Travel baseball is a big commitment for players and their parents. Anyone who tells you that parents should not be involved in the process is crazy. There are countless hours of time spent driving players to practice and other specialty training. More hours spent at the field spectating games.
When Hard 90 Founder Coach Rick "Sudsy" Sundberg spoke about Hard 90 Alum Stephen Nogosek (who was called up to the NY Mets last week), part of his talk was about the commitment his parents Jennifer and Troy made to his training and tournaments.
That said - parents should play the role of an encouraging spectator during game play. We have seen this countless times where parents really want their player to do well - so they coach them from the stands:
"Babe Ruth - why didn't you swing at that fast ball down the middle" - little did Babe's mom know that Babe Ruth was given the take sign from his coach.
"Hank Aaron - why did you swing at that ball above your hands" - Hank's dad did not know his coach had given him the hit and run.
As we shared in a past post - the most important thing you can do to support your players growth is to select a qualified coach - so it is extremely important in the games to let them coach.
The best thing you can do for your player is to encourage them - "let's go Mike Trout - you got this!" And as we talk about at Hard 90 - the most important pitch is the next one - so when Bryce Harper strikes out - the best thing you can say is "let's put together some at bats today and get him on the next one!"
Hard 90 knows that behind every great ball player are supportive parents. Thank you for all that you do!
Interested in checking out our training at Hard 90 - check out our travel team tryouts.