What’s wrong with losing?
I heard about this story while coming into work this morning. How can you tell a 9-yr old he’s too good to play? Kids have enough to deal with without being given a complex by adults who want their own kids to win (which appears to be the motivation behind not letting him play). Here’s the quote from Jericho (the 9yr old):
“I feel sad,” he said. “I feel like it’s all my fault nobody could play.”
It’s just a little league game and the fact of the matter is that in a couple of years the other boys will catch up with him. Are we so concerned about winning that we can’t just enjoy the fact that we’re watching something pretty cool? Should we have told Tiger Woods he couldn’t play in youth golf tournaments because he was too good? Jericho’s mom hit the nail on the head with this quote:
“I think it’s discouraging when you’re telling a 9-year-old you’re too good at something,” said his mother, Nicole Scott. “The whole objective in life is to find something you’re good at and stick with it. I’d rather he spend all his time on the baseball field than idolizing someone standing on the street corner.”
This baseball league needs to relax and let the kids play. If anything the kids playing against a great 9yr-old will, in the end be the better for it…kind of like the baseball team in “The Rookie” where the coach didn’t realize it, but he was throwing 90 mile/hr heat to high schoolers and so by the time they faced ‘real’ high school pitching they hit the cover off the ball. Why not look at this as a blessing versus finding a way for kids not to face great competition?
CraigJ said,
August 26, 2008 @ 2:10 pm
It sounds like the child is literally “out of his league.” I understand the mom’s frustration but I think that her son would benefit from participating with other children of similar talent and experience. It’s possible that the current situation won’t be a benefit to either him or the other players.
For several years my oldest son participated in gymnastics. I think the way the tournaments and developmental programs are structured is just right. The children start at a low level (level 4) and progress through to level 10. A few stars will then join a level called elite. College programs will have some level 10’s and some elites.
This arrangement helps match the challenge to the skill level and allows developing gymnasts to progress and excel, moving from level to level without either becoming bored (too easy) or disillusioned (too hard). It also protects young gymansts from injury as they are not allowed to perform routines for which they are not prepared.
I don’t know the specifics of how baseball is structured but I imagine there must be other opportunities for this young player to enjoy being successful while also facing hitters who will push his game to the next level.
Thanks…Craig.
Lyall said,
August 26, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
Craig,
Based on the story, I’d say the kid is definitely playing at a higher level than what is even close to normal in his league and if it were my son, I’d probably look at having him play with older kids. But, I don’t want the league deciding that for me. If my son really wanted to play with his friends after considering the benefits of moving up, then I’d let him play where he wanted to play provided that someone didn’t get hurt. I’m no little league guru here, but there might be other physical considerations in playing with kids who are a year older, bigger, stronger, hit harder, etc. that may make that decision an unwise one. Probably not the same as in football, but there could be some issues here. What if the kid really stinks at hitting, for example. There’s no DH in little league.
You make the comment that he would be benefited by increased competition, but so would the kids his age benefit from playing against a better player.
I guess the bigger problem here is that it appears that a league administrator is making a ruling because of sour grapes because his team/son will lose to this great pitcher instead of playing on the same team.
Reach Upward said,
August 26, 2008 @ 5:41 pm
I have mixed thoughts about this issue. A few years ago, one of the AYSO teams in my son’s category had two brothers that were both highly talented and highly skilled soccer players. The older of the two was likely two orders of magnitude better than the average player in the category for that league.
It was always disheartening when my son’s team was matched against this other team. The other team would always cream my son’s team. But I also felt badly for the other players on the star boys’ team. The only thing they learned to do was to pass the ball to one of these boys. They always won, but their growth and level of challenge were severely limited.
I couldn’t help but wonder whether it wouldn’t be better for all involved if these talented boys were to play in a competition league instead of the AYSO league. On one hand, it would have robbed the other players from seeing what it is like to be matched against really great players. But on the other hand, the great players would find better challenges and would have opportunity for even greater improvement. And those that were these boys’ teammates would also have more opportunity for building their skills.