I have said it before but it is a requirement in our house that a year round and a seasonal sport be played. Our boys choose baseball as their seasonal sport. My youngest is our “athlete” and can probably succeed in any sport he picks. My oldest used to struggle in all team sports due to his autism. But over the years, he has grown to love and become a very good ball player so we have stuck with baseball. It can be a very rewarding sport. With any sport you or they choose, go the extra mile and enlist some extra help. Coaches for younger teams can only do so much instruction for your kid when they have a whole team to prepare for games.
Every year, we sign the boys up for Mesa District 7 Fall Ball as well as Red Mountain Little League in the spring. Fall ball is a little less well organized than little league is but it’s a great circuit for practicing for spring ball and my boys love it! There’s usually one game per week and one to two team practices per week as well. In addition, we hold a weekly family practice to hone in on any skills needed improvement from the week prior. We make it fun but it is still “practice” so we take it serious to a point as well. It’s a wonderful thing we can all do together in our busy lives.
Once per week for the passed year, we have also had the boys meet with a private coach for 30 minutes each. Coach Zall has been a multi-position coach for over 30 years and has vast amounts of expertise to impart on our boys. They love him too! My oldest wants him to be his grandfather to which the idea always tickles the coach. They also work hard for him over those 30 minutes every week and have truly made huge improvements in many areas.
Another thing we do to improve their skills is sign them up for this amazing winter baseball camp with US Baseball Academy. They have a 4 week camp here in Mesa every January into February. It’s 4 Sundays in a row and you choose which hour and a half long sessions to enroll your child into. You choose between their catching clinic, pitching/throwing clinic, fielding/baserunning clinic, and hitting clinic. We always do 3 of them and their day starts at 10am and ends at 2:30pm with 5 minute breaks in between clinics. They work the kids so hard but they have so much fun in the process. The instructors are the local college baseball team coaches and players so it’s very exciting for the kids to learn from them. We have attended this camp for 3 years now and it always amazes me how much improvement they make from the instruction there.
We also like to sign our boys up for speed and agility camps in the summer to keep them moving and ready for seasonal sports. If you can find one around, I highly recommend them. The kids have a blast in the sessions but really learn the physics behind speed and explosiveness and how to unleash it. The instructors add in some friendly competition and it’s becomes a perfect course that everyone loves! The camp we use is for this AZ Club Prep.
Then there is the mention of equipment. Every sport will differ here and some require much more equipment than others. For example, swim team just requires goggles, swim wear, and a cap (if using). Baseball however has a minimum amount of equipment that consists of cleats, pants, socks, belts, bats, gloves, and a batting helmet. It’s also convenient for them to have a bag to hold this equipment. Additional equipment not required but helpful and things we have purchased are: bat swing trainer (helps absorb vibration when hitting the ball), elbow guards, padded sliding shorts with protective cups, knee pads for sliding, and batting gloves. My youngest is a catcher as well so his extra equipment is: catcher’s protective gear that includes helmet, throat guard, chest protector, glove, knee/shin/top of foot protection with behind the knee pads for easier squatting, and a large rolling duffle bag to hold all the catching gear. My husband coaches the team that my youngest plays on so we also have a portable pitching mound, rubber bases, a fungo bat, lots of extra balls, and a practice batting tee.
Is any of this cheap? Nope! I would much rather have my boys grow and feel confident in what they do than have something trivial like having all the movie channels. We make small sacrifices so that they can be the best they can be and there truly isn’t a way to put a price on that. It’s invaluable to me! I strongly suggest everyone get their kids into a sport and find a way to make it fun as well as get extra instruction. It can hurt the purse a bit but that extra instruction could be the turning point for your kiddo. They can do the minimum practice required for the team, like it ok, and be just fine, or they can get extra help and truly improve and find a passion that was previously hiding from them. Best of luck!