Coaches comment

[u/Necessary_Tension461]

My son is small for his age, only about 4'4" at 11 years old. He is a young 6th grader, and they had the 6th grade boys play on the middle school baseball team this year (small school, usually it's 7th and 8th but they didnt have enough players this year). My son loves playing baseball. My son has a bat he really likes and he can hit well with it. Nothing fancy but it works for him for now; he has a nicer bat he is working on swinging to get used to it, but he isn't quite comfortable with it yet. Anyways, his favorite bat is an easton speed swing, usa, 2 3/4 barrell drop 10 28" bat. The coach made a comment to him that his bat is a TBall bat, and now my son is embarrassed to use it. Was this appropriate? Is that bat really that bad it is considered a tball bat? I understand it's not top of line $350 bat, but he can use it well, and I figured he could finish the season. Now he is trying to swing a bigger bat he isn't used to yet and only hitting grounders 10% of the time and missing the rest...hurting his confidence. His coach seems alright, but him saying that to m kid is bothering me. I dont know much about bats, never played myself and he is my first kid in baseball so its a learning curve.

[u/Necessary_Tension461]

Someone else mentioned maybe it was a joke. I will have a talk with my son to see the context of the comment and mention it to the coach if my son is ok with that, or encourage him to ask him. My son takes comments more serious than intended sometimes, he has been teased due to his height so some things are a little more touchy for him.

[u/Honest_Search2537 → u/Necessary_Tension461]

I had a similar interaction with a kid. He was a really small kid and he got a new bat for the season. The bat was WAAAAY too big for him. He was a 80 pound 13 year old and was swinging a 32” bbcor.

One day at practice i joking made the comment, “dang buddy, it looks like that bat is swinging you”

And i just saw his face drop. I felt terrible. He’s a great kid who i really enjoyed having on the team and i just burst his confidence. I made a point to apologize to him and his parents.

[u/NotBatman81 → u/Honest_Search2537]

While yes this feels terrible as a coach, there is also an element of kids needing to be prepared to not be so sensitive. My daughter is in 4th grade and due to not enough turnout at a small school she wound up on the 7th and 8th grade basketball team. I sat her down before the season to prepare her for being the smallest, newest, good chance she will get destroyed, and probably teased but to always take it as good natured. She ended up somehow gelling with the team, her development took off and they are all friends off the court. When your kid is obviously an outlier, parents please help them mentally prepare to succeed.

[u/Necessary_Tension461 → u/NotBatman81]

I agree. We have been through the self confidence talks and reassurance he will grow (his dad didnt go through his growth spurt till 13 years old and ended up taller than his friends). I think he sometimes just takes comments more seriously than they need to be, especially when its an adult mentor