Overzealous sports parents

[LinvilleGorge]

Holy poo...

My sister in law has an 8 year old son. Her husband is trying to live vicariously through this kid. He was never the cool jock and he desperately wants this kid to be that. Everything revolves around this kid's baseball. He's homeschooled because school schedule was getting in the way of his baseball schedule. He does ninja training to improve his balance and core strength for baseball. He's on every travel team he can be on. He has ninja, baseball practice, baseball clinics, or baseball games everyday. He's on a specific baseball diet. Dad gets excited because the kid gets "invited" to all these clinics and travel teams with no realization that it's simply to get money out of them. Baseball, baseball, baseball. Everything else is an afterthought.

Meanwhile, the kid is ADHD as fug and an absolute brat because he gets everything he wants. I've watched dad repeatedly tell him this week "If you want to be a professional baseball player you have to..." while laughing off any and all of mom's efforts to correct behaviours.

The sad part is that the kid is a very average athlete. He's not one of the better players on any of his teams. They're really fuging this kid up. They're setting him up for abysmal disappointment. Well, it's dad but mom won't stand up to any of it even though she understands all of this. Once he gets to middle school and kids that didn't have this huge push from their parents actually start picking up sports in school and blow by him in a matter of months because they have real talent I'm afraid it's just going to be an absolute shock to him and dad is going to put it all on him for not working hard enough.

It's crazy to watch. Dad is controlling as fug and likely has undiagnosed Asperger's. Mom just folds and goes along with everything because she's too busy being the primary bread winner and isn't willing to deal with dad's bullshit. It's wild to watch and just sad.

Anyway... basically just venting.

[4Corners]

It’s tough. It’s even harder on the umpires. Parents need to chill the F out. 

[d-dave]

I saw my sister do that to both of her kids.  My nephew in basketball (because he's like 6,10 at age 21) and my niece in softball.  It's so crazy.  Both of her kids told her when they grew up how they wanted to just be normal.  So she stopped it.  Now my nephew only plays basketball for fun, and my niece is only on her school team with her friends.

The reality is there are so many parents that way, who want to force their kids into sports or activities because they fugged it up when they were kids.  My son has dabbled in sports and activities, and will continue to do so.  He's 10 so he's still figuring out what he wants to do, and who he wants to be.  There's nothing wrong with that.

We're going to see what sport he wants to try in the fall.  Hopefully something that's not too expensive lol.

[LinvilleGorge]

It's just sad to watch. They're setting this kid up for failure and disappointment by putting this bullshit of professional baseball in his head while putting everything else on the back burner all because dad is trying to chase his own pipe dream through his son and mom won't stand up to dad's delusion. dad just doesn't understand that you have to win the genetic lottery first. Without winning that, you have no chance at pro sports. Sorry, it's just a no go no matter how hard you work.

[Pejorative Miscreant]

My kids play HS sports but we never push them. It has always been school comes first and they know it.  IMO the best thing is to guide them to be well rounded and successful academically.  Feel sorry for the kids that are pushed into a corner and forced to perform for their parents. 

[toldozer]

I hope my daughter isn't big into sports.  I don't want to spend every weekend at a softball field.  

[motocross_cat]

Im going to put my son on a motorcycle pretty young like I was.  I fell in love with them.  If he wads up and decides its not for him I will sell it.  Its his life to live im just here to help him along as best I can.

 

[motocross_cat]

Also to add to the pushing of kids in sports.  There is no way these parents cannot see that their child is not destined for the pros.  Those kids are just different even to a strangers eye.

[LinvilleGorge]

You would think. I grew up with some guys who played D1 ball and a couple who had lengthy pro careers abroad and none of them ever sniffed pro sports in America and they were all mutants. I don't think this kid's dad ever really played sports himself and encountered people who were simply way more physically talented. Just in a different athletic universe. Those are the guys who go on to play D1 sports and maybe have a chance at the pros.

[thefuzz]

Parents not willing to be honest with themselves, or he's an idiot.

If you are an average athlete and want to play sports at the highest levels...maybe focus on the "brain" sports a little more, and less on the "running" sports.

Golf, racing, etc...

[Ja Rhule]

My sister does that same to her kids.  Spending thousands thinking her kid will be the next star.  If you look into biography of all super star athletes, many of them did not start playing that sport until much later in their teenage years or even college.  

[Anybodyhome]

But we continue to see the stories about how Tiger Woods father did the same fugging thing as these parents do and he succeeded. Same with Venus and Serena Williams and a few other exceptionally talented athletes. And while society and the sports world idolizes and worships the athletes, for every one of them, there are likely hundreds of nightmares out there...

Todd Marinovich, Eric Lindros, Andre Agassi, Roy Jones, Jr., Jennifer Capriati, Mary Pierce.....

 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by Anybodyhome

[LinvilleGorge]

9 hours ago, thefuzz said:

Parents not willing to be honest with themselves, or he's an idiot.

If you are an average athlete and want to play sports at the highest levels...maybe focus on the "brain" sports a little more, and less on the "running" sports.

Golf, racing, etc...

Even golf leans heavily toward natural talent. The field is just significantly narrowed because you pretty much have to be rich to play enough golf as a youngster to have a chance.

[LinvilleGorge]

8 hours ago, Anybodyhome said:

But we continue to see the stories about how Tiger Woods father did the same fugging thing as these parents do and he succeeded. Same with Venus and Serena Williams and a few other exceptionally talented athletes. And while society and the sports world idolizes and worships the athletes, for every one of them, there are likely hundreds of nightmares out there...

Todd Marinovich, Eric Lindros, Andre Agassi, Roy Jones, Jr., Jennifer Capriati, Mary Pierce.....

 

 

Yep. The key difference being that Tiger and the Williams sisters had prodigal talent. You gotta win the genetic lottery first. Without winning the genetic lottery all the hard work is for naught. The prodigal talent is going to blow by your years of hard work in a matter of weeks.

The kid's idiot dad never really played sports growing up and was (and is) kind a quiet loner. Nothing wrong with that, but it clearly wasn't by choice. He really wanted to be the cool jock so he's overcompensating (he has both a bro'd out diesel truck and a lifted Jeep that never leaves pavement) so he's going to try to make sure his son is that. When idiot dad hears sports announcers talk about so and so being an "average athlete" he's too dumb to realize they mean "average athlete" for a professional athlete which still means "freak genetic mutant" among the population at large.