Unorganized Baseball Part 1
March 4, 2010If you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, you know that I’m a big fan of kids playing unstructured baseball. Sandlot ball, stick ball, stoop ball, 3 flies up, over the line, whatever…just so long as it doesn’t come with a written rule book and ridged structure.
This post will be the first of a series I’m going to do on the subject of pick up baseball. I’ll go into why I think it’s important, why it’s bordering on extinction, maybe sprinkle in some history, and maybe provide some solutions through examples of rules from games we played as kids.
THE GOAL
Let’s begin by stripping it down to the bone and come to an understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish here. What’s the goal? What’s the big picture? Why do we have our kids playing organized sports in the first place?
I may be going against the grain a little bit, but my goal is to have kids who grow up happy, productive, creative, citizens with decent moral compasses. I think this is sort of the American ideal or what we’d call democratic. My goal is not for them to become big leaguers. If it happens, great, but it’s not the goal. I’ve always believed baseball (and it’s hybrids) to be great platforms for learning positive life skills. Skills that might transcend the game and spill over to make one a better student, worker, or citizen.
DOES ORGANIZED BALL MEASURE UP?
Now that you understand at least what my goals are, let’s evaluate whether the organized Little Leagues, Pony leagues, etc. are meeting these ideals. To a certain extent, I think they are. Kids are certainly gonna have to learn how to deal with pressure, how to deal with failure, with success, how to be a good teammate, etc. Approached the right way, organized ball can teach us a lot.
But it can’t teach us everything. There’s a few things I want that are very hit or miss in the organized version of baseball. Again, what I’m trying to produce is a dynamic, creative, problem solver who can work well with people and bring some passion to the table.
I don’t want a robot. I could care less if you can turn the perfect double play at age 12. Give me passion, give me a risk taker, give me creativity, give me someone who can think outside of the box. If we took this to a school setting, I’m talking about creating a kid who questions the teacher, that’s interested in creating a better way, that’s hungry to learn. Not a person that is just concerned with doing well on the tests, conforming to the rules, and scoring through the roof on the SAT.
From a baseball perspective I’m trying to create a player who’s not just surviving, but pushing the game to another level. A player who plays. It’s hard for me to put into words, but you know it when you see it. It’s that kid who knows the game inside and out and plays with passion. I’m not saying organized ball can’t be the platform that produces this kind of animal, I’m just not so sure it does a great job of cultivating these qualities.
WHAT’S THE ANSWER?
So how are kids going to learn, experience, and foster that democratic ideal? How are they going to practice the balancing act between freedom and rules, or individual needs and the recognition that other’s needs are just as important (being a good teammate)?
Common sense would tell you that it needs to be an environment where the kids themselves can make up the rules. An environment where they communicate with each other as equals. Where they’re free to solve problems and challenges amongst themselves. Where they’re free to tweak the rules, push the boundaries, assert themselves, make mistakes, and learn. An environment where, if they don’t figure these things out, the game simply isn’t going to happen.
For me (and I’m sure many of the adults reading this post) these skills were learned during free play. Or for the sake of this article, pick up ball. Certainly you can remember all of the logistics that went into a sandlot game? Where to have it, when to meet up, how to choose teams, the rules of the game, how it ends, how to get the most kids, and on and on.
For that game to happen, you had to have some people skills, some organizational skills, and some creativity. You had to have the ability to think outside of the box and improvise. You had to know and negotiate the rules of the game, you had to be fair. In short, you had to be democratic. We all remember that kid who was the dictator. The kid who had to pitch every inning, who wasn’t fair, who wasn’t fun? What happened? You just bailed and started your own game. It was simple like that.
NEXT BLOG POST
So that’s it for today. Next post I’ll get into why I think these pick up games are bordering on extinction. I’ll also look towards solutions and provide some example guide lines for kids interested in starting their own neighborhood games. Until then, I’ll leave you with this excellent clip from The Fantastic Mr. Fox featuring the made-up game of WhackBat. Enjoy.
after the wack batter jumps the hurdle and umpire yells matchbox, what happens next???
I think you divide by 9 and subtract 3.
[...] reason is because most parents have unrealistic goals. Instead of viewing sport as a vehicle for personal growth, they see it as a stepping stone to [...]