Baseball tryouts in ontariocalifornia

Full disclosure, while I have always been athletic, I have never watched sports, followed sports, or cared about them. I swam competitively from the age of 4 until 16, played recreational basketball. The most fun I had was when I picked up karate and Ju-Jitsu around 27. I was naturally good at it, as it turned out, but just a hobbyist.
About 2 years ago my son came home and I found out he was playing soccer. I pretty much always hated soccer but really liked the international flavor of it. I'm an attorney and fairly well-read and scholarly. That's more what our family has been about.
I decided to encourage him to play it and he loves it. I encouraged his sister too so they both play. After studying it and working with them I came to realize they were somewhat gifted. I'm not interested in them winning the world cup, I want them to learn confidence and resilience and some of the other things you can learn. Character building blah blah blah.
He ends up playing competitive soccer last year and his coach was a jackass. Kept his kids in every game and gave my son halfway decent playing time, but no real individual player development. He was a very good coach for the team. When I coached my son indoor he started smashing it and came back a different player. Then the coach quit the team one day after yearly tryouts, but did the tryouts just to make sure his kids got picked up. Fortunately, my son made the team.
I take my daughter to tryouts for the #1 local club team for one day, just to see what it was like, (they require 3 days) and they called her back. My son did not get called. I regret not bring him back for a second day, but I was not surprised. I was totally surprised when they wanted my daughter as the tryouts were huge.
So here's the point of the story: when I was training my kids it was my dream to get them on this local team, as they are the team that feeds kids into the scholarship program. They are very serious and I really did not think they could get on it at this age. Maybe later. The kids are 10 year old twins.
My wife threw a massive fit and didn't say no, but made it clear I would suffer if I didn't take her off the team. The other local team made it clear they wanted her and were trying to convince me to bring her to them. I actually liked the coach a ton, so I am not sure this was a bad idea but I am still pissed off about that.
My issue is that I actually know what it's like to train hard. I swam five days a week, two hours per day, for years, and for many years 4 hours per day at least twice a week. I think my parents just wanted me busy. They didn't care about sports, didn't have any interest in finding something that lit me on fire, just threw me at baseball and swimming, which I was not great at. I loved martial arts and expressed interest but they chose to keep me away from it. I don't know why. I do not understand all of the people crying about how tough the schedule is for sports. It's almost like they don't even know how to commit to something.
I will say I don't understand the travel thing from any perspective other than entertainment. There are enough players within an hour each way to level up the kids. WTF is with driving four hours every weekend? That ain't your player. At some point, sure, but at ten?
Both kids are mentally gifted with "soccer IQ" and some athleticism. I want to see them reach their potential.
I also do not want to get sucked into this toxic world where people are trying to screw each other and get ahead over some pipe dream. I just want my kids to reach their potential.
The problem is my wife has made it very clear she is not going to support them the way they need to be. She insists they do martial arts and that is "her" sport and soccer is my sport. So there is this endless conflict.
The background story is she has a son who is not mine. The guy is pretty worthless and clearly not going to add up to anything, largely because she won't let him grow up. She's always trying to solve his problems. He's 25 and they talk all the time. Not one week goes by where he's not whining about some issue because he can't get his shit together. I do NOT want my kids to end up like him. I want them to reach their potential in something they like. I also do NOT want them to be sucked into the youth sports toxicity. The thing I like the most is that it makes them friends who are doing something healthy and positive.
I am trying to figure out how to nurture their potential in the best way possible. I want to invite them into this space. I don't want my wife to sabotage them. I also don't want it to take over their lives because I actually don't think it's good for them, not even for being good at soccer.

I am currently graduating this year and I want to continue with baseball but the thing is I have never been in a high school team , not because I wasn’t good enough to join the team but because of the grade situation. I had tried out my sophomore year of high school and did good, i was excited to join the team but got told that I couldn’t join the team because of my gpa and grade situation. The next year I had transferred to a continuation school cause of the bad grades and to make up more credits, the only downside is continuation school dosent have sports. I transferred back 2nd semester of my senior year and was excited to tryout for the team again, finding out that tryouts have passed there was nothing I could do. I still want to continue baseball at a high level I just don’t know what to do ? Or how to go about it. Advice needed please 

The life and biography of Abe Simpson is a running gag filled with extreme contradictions and improbable stories, but I tried to piece it all together (mainly using material before Season 10) to create a timeline that accounts for Abe’s senility and simply realism. Leave your thoughts down below!
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1912: Born in New York City to Orville Simpson and Yuma Hickman Simpson. Abe recalls being born and raised in another country but this probably didn’t happen, so we will just assume his father was an immigrant from either England or Canada (In my opinion Canada is more likely). I choose 1912 as the Simpsons is set around 1995, and if he is 83 years old in the early seasons, he was likely born in 1912.
c. 1920: The Simpsons relocate to Springfield, Oregon (Although never confirmed to be Oregon, we can use many context clues to make an educated guess it’s Oregon).
c. 1927-1931: Abe attends and graduates from high school. He mentions being a professional athlete but this probably isn’t true, but I will assume he was on high school sports teams: namely the Baseball, Track & Field, and wrestling teams
c. Great Depression: Abe likely works many odd jobs during the depression. I will give him some benefit of the doubt to some of his claims as he very well was a shoe shiner, a night watchman, a farmer, and traveling salesman in this era.
c. Great Depression: Although he definitely exaggerates his athletic exploits, I will say he was an amateur wrestler with the stage name “Glamorous Godfrey”. He also claims to have been a Javelin thrower in the 1936 Olympics, but he was likely just a good javelin thrower who participated in exhibitions and traveling circuses, and at best may have received a U.S Olympic Team tryout invitation.
c. 1938: My guess is that Abe enlisted in the United States Army before WW2. This could explain why he was a Master Sergeant (highest enlisted U.S. Army rank in WW2).
c. WW2: Abe rises to the rank of Master Sergeant in “Flying Hellfish” unit of the U.S Army. He served in the European Theatre: probably from D-Day in June 1944 to VE Day in May 1945. As a Master Sergeant, he was the highest enlisted rank and would have served as a battalion senior NCO.
1944: The Night before the D-Day invasions, he conceived a daughter named Abbey with a British woman named Edwina.
1945- Early 1950’s: As he had no legitimate family and mentions serving in other branches of the military, my guess is he decided to remain in the U.S. Military following WW2. This could’ve involved him maybe switching services from the Army to the Navy or Air Force, giving his claim of serving in all branches some credibility. For whatever reason, he would end up being discharged from the Military in the early 1950’s. My personal theory for his discharge, which would have ended his goal of a potential career, was that he was a member of the Communist Party of America.
c. 1950’s: Using his G.I bill benefits, Abe bought land in Springfield and went into thr Farming Business.
1955: Abe would marry Mona Simpson, the mother of Homer Simpson.
1956: This year he would have two children. Herbert Simpson Powell: an illegitimate child of a carnival worker he had a one night stand with, and Homer Simpson: his legitimate son with Mona Simpson.
c. 1968: With the Vietnam War in full swing, this is when Mona Simpson would likely become a hippie, leading to her and Abe’s separation through her faking of death. Around this time, Abe’s farming career would end as his farm would be foreclosed by the bank.
1970’s: After retiring as a farmer, Abe went back to being a salesman, specializing in selling goods such as medicine.
c. 1980-1995: Homer mentions putting Abe into a retirement home as soon as possible, and this would have most likely have happened around 1980 when Homer is in his early 20’s and Abe is in his late 60’s. This brings us to present day-The Simpsons in 1995, where Abe is a seasoned veteran of the Springfield Nursing Castle.

Recently picked up baseball and have been batting for about 4 hours over the last 2 weeks. I haven't got an accurate measurement but I think the furthest I've hit a ball is somewhere around 125ft off the tee.
Unfortunately there aren't really any training facilities in my country for me to practice, although there is a local team that begins tryouts in January.

Recently picked up baseball and have been batting for about 4 hours over the last 2 weeks. I haven't got an accurate measurement but I think the furthest I've hit a ball is somewhere around 125ft off the tee.
Unfortunately there aren't really any training facilities in my country for me to practice, although there is a local team that begins tryouts in January.

Hi all,
My son didn't make the 8U A team. He was encouraged to tryout for the B team and we just found out he didn't make that either. (Side rant about how half of the players who did make it didn't try out.... and I'm over youth sports politics (Sorry, but those who show up to the second tryout should be considered over those who didn't...).) He's a good ball player but I have no delusions that he's good average and not great.
I don't care if he's ever one of the best but HE does. The good news is - he's all in on working hard and practicing to get better. He'll take advice from private coaches. (Less so from my husband.)
I'd love any advice on: - Keeping him loving the game even if he's never one of the competitive players.

• If he can, in fact, improve with training. (He's naturally super strong and was one of the fastest (if not the fastest) player at the tryouts.) And, if so, what steps to take.
  
• Stories of not making a team but being successful in baseball that I can share with him!
  

Or, I don't know. Any other encouragement. Feeling so badly for him right now but trying not to let any emotions show to him! Just be there to support as needed.

Alright baseball guys, I need your help. There is a select team that me and a few of my friends are trying out for that is really good. I mean like really good. Possibly one of the best in the country for my age group, which is 14u. I'd say I'm pretty good at baseball, but I think in order to make the team I need to improve. For anyone wondering my position is catcher. All help is appreciated. Today's date I'm posting this on is 5/22/24. The tryout is 6/18/24. My big question is, What ways can I improve my skills so that I can make the team? I have been practicing my catching skills daily, things such as framing pitches, blocking, throwing to first, second, and third base, and I try to hit some batting practice a few times a week. Also, my grandpa is good friends with the coach of my team, and my grandpa has talked to the coach a lot about me, so I think that might give me an advantage over other players(correct me if I'm wrong). Again, all help is appreciated. Please try to respond to this quickly so I can work hard before the tryout. Thanks.
I will be editing this post after the tryout to inform you all if I made the team or if I didn't. Thanks again.

This post was prompted by a couple of recent posts here about travel ball, daddy ball, etc. Where do kids play that want more competition than rec, but do not want to travel or cannot afford the insane cost of the most visible travel/select orgs? Folks on here are constantly speaking about how 'in their area" there are plenty of teams that are local only or are lower in cost. But how do we find those teams? When I do my googles or post on the area select/travel baseball groups all I get are teams that you can tell are expensive (by facilities and website/Facebook posts) or travel far often for tournaments. Which I guess is expected since the types of teams that would have more marketing are doing it as a business. How do we find those other teams though? The ones that are not run as a business, but just teams that are out to play and develop their kids. We thought we found one last fall, he went to tryouts and they offered him a spot, but it was like $3K for just spring season, not including uniforms, or tourney fees.
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My son 9U has been playing rec ball for a few years now. I am struggling now to figure out what to do as this spring season is finishing out. For the last few seasons (fall and spring) he has been far and away the best player on the team. The primary reason for that being, anytime a kid joins the team with any modicum of talent they only play for one maybe 2 seasons then bounce to join a select team. That leaves just my son, maybe 3 kids who are pretty decent, then 4 other kids who have played just as long as the rest and have not progressed at all (because they do not practice or in a couple of kids cases have flat out said they do not want to play baseball.) Every season we then get all the new kids to the league on the team, Rinse and repeat. This year there were two new kids that were absolute beasts and right on cue their parents are already saying they will not be back in the fall. My son and daughter both play multiple sports, so we can not go all in financially like others on just baseball. We just want our son to play on a team of kids that actually like baseball and care about how they perform.
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As the title says I think it’s hurting him. My brother just turned 12 in March but has always played up. He got booted from tee ball when he was a kid because he was so far ahead so since then he’s always played a year up. He’s never had an issue and has consistently been one of, if not the top kid on the team.
For context. Two years back we joined a new team and it was a mix of 10 and 11 year olds. The coaches kids are all the younger guys, but have always had to play up because everyone else was older. Year two though we had tryouts and added a team for their age group. It wasn’t an issue last year and he played great for both teams. This year it seems like he’s struggling on both, as well as the other guys playing on both.
For our league 13u has to use bbcor bats. 12u can use USSSA bats. I played too and my first year with bbcor was miserable, so I know the adjustment is a lot. His first two tournaments was one for each team. He was chopping with the bbcor(Louisville Atlas) and then with the USSSA -5 hype he just seemed like his timing was way off early on one late the next. I know the mound distance absolutely plays a factor as well.
Week after we dumped bbcor and facing any pitcher from 60ft for the whole week before a 12u tournament and he demolished the ball all weekend. We tried the same with the bbcor this week and it just didn’t translate the same. Obviously the bat is heavy but it still seemed like his timing was completely off. Inside pitches he’s way early on, chopping the middle, and a day late outside. It’s not even everyone else is doing better and everyone is adjusting but for the kids solely on the 13u it doesn’t matter cause they have no choice but to adjust. He hits great in bp and practice, but come game time he’s all over the place.
Obviously it seems like I answered my own question. He’s his normal ball demolishing self on his own field when he’s used to the distance and weight and struggles when he goes back and forth. The issue though is obviously I’m a coach and we have 4 tournaments left for each team. The easy answer is tell him don’t worry about the big field till fall and whatever happens happens, but we all know baseball isn’t that sport to just ignore failure at a young age.
So like I said are we doing him and the younger guys a disservice playing for both? You only get one more year on the small field and don’t wanna see them struggle with confidence because he’s struggling on a field he’s not even supposed to be on.

(Mobile, forgive my formatting) My kid plays rec ball (minor LL). He's on the younger side but loves ball and has always played well. Nothing prodigy level, but consistent batter, fast fielder and always on his toes, pretty athletic, loves 3rd base and plays it well. Not a terribly strong arm, but he gets it across field and works on it daily. Always played spring and fall ball, no ther sport interest him enough. Nbd.
This year, he ended up on a team I definitely didn't want him on just judging from previous games played against the coach. After tryouts, kid said he hoped to be on this team. I kept my mouth shut, I have not once put my personal feelings about this coach into my kids ear and the reasons he's bothering my kid are not the issues I originally had with he guy. (He's not a rule follower, that's my issue)
Season in coming to a close in 4 weeks and my kid is pissed and frustrated.
Batting cages, he's knocking bombs. Practice hes hitting nearly every pitch. Consistent and solid. He's a line drive kid and has taken myself, coach and couple teammates out more than once.
Coach is not in his ear at practice. Head coach is usually working field drills while asst. Runs batting.
Game day, coach is micromanaging with conflicting instructions from 3rd base. Loudly. The chatter is a lot... even I have a really difficult time paying attention to the game because of the bs coming from the side. He argues with umps, contests entire games, fights rules when it's in his (the teams) favor. He also has to talk through EVERY SWING. "Gotta be perfect" "swing at anything close" "let it go" "don't let those go, that was strike" too high" "you're holding wrong" "don't look at me, look at him" "why are you swinging at those" "what's the count" "let it go" "don't look up" "what the count" "that was perfect what happened' .... then to the catcher "get those" if this happens you gotta cover" etc. Blah blah blah... then the pitcher.... its constant. .... this was within 4 pitches. Then he hollers at the ump about something.
I get coaching, and I'm not a soft parent. Yet none of these "corrections" are made off the field during practice and this "guidance" only really happens during game, not after. After the game they get their laundry list of mistakes and run laps.
My kid has said he can't focus with coach yelling at him like that the whole time. He says he doesnt get to play, he has to just think about "all the different instructions" (he means in terms of contradicting instructions).
He hasn't hit a single pitch this season. I know coach sees his performance in practice, because after a particular impressive batting practice they moved his batting order to 2nd. But he can't think/react/play during a game because the coach is innundating him with not great, unhelpful and contradicting word vomit the whole time. THE WHOLE TIME. I'm not exaggerating.
Its not just my kid, all the batters are subject to this and I watch every practice, I know who is consistent at practice and falters at game time, probably for the same reasons.
I understand a lot of the game is mental, I just don't know what to do to teach my kid to block this crap out.
Are there strategies, are ear plugs allowed?
He's told me that he doesn't want to play baseball anymore, and while I know the reason he's frustrated and I know it's not true that he doesn't want to play again, it's difficult for me to hear him say that. After explaining that next season he'll likely be on a different team/different coach, he's not wanting to quit the sport entirely, but damn, this is hard to watch.

So, my son plays on a AA 9U team. We have had some issues with the current coaching staff but we have addressed them and they seem to be getting better. To be fair, the staff is new and it is obvious they have tried several things that didn't work and have adjusted course as the year progressed. They are not perfect but my kid really loves the head coach. Anyway, he has played as a guest player several times for another AA team. I am pretty sure if he wants a spot on that team, he will have one.
Existing Team:
Pros:

• He knows the team and the coaches and is in a good spot for playing time and batting order. I don't see that changing next year.
  
• The team was an all new team with only a couple of players with travel experience. They struggled early but I can really tell they are getting better now.
  
• There is a good core of families. There are a couple of outliers but I think they will likely be gone next year.
  
• Even though we have had some coaching issues, I feel my son has progressed greatly over the last year
  
• This program has a nifty indoor facility, with an outdoor turf field and we can practice year-round. In our first year, we have averaged two practices a week for all but December and that was a break month for the team.
  
• We have minimal daddy ball.
  

Cons:

• This team is the third 9U team in the organization. The way I understand it after tryouts, the A team will send out offers and wait for answers, then the B team, then us. I'm not sure that the A and B teams will have many spots to fill and there is a chance that we will get second pick over the B team. I know we will have 2-3 spots to fill next year. Two of them are just not great players and I'm sure someone else will either not play next year or go somewhere else. I'm concerned as to who we will get having to wait on two other teams to pick.
  
• We have had some coaching issues where they have been too hard and negative on the kids. I had a talk with the coaching staff and it seems like things are getting better there.
  
• We don't hit in practice. I'm not a baseball guy but I find this odd. We will every now and then do a live hitting drill where the coach pitches and kids hit while the team fields but that is few and far between. The coaches have explained that we should be working on hitting away from the team on our own or in lessons. We do take weekly lessons but the team really struggles to hit. We have 3 players hitting over .300, 4 more hitting between .200 and .300 and the remaining 5 are below .200. I'm not sure if this is because we don't hit in practice or not.
  
• We normally don't do stations in practice. We have 2-3 coaches there and they have the whole team doing the same drill. I just don't think it's as efficient as it could be. Several dads have volunteered to help and they have been turned down.
  

Other Team:
Pros:

• He loves the kids on this team and they love him. Not sure why, but he really connects with these kids. I'm assuming some of it is because he is a "guest" player and I'm assuming it would likely change if he was full time on the team.
  
• Even though this is another AA team, it is more talented than his current team. They are also an all new team but they are the only 9U team in this organization. I'm assuming they have a deeper pool to choose from.
  
• This program is slightly cheaper. Money isn't a huge concern though
  
• This is a pro and a con. The team doesn't practice year-round. They have access to turf fields but I'm assuming they don't do much during the winter.
  
• Parents all seem really nice. I can't detect any drama.
  

Cons:

• Looks like there are 3-4 coaches (all dads) on this team. It doesn't really feel like daddy ball. The head coach's kid hit in the middle of the line up and splits time between 3rd, catcher and the outfield. I'm sure my kid will get plenty of playing time but it scares me having so many dads.
  
• I see that the coaches are easier and nicer to my kid (I'm assuming because he is a guest player). I know this will change if he joins their team.
  
• My son hits leadoff for his current team. He would probably be in the middle of the pack on this team.
  
• As I said above, they don't practice as much. Don't know if this is a pro or a con?
  
• This is the big one. My kid tried out for this team last year. They told me that they were having "workout" sessions before tryouts and invited him to come out. At this point, he had only had one Spring of baseball. He came to the workout and I thought he did pretty good. After, the coach told me that they would be having more workouts and he was welcome to come. I reached out to him several times to see if they would be having workouts and he kept telling me that they were trying to line one up and he would let me know. At the actual tryouts, it was obvious to me and my kid that they were not interested in him. They were not really watching him and were not writing anything down. I found out later that they had continued to have the workouts but I guess they had just written my kid off.
  

I think they were just trying to be nice and not offend me by saying they were not interested in him. To be fair, my son has progressed tremendously in the last year. He is a different player now.

Intro:
Today I am reviewing what I believe to be the most disappointing Dhar Mann video of all time. It had potential, I was invested... then Dhar Mann just completely fumbled it. Expect me to get more scathing and frustrated as this review goes on.
This is also a weird twilight zone moment because Azeem, who famously salvages bad Dhar Mann videos, is one of the main contributors to what made this video awful (His character I mean, not Azeem himself).
Review:
Our story begins in the school theatre. Auditions are happening, and our titular dorky girl, Julie (Cecily Dowd), nails it. She does so well, in fact, that the heads of the drama club close up all remaining auditions for that role. That's pretty fucking mean if you ask me. Next up is our titular hot guy, Chase, a jock who hates being a jock. His audition sucks, and the coaches tell him that he's not getting the role.
What the fuck is going on here? Cutting off an audition early is one thing, but outright telling somebody they're not getting the part??? This is like the inverse problem with the tryouts for Bookside's Football team I covered last week. Between this and dismissing all people who haven't auditioned for Julie's role yet, this is super unprofessional.
Disheartened, Chase goes to the back of the theatre to sit with his unnamed narc friends (Azeem Vecchio and Nathan Ing. Knowing that it's these two good actors in this role makes this video just...). We learn that Chase knows he sucks, but he needs to get a role, otherwise his dad will make him play baseball again. We get a namedrop of Chase's bitch of a girlfriend, who blew him off to go shopping. Julie comes by and gives her condolences to Chase. Once she walks away, the narc friends make fun of her, and Chase gets a call from Bitch bitching about shopping or some bullshit. She verbally abuses him and also insists that he sticks to baseball.
Wow, a sympathetic protagonist! This is rare in Dhar Mann. Chase is a good guy, but he's manipulated by an abusive dad and a controlling girlfriend. It doesn't help that his friends suck too.
We cut to lunchtime at school the next day, and typical Dhar Mann plot contrivances occur. The male lead (the role Chase tried out for) turned down the part because he got cast on Broadway... you didn't have to go that far for an excuse Dhar Mann lmao. Oh but the contrivance gets even worse, because apparently the directors are giving Julie full power over who the male lead will be... Excuse me?
Why are the directors letting some random student decide this? This is especially contrived considering we saw how unprofessional and absolutist they were earlier... what the fuck. Anyway, narc friends pressure Chase into doing yet another bad thing: manipulating Julie into casting him by pretending to be romantically interested. This is made even worse by the fact that Julie has had a crush on Chase since they were little. That's fucked up, narc friends. They at least made Chase sympathetic enough to understand why he went along with this.
I have to give it to Chase here, because he doesn't outright ask Julie for the role or even pressure her to give it to him. He approaches her asking to help him get better. He's sincere in his compliments to her about how great her singing and acting is. He gets her number, and they arrange to hangout and practice together. So far, Chase isn't in the wrong yet.
We cut to the next day, in the theatre, where Chase is auditioning by reading a scene with Julie. Once again, I have to give a Dhar Mann video credit on something. It's annoying how his videos always repeat the message of the video word for word, but here, the message is stated in a fictional play that these are reciting. That's a bit more clever if you ask me, and MUCH more tolerable. Nevertheless, the directors are not impressed with Chase. They ask to speak with Julie in private... why? They've already been so mean to Chase right to his face, why hold back now lmao. In any case, the directors really don't like Chase, and Julie, at least for a moment, begrudgingly resolves to tell him he's not getting the part.
Julie tries to let Chase down lightly, and this is where Chase finally enters "in the wrong" territory. In a last ditch effort to keep his shot at landing this role, he lies to Julie by telling her that he likes her. Leaning on somebody who likes you to improve at something? Sure. Having them help you audition with their endorsement? Fine. Lying to them to manipulate them into nepotism? That's wrong and messed up. He even lies to Julie and tells her that him and Bitch broke up. Unfortunately, Julie falls for all of this, and overrides the director's decision.
We cut to Chase hanging out with Bitch at some salon. She never shuts the fuck up until Chase mentions Julie in passing. Chase... buddy... you fuck up here... He tells Bitch about his master plan to manipulate Julie. Why do characters in Dhar Mann snitch on themselves so fucking much?!
Julie and Chase are reading lines that mimic their situation a little too closely. That in itself is fine, I just reaaaally hope that they don't break the 4th wall (and insult our intelligence) by acknowledging this. Chase and Julie start genuinely bonding and it's actually an immersive romance for once. They find out they have so much in common and we see a spark form. Even having watched this before, I genuinely forgot about Chase's plan. For the first time, ever, Chase is realizing that Bitch doesn't even remotely care about him the same way that Julie does.
For once, I actually enjoy a montage. The music actually fits, and we see a lot of cute romantic moments. It's so heartwarming, in a way that Dhar Mann videos fail to tug at my heartstrings. Like I said, I was sooooo invested in this video and it had so much potential.
We cut to the day of the show, and Chase's narc friends... oh, right, these clowns still exist... they sneak backstage and support Chase... sort of. They don't congratulate him on a job well done, they congratulate him on manipulating Julie and talk mad shit about her... like why don't you guys just fuck off and get a life already? They leave, and Julie walks, with a massive glowup! Literally every other Dhar Mann character glowup sucks except for this one. Not only are 99% of the now "hot" people at the very median of the bell-curve, but even IF they actually were that attractive, NOBODY reacts irl with the hyperbolic drooling that Dhar Mann characters do. This glow up works because they don't put Julie on a pedestal, nobody ogles her, and nobody suddenly acts really nice to her. It's a much more realistic, Chase tells her she's beautiful, and that's it.
Chase and Julie absolutely knock it out of the park on stage, and the crowd goes wild! This is the only time I recall getting shivers from a video in a Dhar Mann video. The chemistry is so real, for one and one time only in Dhar Mann! Backstage again, Chase and Julie share a romantic moment, but they're still in intermission, so Julie leaves momentarily.
We are at 17 minutes of this 22 minute video. It was good for 17 minutes. These last 5 minutes are all completely fucking downhill... Dhar Mann absolutely FUMBLED this video in the remaining time!!!!
I genuinely stopped writing and watching for a minute to brace myself for how enraged I am going to get from this point out...
Narc friends sneak back stage again and... how does this keep happening?! And sure they tell him he's awesome and all, which is new, but other than that, they give the EXACT FUCKING SAME exposition that they did before the play started. Even in the context of this story, why? Why do this again? Oh, and they don't just loudly announce Chase's plan quietly among themseleves, they fucking declare this shit so loud that the entire world can hear. Including Julie...
Julie is obviously devastated, but what's even worse is that the narc friends just fucking skedaddle. Some fucking friends, right? They seriously left Chase alone to endure Julie's wrath. Even IF they don't know that Chase developed genuine feelings for Julie, isn't it still in their best interest to help Chase so he doesn't have to play baseball again?! At the very very very very least, the friends should say something like "dont blame Chase! He's a good guy, this was all our idea and we put him up to it!" but no. They just take off. No retribution. No consequences. Nothing. Chase gets the entirety of the rage and the blame.
The whole "I was using you at first but grew to actually like you" trope is something common in Dhar Mann. Dhar has made complete assholes get off scot-free and have a happy ending. Here you have a genuine guy who made a mistake and knows it, and he gets the absolute worst of it.
Oh, it gets even worse though... because in another extreme coincidence, this is THE ONE AND ONLY TIME that Bitch decides to care about Chase's life, and show up backstage (HOW ARE SO MANY AUDIENCE MEMBERS GOING BACK DURING INTERMISSION???) to give PDA right in front of Julie. Bitch literally says right in front of Julie "Why is she crying? Did she find out you were just pretending to like her?" Like holy fuck this is overkill! You don't need to narc on Chase this goddamn much!
Despite everything I just said post the 17 minute mark... This video had one more chance for redemption. Dhar Mann could have, and came soooooo close to redeeming this mess... I have to brace myself once again.
In the second half of the show, Julie's tone is much more scathing, while Chase's is completely timid. Usually I hate when, in fiction, people resolve their conflicts on stage by "being themselves", but here... it works. Chase breaks character and gives a sincere, honest apology and plea for forgiveness. I know I've used this phrase a lot, but it is such a heartfelt moment. If any character in Dhar Mann ever deserved forgiveness and a second chance for being genuinely repentant, it is Chase. Hell, even the entire damn audience is rooting for Chase and wants Julie to forgive and embrace him!
20 minute mark. 2 minutes remain, and we just had another peak moment after a valley, so surely this video can't fuck it up... right?
Julie runs off stage and the director calls an impromptu intermission. But then we cut to the next day at school... What? No! You can't just not tell us what happened the rest of the night and what became of the show!
Chase goes up to Julie at her locker with a gift of their favorite food. Chase tells Julie that he broke up with Madison, much to Julie's indifference. Chase is wearing a "so you see..." backpack by the way... Dhar Mann was INTENT on ruining this video holy shit.
Julie tells Chase that she talked to the director and they have decided to recast Chase's rol- HUH?! What??? What the fuck do you mean recast his role?? They JUST HAD the show!!! What do you mean for the rest of the run? That's not how school plays work. And no, there's no bullshit about it just going on a few more days of this weekend, because Julie specifically says that she can't bring herself to dance with Chase EVERY weekend!
I started banging my head into my desk once Julie said "Did you not learn anything from the show? Like my character says: The truth doesn't cost you-" AHHHH fuck off. The one and only time you had a somewhat clever way of veiling the message of the video, you had to fuck it up Dhar Mann by having her just outright point to the intended message... Julie takes the food and walks away. The end.
Outro:
...yes... that's actually how they decided to end this. What the fucking fuck? This is so incredibly anticlimactic and absolutely nothing is resolved. Chase is still under the abuse of his dad, his narc friends are off scot free, and Julie is still crushed. Dhar Mann has redeemed absolutely irredeemable scumbags and given happy endings to sociopaths, but Chase of all characters ends up with an EVEN SHITTIER life than how the video started?! This is even worse with the next suggested video being Anna from "Nerds Get Revenge on Cool Teens", an absolute fucking cunt of character who gets off scot-free and suffers no penalties for the shitty things she does INCLUDING USING SOMEBODY ROMANTICALLY, which she neither regrets nor suffers repercussions for. Just get the fuck out of my face already. Fuck this video, fuck the suggested video, and fuck Dhar Mann for ruining one of the only potentially good videos he ever made.
Sorry for how heated I got in this review. I can assure you that no other video even comes close to disappointing me on this level. It just... you know what, nevermind, I've said everything I need to say.
See you all next week for another review! Leave any recommendations below!

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/Homeplate/comments/16nzjc4/cut_from_12u_team_what_next/
Hi everyone,
Thanks again for all of the advice and comments on my last post. Just a quick update in case anyone is interested. After I posted here, I also chatted with other baseball parent friends and found a club team in the area that just started youth teams in the last couple of years. Because they don't have the name recognition yet, their 12u team roster was at 9 players, and my son was given a late tryout. He joined the team in time for winter practices and has been enjoying it. He picked up playing catcher as well and is comfortable at all positions if called upon. This club is much more developmental and only plays local tournaments, and they schedule around Little League. His new team played his old team in a tournament, and I think it's for the best that he was let go. The old team has 14 players on the roster, with 3 new recruited players dominating the playing time. My son wouldn't have gotten much, if any, playing time if he was kept on anyway.
He's in the middle of Little League season as well and having fun with his school friends. Hitting is still a big issue (0 hits on the season in LL and club, walks 35% of the time, the rest are strikeouts). I started him with private lessons every other week and his swing looks way way better. It is money well spent and I regret not doing it earlier. His hitting coach is also great about recognizing and supporting my son from the mental side as well as the physical side. He's still a kid, so it's an ongoing teaching process. I'm just trying to reinforce that he needs to stay positive and that improvement is not instantaneous and takes a lot of time, effort, and practice. His team coaches are baffled/frustrated because he looks so good in practice and so terrible in game. I'm seeing tiny wins in each at bat, so I'm trying to communicate them to my son. Stuff like getting rid of a hitch in his swing, timing his load correctly, swinging at good pitches regardless of outcome. It's getting there... I just hope it gets there before the season ends.
As for next year, I'll check in with him at the end of the season, just before the tryout season for next year starts, and see what he wants to do.

My son is 9U and has really enjoyed his first year of travel ball. He is on a AA team. It has been a good experience and he likes his team pretty well. There are some things I wish were different about the way they practice and how they sometimes talk to the kids.
He has been talking to me about switching teams next year because he wants to play on a better team. His current team was mostly playing rec last year (him included). They probably have 3-4 really good players and 3-4 okay players and 3-4 players who shouldn't have left rec ball. I can tell he is getting frustrated with some of the players who are not performing well or who have issues with baseball IQ.
I told him, that he never sits the bench now but if he went to a "better" team he may not have as much playing time or he may end up in a position he doesn't want. His response is that he would get better playing with the better kids and wouldn't be sitting the bench. He is the most confident little crap I've ever met.
So, here is the question, should I shop around to see who else may be interested? We are in an area of Georgia with a ton of options. Should he try to get on the best team he can make or should he focus on staying with a team where we know he will get playing time? This will not be like last year, where we hit all the tryouts to see where he would land. The organization we are with has their tryouts first, so we would likely need to have something lined up before tryouts.
I know this seems like a stupid thing to worry about for 9U. I want this to be his experience but I want to be able to guide him to make good choices as well.
He primarily plays catcher but also plays MIF, CF and pitches if that matters.
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I’ve been with my (29F) boyfriend (36M) for about five years and we’ve been living together for 1.5 years. I am a very involved partner and try to treat my SS (11) as if he were my own. That kind of dwindled after they moved in with me though, as SS has no responsibilities and I don’t like much how he is parented.
Anyway, my boyfriend makes SS play baseball. SS has confided in me that he doesn’t like it but always acts like it’s the best thing ever in front of my SO. I’m not a fan of how my SO puts baseball above everything, as he just bought SS a $400 bat and he doesn’t have a job as of now. I would say SS is mediocre at baseball. He’s not great.
I now have an issue. SO wants SS to try out for travel ball. This means if he’s on this team there is a game every weekend in a different city. I’m not super on board with this for many reasons. We have SS %60 of the time as it is. We have every other weekend to ourselves but if he joins this team every single weekend will be dedicated to baseball and traveling.
I suffer from insomnia and don’t like to travel if I don’t have to. So if I don’t travel, I will have no weekend with my SO anymore. And even if I do, it will be spent at baseball games with BM around every corner. I obviously don’t want to ask SO not to do this, since he wants his kid to be in baseball, but I do feel like this will destroy our relationship. I feel terrible because the selfish part of me is hoping that SS doesn’t do well at tryouts.
I work a high stress job all week so my weekends are very important to me, and so is my time with SO. I feel like if he’s gone every weekend I’ll no longer be getting what I need from the relationship. SS already takes parts if “ours weekends” since he has games in our city. I’ve expressed that to SO and he says he has to put being a dad before anything. What would you do?

I’m 30yo and recently moved to Missouri and found out there’s a men’s league nearby having tryouts next month. Haven’t played any baseball in about 15 years. But been playing softball for the last 6. I been playing mostly SS and 3B but move really well in the OF. I’m a fast sprinter, good glove and got nice arm. Should I try for SS/3B? Or will I have a better chance as OF?

My son is eight. He’s only ever played baseball on the rec team in our town, but he really loves it. I’d love to get him hooked up with Little League. My concerns are, first of all, he doesn’t have much knowledge of the technicalities of the game. Like he knows the basics (hit the ball, run the bases, catch the ball and tag the base when your team isn’t up to bat), but that’s about it. Secondly, I’m not sure his skill level is super high. He did fine in rec league, but I have no idea how exacting the standards are for LL. My biggest questions are 1) is there a tryout for LL teams or does everyone get put on a team? 2) what’s the time commitment like? Thanks in advance! Update: thanks for the comments! But I just learned they’ve already held their tryouts so it’s too late. Which is a huge bummer given that it’s his favorite sport and they don’t offer it at the rec league for his age (I emailed them and they said ‘sorry, try little league’ 🙃)