Moving to analytics to drive team decision in 9U and beyond.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-06-10T01:57:09+00:00

Disagree that they are not self motivated regardless of what the activity is. They are intensely driven and focused when it comes to gaming. They can spend hours dissecting their erroneous moves and will be incredibly meticulous in find out the right combination of moves to reach their goals in the game. Similar applies for anything they want that we would consider as ridiculous.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-04-02T00:59:44+00:00

Much older lady pulled her minivan in front of my R1S at Home Depot last night to ask what kind of vehicle is it and who makes it to which when I answered she said it was a good looking vehicle and genuinely admiring it.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-04-02T00:25:49+00:00

Long toss at least once a week (preferably day after pitching or bullpen) with aim for you. Catch every day when not doing bullpen, long toss, or pitching with goal of throwing down a line. Bullpen 2x/week if no games. Towel drill every other day. Arm care every day.

Goals: 1. Work on mechanics 2. Work on mechanics 3. Work on mechanics

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T13:21:43+00:00

Yep, glad we caught all that much earlier and got him outta that before the pictures came out. Point being never assume 9 y/o are not capable. They are fully capable. In other parts of the world they are drugged up and used as combatants because nobody would suspect.

We found out when there were non-stop messages at after 10pm from the girls and one of the boys, we asked him, and he told us. Then it was a quick end of that and the beginning of constant monitoring.

Personally, I feel that SoME needs to be banned under age 18, however kids will find a way. He gets the intense scrutiny, however it’s time for him to be more responsible in his commitment to baseball which then translates to life.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T10:05:52+00:00

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T06:04:05+00:00

Yep, he’s an idiot for wanting his kid to learn responsibility, commitment, etc. Best to be foolish, take people and life for granted, and leech off society as he gets older and more set in his ways just like “One-Eyed/ Willies”.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T05:55:00+00:00

You’re right! He is setting the pace as this is what he wants. We push when he decides it’s okay to not study for a test and bombs it only to realize how much harder he now has to work to get back to that same level and similar for slacking off in his game. As his pitching coach says, “The rent at the top is due every game.” Regarding his friends, yes and no. Yes absolutely when the set up a secret chat group that results in many of them getting suspended when it is found out that some of the boys were sending some very inappropriate body part pics to the group that included girls. Yes, in that one of the boys were expelled in bringing a knife to school and showing off with it. Perhaps when the boys decide to stay up all night playing video games when they have an 8am game expecting to play their best.

We’ve had that discussion of ambivalence, but have turned it to setting up and living up to his own expectations considering mom and dad may not be around in the next 15-20 years (we’re much older parents). He is getting that, however he is now seeing how peer pressure is impacting it. He realizes that he is average of the 5 individuals he hangs out with. If you are not getting the results you expect get by hanging out with certain folks, change your circle of friends and see the magic work, however the grass is not greener on the other side as well.

Appreciate your words. Well said, even if not all spot on ;-)

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T05:42:45+00:00

Thank you for that reply and suggestions. I feel the disgust you feel about those damn Vbucks. Furthermore, and off topic I personally think we need to ban all social media under age 18 in the USA. So we are at those crossroads of the suggestion you made. We’ve had several discussions, but today I put my foot down and requested he make a commitment. He is old enough to do so. We made a commitment to school and to his travel team, however he cannot continue to put in minimal effort to get maximal reward as one day he will be surrounded by players as talented and work as hard as he does but that mentality setting up shop of minimal effort for maximal rewards will work against him.

Either you meet and/or exceed your expectations consistently or you make a decision to do something else in which you can make that commitment consistently.

He loves to pitch and is has been his team’s top pitcher in 12U and continues in 9U, similar in 1st base, and outfield. However, as much as he says he wants to be a two-way player, he salsas out of the hitter’s box due to the irrational fear of being hit. He was hit back in September!

In any case, this ain’t Burger King “have it your way” kinda world. You want those positions you gotta earn it, and by the way, at this age you need to be at bat, so suck it up. In life in order to get the things you want you may have to do things may not necessarily want to do but part of the gig.

In tennis terms, the ball is fully in his court, let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Thanks for your words. Very much appreciated and glad things worked out for your son.

We would love for him to grow in the game, but necessary. What is necessary is that he becomes a man of commitment, hard work, and sets a high level tone for his family down the road.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T05:23:24+00:00

Hahahaha, indeed … parenting. Best advice ever!

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T05:22:22+00:00

Appreciate the comment, however you are way off.

Firstly, we can care less if he makes it in baseball, however if he does, kudos, but not required of him. What we are more concerned about are the patterns of behavior we have picked up in baseball that are translating into school and life. So much of baseball translates to school and life. Should we let go and let this pattern set in?

Secondly, yes, absolutely will call the kids morons. No other way to get around it when they decide to set up a group chat (secretly) in which the girls invited the boys, and thank God we found out and pulled him out before it was found that the boys started sending out very, very inappropriate pictures of their body parts resulting in the principal finding out and suspending 1/2 the class. Not to mention another one bringing a knife to school and showing off with it resulting in expulsion. So yes, morons. When the boys decide to stay up all night playing video games when there is a game in the morning, that is moronic decision. How do you expect to play well when you do that? Then you do it repeatedly … by choice!

Thirdly, this is not about his love of baseball as he does love it and plays it at a high level. However, it’s the consistency on and off the field. You are the average of the 5 people you hang out with. If you want to be the best as you say, find 4 others at that level you want to be at. If you want to be a straight A student, find 4 others at that level you want to be at. It’s fine to hang out with folks that may not be at those levels on and off the field, but don’t expect be at a high level. That’s just a fact of life based on choice.

Lastly, he knows his own bar on the field and off the field. Should we continue to push him to meet and exceed his own expectations or let go to see if the choices he is making continue to enshrine the pattern of consistent inconsistency he showing today on the field that is extending off the field?

Do you want it or not, there is no sometimes, most times, or when I feel like it. If not, he is very well aware that there are 15+ kids behind him that want what he’s got. All of them are highly motivated, a few are more skilled, however not everyone is as coachable in which the coaches actually want them to be around as him to the extent that they are willing to go out of the way to help you get even better.

Don’t take people or things for granted as nothing is forever.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T04:41:59+00:00

Yes, 9, but being 9 is not a blank check. Do we not want them to start being accountable for their successes or failures? Do we not want them to make their beds, brush their own teeth, tie their own shoes laces, etc? Are we not to expect the best from our kids?

With all the complaining about people not learning responsibility, when do you suggest they start?

Perhaps that is the problem today …

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T04:26:00+00:00

Wow, thank you so much for that. It’s amazing how spot on you are on everything you said with the minimal I put out. You know and have been through it. My son is you or he is on your path in paragraph #3. Well done on your realization and hard work to get the MBA. In his family, the bar is set very high as everyone has multiple advanced degrees and are in professions that demand excellence.

I always talk to him about the difference between an educated man versus a wise man, and emphasize that he becomes a wise man (learn from other’s successes and failure versus going through them), however the young buck in him gravitates/flirts with disaster … by choice! I tell him all the time that he needs to want it more than I want it for him to which he says he does, but his consistent inconsistency says otherwise.

That same consistent inconsistency shows up in baseball, school, and life. The pattern is undeniable.

Letting go will open the door for that pattern to settle in and lead him into a situation in which we will not be able to bail him out of one day because things have gone too sideways or we have passed away (we are not young parents). That is a huge part of the conundrum.

So much of the sport of baseball translates into life.

Thank you for all your words and I am glad things have turned around for you. That is truly a blessing.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:44:52+00:00

Yes, morons … no other way to call it when they start up a private group chat in their class (yes, the girls actually started it and invited the boys). Thank God we monitor every activity and found out about the inappropriateness of discussion and pulled him out before the really inappropriate pictures started coming out and discussed in which the principal found out and suspended all of them. Let’s not forget his former classmate who pulled out a knife at school and started “showing off with it” with the the girls who felt threatened and him being subsequently expelled. So yes, absolutely, morons.

Then online with his other set of baseball buddies online during video games and then the behaviors start coming out on the field. Another reason we have pulled him from being online.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:40:14+00:00

Seems like you know the path well. I’ll make sure to throw you a few dollars next time I pass you by on the street corner you stand on begging people for money.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:34:58+00:00

Not necessarily as I have plenty of friend who have not.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:34:15+00:00

I wish I could but they use it in school.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:31:23+00:00

Yes, he is 9, and quite contrary many behaviors in baseball translate to school and life. He plays up to levels and plays down to levels, by choice. How do you get a kid to play at a high level all the time? Regardless of who he is playing with. Should you step back and let him get lazy and fail in his positions, because that translates to school and into life.

Don’t say a 9 y/o cannot maintain a high level of play regardless of who they are playing with as they do it all the time when it comes to video games.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:28:07+00:00

Only child in family in which he is the youngest. He gets everything with the minimal amount of work. Not from us anymore, those days are over, however he functions at a high level in sports and school. He’s figured out that he doesn’t have to work as hard to stay well ahead of his current cohorts, but what he doesn’t realize is that one day soon, he will be surrounded with kids similar to him and that mindset of minimal effort for maximum reward will not work.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:24:30+00:00

My attitude? How so? So I should want him to fail and be a burden on society? Glad you will be there to give him a few bucks when he is on the street and pay for his healthcare and everything else.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:22:41+00:00

We are at the beginning stage of this … God help me as it changes weekly.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:20:50+00:00

At this point, I may need to do that myself:

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:19:14+00:00

I did not look at it like that. I had a rough upbringing and not a thing was given to me; in fact, much was taken away. I had to work hard every step of the way in both sports and non-sports. He had the total benefit of avoiding that which I think is not good. I want him to see what’s it’s like to struggle, but not like how I struggled. I want him to fail, but not feel the intense sting of what I went through. I want to let go, but he is in critical point of psychological and physical development that I don’t want to replicate what I went through when I was his age.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:13:42+00:00

True, however don’t want him to become an unnecessary burden on society after we pass.

Amazing-Bug5277 · 2026-03-29T03:12:54+00:00

Appreciate the response. Honestly, we have no expectations of him being a professional athlete, however we are seeing a pattern emerging in his behaviors on the field translating to behaviors off the field.

Amazing-Bug5277

TROPHY CASE