 99.8% of high school athletes will need to find a way to make a living other than playing a sport.

Cannot Manufacture a Baseball Player

Baseball mom and dad find themselves in ‘keeping up with the Jones’ approach. In other words other baseball parents will tell you that unless you play travel baseball you have no chance to be a ballplayer.

And you cannot just play travel ball. No, No, you have to be on ‘THE’ travel ball team. Otherwise college and pro scouts will never see your kids.

Baloney! My humble opinion is to wait on the travel ball until the kids reach the over 12 years age level. If the players are still successful at age 13 & 14 and have the heart and desire to play baseball then you are justified to put some more money towards travel ball.

You simply cannot manufacture a player. Instruction and lessons are helpful with a good professional instructor. A good local affordable baseball camp can be good too.

But, playing 100 games a year does not automatically equate to a good ballplayer. At some point you have to have ability if you are going to make a high school team or higher. I would do the rec ball leagues up to 12 years old and under.

Playing Multiple Sports:
Just Be an 'Athlete'

Baseball dad and baseball mom will sooner or later get pressured to specialize their kids.

Other baseball parents and coaches say, “Oh, if you don’t pick a sport and specialize you will never be good enough for college or pros,"

Really? You have to be a pretty good athlete to make the high school baseball team.

Playing multiple sports often improves one as an athlete. You can increase your speed, agility, strength, competiveness and all around athletic ability by playing multisports. Do not fall into the ‘specialize early’ trap.

Sports mom, let your kids go out and be an athlete.

Mother's Guide: Support,
Encourage & Enjoy

If you asked kids what they would want their sports parents to do at the ballgames they would often say, ‘NOTHING”. That’s right ‘NOTHING’.

Baseball mom, your job is really easy. Do not say anything at the ball games. We do not want any coaching from the bleachers.

When you say stuff like," Common now, don’t help him out” or “Be patient and wait on it”.

Everything you say to your kids puts more clutter in their minds and adds pressure to their ability to perform freely.

Now, a clap when something nice happens is certainly acceptable. Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy the games. Ask the kids if they had fun and tell them that you really enjoyed watching them.

Please do not do the DUGOUT HOVERING. We want our baseball kids to take responsibility for their stuff.

The kids should carry their own gear and bring their own drinks. We do not want the baseball mom coming to the dugout and checking to see if the kids are thirsty, need a snack or are too hot.

Certainly, if the kid is severely injured then of course we will need your assistance. Otherwise, quiet support and sit back and enjoy watching the games.

Baseball Mom and Baseball Umpires

Let us get this straight right off the bat. The umpires will not be very good. They will call pitches strikes that are way high and low down in the dirt.

Most of the time the calls even out with both teams anyway.

Baseball moms are naturally protective and do not want to see their child ever called out by the umpire on close pitches or close base calls.

Nonetheless, we will not ever say stuff to the umpires as hard as it might be to bite our tongues.

Our kids need to learn to deal with adversity and know that the calls will not always go their way. That is where you can help by support, encouragement and enjoyment.

Knowledge is Power: New About Baseball

Baseball mom, you are now more empowered with the right knowledge and approach to make youth baseball more enjoyable for you and your family. Remove the stress and strain.

Just show your support by sitting back and enjoying watching your kids play baseball. Chances are it will soon be over by age 12 anyway.

If your child reaches the high school baseball then that is pretty outstanding in itself for baseball today. Focus on good grades because that is where the real college baseball scholarships will come from.

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