The last year was 9U for me. He had heard everything I had to say and there are definately better coaches than me out there.

Plus it made dinner after the games much more relaxing and enjoyable.

I've never coached my son, but we've got a couple of dads on my sons 12U TB team this season that have coached their sons up to this year. It was entertaining this past fall watching them sit in the stands and try not to coach from our side of the fence.

I still coach him in 16U (he's 14U eligible with the date change). I did merge my team with another last year and became an assistant. I believe it's helped my son to know I don't make out the lineup anymore. He has to be on the top of his game all the time. He's far more serious and focused in practice.

I did the same with my daughter. When she was fifteen she joined an 18U team. I left my 16U team behind and became an assistant.

I coached him until he was 12 and then turned him loose to people that eventually took over the HS JV team

On and off until he went to college.
Jake

I stopped coaching his teams just before high school, I think he was 13 or 14. I thought it was important for him to play under different styles of coaching. However, still did a lot of one on one but that too eventually shifted and now I'm doing my best to surround him with those who know a lot more than I do. It's been fun to watch him grow up and I think more beneficial that others coached him along the way.

I don't believe (nor will he) that we have ever stopped coaching (& helping each other).

There were times my son needed a father, more so than a coach. And of course, needed a coach, more so than a Dad.

And I anticipate my son will do the same with his son.

Bottom Line: It's year round.

I have had a wise friend and former big leaguer say to me, if you coach your son, and he bats 3rd and play SS, and can't, many baseball men around you will lose respect for you.

quote:

I have had a wise friend and former big leaguer say to me, if you coach your son, and he bats 3rd and play SS, and can't, many baseball men around you will lose respect for you.

This is why I didn't coach at the middle school even though I was offered an assistant's position. I was tired of hearing the BS (behind my back) from ignorant parents. He played short and lead off or hit third without me. It was the end of the babble.

I stopped coaching my oldest son when he was 14, stopped coaching my younger son at 8 and my daughter never would let me coach her. Now I am their life coach which is far more important.

Stopped coaching IE: Giving advice, When he became a better player at 14 than I was in High School. Gotta turn em over to better players, coaches than me then

I was usually an assistant coach on my kids teams, but stopped altogether in his 14 year old summer, just took over "team logistics" and scorekeeping, anything to help out.

I did think it very important for him to play on teams I did not coach before high school. His basketball and football teams, however, I never did coach.

For me, when he was 9. He hit a 240ft HR on opening day. At that point, I thought he might have some ability and I may do more damage then good.

I turned my son over to someone else at the end of the summer of his 14u year. I won't admit publicly that his new coaches were any better at it than I was, but you get to a point where people need to see your son separately from you -- to know the apron strings have been cut and he can stand alone.

We still talk baseball to this day, in fact I probably annoy the heck out of him with it. But when he's on the field, I take my Jerry Tarkanian towel to chew on, and try to distract myself keeping a scorebook and doing the stats!

(Sometimes the towel, er, falls out.)

MidloDad,
I forgot about the towel. I think I will bring one to the next game. I haven't coached my son's team since he was 9 and it is still hard to keep quiet sometimes, especially when he is at bat and it is a 2-0 count and he gets a fastball over the plate, or when he is on the mound or when...

I am in coaching anonymous. The twelve step program is helping. I am on step 7.

I like the coaching anonymous idea, probably would be bigger than AA

I had my sons rather late in life [40 years old] and hatched a plan that was successful for me. I have 2 sons; two years apart. I coached the oldest boy in T-Ball [5-6 years old] and when he moved up to "minor league" [7-8 years old], I made a conscious decision to stay in T-Ball and coach the younger one and to not coach the older one AT ALL. I could have coached both teams but my plan was to let him go and see what happened.

After his minor league stint at the hands of someone else ended and at the repeated request of my older son, I reluctantly [as far as he knew] agreed to manage a Little League Major's team [9-12 years old] and coached the older one for 2 years while the younger one was in minor league and coached by someone else. Both boy's had a "bad experience" with their respective minor league coaches and it did not take either one very long to figure out that they wanted to learn what Dad knew and not take their chances with someone else. So when the younger one reached age 9, I gave him the "choice" to be coached by someone else other than me. He insisted that he wanted to be on the team I was managing even though I had created several rules regarding the way I was going to handle the team that were directed at him.

Thus, with the complete consent of my boys, I then coached them both through Little League till they each turned 13 respectively. I did not coach them in junior/senior league [they were coached by a friend of mine that knew baseball but coached several things different than me]. Meanwhile, I picked up an American Legion Team and my oldest son played for me for 4 years each summer after his high school season ended till he turned 20 and was no longer eligble to play Legion baseball. He is now 21 and, as yet, has not played any baseball since his final Legion game.

My youngest son also played Legion baseball on my team for 3 years but I disbanded the Legion team the summer of the year he would turn 18 and was asked to be the assistant coach on a travel team and on which he played. Then, the summer of the year he would turn 19, he played on a different Legion team and also played in a local adult wooden bat league neither of which was coached by me. He is now in college and, other than my being encouraged by the head coach to attend his practices and give him my "2 cents worth" on how he [the Coach] is doing, I only work with my son when he asks me.

TW344

I think it was when he was 11 one night when I caught myself yelling through the fence. I knew than I had to back away.

respectfully your,

drill


PS I have a rule with myself and my son that I will never give advice from behind the fence or batting cage net.

If I see something glaring when he gets frustrated practicing, I will ask him if wants my advice in private.

The thread title caught my eye again...
My oldest, nearly 30 is looking for a new place and called to asked for my advice. So I guess the real answer is never?