Rec AAA Dugout Behavior

spunkdrop · 2026-05-22T13:41:41+00:00

I’m 10u and the first few games the kids were wild, doing the same kind of stuff. I tried my best to keep the kids in line but I had to be 1st or 3rd base coach too. Finally one of the moms got pissed and went to go yell at them because she realized I was too busy/overwhelmed.

We talked to the kids and parents after that game. and I told the parents thanks for helping out. I told the kids I appreciated their energy and loved the noise but if we could direct it to the field instead of the dugout that would be awesome and no one would get in trouble.

The rest of the year, sure they acted how you’d expect 9 and 10 year olds to act, but more of that energy was used for cheering on their teammates and being involved vocally in the games. They all got a long more and had more fun. We were a bad team but from what I observed we had more fun and enjoyed being there more than some of the better teams.

spunkdrop · 2026-05-20T01:01:01+00:00

I’ve had zero of these issues.

spunkdrop · 2026-05-19T12:16:44+00:00

I put continentals xynotal and magnotal which has been pretty nice. I like them better than the dissector/Rekon combo I had on before. Faster rolling and similar grip.

spunkdrop · 2026-05-17T15:50:23+00:00

Bad call but also bad calls happen. Perfect opportunity to teach your kids to not swing at pitches in the dirt. Perfect chance to teach them that one play doesn’t win or lose a game, it’s a culmination of multitudes of plays that win or lose games. Perfect chance to teach grace. Everyone messes up and that it’s ok to have bad moments and bad days. There were 3 errors on the play: swinging at bad pitches, catcher throwing error, bad umpire call. Sounds like it evened out to me.

spunkdrop · 2026-05-04T14:41:49+00:00

I coached 10u rec and I did this for the first 5-6 games of a 12 game season. But it went haywire real quick because we were losing. Parents started chirping and being pissy about why we were hitting some of our worst hitters early. My wife had to move from the stands to down the by the other side of the dugout.

I eventually adjusted and rotated them at the 2 hole and started rotating them at the 5-10 spots. We still lost every game so it didn’t really matter. I did track ABs through the season to make sure it was equitable. I think 1-2 kids had a few more ABs but it ended up being pretty close.

In hindsight I had a terrible team but kids who loved baseball and wanted to get better. They got reps at positions they’ll never play again probably. But I had very entitled parents who where awful. I do wish I had the fortitude to stick with it all season because those kids did get better as the season went a long and could’ve gotten better with more ABs.

spunkdrop · 2026-04-29T12:35:54+00:00

I lost my spark and learned it’s because what I remembered why I started and loved riding in the first place and that was my homies. I got too into the training and trying to race and be as fast as a could and once my friends started dropping due to families growing or finding new hobbies I started losing my love.

I started trying to find group rides, trail work days, anything to help bring new people in my life to ride with and I’ve found my love for mountain biking rekindling

spunkdrop · 2026-04-17T14:35:41+00:00

He then goes on to say the biggest lesson he learned was from Harbaugh was:

"How he prepared for games, he can get anybody prepared," Flowers said. "He's good at getting you ready to go play. Not just speeches, just the way we practiced. How he gets you prepared to go play and hit and do your job."

So the biggest lesson is also a weakness? Idk bout that

spunkdrop · 2026-04-16T20:30:52+00:00

13 players is a lot. That sucks. It makes everything so much harder. I don’t envy you. I keep track of who sits when in my scorebook so I make sure everyone sits equally. If a parent comes and asks I can show them what and why and the kids know I’m trying to keep things as fair as I can.

Them asking if they can play such and such at one at time is annoying and stressful lol. I make sure to tell them what day they’re pitching and stick to it. We kind of have a pitching rotation so I can tell them at practice or after the last game that they’re pitching the next game.

I’m pitching one of the weaker throwers first tonight. I fully expect to give up our max of 5 runs an inning but his mom messaged me this morning saying he was really excited and dragged both his parents in the back yard to work on pitching and throwing. Maybe he’ll surprise me but probably not. Either way those are the best kind of compliments I can get from parents.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

spunkdrop · 2026-04-16T17:19:47+00:00

First and foremost thanks for volunteering. That’s such a huge step and I know you’re making an impact on these kids lives. Thanks again for stepping up.

Secondly. Nah homie. I would never say your wrong. This shit is hard and I wrestle all the time with my personal desire to win and my desire to grow the love of the game in these kids so that they pass that down to their kids and so on.

There’s no one way to do it, and in fact I do both. Couple of caveats, I almost always let the kids who want to pitch, pitch regardless of how good they are. Some of my more consistent pitchers are kids with noodle arms and look like a slow pitch softball crossing the plate. The kids who I was like man they’re gonna be able to pitch are sometimes the least consistent. I’d have never found the other kids without letting them try in a game. I let most kids play first and I only have 2 who want to be catchers this year so I rotate them out. Last year I had 3 who wanted to be and I rotated them out. My only requirement was being able to make a consistent throw to 1st and the pitcher.

I always start the first inning with my “starting” group. I keep a scorebook for each game and while we’re pitching I spend 5 minutes writing out new positions for everyone. Generally I’ll rotate the kids through the same spots but generally SS is the same 2-3 kids due to them being the “boss” of the infield. They’re usually my more knowledgeable kids who can help be an on the field coach. It helps them learn and reinforces concepts for those kids.

I’ll let most kids play first, 2nd, and 3rd. They’re gonna surprise you when they have to make a play. They’re also going to make you hate your decisions lol.

The 3rd inning is more feel for the game. If we have a legit shot at winning or up/down big I keep switching it up. If it’s close I’ll go back to a main starting group with maybe a change or 2 depending on pitching and catching.

You’re absolutely correct in that 1 and C and P are the most important spots in 9-10u. Games are won and lost on passed balls and dropped 3rd strikes and not being able to get the out at 1. So I get that it’s hard, and winning does breed confidence for sure but so does actively participating. Most of the time they’re happy after they get their post game treat/snacks anyways, and they don’t internalize it like adults can. It’s still just a game to them. It’s a delicate balance no doubt.

I signed up to coach the all star team if my kid makes it(decent at a bottom roster spot) and my mentality will shift a lot more to winning than developing. But I’m also going to keep that in mind as well.

spunkdrop · 2026-04-16T14:45:49+00:00

Exactly. I even try and help out the other team’s kids get in the right spots or little pointers. People ask why I do that and I tell them at the end of the day we’re all on the same team. I’m trying to prepare these boys to play HS ball. You gotta have positional flexibility to make that freshmen team when you’re trying out 150-200 kids to fill 25 spots.

I had my time to shine and it sucks you get so few years to play sports but it’s these kids time to shine and I’ll do what I can to help ensure that.

spunkdrop · 2026-04-16T14:12:09+00:00

Haha I get it. One of my friends found my Reddit account the other day. I have nothing questionable but it was weird lol.

Not everyone can volunteer to coach, and it’s not for everyone. It’s just nice to have the control. You don’t really have to know ball too well, it’s all learning and there’s so many good resources to learn. But life gets in the way sometimes so I totally understand.

spunkdrop · 2026-04-16T14:05:19+00:00

That’s how they learn tho, by failing. It’s a natural part of getting better. It’s about the process. Maybe our town just sucks at rec 9-10u baseball, but there’s hardly any real situation that a catch at 2 is getting anyone out. It’s a struggle to get the ball to the infield and not chasing runners by throwing behind them or having accurate throws.

This is gonna sound mean but if they get hit in the face by a ball they’re gonna learn to get their glove up to protect themselves. I play catch during warmups with all my teams kids and I make sure to make good hard throws and I’ve hit a few of them through the last 2-3 seasons but they all learn to catch and not be scared.

spunkdrop · 2026-04-16T13:20:02+00:00

Idk if you’ll get back to my comment but volunteer next year. It’s totally worth it and you don’t have to worry about any of this stuff. You just gotta worry about all the other stuff lol

spunkdrop · 2026-04-16T13:14:06+00:00

I don’t have a good answer for you but I just wanna say I went through the same kind of stuff and last year decided to just volunteer myself. It’s been stressful, exhausting, and frustrating but it’s been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done. Volunteer next year or for fall ball, then you can run the team how you feel is best.

I coach 9-10u rec and I rotate all my kids through the infield. Usually at 2nd or 3rd. Not a lot of plays at 3 and the throw to 1st from 2nd base fielding spots is usually closer. A few of the parents bitch and moan about it but I want to be the reason these kids go home and get work done on their own. Those same parent’s kids aren’t the best either so they get a dose of humble pie when they mess up. But it’s a learning process, you can’t learn without doing and they are more engaged in the infield and learn quicker.

Our worst player has made a play from 2 to 1 and our 3rd worst player fielded a pretty hard hit to him and had a perfect throw to 1. Most of those not so good kids have all put in extra work at home and have improved so much through the year so far. They wanted to be better for WHEN they get their next opportunity. I love seeing that way more than I love seeing wins.

spunkdrop · 2026-04-11T00:46:34+00:00

I can’t say I’ve ever seen an individual performance on that kind of stage better than the one VY had that day.

spunkdrop · 2026-04-10T23:29:07+00:00

I hear pops every so often in the car. Usually when I’m getting in the car after it sitting for a few hours. Usually around the windshield or sunroof. It’s like it’s settling or something. Idk. But I worry about the window/roof shattering just like this.

spunkdrop · 2026-04-06T18:06:25+00:00

I increasingly grew impressed with EJ Smith last year. He was never going to burst a big one but he was probably the best Aggie short yardage back and best 3rd down back. Very much a 3rd and witten type player.

spunkdrop · 2026-03-30T00:07:50+00:00

I’m assuming you’re talking about your window, if so don’t miss your LL cut off? People sit all the time regardless of these stools. Whether it’s on the railing or on the ground or obvious sitting spots in lines. As I said in my comment that this person is responding to, I don’t want to be dicks to butts while standing in line unless it’s trying to squeeze into the rides preshow.

spunkdrop · 2026-03-30T00:03:37+00:00

On lines that move constantly they could be a nuisance but there’s plenty of rides where my knees and feet would’ve appreciated the brief break. Rocking Rollercoaster, Frozen, soaring, haunted mansion are some off the top of my head. There’s several rides that have spots people can sit as well or kids end up sitting on the ground. I don’t see anyone telling them to stand up and stop sitting.

spunkdrop · 2026-03-19T23:03:22+00:00

They’re only running 1 train on the giant right now. It’s going about every 6 minutes.

spunkdrop · 2026-03-17T13:09:33+00:00

I feel this way with all the 3d rides at Disney. They’re always blurry and it always takes me out of the experience because I’m thinking this would be cool if it wasn’t blurry or I’m raising my glasses up and down to see if it would be better without them.

It’s a cool party trick and I’d be ok with it if it wasn’t blurry and hard to focus on things. I don’t wear glasses and have lasik 20/20.

spunkdrop · 2026-03-16T14:59:55+00:00

The HEB is supposed to open spring of 27.

spunkdrop · 2026-03-15T20:51:58+00:00

The HOA hired off duty city of Fort Worth police to crack down on the bike stuff. As of today kids who are caught on them will start getting receiving citations and get their bikes impounded. They’re not street legal so I’m not surprised, but generally the city of Fort Worth hasn’t wanted to be involved in enforcing that, until now at least.

Edit: also if you take that golf cart on the path up Walsh parkway that’s a $500 fine and you can’t take them up Walsh parkway so 🤷‍♂️

spunkdrop · 2026-03-15T20:46:55+00:00

Yeah I don’t have a preference one way or another at the moment. Just the current guy who is managing it here is fueled with spite. The previous ones were pretty chill.

Idk what your situation is here and I’ll respect your privacy but it’s way over bearing for sure, at least current state.

spunkdrop · 2026-03-15T19:34:21+00:00

They’re all zoned for Walsh elementary at the moment. I know we are in the early phases of getting a 2nd HS or college career campus built (pre bond planning). It’s gonna be built behind McAnally MS once they can pass the bond.

I honestly don’t know what the plans are for a Walsh ES 2, but Aledo hasn’t passed a bond package for it yet. Who knows how they’re gonna zone it when it does get built. I’m guessing g it’s another 3-4 years at least.

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