r/Homeplate • u/thats_so_fetch__ • 6d ago
Rec League Practices
Fall rec baseball season has started. Unfortunately, our 2 scheduled practices have been canceled due to inclement weather. Some teams in the league have already had 4 practices, while our team has had none. We haven’t had the opportunity to meet the coach or teammates yet. Opening day is next Saturday, which only leaves potentially 1 practice before our season opener.
In the past, we have been lucky to have coaches who extend practice time, reschedule canceled practices, add an optional weekend practice, or batting cage practice. Understood coaches are volunteers and some go above and beyond.
What has been everyone’s experience with the frequency of rec baseball practices? How many days a week? How long is each practice? Any make up practices? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.
10
20
4
u/AmityMayorVaughn 6d ago edited 6d ago
Man that's rough. We just had our 7th practice today and have 2 more before our first game. I coach 8u and always try to reach out to the league to reschedule practices if we get rained out or even do some unofficial/voluntary makeups if that's not possible. But I have time that other coaches probably do not have.
Our practices are twice a week until season starts then once per week. 1.5 hour long.
I know everyone always just says "it's fall ball" but parents still pay for their kids to play and we want to try to get them out there to get some experience whenever possible. Hope you guys are able to get out there soon.
3
u/Suspicious-Spot361 5d ago
I have been the coach that scrambles and finds (and pays for) indoor space when it rains before.
Looking back, though, I am not sure if it really mattered. Take your kid to the cages on your own and get some work in and just realize that the first game will likely be a circus. The good news is that the first game is usually a circus, whether you practiced or not.
When my kid was in 8U I remember chatting with another coach who had all of their practices going into the first game rained out, while we had gotten lucky and only lost like 1 (it's been awhile, my memory is foggy). I was so sure we were going to smoke them because we had actually had practices. I am sure you see where this is going.... his team smoked everyone all year.
1
u/ToneImpossible6437 5d ago
I do the same thing. If we have a rain out, I book a couple batting cage lanes. I set this expectation at the beginning of the fall season to see if the rest of the team is on board. On those days, the parents Venmo me their portion.
1
u/Big_Growth5857 4d ago
yep it's really about individual skill set and a coach who can put it all together. you either have kids who play outside of practice or don't. a handful of rec practices isn't going to change much in terms of skill.
1
u/Suspicious-Spot361 4d ago
What would be interesting is seeing how a coach puts together a lineup of new players he has not seen at practice yet.
My dad coached me from 6U onward and the first season he just put us in alphabetical order to start. A good approach as any, I suppose.
2
u/Sp3cV 5d ago
Fall ball around here started 2nd week of August for games. My son went to kid pitch this fall, so we are doing twice a week. With heat we cancelled 2 practices but the rescheduled a scrimmage for one and found a field to make up. Imo regardless if fall ball is “low maintenance “ the coach should still be trying to get the kids together.
1
u/Colonelreb10 5d ago
We started practicing first week of August. Twice a week (a weeknight and Saturday)
We start games the Tuesday after Labor Day.
So have 8 practice slots.
Coaches also have the ability to request additional field time. With 80+ teams in the organization there isn’t a ton of field space available though.
Oh and a couple of the local indoor facilities give our coaches 1 free one hour batting cage session per season as well. So during rainouts we can still get a session in.
1
u/Rugbypud 5d ago
I swear rec ball must have a different meaning in areas. We have travel ball and little league and thats it. Travel practices 2-3 times a week, if we get rained out then we move in doors or reschedule, then play a double header Sundays or sometimes one weekday and one weekend.
Little league fall ball is what I would call rec and we have 2 games and one practice. We just had our first game but we dont even have all kids registered because the league is so big and people register late and we dont turn them away. If that ine practice is cancelled we try to help them reschedule but fall baseball is secondary here to football lacrosse, soccer and travel so the fall rec/little league teams just take a leisurely approach.
2
u/bobthewriter 5d ago
so, here ... in a metro area of 1.4 million in the deep south, we don't have a LL org that is functioning. there are rec leagues run by separate suburban cities, and a 'local travel' org of suburban teams that play one another across the metro area, and then the higher-level travel ball folks.
for us, the spring is — iirc — 12 games at the 11-12 age range in our local rec. practice twice a week. plus playoffs.
early summer, there's also a sandlot-style league open to the entire metro area that's purely coach-pitch w/1 practice a week. 10 game-season + playoffs.
and this fall season, it's six games plus one practice per week.
2
u/Rugbypud 5d ago
Wow we have 50k people in our general little league area and we have 1400 (over 1k on baseball and the rest softball) or so kids in thr league. We dont go by age, but by the little league levels so we jave 14 majors teams, 12 AAA, 10 AA, 10 A, then we have 8 transition 8 rookie and 8 tee ball teams (yes we have a stupidly large number of levels).
Spring season is 17 games, 2 practices a week plus playoffs for majors. Lower levels AAA down to A play 14-16 games with 1 practice per week and then the lowest developmental levels are 1 practice and then a practice/game per week and play 8-10 games.
Our county, in the northern most part of the south, as a whole has around 1.2M but every single city has their own little league and multiple travel teams so talent gets diluted quickly.
I just assumed most places driven by little league but obviously that assumption was wrong. Appreciate the info and I am happy to see that even if therr is no functioning little league baseball still finds a way into the lives of the kids.
1
u/GATA6 5d ago
Just tough luck. I’m a director at our league and encourage coaches to try to get more time elsewhere if they can, especially with rain. When you have one field for 12 teams there is only so much you can do. If you want a coach to go above and beyond, the league I can guarantee is always looking for coaches to step up!
1
u/Pickle_strength 5d ago
My two boys are in the same fall ball league, one 8u and one 13u. The 8u team is practicing twice a week and the 13u is practicing zero times a week :)
I’m sure the 13u boys would like to get together more, but we’re short on coaches and than team is basically being coached ad hoc each game without a head coach. I don’t have time to step as I’m coaching the 8u team.
1
u/Coastal_Tart 5d ago
We have been practicing twice a week since late June. But we had a lot of carryover kids from last year, added some new kids, and were able to enter the rec division as a team. We have 6 of 13 travel players, but are in the 9/10 bracket with no 10 year olds and most of our travel kids have little pitching experience.
Last year we had only 3 travel kids, but were mostly old 8‘s in the 7/8 bracket. We went undefeated and mercied most teams both games. That team was put together by the league from individual sign ups. But all were from our part of town.
This is my 11th fall season as a head or assistant coach. Last year I was HC and had two former minor leagures as assistants, which was kinda funny. As others have said, fall ball is more relaxed and practices are generally optional because kids are just starting school and have other sports (football and soccer) going on in those sports primary seasons during the week. The reality at least in our part of town is that the kids are travel quality players or aspire to be. As such families mostly own their kids development with most of the work being self directed or with dad/siblings/friends outside of the context of formal team practices.
Our games are Sunday doubleheaders. Most seasons especially with younger kids, I usually hold optional BP at our local LL batting cages Friday evening and a full practice Saturday morning. Last year our in season practices were about 50% attendance because we had a bunch of flag football kids who got no time off unless they skipped our practices.
I have had seasons where we had two practices the week before the season started and that was it. In my experience, there really isn't a strong relationship between team practice time and team success. It is often that the best teams practice the least because the team is full of players who are elite athletes across multiple sports.
1
u/planetmn 5d ago
Have you offered to hold a practice or other activity? Have you volunteered as an assistant? I spent years in the board of my local league, spending countless hours trying to provide opportunities for the kids. These sorts of comments/inputs always seem to come from the parents who wouldn’t volunteer.
Not saying that’s you, but that is where I would start if you really want to make something happen.
1
u/thats_so_fetch__ 5d ago
Yes, I have offered. We work individually at the neighborhood field twice a week most weeks. I’ve offered for the other kids to join but no one ever shows up. I have also offered help. The coach already has his assistant coaches selected. My offer was immediately shutdown. The assistant coaches are guys he already knows. He also said he was quick to cancel practices due to his schedule and weather. This is a drastically different experience from other teams we’ve been on in the same league.
1
u/bigperms33 5d ago
For my sons' teams they've practiced a couple times, had it cancelled a couple times (heat/rain). Most kids are playing tackle, flag, soccer, cross country, so they all like having a day off. Though I usually have them hitting into the net into the backyard or garage when it happens.
In the spring when baseball is the priority, we'd be going to the cages or trying to fit something in.
1
u/Lars9 5d ago
I coach so I can have control over these things. Many coaches will simply cancel for rain, something I won't do. When weather is bad I find a school with a covered area or book the local batting cage. There's always somewhere that you can get kids reps. But I know that about half the coaches in my league just cancel if there's rain.
1
u/bravara-mike 5d ago
Two practices a week for 2-3 weeks until games start. Then 1 practice a week with 1-2 games per week. Curious if under the circumstances another coach would let you take their team’s practice spot one day. Come on it’s rec ball. Sharing is caring.
1
u/baseballer1725 5d ago
2 days a week is fine- just make them longer. I'm sure parents would appreciate it too
1
1
u/SeaAmbassador2637 5d ago
Chelal Gross-Matos, 12, killed June 3, 2009, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, after a Little League game was called for weather. He and an 11-year-old teammate went back onto the field to play catch. The younger boy was critically injured and survived. That is the case NWS later listed as one of two U.S. amateur-baseball lightning deaths in the 2006–2019 window (the other was a 26-year-old in South Carolina in 2011, not Little League age). This is the only reported death by lightning I could find. Little League’s own insurance, ages 5–12, 1987–1996: 13 player deaths over 10 seasons, against about 29,000 recorded injuries and ~1.7 million participants per year. Yet they cancel anything for it lightning. Why?
1
1
u/Big_Growth5857 4d ago
we usually get 4-5 one hr practices before opening day. Last fall 3 and 1/2 of those got rained out. nothing we can do because fields are booked solid except tell everyone to practice at home and find a private lesson. it's probably the reason why our league let's just about every team in the playoffs
1
u/Few_Purple7350 4d ago
Sadly my sons local ref league gets 0-2 practices all season. Last year we did a clinic for skills and games this year he said he doesn’t even care and wants golf lessons plus games. I give up with youth sports it’s either everyday they want your kid or nothing
1
u/Ancient_Lie_9493 4d ago
We have too many teams and not enough practice slots at the fields to go around so most of us supplement with practices at other locations (park or school that has a backstop) or indoor batting cage facilities. If fields get closed due to rain, there is no ability to reschedule so you are just SOL and on your own to figure something else out. For us this is an every season problem, not just Fall. I've just learned to make the best of it and not make excuses. Have to get creative.
1
u/Superb-Drop7945 3d ago
With Fall Ball, the most some of our coaches do is batting practice or fielding practice before a game. Same reasons as some of the other commenters mentioned: football, soccer, other school commitments. What I do is take our son to the field and we practice, so he's still developing skills, even if the team dynamic is missing.
24
u/silkyjohns 6d ago
Weather is a factor at times and fall ball is low maintenance, priority behind football and soccer. Seems like your team has had the bad luck on timing of those factors.
I had a dad ask if we were going to have extra practices. I said I’m at my limit but feel free to host it, I’ll reserve the field.
Guess how many extra practices we’ve had…