by Pete Caliendo, IBAF & Caliendo Sports International

Forbes.com’s Tom VanRiper recently looked at the growth of grassroots baseball which he says is a consequence of the down economy (see side note).
 
For 12 years the numbers of youth baseball participation has been declining in the USA and now - only because of the bad economic times - it will pick up some. It is a shame that we have to depend on bad economic time for it to pick up, in fact I am very disappointed. Here's why...

The lingering problem 

The reason baseball was declining before the economic down-turn still exists... kids are bored when they go to practice and they're failing as individuals in games.

This is a direct result of how our volunteer dads and moms have been coaching and teaching our kids. They are well intended but lack the knowledge and ability to run fun practices, teach kids skills that allow them to have their own success level and ultimately enjoy the games they play. They teach out-dated methods which they were taught or actually did when they played.

Not to mention all the pressure kids received from parents who watch the games. They too have a responsibility in their own kids physical and mental development. They have a responsibility to not embarrass players, their own or others, by yelling and screaming stupid comments, insults to opposing players, umpires and coaches.

Coaches and parents are both role models and should act appropriately.  They mostly just emphasize winning and do not understand that good teaching ultimately increases success. Kids want to win, I never met a player that said “ Today I cannot wait to lose”, but the coaches and parents do not have to mention it all the time. Besides, kids cannot be taught fundamental skills while they play, this turns kids off to the game, yet it happens.

All of the above is the real problem, and none of that is fixed by the current increase in participation. [Editor's note: it could be argued that the bump from the bad economy let's us ignore the real problems, and if we fail to fix those then we'll be back in the decline as soon as the economy gets better. That's not what people like Pete Caliendo, or WebBall, want to see happen. - Richard Todd.]


At one time we would play on our own at the play ground during the day and also in leagues, that was fun. We played more and practiced more on our own. Now it’s only organized. Back then there was less competition, less things to do, now the competition is soccer, other sports, television, game boys, etc.

Baseball at the grass roots level needs to wake up, and not wait for a down-turn in the economy to build their sport back up. Instead, our sport needs to focus on the number one reason kids leave the game, bad coaching.
The solution: We need a national certification program for all volunteers in the game of baseball (actually in all sports) if we are going to increase participation and then keep players in the game longer.

With better teaching and coaching the individual player gets better, his own success ratio gets better and ultimately the team gets better. Getting better as a player in your fundamentals, having more success in games as an individual, and winning more games as a team is fun. All of that can be accomplished at different levels and players will be happy, they will enjoy playing the game.

So when a national baseball association wants to increase participation, not lose players, do not wait for another bad economy ...they only come along every ten years. National associations cannot blame losing players on other sports, TV, game boys, dating, etc. - not when the bad economy brings an increase in participation. After all, if an increase is possible at any time then those things cannot be the main factors of losing players, but lack of quality coaching can be.

Let’s build our foundation of our sport by developing better coaches at the young levels. Moms and dads would appreciate the help in getting better themselves as coaches, kids would be happy, it’s a win-win situation.

Coaches training programs have been going on in Australia, Canada and other countries around the world. That's why the world is catching up to the USA in baseball development. The Classic is a great example. You hear different numbers all the time, but it’s been around 40 percent of minor league players are from foreign countries and about 30 to 40m percent at the major league level. As the IBAF and MLB continue to promote the game, and player-coach development, that number will continue to grow.

We cannot be satisfied with what we do or what we have in the USA, we need to be the leader in coaching development. This is a great opportunity for the IBAF as the governing body of the game worldwide to become the leader of baseball development. We have the resources among our country representatives to be the leader in coaching development.