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When do you know know whether baby is right or left-handed?

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billf:

--- Quote from: ChadTower on April 27, 2007, 09:19:21 am ---I don't live in Jersey, for one thing.

Second, I don't play the whole "keep the bad kid out there as little as possible" strategy.  A coach is there to teach in Little League.  Winning is great but not nearly as important as effective teaching of the strategy and skills of the sport.  Little League is not high school or college.

I've run into many, many, many coaches who "coach" almost exclusively to win and they are rarely effective teachers.  They turn over a lot of players who just aren't any good because they stood off to the side while he works with the kids who in reality need the least amount of teaching to succeed at the given level.

EDIT:  after thinking about this a minute, this is a conversation I've had about a billion times and I'm not interested in having it here.  It is the basic difference in philosophy at any given level between those who feel winning is most important versus those who feel teaching is most important.  Differing opinions especially dependent on what specific age group is being addressed.

--- End quote ---

For what its worth, I totally agree with your philosophy.  My dad was a coach/manager on most of the little league teams I played on - this was his philosophy as well.  He did have a run-in with a couple of parents through the years I played, who wanted to just win.  But he would tell them, each kid on this team signed/tried out to play, they come to practice to learn and they deserve to play.  I carried this thought with me when I was a coach on my son's little league teams as well.

shardian:
I wasn't talking about good kid/bad kid stuff. I was discussing baseball strategy. My dad coached  a minor league expansion team one year I played and we got ALL of the cast-offs from other teams. We ended up having alot of fun, the "cast-offs" learned a whole bunch, got to play alot and we even won games in the process.
I also don't believe in sitting the "bad kids".
Having said that, practice is where the players that need the most help get it - not in-game. I have been helping out/ asst. coaching with my nephews/cousins teams for a long time and my specialty is giving one-on-one help to the kids who need it most. I love it when I help one of these kids out, and then get to see their huge smile when they finally get that hit, or catch that fly ball.

Now as to the right field thing, baseball can be somewhat dangerous for kids who aren't very good. I've seen kids get hit in the face numerous times because they are afraid of the ball, can't catch, don't duck, etc. Sometimes, you can only do so much with these kids. That is why you put them in right field - to keep them safe.  Going back to that story of my minor league team, in one game my dad let anyone play any position they desired. We had a complete infield of kids who couldn't catch, or even hardly get the ball to the plate. They enjoyed it, but the other coaches and parents present were upset because any one of them could have been hurt. You have a duty to teach these kids, but also to keep them safe. Sometimes, that means playing a kid the minimum and putting him in right field until he gets the confidence he needs thru practice to play more or in a different position.

Lastly, at the Little league level you do have a duty to teach your players the rules and strategies of baseball. Believe it or not, this does entail trying to win.

ChadTower:

--- Quote from: billf on April 27, 2007, 10:02:51 am ---For what its worth, I totally agree with your philosophy.  My dad was a coach/manager on most of the little league teams I played on - this was his philosophy as well.  He did have a run-in with a couple of parents through the years I played, who wanted to just win. 

--- End quote ---

I had enough of those run-ins that I eventually moved down to coach 5-6 year olds specifically to avoid them.  Can't tell you how many times I'd get yelled at by some idiot father who thought potentially winning a city championship at 10 year old would affect their chances for a baseball scholarship 8 years later.  I'd rather finish 3rd and raise the skillset of the entire team than finish first and barely teach a quarter of the team anything. 

Ironically, most often, the kid with the yelling father wasn't even close to showing signs of being the scholarship kid, either.

TOK:
My daughter is 2, and its already obvious she's right handed. That is the hand she colors with, the hand she has better control of while eating, and the hand she uses for the trackball playing bowling.
I would say the signs she was a righty started to show at approximately a year and a half, perhaps a little less.

I'm left handed, BTW.

(+_+):

--- Quote from: leapinlew on April 26, 2007, 10:03:31 pm ---If it's a boy, I say wait till he turns 12 or 13 and then bust in the bathroom when he's taking a long shower. With a girl though... hard to tell.

--- End quote ---

That's hilarious.

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