My 11 YO son is playing select ball for the first time this year. We resisted it for as long as possible, but there was just too much attrition from rec league. We stopped by the 12U rec field last week when dropping off my daughter for practice. It was pretty sad. Any kid with a semblance of talent has migrated to select, so rec league is full of kids as described above who have never played before or struggle with the basics. It's a damn shame, and I hated to get away from that communal atmosphere, but it was time for a change.
That being said, we had a tournament two weeks ago, and it exposed my biggest fears about the stereotypical aspects of select ball. His team lost both games in pool play and the knock-out game Sunday. Two of the three games were close and they lost both in the last inning. Just not enough pitching to close games out. Here's the gamut of stereotypes we encountered:
Game 1: 300-lb diabetic east-coast guido coach sitting at the end of the dugout barking orders at his assistants and belittling kids. He called a pick-off play at second that caught one of our guys napping, and you would've thought he just cured cancer.
Game 2: Played a 12U AAA team (son's team is a AA 11U). They were slaughtered. 12-0 after the first. Prick 12U coach kept swiping bags and moving runners up on passed balls even when it was 15-0. Mercy rule after 3 innings, but infuriating to see a coach pile it on with total lack of respect for the game.
Game 3: Encountered the forehead-vein bulging coach dressed with baseball pants and stirrups like he's going to suit up. His kids had wristbands on for signals. In baseball. Wristbands. Took 20-30 seconds between pitches to get the signal from the coach then glance down at the wristband before getting in the box. No better when they were in the field. Relaying signals to the catcher so he can signal the pitcher. No discernible difference in pitches, so no clue if he was trying to call pitches or locations or what. It was such a waste of time. Then, he yanks a kid out of the game mid-inning for missing a grounder. The dude was so over the top.
I'm all for ramping up the coaching as kids get older, and I get it if that's your job, but the level of ass-hattedness confirmed all of my worst fears about select ball.