- “Today’s kids feel tremendous pressure to develop as athletes and play on winning teams. Many will put years of tee-ball, Little League, high school, and college games under their belt, with parents yelling and screaming as life depended on whether you win or lose. Parents fight for positions for their kids on traveling teams and spend thousands of dollars on private coaching, equipment, tournament fees, and airfare. No one pretends it’s about fun for the better players; it’s about preparing them for the next level. Many parents of talented kids see their offspring’s athletic prowess as their own ticket to success. Look at those ballplayers on television making millions. Why not my son? He can play. If I can just get him to focus, to work harder, to spend more time on his drills. Sure, not all parents fall into this category, but today there is a definite tendency to push kids very hard, very early. Look, my parents took me to Little League games, they worked in the concession stand, and they sponsored teams. But they never saw me as a kid destined for stardom, much less their ticket to a life on Easy Street. They wanted me to grow up, go to college, be well-rounded, be what I wanted to be. They didn’t push me. Baseball for me was never a hyper-competitive, pressure-cooker deal as it so often is for so many kids today.” Clearing the Bases (Schmidt, Mike; Waggoner, Glen) Kindle Location 309-318