Toughest Sport to Teach/Coach a Child

• ytownfootball

  

  gut;1402428 wrote:Because when I played it was far easier to do the things you talked about in baseball than it was to be in the right position in zone defense. I don't get why you think it's so much harder to play a sloppy zone defense than it is to throw to the cut-off man.
  
  LOL, yeah, the kids know to get into a 1-3-1. I'd guess your 9 baseball kids generally know where to start out in the field.
  
  I just don't see a major distinction of knowing where to position yourself based on the ball and where the other offensive players are vs. knowing where to position yourself on the baseball field as the play unfolds.

  Depends where the ball is hit, what runners are on base and if they're fast and how the arm is on the kid picking up the ball who goes where. If you've never played on a "good" baseball team these would sound inconsequential but they matter lol.
• se-alum

  

  gut;1402428 wrote:Because when I played it was far easier to do the things you talked about in baseball than it was to be in the right position in zone defense. I don't get why you think it's so much harder to play a sloppy zone defense than it is to throw to the cut-off man.
  
  LOL, yeah, the kids know to get into a 1-3-1. I'd guess your 9 baseball kids generally know where to start out in the field.
  
  I just don't see a major distinction of knowing where to position yourself based on the ball and where the other offensive players are vs. knowing where to position yourself on the baseball field as the play unfolds.

  Because in baseball/softball on one hit ball, the player has to distinguish what their role is in a split second. The second baseman may be a cutoff man, they may be covering the bag, they may be backing up a throw from the outfield. Then all the other position players have to make the decision based on where they are playing. Getting 9 or 10 kids do the right thing at the same time is very difficult. It's the decision processing that makes it tougher.
• gut

  se-alum;1402434 wrote:Because in baseball/softball on one hit ball, the player has to distinguish what their role is in a split second. The second baseman may be a cutoff man, they may be covering the bag, they may be backing up a throw from the outfield. Then all the other position players have to make the decision based on where they are playing. Getting 9 or 10 kids do the right thing at the same time is very difficult. It's the decision processing that makes it tougher.

  It's no different than playing a zone defense correctly. And "split second" is more accurate for basketball than baseball - you generally have relatively quite a bit more time, on average, to get into position in the baseball field vs. a ball being rotated around the court. I don't think you'll find many people to agree the decision process is more complicated and faster in baseball than it is in football or even basketball.
  
  You are grossly over simplifying playing zone, and you gave that away when you said "guys know to get into a 1-3-1" and ignore all the positioning aspects and nuances needed to play together to be effective, while going to lengths to explain the same in baseball.
  
  You did the same for football - "a guy plays cover 2 he goes here". Yet when you talk about baseball you're talking about how people need to move as the play unfolds and changes, and appear to be ignoring that in other sports.
• Classyposter58

  

  Golf easily. It takes well over a year to develop a swing and usually two of constant practice to get good. To develop that patience, and all the little ins and outs of the swing. That's not even before getting to the rules and course management. The thing is you're not playing other inexperienced kids at the same age like other sports, you're playing a course and that course is the same for everyone. Plus it's a lifestyle, you can't just play on weekends or every now and then and get good. You have two hit daily
  
  Basketball and Soccer are the easiest IMO. Haha especially soccer, you run around and kick a ball
• Ghmothwdwhso

  Classyposter58;1402437 wrote:Golf easily. It takes well over a year to develop a swing and usually two of constant practice to get good. To develop that patience, and all the little ins and outs of the swing. That's not even before getting to the rules and course management. The thing is you're not playing other inexperienced kids at the same age like other sports, you're playing a course and that course is the same for everyone. Plus it's a lifestyle, you can't just play on weekends or every now and then and get good. You have two hit daily
  
  Basketball and Soccer are the easiest IMO. Haha especially soccer, you run around and kick a ball

  ^^ Agree on Golf. Especially since not many parents are able to help out in a meaningful way.
• Classyposter58

  

  Tiernan;1402309 wrote:Passing and catching a lacrosse ball on the run while another player is wailing on the kid with a stick. BTW...Jim Brown once said lacrosse is much harder than football.

  Yeah it's a lot like baseball as far as learning it. Your hand eye has to be ridiculous, that's the only reason I was decent at it. Not very athletic but I have always had good hand eye coordination due to my 20/15 vision
• Classyposter58

  

  Ghmothwdwhso;1402439 wrote:^^ Agree on Golf. Especially since not many parents are able to help out in a meaningful way.

  Or coaches :laugh:. But if you play baseball or hockey you pick up the swing a little quicker. Mine came from hockey, basically you shift your weight and keep your center of gravity similar to that on a slapshot
• se-alum

  

  gut;1402436 wrote:It's no different than playing a zone defense correctly. And "split second" is more accurate for basketball than baseball - you generally have relatively quite a bit more time, on average, to get into position in the baseball field vs. a ball being rotated around the court. I don't think you'll find many people to agree the decision process is more complicated and faster in baseball than it is in football or even basketball.
  
  You are grossly over simplifying playing zone, and you gave that away when you said "guys know to get into a 1-3-1" and ignore all the positioning aspects and nuances needed to play together to be effective, while going to lengths to explain the same in baseball.
  
  You did the same for football - "a guy plays cover 2 he goes here". Yet when you talk about baseball you're talking about how people need to move as the play unfolds and changes, and appear to be ignoring that in other sports.

  
  Not over simplifying anything. I've coached them all. Zone defenses are an easy concept, as each player has only a small amount of area to cover. Which is why less athletic teams run zone defenses, they're easy. Football is very instinctual, which makes it easier to teach the basics. I think communication in Baseball/softball adds to the difficulty, because often you're playing with your back to what's actually happening.
• Manhattan Buckeye

  People can argue this until they are blue in the face...I've only coached two sports: Basketball and track. And they were both great experiences. No one was going to be an NBA player or run at the Olympics, but it was relatively easy coaching.
  
  I haven't coached baseball, but can see how it can be very frustrating. Some kids simply aren't cut out for it and regardless of the coaching they won't progress.
• gut

  se-alum;1402445 wrote:Not over simplifying anything. I've coached them all. Zone defenses are an easy concept, as each player has only a small amount of area to cover. Which is why less athletic teams run zone defenses, they're easy. Football is very instinctual, which makes it easier to teach the basics. I think communication in Baseball/softball adds to the difficulty, because often you're playing with your back to what's actually happening.

  Zone is an easy concept, but so is baseball. It's easy to play either poorly. And, yes, a player covers less ground in a zone defense but he has far less time to do so. Some great man-to-man defenses suck at zone, because playing it well is very cerebral, and very coordinated. Anyone can line kids up to play a 2-3 zone, teaching them to play a 2-3 well is an entirely different story. It's just telling to me when you talk about playing with your back to the action in baseball when you don't see the whole court or all 10 players in basketball, either.
  
  Football more instinctual? But I think you are on to something - the athlete. IMO, it seems like everyone plays baseball, and to a lesser extent soccer. So you have more disinterested, perhaps less athletically inclined, players that might give the perception it's harder to teach - everyone remembers the kid out in right field, picking his nose and daydreaming. For the life of me, the only kids I remember struggling with anything you've talked about are the kids who would have just assumed not be there.
• gut

  Manhattan Buckeye;1402468 wrote:People can argue this until they are blue in the face...

  Haha, I think I could probably guess which sports most of these people played. C'mon, where are all the HS bowlers?!?
  
  I actually chose a sport I never played - diving. But maybe I should have gone with hockey - seems the fact you have to teach the kids to skate before you can really even start teaching the game trumps everything in this thread.
• Ghmothwdwhso

  gut;1402471 wrote:Haha, I think I could probably guess which sports most of these people played. C'mon, where are all the HS bowlers?!?
  
  I actually chose a sport I never played - diving. But maybe I should have gone with hockey - seems the fact you have to teach the kids to skate before you can really even start teaching the game trumps everything in this thread.

  With your thinking, I believe that diving may be more difficult. You need to teach the kid how to swim before you can teach them how to dive. Falling on the Ice < sinking to the bottom of the pool.
• Benny The Jet

  

  Having only coached basketball and baseball, out of the 2 personally I find it harder to coach baseball. Here's my thinking why...
  In basketball kids play it A LOT more than baseball. Kids can go out and shoot or play 1-1 or a pick up game almost anytime they want. They play more and learn more about the game. In baseball there has been a HUGE decline in kids playing. We've seen our numbers drop a ton over the last few years. And typically the ones that are playing, only played 6 weeks of it once a summer then it's onto the next thing. When I get the baseball kids in 9th-10th grade, they still don't know a lot about the game, and it's a lot more of coaching them the basics of the game. A 10th grade basketball kids is easier to coach than a 10th grade baseball kid to me.
• Tiernan

  Obviously hitting a baseball is hard to do consistently...you do it 1/3 of the times at bat and you're considered an All-Star. However, the rest of the game is fairly simple to coach if the kids playing are even remotely athletic. Coaching golf is extremely hard because of the unique individual nuances associated with different kids swings and putting mechanisms. I've coached football, baseball, soccer, golf and lacrosse at the HS level and golf and lacrosse are far and away tougher to achieve levels of competitive success over a wider spectrum of athletes.
• said_aouita

  

  How about motocross? Watching junior hit his first triple (jump) during a race plus stick the landing (done at Kenworthy's- B class pro race 125's) had to take a year off of Mrs. Conley's life.
• thePITman

  

  I laugh every time I read or hear of people who think that the game of baseball is simple, not a "team" sport, not any plays, easy to teach, and easy to learn (the right way). Sure, anyone can throw a baseball 90 feet or hit a 60mph fast ball. But playing the game right and being successful at it is a different story. There is SO much to the game of baseball that goes unnoticed or taken for granted. I've coached baseball at the varsity level and can attest to this.
• WebFire

  thePITman;1402553 wrote:I laugh every time I read or hear or people who think that the game of baseball is simple, not a "team" sport, not any plays, easy to teach, and easy to learn (the right way). Sure, anyone can throw a baseball 90 feet or hit a 60mph fast ball. But playing the game right and being successful at it is a different story. There is SO much to the game of baseball that goes unnoticed or taken for granted. I've coached baseball at the varsity level and can attest to this.

  IMO, the big difference between baseball and many other sports, is that a kid can't get by on athleticism alone. He really has to know the game. In basketball or football, you can be good just being athletic. But that same kid may suck in baseball because he can't grasp the mental part of the game.
  
  Not to mention, young kids are afraid of the ball most of the time. That just adds to the difficulty of learning and executing.
• thePITman

  

  WebFire;1402557 wrote:IMO, the big difference between baseball and many other sports, is that a kid can't get by on athleticism alone. He really has to know the game. In basketball or football, you can be good just being athletic. But that same kid may suck in baseball because he can't grasp the mental part of the game.

  Hit the nail on the head.
• like_that

  

  said_aouita;1402551 wrote:How about motocross? Watching junior hit his first triple (jump) during a race plus stick the landing (done at Kenworthy's- B class pro race 125's) had to take a year off of Mrs. Conley's life.

  Not a sport.
• Tiernan

  like_that;1402592 wrote:Not a sport.

  this.
  
  ...same as NASCAR, only diff is even more rednecks.
• xKoToVxSyNdRoMe

  

  like_that;1402592 wrote:Not a sport.

  This might open the floodgates lol
• said_aouita

  

  Tiernan;1402622 wrote:
  ...same as NASCAR, only diff is even more rednecks.

  
  Not even close. NASCAR is nowhere near as physical demanding as motocross and guarantee more rednecks at nascar events than motocross.
• Fly4Fun

  

  Manhattan Buckeye;1402468 wrote:People can argue this until they are blue in the face...I've only coached two sports: Basketball and track. And they were both great experiences. No one was going to be an NBA player or run at the Olympics, but it was relatively easy coaching.
  
  I haven't coached baseball, but can see how it can be very frustrating. Some kids simply aren't cut out for it and regardless of the coaching they won't progress.

  I agree that coaching is a great experience. It's great just to be around the general exuberance and excitement that kids have on a daily basis as opposed to most adults.
  
  I will say that I was lucky enough to coach a young girl that has a shot to be something really special. I got her in her first year of club swimming, she is just a person with an incredible independent drive. As an 8 year old she would show up to practice early and do push-ups and sit-ups on her own before practice began. I never had to question how hard she was working herself in practice, she never took it easy unless it was a "recovery" set. Her physical awareness and body control is out of this world. Often with swimming when changing a person's stroke/technique it's a long process that requires exaggeration of movement. But with her, you could literally tell her what to do, show her what you mean and she would change her stroke within the next few minutes of instruction and attempts at fixing it she would have it fixed. I learned she was also an excellent gymnast, which isn't surprising given her physical strength and coordination.
  
  As far as accomplishments, she continues to break every single record in every stroke and distance she does. She could have qualified to the District Meet (HS swimming goes Sectionals --> Districts --> State) as a 9-10 year old this year.
  
  I had a blast coaching all the kids I coached. But I felt privileged to have the opportunity to coach that girl for the period of time I did. It was truly amazing seeing her abilities and drive.
• like_that

  

  Fly4Fun;1402765 wrote:I agree that coaching is a great experience. It's great just to be around the general exuberance and excitement that kids have on a daily basis as opposed to most adults.
  
  I will say that I was lucky enough to coach a young girl that has a shot to be something really special. I got her in her first year of club swimming, she is just a person with an incredible independent drive. As an 8 year old she would show up to practice early and do push-ups and sit-ups on her own before practice began. I never had to question how hard she was working herself in practice, she never took it easy unless it was a "recovery" set. Her physical awareness and body control is out of this world. Often with swimming when changing a person's stroke/technique it's a long process that requires exaggeration of movement. But with her, you could literally tell her what to do, show her what you mean and she would change her stroke within the next few minutes of instruction and attempts at fixing it she would have it fixed. I learned she was also an excellent gymnast, which isn't surprising given her physical strength and coordination.
  
  As far as accomplishments, she continues to break every single record in every stroke and distance she does. She could have qualified to the District Meet (HS swimming goes Sectionals --> Districts --> State) as a 9-10 year old this year.
  
  I had a blast coaching all the kids I coached. But I felt privileged to have the opportunity to coach that girl for the period of time I did. It was truly amazing seeing her abilities and drive.

  Don't hurt yourself patting yourself on the back. This whole post def stuck with the thread topic :rolleyes:.
• Fly4Fun

  

  like_that;1402773 wrote:Don't hurt yourself patting yourself on the back. This whole post def stuck with the thread topic :rolleyes:.

  At what point did I compliment myself there? As I said in the post, I was lucky and privilegedto have had the opportunity to coach her. Her drive to push herself and challenge herself and her natural physical awareness/coordination are what makes her amazing. I had the very easy job of just describing what to do technique wise and making sets for her and tailored easier sets for the rest of the group. She would have been a great swimmer regardless of her coach. Some kids are just naturally talented/gifted, she's one of those.
  
  Once again you're really reaching to try to take a dig at me.