If you have a child playing baseball these days you no doubt know about the explosive growth of so-called “independent” or “AAU” travel teams and leagues.  Joining such a team can be a rewarding experience for the entire family, but a wise selection process is critical.

Here are the key considerations:

Mission

Consider the team’s mission.  I strongly support independent baseball if the team’s mission is to provide athletes an environment in which to develop the skills they will need to play at the high school and college level.  Too often, I have seen teams whose primary objective is to win games, titles and trophies.  Because they are not committed to building a system and program with long-term goals, players and parents become disillusioned and such teams end up quickly disbanding.

The best teams have written mission statements which show that the team is committed to training and player development; provide clear rules codes of conduct for players and parents; and establish practice and game expectations for players and coaches.  Select a team that is committed to educating the whole child in athletics, including athletic values, athleticism, nutrition, and leadership skills.

More importantly, look for a team that actually delivers on that commitment.  In my 25 years of coaching, I have found that while most teams are good at talking the talk about these values at the beginning of the season, very, very few walk the walk by delivering on its promises during the season.

Time commitment

1. Recognize the Commitment the Coach Has Made: For whatever reason, you have chosen not to help coach the team. The coach has made a commitment that involves many, many hours of preparation beyond the hours spent at practices and games. Recognize his commitment and the fact that he is not doing it because of the pay! Try to remember this whenever something goes awry during the season.
  

2. Make Early, Positive Contact with the Coach: As soon as you know who your child"s coach is going to be, contact her to introduce yourself and let her know you want to help your child have the best experience she can have this season. To the extent that you can do so, ask if there is any way you can help. By getting to know the coach early and establishing a positive relationship, it will be much easier to talk with her later if a problem arises.

3. Fill the Coach's Emotional Tank: When the coach is doing something you like, let him know about it. Coaching is a difficult job and most coaches only hear from parents when they want to complain about something. This will help fill the coach"s emotional tank and contribute to his doing a better job. It also makes it easier to raise problems later when you have shown support for the good things he is doing. And just about every coach does a lot of things well. Take the time to look for them.

4. Don't Put the Player in the Middle: Imagine a situation around the dinner table, in which a child"s parents complain in front of her about how poorly her math teacher is teaching fractions. How would this impact this student"s motivation to work hard to learn fractions? How would it affect her love of mathematics? While this may seem farfetched, when we move away from school to youth sports, it is all too common for parents to share their disapproval of a coach with their children. This puts a young athlete in a bind. Divided loyalties do not make it easy for a child to do her best. Conversely, when parents support a coach, it is that much easier for the child to put her wholehearted effort into learning to play well. If you think your child"s coach is not handling a situation well, do not tell that to the player. Rather, seek a meeting with the coach in which you can talk with her about it.

5. Don't Give Instructions During a Game or Practice: You are not one of the coaches, so do not give your child instructions about how to play. It can be very confusing for a child to hear someone other than the coach yelling out instructions during a game. As in #4 above, if you have an idea for a tactic, go to the coach and offer it to him. Then let him decide whether he is going to use it or not. If he decides not to use it, let it be. Getting to decide those things is one of the privileges he has earned by making the commitment to coach.

6. Fill Your Child's Emotional Tank: Perhaps the most important thing you can do is to be there for your child. Competitive sports are stressful to players and the last thing they need is a critic at home. Be a cheerleader for your child. Focus on the positive things she is doing and leave the correcting of mistakes to the coach. Let her know you support her without reservation regardless of how well she plays.

7. Fill the Emotional Tanks of the Entire Team: Cheer for all of the players on the team. Tell each of them when you see them doing something well.

8. Encourage Other Parents to Honor the Game: Don"t show disrespect for the other team or the officials. But more than that, encourage other parents to also Honor the Game. If a parent of a player on your team begins to berate the official, gently say to them, "Hey, that"s not Honoring the Game. That"s not the way we do things here."

Most serious athletes will tell you that the competitive drive to win can be fierce. Besides the satisfaction of personal accomplishment, athletes often pursue dreams of a medal for their country, a college scholarship or a place on a professional team. In such an environment, the use of performance-enhancing drugs has become increasingly common.

For some athletes, winning at all costs includes taking performance-enhancing drugs. Some may appear to achieve physical gains from such drugs, but at what cost? The long-term effects of performance-enhancing drugs haven't been rigorously studied. And short-term benefits are tempered by many risks.

Take the time to learn about the benefits, risks and many unknowns regarding so-called performance-enhancing drugs. You may decide that the benefits aren't worth the risks.

Anabolic-androgenic steroids

What are they?

Some athletes take a form of steroids — known as anabolic-androgenic steroids — to increase their muscle mass and strength. The main anabolic-androgenic steroid hormone produced by your body is testosterone.

Testosterone has two main effects on your body:

    * Anabolic effects promote muscle building.
    * Androgenic effects are responsible for male traits, such as facial hair and a deeper voice.

Some athletes take straight testosterone to boost their performance. Frequently, the anabolic-androgenic steroids that athletes use are synthetic modifications of testosterone. These hormones have approved medical uses, though improving athletic performance is not one of them. They can be taken as pills, injections or topical treatments. Common anabolic-androgenic steroids include:

"I'm just wondering if playing on bad teams sucks the life and love out of a player. I personally never wanted to sit and would even play hurt if need be. I played on some very bad teams and some championship teams. Are today's kids different and will not mind riding the pine instead of losing? I guess I just cannot understand the willingness to sit."

With so many competitive travel ball teams (and LL) here in SoCal, I see this situation daily.  One of my best 12yr old players is playing LL and though he is the best player on the team, the team is challenged with lesser-performing players and losing has become a hard pill to swallow for him.  He is not happy, he loves playing the game and for a 12yr old player, he really "gets the game".  However, he is not having the best of times truly because the team is not competitive enough.  There are other kids whose parents have completely pulled their kids out of LL for this reason.

The question is, how do we get coaches, and sports parents for that matter, to begin teaching young athletes instead of increasing their coaching intensity and raising expectations?

As Americans, we are going to have to come to terms with our new spot below China in the new world order of sports unless we are willing to change. Our focus on athletic development, or lack thereof, especially at the lowest levels, are allowing other countries to fill in the treasured gaps that once divided our country from competition in its long reign of athletic superiority. As wonderfully exciting as it was while it lasted, we, for example, cannot continue to expect or rely upon phenomenal athletes like Michael Phelps to keep achieving our expectations of perfection. As Jay Bilas pointed out, we are not maintaining our foothold of athletic world dominance and there are specific reasons why.