Does Anyone Else Think the Little League World Series is a Showcase for Psycho Sports Parents?

Yes

The LLWS is pure - I agree though, they should cool it with the constant shots of the parents - they had their shot at 15 minutes of fame already, let the kid have the spotlight.

As a high school coach I see some of that in running. If a runner isnt improving in two weeks or so I get parents calling me on the phone and wondering why their kid isnt getting better. Its a product of society and unrealistic expectations.

My kids are getting old enough to start playing sports, and I find myself tuning these people out -- even though it's hard at times. My oldest (he's 11) had this kid on his baseball team whose dad was constantly coaching him from the sidelines (he wasn't a coach, BTW). Every single thing this kid did, his dad said something to him about it and he was usually so wound up he was a bundle of nerves. I don't think the kid had five minutes of fun all season.

I think I read that with the LLWS the kids are housed in dorms and spend most of their time either playing games or hanging out with kids from the other teams. I like that, the less involved the parents are when they get to that level, the better.

My nephew's son plays on one of the teams. My nephew and his wife aren't psycho parents. They aren't nutty. They aren't fat. They don't have any control over ESPN camera shots. They do love their kids and fully support their activities. They get excited when their son and his team do well; they get disappointed when things don't go well--the same way all involved parents get in their kids' endeavors. These parents have really had to work hard and sacrifice to provide opportunities for their kids. They do appreciate the benefits from competition. They appreciate the benefits of practice, work, and dedication. "They are only 10-12?" When do you suggest that we teach our children these things? The kids on the team are generally just plain old good kids, and this competition represents only a fraction of their lives. What is wrong with a little emotion at a game anyway? Are you just as critical of Super Bowl fans or MLB World Series fans or track and field World Cup fans? Remember, parents are fans. Some parents show their excitement like lunatics; some are stoic; some cry. Why don't you just try to enjoy it like they are?

My little league team played 63 games when I was 12. Unfortunately, we were from a small town and weren't in the official little league organization. We didn't try to qualify for the world series though we would have done pretty well. One kid got to triple A and another might have got that far but had several knee operations from a football injury in high school. It was a great summer.

Yes some of the kids are pushed too hard, but most that are that good already have the drive to succeed they learned with their teammates.

A team from around here won the whole shebang some years ago. Six years later (high school senior year), none of them were still playing. Makes you go Hmmmm.....

+O wrote:

A team from around here won the whole shebang some years ago. Six years later (high school senior year), none of them were still playing. Makes you go Hmmmm.....

Did they quit all sports or concentrate on other sports?

A world series played by just one Country seems a little weird to the rest of the world.

A world series played by the kids of one Country really keeps us guessing.

We can't take it seriously.

Are you serious? Why are parents so much more involved in their kids lives than 10-15 years ago? When I went to school I was in the teachers and the coaches hands, no questions asked. Now parents are supposedly even meddling in their college aged children's lives. Helicopter parents trying to replace their youth, I guess. Parents need their own lives and create their own joys.

Another thing, are all these parents staying in hotels for weeks or are the players parents in homestays?

Huh?

Guess you've never followed the LLWS- LL teams from countries from around the globe travel to Williamsport, Pa. to participate after qualifying in their own country.

It is truly much more of a "World" Series than MLB.

I would prefer the parents of the united states take an active part in the interests of their children over complete apathy which seems to be the norm. The parents who try to live vicariously through their children and push them too hard with too much pressure are another story.

i think you have boarded the wrong train, based on the advice of small-minded, competition-oriented coaches.

unfortunately for the youth athletes involved in these sports, from baseball to soccer, from basketball to football and track, parents and coaches with minimal, if any, background in exercise science, physiology, biomechanics, psychology, etc., just coach kids to play specific positions from a very young age in a given coach-driven tactical line up, and look for wins in the short run over athlete development in the long run.

i would ask: how many of your kids, who have learned the lessons of competing from age 6 or 8, as opposed to those comparable baseball players from the Dominican Republic or Cuba, etc., where individual athlete development is stressed over team-oriented competitions like US little league stresses, make the big leagues? i am guessing zero.

competition-oriented youth sports impede the potential of athletes in all sports, vs. developmental programs that stress individual development of skills, athleticism, strength, speed, endurance, agility, and behavioral maturity.