Going from LL to Seniors

I'm going to try to keep my tongue out my cheek for a change because I think yours is a very delicate situation rife with impending disasters.

Assuming the "stepdad" is a real situation, I hope your relationship with the boy is very strong because most likely he's going to need it, and mom just isn't gonna understand, no matter how hard she tries.

You couldn't have picked a worse time, from a baseball standpoint, to make a complete move. It sounds like this boy hasn't had the opportunity to get into the competitive morass that a lot of players 9-12 are in nowadays. That puts him at a huge disadvantage in moving up in a "local" environment, let alone a totally new one.

Moving to the big field is really more of a mental problem than a physical one in the sense that baseball is still baseball, but now there are so many more things to consider. RAD only pointed out the most obvious because there might not be room to list all of the differences on Al's server.

It isn't like those things are insurmountable. Millions of players have made the change and millions more will in the future. Those things will be picked up if the boy has any kind of head on his shoulders at all.

The real problem will be that in general, most of the players who are only playing baseball because its something to do with their buds won't be moving up. Lots of things cause that, but mostly its a realization that their skills just won't good enough to keep going without a lot of hard work and they just fade away. Those are typically the "rec" players.

So with nothing happening but normal attrition, the overall or average skill level goes up substantially over what your boy has been used to seeing. But that's ok because they're all basically in the same boat of relearning the game.

What your boy will likely face is that a great many of the boys he's gonna run into will have played some kind of tournament or "select" ball outside of the rec league, especially if the new area is very large at all. Because of that, he's probably going to be facing not being the big fish in the small pond.

As if that wasn't bad enough coupled with the big field and the new area, as baseball players move higher and there are fewer of them, they tend to know each other. Even if they don't play on the same teams, they generally have played against each other and at least are aware of each other. That creates a clannish mentality all its own.

It won't be bad enough with all of the other stuff and the normal problems of making new friends, but now he has to break into a group of kids who have been playing with each other for up to 6 years, and they don't take kindly to new kids coming into the group, After all, one of the known group will most likely be displaced by that new person!

Of course we all have been through that and know it passes, but some things can make that happen quicker than others. I'll leave the father/son stuff to you, but I can tell you that new player who is a stud has a much easier time of it than one who isn't, and the one who isn't a stud has a lot to prove.

That stuff is nothing more than a rite of passage, but I'm guessing you're gonna have a pretty depressed kid on your hands for a while, so hopefully my advice will help with that more than learning how to play on the big field.

To start with, make sure you have your antennas up looking for signs of problems, but don't make it too obvious. You probably ought to plan on being a bit more "available" for him than in the past. I'm not saying you weren't doing that before, but at least for a while, make that extra effort.

What you can do with that added time is to spend it doing something that will help break down that "clannish" barrier. This may sound like a load of BS, but I'm telling you that it works. If he has a 5 o'clock practice, get there at 4:30 or at least before the other players and coach show up. Its a small thing, but you're planting the seed in everyone's mind that this kid "want" to be there and is a very hard worker.

I'll guarantee that the coach will notice it and so will the other players even though they may not say so. Its very important that the coach gets to know your kid and you. I'm not saying to fawn all over the guy, but it certainly won't hurt you to be friendly and ask him about "his" team. that will let you get to know him and also for you to start getting to know the other players and parents.

I don't think this is telling tales, but coaches love to talk about their team and the parents, so if you pay attention you'll find out some things and if you just talk to the guy, he'll pass on information about you and your kid. Win/Win!

Showing up early is a trick players who are new or on the bubble have used for a long time. One thing it does is give a false impression to the players about the new guy's skills. As you know, the first thing most teams do is stretch and then warm up. If he's already loose, he'll look better during the stretching. Then, when the warm ups start, since he's already warm, he'll be popping the ball in there right away. That makes the arm look very good compared to the kids who aren't warm.

Use some more of that added time to stay for the whole practice and make sure you show up for the games. Generally, the parents who stick around for practices are more involved with the team and helping their kids away from the team. You need to get that "comfort zone" established. Like I said, you don't want to fawn all over people, but you'll find out that the quicker everyone gets to know you and your kid and you get to know them, the easier the transition will be for all.

I'm not trying to scare you off or make you take Prozac before going to a practice, but I am trying to let you know there will be more going on than baseball, and with just a little effort, there are things that can be done to make the entire experience much easier to take.

With just a little luck, it shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to fit right in. If you don't do anything other than worry, the experience won't be a good one. But if you stay upbeat and get comfortable, your "Lefty" will be just another one of the guys and be able to worry more about improving his skill than fitting in.

I hope that didn't sound self righteous or patronizing because it was sincere. My boy has been the new kid on a lot of teams in the last 3 years and its really difficult on everyone. That's why I try to make it a point to give "Newbies" a break.