I took Maddux to coffee on Sunday morning and while I was standing in line, the mother of a former camper walked up to me and said, "Hey Dan, you were right about everything."

I hadn't seen her in a couple years, but before she said another word, I knew exactly what she was talking about.

A few summers ago, after camp dismissed one day, she asked my advice on what do for baseball for her son who really loved the game and wanted to play more.

I told her to just sign up for Little League in the Spring, play other sports in the off-season, and avoid "club ball" at all costs.

Unfortunately, as so often happens, her family got up in the "you have to play club ball in order to succeed in baseball" mentality, and they joined one of the local teams.

I warned her of the following dangers of the "pro" club ball teams in this area:

1) Hyper-competitive, win-at-all costs culture
2) Poor coaches in terms of technique and attitude
3) Parents sniping at each other over playing time, and generally taking it WAY too seriously
4) Too many games and physical stress on young and developing bodies

Can you guess what she told me?

1) "It was way too competitive and it stopped being fun for my son"
2) "His coaches, who we were paying tons of money to, were verbally abusive to the kids and that was no fun for my son"
3) "The parents were way too serious and that made it no fun for my son"
4) We didn't even talk about the physical issues with playing 6 games in 36 hours every weekend, but it didn't matter because...

...she believes her son will quit baseball. At age 13.

Her son used to LOVE baseball, but after a few years of club ball, it stopped being fun.

And it stopped being fun BECAUSE OF ADULTS.

Now, she's certain that her son will quit baseball. Here's a young man that used to LOVE the game (I can personally attest to that fact), but today doesn't want to play anymore because adults have sucked the fun out of it for him.

That is the ultimate baseball tragedy.

Players stop playing baseball for many reasons, but the only reason that is truly heartbreaking is when adults take the fun out of it and are the cause of a player falling out of love with the game.

What makes this all-too-familiar story even more sad is that it's completely avoidable!

With the recent proliferation of "club/travel teams," the accepted "road to success" in youth baseball is now completely backwards and signing up for these teams is actually making it LESS likely your son will succeed, not MORE likely.

Club coaches would have you believe that the secret to a long career (or at least making their high school team) is taking it more seriously and being more intense starting at a younger and younger age. (And, of course, making sure you're paying them their monthly fees along the way is a crucial component to this "road map to success!")

In fact, the opposite is true.

If the game is not enjoyable, players will quit - and many players quit before they even get to high school because they're not having fun anymore.

In every single study researchers have conducted asking kids why they play sports, guess what the #1 answer is...TO HAVE FUN.

Guess what reason doesn't even make the top 10...WINNING.

So by making it more serious and more intense at a younger age with the goal being to "get to the next level," we actually increase the chances that the game becomes less fun and therefore increase the chances that they quit BEFORE they even have a chance to tryout for a high school team.

I take the opposite approach.

The MORE fun baseball is at a younger age (and yes, this means all the way through Little League and into Pony), the MORE likely it is that players will want to continue to play.

And the more fun they are having, the harder they will want to work at improving their skills, and the more motivated they'll be as they get closer to high school.

Listen, nobody has ever made a High School team if they quit baseball when they were 13. And sadly, more and more kids are quitting at younger and younger ages, and because of adults.

So what's the solution for parents?

1) Keep playing Little League. All youth sports would be far better off if club teams did not exist.

2) Play other sports. There is so much scientific data available now about how DETRIMENTAL specialization is at a young age that the issue is no longer debatable. (I promise, none of the "professional" club coaches have read this research, or if they have, they choose to ignore it because it's bad for business.)

Editor's note: I feel compelled to put "professional" in quotes because no true "professional" screams at kids and lies to parents.

Here's 1 very telling graph I stumbled across online a few weeks ago:

Nobody loves baseball more than I do, but my Fall Ball program is only 3 hours a week by design so that my players don't have to pick 1 sport and can play football, or soccer, or water polo, or basketball, or lacrosse at the same time. Or they can choose not to play fall baseball and that's totally 100% fine with me!

3) Make "having fun" the goal of every trip to the ball field - this doesn't mean allowing practice to turn into complete goofball chaos, but achieving a balance between enjoyment and improvement is the goal.

The players absolutely improve during summer camp, but if at the end of the day I don't hear every single player say that they had fun, I failed them as a coach, regardless of how much their technique improved.

4) Go watch a tee ball game. The kids will look so small and cute to you and you'll realize exactly why they are on the field...to have fun! That should not change between the ages of 4 and 12! If your son is 12 and you go watch a tee ball game, ask yourself what you would think of a parent YELLING at a player during that game. Or a parent who gets upset over losing a tee ball game? When your son is 18 and you go back to watch a 12 year old game, what would your opinion be of a adult screaming at a player during that game? You'll feel the same when about a 12 year old game then, as you do now about a 4 year old game. Trust me, it's all about perspective!

5) Avoid any youth coach/team/program that talks about "the next level," "making a high school team," "rankings," "elite tournaments," etc. Anyone trying to convince you that you need them to get to the next level is telling you a story that doesn't add up. More serious, more intense, more competitive is not the recipe.

Every single minute of every single Summer Camp Day is planned around having fun. Once the campers are having fun, teaching them baseball skills and life lessons becomes a lot easier.

There is a scientifically supported method to my madness at camp, and it works. Period.

I could (and probably will) go on and on in another blog, but Maddux will have us up in a few hours and I need some sleep before hitting the field tomorrow for WACKY HAT WEDNESDAY!

Last thing: Please email me if you have any questions about any of this...I would truly hate for you be the next parent to walk up to me at coffee uttering those fateful words, "You were right, Dan."

If you want to keep reading, here's a great piece written by a real writer.

http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/story/_/page/keown-110823/elite-travel-baseball-basketball-teams-make-youth-sports-industrial-complex

See you on the field this summer!
DS