Dear Ballplayer Parents: Please read

Ballplayer Parents: soon you will find yourself at your kids games. He/she will be at the plate or in the field. Please, please, please, please stay out of their head while they are concentrating. An athlete must be able to tune everyone out except their coaches. They have SO MUCH to think about. Please cheer when they do great things, but never ever tell them what they're doing wrong. It's likely a mixed message from what they've been told by their coaches and it only confuses them. When they swing and miss, give them encouragement for the next pitch or at bat. Never degrade them or tell them what they're doing wrong. The coaches will adjust them if they're truly out of sync. Its a great exercise of self-control.

Baseball is a game of failure. It will eat a competitive boy alive until he's grasped the mass quantities of failures that it takes to be successful in this game. The hardest thing in sports is to hit a round ball with a round bat squarely. If your young boy cries when he fails, it's ok. He's learning the hard way to overcome a lot of failure. It's healthy (to a point).

We will get on to your kids for lack of effort, or lack of attention or bad sportsmanship. But failing while trying their best will never be something they should be scolded for.

Being an athlete is just as much mental as physical. To be a champion, they MUST have a positive approach and never let negativity cross their minds. Champions see themselves hitting the ball even before they do it.

An athlete says, "I can do this"
A loser says, "I can't"
A champion says, "Watch this!"

Stay positive - parents and players.

Please.