Startin' the HS summer battle

The HS coach has been pressuring my boy to play summer ball for the last 2 months. All of the tricks have been used from appealing to his "team spirit" to threatening to tell prospective scouts that he isn't a "team player".

The problem is, my son's been picked to go to Az to tryout for the Jr Olympics, and he needs to play with that team too. We've tried to work things out, and his Jr Oly team coach has even scheduled practice games so they won't conflict with the HS summer tournament schedule. The compromise was, since my son is not allowed to play the field and not allowed to even take batting practice because pitchers on this team don't hit, the coach tells us when he wants him to throw and we're there.

The HS coach is having practices and games that start in the early afternoon, but my boy has taken his first real job and doesn't get off 'til 3:30 so he can't make those things. Even if he could, the coach refuses to let us know when the games and practices are just in case he could make some.

Now its time for the 1st tourney. It starts this Friday, runs through Sunday, and is 200 miles away. Since the coach won't call, I have my kid call him to find out when he needs to be there and is told 3:00 Friday! After he reminds the coach that he has a job, the coach says be there at 8:30 Saturday morning to pitch at 10.

That's OK with us. We'll have to get up and be on the road at 5:30, but its no big deal. Later, I find out that if they win the game on Friday, the 1st game on Saturday won't be played 'til 1:00. So, I make arrangements with one of the parents to call me Friday night to find out what the deal is.

I have my boy call the coach back to let him know what we'll be doing, and he gets his butt chewed! The coach tells him to be there at 9:00 regardless because there will be BP and fielding practice, even though he won't be doing anything but catching balls for the coach, and then proceeds to tell him we'll have to pay for the room they reserved for us at $80 per night! They couldn't cancel it, even though we never asked them to reserve a room because we didn't know if we'd even be going.

Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna be there at 9:00 regardless. I'm gonna pay the $150 to play on the "summer squad". My boy is gonna pitch and do his best, and then we're gonna go home! I'm not coughing up $160 for a room I didn't ask for. We're not going to be there for the 5 PM game so my boy can sit on the bench and watch players he's superior to, play.

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd allow my son to become a "hired gun", but this thing has gotten to the point where its stupid! This guy is taking 18 players to a tournament that will be at most 5 games and expects them to be gung ho enthusiastic about sitting around watching the "chosen ones" play.

I know my son is going to have to pay a terrible cost for this, but there has to be a line drawn in the sand someplace! We've taken the position that as long as he goes out and pitches well and works hard to accomplish that, the proof will be in the pudding and damn the coach and the misery he will bring.

This is one of those situations where the "absolute ruler" coach is doing nothing to help and everything to throw up roadblocks to insure failure because a player wants to have more of a life than baseball 24/7.

When you think about this, remember that my kid has already established himself as the #1 pitcher for this guy too! Can you imagine what the other players with less secure places on the team are going through? The whole program is based on intimidation and fear and there's not one darned thing anyone can do about it!