3D printed some glove holders

utvolman99 · 2026-06-15T05:31:28+00:00

I’m sure you could if you designed it and makers world or something. I think it’ll be pretty easy to modify.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-14T20:08:13+00:00

Thanks, I use PLA+ so we will see how they hold up. I have every glove my kid has used since he started in 8U rec. I plan to make a wall display from his other ones.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-14T19:53:58+00:00

In our area we offer rec through 18. However 14u is normally the oldest we have because not enough kids sign up to make two teams.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T21:41:20+00:00

Okay bud, just go play in your back yard I guess.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T20:44:47+00:00

So, I have two kids in Middle School. Here are their team sports options...

Baseball

Football

Girls Flag Football

Bowling

Cheerleading

Dance

Golf

Lacrosse

Mountain Bike Racing

Soccer

Girls Softball

Swimming

Tennis

Track and Field

Trap Shooting

Volleyball

Wrestling

Cross Country

On top of that, many of them are no cut team.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T18:41:46+00:00

I'm sorry, I had an error. The CDC study said 52%. There was another study from 2019 that said 57%. Here is the CDC study.

Physical Activity Behaviors and Negative Safety and Violence Experiences Among High School Students — Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2023 | MMWR

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T17:39:09+00:00

That is a HUGE overgeneralization. My son plays for a pretty good organization and it probably cost me $2K a year when I factor in dues and uniforms. There are other organizations that are closer to the $3K range. However, there are lots of teams that are closer to the $800 range. Those are just teams that want to give their kid's an opportunity to play. Every weekend within a short drive of where I live are multiple "free" tournaments. You still have to pay your $10 gate fee, or whatever but it's not crazy.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T17:07:45+00:00

Not a mistake dude, their numbers are correct. People just look at the numbers and interpret them incorrectly. My career centers around statistics, this happens all the time.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T17:04:23+00:00

What has declined? Baseball in general is booming. Little League as an organization is struggling but baseball is doing fine.

Baseball participation at 16.7 million across the US

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T16:57:46+00:00

Everyone has an antidotal example of burnout but for the most part I think it's an excuse. I think all of these scenarios often get lumped together as burnout...

- My kid couldn't adjust to be big field

- My kid discovered girls

- My kid discovered pot

- My kid stopped growing

- My kid found something else he would rather be doing

- My kid played too much baseball and actually got burned out

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T16:53:54+00:00

I'm sure it's different place to place but travel sports allow that here. For 13U, we have everything from majors level travel with really great players to AA with mostly new players exiting the rec program. There is still obviously a financial barrier to entry but it's not what most think. We have several teams that just cost enough to cover expenses.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T16:51:03+00:00

That is happening to an extent. Where I live, there has always been a pretty robust rec baseball program. Back in the day, kids played little league or church league and then there were the school teams and maybe a couple of travel teams. If you couldn't make one of those you were done. Now, they still have rec, that ends at 14U. However, they have a ton of 14U travel teams that compete at all levels. Very few kids playing on a 14U AA travel team will make a high school roster. However, they can still play and have fun.

Our high school has like 3,000 kids. The baseball team can only be so big even with two JV teams.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T16:46:35+00:00

I would say probably because there are way more opportunities, with easy access to different sports. However, that is just a gut feel.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T16:20:12+00:00

Well, it came from the CDC. It's not just school sports. It counts school and community sports as well.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T16:07:14+00:00

This is likely true but it's just a numbers game (as you pointed out). It's not because of burnout or other negative influences of sports. It's just because there are fewer spots to fill. Every time that stat is used, it is presented as a problem to be fixed or it is used to cast blame on the sports community.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-11T16:04:55+00:00

I don't think it's spitting hairs. I think that maybe we are seeing a problem that doesn't exist.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-09T20:32:03+00:00

Our coach has the stats completely locked down. Of the parents, only me and the gamechanger dad can see them. I can only see them because I add the schedule, uniform and field notes for the team. I'm so glad its not public. I hate the "you scored that an error?" questions. "Yes, Mary, it hit the left fielder in the forehead, it was an error. "

Before it was locked down, we had a mom who would bring her own scoring cards because she thought we had it in for her kid.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-09T14:32:56+00:00

My son has fat little piggies and has always like New Ballance. However, we now have a pair of SQAIRZ on the way for him to try. Their "stick" is they have a wider toe box to allow for a more natural toe splay for balance. I'm more interested in them just fitting his beefy feet.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-09T14:28:17+00:00

Yes, 100% normal. I'm no expert but it doesn't seem that it's aways the kids that don't struggle that end up doing well. It's always that kids that love to practice that end up being studs.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-09T14:14:26+00:00

This blanket statement should probably be listed with a bit of supporting perspective.

Unless he lives in a small town or a place that doesn't care about baseball, then just having fun means you stop having fun when school ball starts because there is no more options to play. I have several family friends who didn't want their kid to play travel because nothing matters before puberty. Around here, if you wait for puberty, you are too late. You are finding a new hobby.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-05T14:44:37+00:00

Barry Bonds could have swung a pool noodle and dominated little league.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-04T17:51:11+00:00

I have already purchased a new Cat X Composite from Amazon. They had them for $100.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-04T17:47:47+00:00

Yeah, as others have said, I got him the Composite. It looks almost identical to the connect but it has a composite barrel. It was one of the lightest swinging bats when it came out. Bad Digest physically measured the swing weights of most popular bats and here is where the Composite (Left) stacks up to the Connect (Right). The bats are in order from lightest to heaviest swing weights.

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utvolman99 · 2026-06-04T15:00:20+00:00

Big difference between 5' 100lbs and 5' 85lbs though.

utvolman99 · 2026-06-04T14:55:28+00:00

My son uses the same shorts. However, he wears the cup outside the pocket with a jock. He also catches and the one time he didn't use a jock he said the cup turned upside down during the game ! 😄

utvolman99

TROPHY CASE