The game had ended and the players were leaving the field, all except for one 8-year-old.
He stood on the infield, staring at the dirt as his dad/coach towered over him, his face flushed with anger, shouting at his son loud enough for those who were packing up their lawn chairs and collecting their kids to hear and pause.
It was one of those painfully awkward moments you wish you hadn’t witnessed.
For a few regrettable moments, everything that is good about youth sports in general, and youth baseball in particular, had been obscured by what is bad.
Youth baseball and softball are in full swing now, with hundreds of kids taking the field each night.
Fortunately, episodes such as this are rare. But it happens often enough that anyone who has had a child play baseball or softball has witnessed a similar outburst.
These instances should not be rare; they should be non-existent, especially for the younger kids, for whom this might be their first – and conceivably last – opportunity to play an organized sport and benefit from all that sports teach.
At the younger ages, the emphasis should not be so narrowly focused on winning and losing. The dubious argument that kids must be taught to be compete is absurd from the start. Kids are naturally competitive. All that is necessary is to confirm it is to toss one toy at the feet of two toddlers and watch what happens.
Instead, the goal should be ensuring kids have the opportunity to play and develop their skills in a safe, fun environment. They should be taught the value of fair play. They should be taught to play hard, have a good attitude and be gracious both in victory and defeat. They should be allowed to make mistakes in an environment that is safe and non-threatening. They should be encouraged. The whole experience should be fun. If not, what’s the point?
The best coaches understand this. When a player makes a mistake, doesn’t give his all or exhibits a poor attitude, the coach has a responsibility to step in. He should not respond to these offenses with harsh discipline, but to take the opportunity to correct those flaws in a constructive, restrained way. Children respond best to that approach.
We cannot climb inside the head of that 8-year-old who stood there in the middle of that deserted infield, absorbing the verbal abuse of his dad that night. But it is not wild speculation to assume, at that moment, he didn’t think there was anything fun about playing baseball.
All of the fun was swept away in a matter of seconds, lost and, perhaps, lost forever.
Let’s keep that painful image in our minds as our kids return to the field.
It’s a scene worth remembering – and learning from.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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