The Parents Guide to Advanced Baseball

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the Complete GamePodcast, where we're all about baseball
with Ethan Dungan, owner ofGlovehound Baseball glove repair
shop.
Rick Finley, founder of MDNIBaseball Academy, and the creator
of George Foster Baseball, theMVP himself, Reds hall of Famer George
Foster.
I'm your host, Greg Dungan.
Now let's talk baseball.

(00:27):
All right, fellas, welcome toepisode 11.
Oh, this is sad.
11.
I know we're gonna have aparty on fast.
I said, can we have a pizzaparty for the last.
Oh, yeah, pizza.
There you go.
What the fellas are referringto, in case you don't know, is that
we're going to make.
Next week will be our 12thepisode, so we're going to make 12
episodes.

(00:47):
And then we're going to takethe summer off because we got some
stuff going on.
Guys are playing baseball andEthan's got a baby coming.
Baby.
So we got a lot of things.
A baby.
George.
George.
A lot of things going on.
And we're going to take abreak for a few months, and then
we'll be back in September,October, November, with 12 more episodes.

(01:08):
So there will be more episodesthis year, and there'll be some extra
content posted on social mediaand things like that in between over
the summer.
And there's going to be achance for you guys to actually get.
Get out and mingle a little bit.
The.
George is gonna make someappearances, and they're gonna.
These guys are working up some clinics.
There's all kinds of thingsthat are.

(01:29):
That are going on.
I'm dressed up like a clown.
Everybody loves clowns.
And we'll.
So there'll.
There'll be some opportunities.
One of the things that youwant to do, if you want to know where
we're going to be or whatwe're going to be doing, go to our
website, completegamepodcast.com, go to the bottom and
sign up for the mailing list.
We won't send you a bunch ofjunk, but we will let you know when

(01:51):
the.
When the podcast goes liveagain on the first Wednesday in September.
And then we'll also be able tolet you know if the guys are going
to be out doing things,clinics and appearances and that
kind of thing.
So, yeah, go and signup@completegame podcast.com and then
that way you'll.
You'll be in the know when.
When things kick off again.
Just leave your bank accountand your Social Security number.

(02:13):
Yeah.
Please sign up.
Please sign up.
I.
I run that for him.
It's okay, George.
George has no.
George does not.
George does not get your information.
All right.
So last week we, we, we laiddown some reality and we talked about
when, when it might be time tohelp your player decide to play recreationally

(02:37):
rather than continuing to sortof strive for higher levels and to
just make baseball a part oftheir life that they can enjoy and,
and be a part of.
This week we're going to talkabout, as a parent, how to get behind
your child who wants to striveto play in high school and beyond.
So you'll remember last weekwe, we figured out that about 3%

(03:01):
of all the players that startplaying at, you know, t ball and
first coach pitch, that kindof thing will actually play in high
school.
So let's say you're, you're,your child wants to play in high
school, your son or yourdaughter, if she's playing softball,
wants to play in high school.
And you got, you have todecide how you know how to get behind

(03:22):
them, what to do.
You're coming up with a planfor how to make that happen.
That's what we're going totalk about today.
And so today is called theParents Guide to Advanced Baseball.
And we're going to kick it offwith, we're going to name five things
that the parents need.
Parents need to do in order tosupport their children who want to
play in high school and beyond.
And we're going to kind of goaround each guy and just kind of

(03:42):
give one thing and we'll kindof go, we'll kind of keep going around.
One man have 20.
I know, I know you do.
21.
We'll get them all in sooneror later, but we're going to start
talking about what are, whatare the things that parents need
to do, Rick, if their kidswant to play in high school.
Oh, man.
Thank you.

(04:03):
First, now, a lot of things have.
Changed from since I, MichaelJackson, make a change.
Great.
Since I've coached travelbaseball to now at the not rec level,
but at more of a developmental level.
So one of the things that Iwould do is get in an evaluation

(04:27):
of the skill first and then tosee at advanced level where your
kid can play.
You know, going from highschool to beyond those levels can
be, you know, your skill andathleticism and all of that.
So I would get an evaluationbefore I take up everyone else's

(04:52):
answers.
So getting of that one, that'sa great place to start.
Rick, how about you, George?
Well, well, well, well, thefirst thing, understanding that baseball
may not be for everybody andthen also kids gonna learn at a different
level.
So because, because he doesn'texcel in baseball, don't feel that
he's a failure.

(05:12):
There are other sports that hemay be able to participate in.
But I always use baseball asteaching life skills because baseball
is a national pastime.
But the last time I was reallygiven a lot of information about
budgeting and it's an investment.
So parents, when you go outthere, look at the monies that you're

(05:33):
going to put into the program,but you got to find out from your
kid what do you want to do.
And once you find out what youwant to do, then you can set a program
together or schedule together.
But if the kid doesn't want toplay baseball, it's know, don't feel
bad about it.
Maybe it's another sport, makesure that they're playing a sport.
But baseball is not an easygame to play.

(05:55):
And as Greg had mentionedabout the, the, the percentage, the
small percentage of playerswho are going to make it in Major
League Baseball.
So there's a smaller percentage.
So you got to make sure, likeRick said, evaluate, see where the
kid is athletically comparedto other kids his age or team wise

(06:15):
or desire that desiredetermines are you, are they really
ready or determined to playthe game to get better.
But being able to go out andbudget, put a, finding out the expenses
that are going to be involvedso that once you get to another level,
once you get to high school,as you're going through high school,
making sure that you, you hada great plan, but the plan started

(06:37):
with the monies that you'regoing to put out as an investment.
And if you're going to work,get a return on your investment.
Yeah, that's a great point, George.
And I can, I can tell youthat's one thing that we did when,
when Ethan made the decisionhe wanted to try and plan high school.
I remember sitting down anddoing exactly that.
Because what parents will hearus talk about in this episode, you're

(06:58):
gonna hear us talk about a lotof things that all that have price
tags.
Right.
There are a lot of facets to this.
It is.
And we'll go, we'll round itall up at the end and kind of, kind
of talk about what, whatshould be in your budget a little
bit.
I've kind of got that innotes, but that's an excellent point.
Yeah, I'm gonna go with onethat's a little more specific.

(07:18):
And mine is providing aquality diet.
Because if you want nutritiondietitian, because when you start
taking things seriously, youstart taking your workout seriously.
Diet is very important.
And for kids, that'sultimately controlled by the parents.
And that's something I learnedonce I became a parent.
When you're a teenager or ayoung adult, you control what you

(07:40):
eat because you have the moneyto buy it.
You're planning meals, thatkind of thing.
But when you have to providefor another kid, I'm like, well,
I, I control what my son eats,you know, for every single meal.
So, you know, being able toprovide them healthy meals that will
fuel them for, for peakathletic performance is, Is very
important and oftentimes overlooked.
Yeah, they don't really put alot of emphasis on the, what they

(08:04):
eat.
And now realizing that's veryimportant what, what goes into their,
their stomach or going totheir body.
Cause it's going eventuallyyou don't want to take, say, a lot
of sweets and things as such.
You don't want to create aproblem at an older, older age.
But this is, this part isfunny to me.
So the dad is a chef and thekid was overweight.

(08:29):
And I said, well, my daughter,she makes meals that are that low
calorie and everything.
And then they say, well, whyshould we pay somebody else to do
what My, my husband, I said,okay, why hasn't he been doing it?
So it's right there.
You have access to it.
So making sure what youfeeding your kid, you have control

(08:52):
of that.
So it starts at home.
The control stay away fromfried food.
For me, I stopped eating beefand I stopped eating pork.
The toughest place to not eatbeef was in Japan.
And Japan has the best beef.
The best beef.
Yes.
So I started eating a lot offish at the time.
And then right now, a lot ofsalmon most of the time.

(09:13):
But make sure that it's notfarm grown, because with the farm
grown, it's a lot of chemicals.
But get into fish, turkey,chicken, and making sure.
Oh, sorry about the fruithaving the balance there.
Yeah, it's got to have thefruits, man.
But that was good, Ethan.
Well, yeah, and what you justtouched on there was a big one.

(09:34):
When Ethan was little, I, Istarted doing all the cooking.
You gave him beer instead of milk.
Right.
I started doing all thecooking at home and when he was three.
When he was three.
From the time he was threetill the time he was five, I was
actually, I did stay at homedad thing.
I got laid off from I don'tknow how many jobs and, and I ended

(09:54):
up having to.
We, we figured out that Lesliewas teaching school at the time and
we, we would actually comeahead if I just stayed home With
Ethan.
And so I did, and I madeeverything we ate from scratch, like
the bread, the pasta, the everything.
We grew our own herbs, we grewour vegetables, we grew, you know,
this kind of thing and wait,time out.

(10:16):
Herbs, like culinary herbs.
I know.
So wound him up today.
But it.
Was a big deal to do to limitthe amount of processed food, the
amount of chemicals, you know,not eat, not feeding him and his

(10:37):
sister things that hadparagraphs of ingredients.
And in trying to limit theamount of preservatives and food
colorings and things like that.
Now my wife has gone fullscale crunchy mom.
And we're back to the whole,you know, we're trying all that stuff.
So.
But yeah, processed foods.
I went to my, I went to mydoctor a couple months ago and he

(10:59):
said, eat more foods that gobad if you don't eat them within
a week.
So eat more.
Eat more fruits, veggies,stuff that's good.
If it's shelf stable, then,you know, there is something like
preservatives.
So just be careful.
Yeah.
All right, So I have.
This may seem, this may seemkind of elementary, but find out
what the, what the high schoolstandards are.

(11:21):
Yeah.
Find out what they're lookingfor if you're, if your son is a catcher.
Find out what kind of pop timethey're looking for.
If, if, if your son is, isworking on his hitting, find out
what they're looking for withregard to, to, to average and on
base percentage.
And I mean, go through thestats, find out what it is that makes

(11:41):
the high school people go,hmm, let's take a look at this kid.
Right, Right.
And I agree with Greg on thatbecause I go to the local high school
leagues here in Cincinnati.
If you're locally, the gmc,gcl, Co Ed, GCL south ecc, I go to
all of those and I pull up thestats of the team and I can tell

(12:04):
who's a good hitting team,who's a bad hitting team, and all
of that.
And that says a lot.
So Greg is correct on that end.
Attend games too.
Yeah.
And eventually, especially ifyou're, if your child is a pitcher,
find out what they're lookingfor with regard to how many pitches

(12:26):
he can throw and how manypitches he can throw successfully.
Find out what they're lookingfor with what's his average pitch
count and what's his velocityand what's his, you know, not any,
any one of those stats doesnot make or break a pitcher, but
the collection of them can bewhat, you know, they want to see.
And so, uh, that's going to gowith one, with another one on my

(12:48):
list here that goes hand inhand, which is then start keeping
those stats.
Right.
And while your child isplaying, start keeping those stats
just for him, you know?
Right.
Like everybody else onconsumption can do their thing, but
you're keeping your child stats.
And so then you can go overthose, you can go over those later,
you can go over those with a,with a teacher, you can go over those
with, you know, whatever.

(13:08):
But if you're starting it 14,you know, 13, 14, 15, and you're
starting to keep those statsand work on those stats, by the time
he's 15, 16 years old and he'strying out for the, for the high
school team, or your daughter,she's trying out for the high school
team, then you already beenworking those stats and you already

(13:30):
know what, you've been workingon that for a number of years and
you know where you.
So what everyone is saying,from nutrition, okay.
To stats, it does give you.
There are certain stats that Ilook at.
And so when kids come to mefor training or hitting and stuff,

(13:51):
I don't necessarily go tobatting average pretty much.
I go to on base percentage,strikes ball walks and strikes ratio,
line drive percentage.
So those things are stats thatI look at because it lets, you know,
uh, don't get caught up onbatting average so much.
You know, even though that isa great indicator.

(14:12):
Look at some things if he'sstriking out a lot versus walks and
so you can help a kid withtheir approach to hitting and things
of that.
Or if he's like a Gavin Lux,where he may not hit every time,
but he makes that pitcherthrow seven or eight pitches every
time that goes up there.
Exactly.
You know, those kinds, thosekinds of things can be, can be helpful.
But when Rick talk aboutevaluating the player, but you need

(14:35):
to evaluate the coaches.
Yes.
Because you like, you don'twant to.
College was a good example though.
I tell kids finding out whatposition that coach played.
So if you were, if you're apitcher and you go into a team that
the coach is not a pitcher, sohe's not going to really understand
pitching as much and vice versa.

(14:56):
If you're a hitter, you don'twant to go to a college that has
a pitch.
A coach has a, who was apitcher because he doesn't understand
hitting.
So but if he, if he's acatcher or a catcher, that's the,
that's the one I want you to.
That's balance there becausehe's on Both sides of the plate.
So evaluate the coaches.
Even in high school, evaluatethat coach.

(15:16):
Seeing that, okay, he, hewants speed, he wants pitching, he
wants defense.
So making sure that your kidfit that mold.
I like that.
So that would be my one of mine.
Find the right coaching program.
So I'm going to add to thatbecause George is correct on that.

(15:37):
You do have to find the rightcoaching and program.
That's actually was number oneon my, on my list here because as
such, because again whatGeorge said before the investment.
Okay.
The investment Greg started, Imean it's like, wow, the light went
on.
I didn't even, I didn't evenfocus on that.

(15:58):
Yeah, the investment.
And you tie that into theright coach, the right, the right
program.
So since I've been in this,this travel again, travel baseball
for over 20 years and thingsand you got to find the coach that
are able to, to develop your kid.

(16:21):
So say for instance, Art.
And I've been around some goodguys and I was kind of picky when
I started having my own teams.
I was picky about the type ofpeople I wanted around.
So we can, I didn't have tomicromanage, so to speak.
You know, I can still.
They understood my philosophy,the parents understood the goal and

(16:42):
went from there.
So I went from coaching toptravel baseball programs to developing
the Indiana developmentalprogram because I lost.
I learned a lot from thereand, and I was around guys again.
Dads that we caught.
We taught hitting, we taughtfielding, pitching, everything.

(17:05):
So our kids didn't have to gooutside of our program to seek information.
We didn't.
And I'm not trying to say thatwe were perfect, but that's the way
we were driven.
That's how we coached the game.
So we, we also knew where kidsstrengths and weaknesses were and

(17:25):
we were able to develop thatduring practice.
Or we say, hey, do this athome and then they will come home
because we can always tell ifyou've been working on your game
or not.
So find the right coaching program.
Find out their philosophy andwhat their.
Goals are and that may bedifferent from the programs that

(17:47):
are most popular.
Yes, sir.
So just because you might geta tryout with whatever natural disaster
is hot at the moment, you,you, that doesn't mean that that
coaching staff fits yourparticular child.
Yeah, just.
Yeah, don't, don't fall forthe name.
Yeah.
It might be prestigious tosay, well, I played for this and

(18:07):
such program, but if youdidn't develop, then it didn't get
you anywhere.
But that becomes a, Anotherpart is Trying to find out the, the
philosophy of the coach isdevelopment versus winning, right?
Yeah.
And if they're focused on justwinning, the kid's not going to get
developed.
But the add to the investmentpart is finding someone that can

(18:28):
train, train your kid as faras hitting, pitching, running, conditioning,
somebody who has expertise inthat, that area so that now you're
growing that kid so he's readyfor that, that next level.
Yeah, that's absolutely right, George.
I think if your child isserious about playing at high school
and beyond, a private teacheris an absolute must.

(18:51):
There's no way around it, Right.
It's just you're going to needthat kind of development because
I don't care what it is,you're not going to find a summer
program that is going toprovide enough development.
And your child may play for areally good summer program and he
may have a really good coach.
They're not going to be ableto develop specifically that child

(19:13):
all the time.
It's just not as personal.
And there's nothing wrong with them.
It's just right.
That personal attention, thereis no substitute for it when it comes
to.
Because your child is going tobe trying out against a bunch of
other kids who've had thatindividual attention and that bad
leverage.
Right.
It's going to be very, veryhard for them to compete.
So I don't know, you know, youguys probably have put this together

(19:34):
and you heard us talk about,especially if you've listened to
the, the commercials and stuffduring the thing, but these guys,
Rick and George, they teachthis stuff.
George is actually activelyright now taking, taking new students
to teach the fundamentals ofthe game of baseball.
Now, you know, let me go backand if you go back to last week,

(19:56):
okay, you can, you can learnthe fundamentals of baseball from
lots of different people.
You can learn the fundamentalsof baseball from guys who, who played
in high school or played in college.
You also, you know, theopportunity to learn the, the fundamentals
of baseball from a guy whowas.8% of all players in the major

(20:21):
leagues at one point in time.
That is a little different.
Wow, cool.
0.08.
0.08.
Yeah.
Because when you lead any,when you lead in any category, you
are.008.
You are in the top minute 1%.
I gotta get that.
Write that up.
Yeah.
So, you know, you guys can do that.

(20:42):
If you go right now togeorgefosterbaseball.com you can
sign up and they'll contactyou and you can talk to them about
it.
But in case you Just maybe youhaven't made it to the end of one
of these episodes and youhaven't heard George's commercial.
But yeah, get a private teacher.
It is absolutely imperative ifyour child wants to compete at a
higher level.

(21:02):
And the coach only can get youto the level that they experience.
And I see coaches, you know,high school, they got to high school,
they got to, got to college.
But the biggest difference, Ilook back at Major League Baseball
when I was playing, you hadformer players being see a hitting

(21:22):
instructor.
But now, I mean you had like aDave Parker or you had a Chili Davis,
Ted Klosewski guy who not onlyplayed the game, the, they were good
at the game.
So they had expertise as faras teaching hitting.
But today you can name on onehand how many guys who really played
major league baseball and hadgood stats.

(21:44):
So if you look at theirresume, it's like, how did this guy
get this position?
And so, but they complainedabout well, this team is not hitting.
And I would say to one, Isaid, is this guy teaching batting
or hitting?
Seemed like they're teachingbatting and they guarantee that kid's
gonna get a hit every 10 times.
That bat they're batting 100.

(22:05):
But in the major league today,200 is the replacement of 300.
But when I watch a team, soyou go to Bobby Witt with Kansas
City, you see these guys areexcelling out there.
Say, why is that guy George Brett?
George Brett, how is that guydoing well?
And this guy over here is notdoing as well.
It's the application.
They don't know because Iwatch these guys, it's so comical

(22:30):
when a right handed.
The other day I was with, withthe, with the Mets or not the Mets
with the Reds.
I was, I said these guys, noone go out and evaluate because if
you throw this a slider insideto a lefty, they won't hit it.
But what do they do?
They try to get smart, throw a fastball.
I guess they want to give asouvenir to the people in the outfield.

(22:53):
But I just, I was watchingArizona played the Yankees and they
had five or six lefties andthey're throwing the ball.
The slider really is in theleft handed batter's box.
It's not over the plate andthey're swinging at it.
I said, they don't really know the.
Approach to hit it exactly.
And I said, if you ask someonein room said how many know how to

(23:16):
teach this?
No hands would be raisedunless I'm there.
One of the most interestingthings I saw over the weekend, weekend,
I was on Facebook and therewas a.
It was an.
An appearance that Pete Rosemade on some MLB show where he was
on there with, I think it wasDerek Jeter and Frank Thomas.
Yeah, Frank Thomas.
And they were asking him about.

(23:37):
They're asking Pete questions,and they were talking about, so how
do you.
How do you get out of a slumpor somewhere?
You're having a hard timehitting the ball.
And he's.
And he says, well, you movearound in a box.
He said, you don't change your swing.
Right, Right.
He said, if you're havingtrouble this way, you step up, you
have trouble this way, youstep back, you step in, you step
out, you.
And.
And he gave, he gave anabsolute clinic in about three minutes.

(23:58):
Keep it simple on how to do it.
He said, but don't change your swing.
It got you to the majorleagues, right?
Have faith in.
Trust your swing and moveyourself around.
And I thought, well, that was.
That's brilliant.
George was saying somethingthat I like.
And so I throw a lot, okay?
So for me, I always tell kids,my job is to make it hard for you.

(24:20):
When you come in, come to me.
Because now when you go to thegame, it's gone.
You're going to see, you'regoing to understand spin shapes and
everything.
Because I throw every pitchthat is so I can throw hard, I can
throw a slide, I can throw acurveball, I can throw change up,
I can up, down, in and out.
But my job is allow you to, tosee different spins.

(24:42):
And, you know, if you foul offa pitch, man, that's great, man.
And I think sometimes kidstoday, they take it where if they
don't swing or if they miss alot, they, they.
They take it as well.
There is a problem.
It could be your eyesight orwhatever, but they're focusing on
results.
Yes, yes.

(25:04):
I said, don't worry aboutresults, man.
Don't worry about results.
Understand?
So you got to break thingsdown in, in.
In segments with kids and, youknow, your approach at the plate,
and then it's got to carryover also.
So I don't want to get toomuch into, but I just wanted to add
to what George was saying also.
But I tell people that I'm ahitting psychologist because you

(25:26):
have to mind, you can.
What are you thinking about?
It's not a trick question.
When I ask a kid, I said, whatare you thinking about when you're
in the batter's box?
And they said, well, I'mthinking about.
I said, you shouldn't beThinking you should be reacting.
When you get in that undeckedcircle, you get yourself mind ready

(25:47):
and we talk about zone hittingbecause that's what helped me to
become a good hitter, zonehitting, you know, even.
And you gotta be able to trustyourself with two strikes.
But you can tell guys whoafraid to, they're afraid they're
gonna strike out or they don'ttrust themselves with two strikes,
they're gonna swing at thefirst pitch.

(26:08):
But for me, I was a betterhitter with two strikes so I'm really,
really fine tuning.
But if a 3:1 count I think Iover swing but I get a two strike
count on me.
I'm more tuned.
So you finished the seasonlast year exhausted from all the
travel in the tournaments andyou tossed your gear in a bag where

(26:30):
it's been sitting all winter.
Now you're ready for another year.
But your favorite glove thatfits just right is an error waiting
to happen.
The leather's dry, the lacesare brittle and this year you're
on a new team with new colors.
And it sure would be cool ifit matched well.
Wouldn't it be great if youhad a glove guy who could help you
out with that?
You do.
His name is Ethan and he ownsGlovehound baseball glove repair

(26:51):
shop in Fairfield, Ohio.
Just contacthim@glovehound.com and upload pictures
of your glove.
He'll give you a call back totalk it over and then you can send
it in for a repair, re, lace,recondition, whatever you need.
If you're in the area, you caneven just stop by the shop.
That way you don't have tobother with shipping.
And a lot of times he can evenfix it while you wait.
Rawlings, Wilson, Mizuno, AllStar, Nakona, he's seen them all

(27:15):
and he's helped players at alllevels from beginners to pros.
Last year he worked on a glovethat Jose Trevino used in the World
Series and he can help you too.
You can find Glovehound onGoogle, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
and on the web@glovehound.comyou're only going to get busier.
So reach out today and giveyour glove the love it deserves.
At Glovehound last week wetalked about going to play it again.

(27:41):
Sports or places where you canbuy gloves secondhand.
On there's what's the online.
Was it sideline swap onlineand yeah, a couple places.
And just this past week Ethanwas out shopping and he picked up
a couple of gloves.
You want to show us those?
I like those.
This One I picked up.
This is more of a collectorpiece, but this is a vintage, a 2000

(28:02):
here made in Japan.
It's probably, oh, late 80s,because Wilson moved from their manufacturing
in Chicago and Ohio over toJapan in the late 80s.
But this thing is in pristinecondition, so that was really cool.
And it says the, the, the quote.

(28:22):
Like the Ohio State.
And then this one here, thisis a Zet.
This is a Japanese.
I thought it said Jet.
Jet Pizza.
Uh, but this is.
Again, this is, this is mebecause I'm a glove nerd.
Finding a brand that, youknow, you don't see all the time.
No, but that glove, I like the trapeze.
I like how it's broken in.
Yes.
This is still a very highquality glove.
And I got, I got these bothfor a really great deal.

(28:45):
And this was only, you know,these are two out of hundreds of
gloves that I, that I looked at.
So.
So this will be gone on auction.
Starting out like GeorgeFoster put his.
Hand in this glove.
This is game used.
And, and you did this allwith, with a toddler in tow.
Actually, it was, it was a challenge.
But we made it.

(29:05):
We, we went around to fourstores in the area and there's a
lot of good stuff out there.
You just got to go check.
And the goodwill of sporting goods.
This is great.
This is quality here.
Never, you know, we weretalking about investment and budgets.
If, you know.
Yes.
If you're trying to.
You can find some good gloves,man, that played against sports,
man.
Yeah, this is proof I did it.

(29:26):
We weren't just talking about it.
Has expertise in gloves.
So the other, and the otherside of that is so, you know, gloves.
Getting your glove repairedis, is.
Is a, an investment in a lot of.
In a lot of Smart.
Smart.
It's a lot of.
In a lot of cases because it'snot cheap, but it's cheaper than
a new one.

(29:47):
And so you have to try and.
Figure out it's proven thegloves broken in is ready to go.
Yeah.
How do I want to do that?
So, uh, Ethan does this fromtime to time.
Picks up and maintains acollection of gloves here in the
shop.
So if you are on the fence and you're.
Sometimes he'd pay for themwhen he goes.
If you're on the fence tryingto figure out, well, do I, do I have
it fixed?
Do I replace it?

(30:07):
Do I want to bring it in, showit to him, take a look at what he's
got there.
Maybe you could even, youknow, find something that would work
for you for whatever budgetyou have.
But yeah, one of, one of thethings that I had on my list was
invest in quality gear becauseif you're going to go forward and
be serious about playing,you're going to need quality gear
and, but that doesn't alwayshave to be brand new.

(30:27):
So I was just wanting to bringthat up.
Ethan, what's the next thingon your list?
Well, I don't know how manywe've already said so far.
It's been a lot.
Three, four?
All right, well, my, this isonly the second one that I have,
but mine.
We've talked a lot aboutfinding, finding people that can
develop the skills, but I wantto bring it back to something that
doesn't necessarily requireskill and that's load management.

(30:49):
So as a parent, you know,you're with your kid all the time
for all the seasons of theyear and so you're going to have
a bird's eye view of how manygames they played in this sport or
that sport.
So you can manage their,their, their on time and then their
off season as well.
Manage their rest, manage what else?
You know, you can provide alot of value athletically by just

(31:13):
enrolling them in a different sport.
You know, we talk a lot aboutcross sport training and that doesn't
require you to have lot of,you know, super specific movement
analysis ability.
You know, it's just you tryingto diversify their, their experience.
So between that and diet, youknow, those are two things that don't
require, you know, you to be amajor league or, or a semi pro baseball

(31:36):
player and to have thatexperience, but just something that
any parent can do to reallymake a difference in their kids.
But back to nutrition, case inpoint, the.
I know the Reds have a.
Have I better get it right.
Cause she may get mad.
I think she's a dietitianbecause I said, are you a nutritionist?
And she was like, she's likeBruce Lee.
Wow.
I'm not a nutritionist, I'm a dietitian.

(31:59):
But.
Cause the Latin players, theyweren't eating well.
And so now, and so now she'sproviding healthy food, healthier
eating and it's gonna make adifference in their performance.
But I laugh at also the factthat these guys.
Well, this guy was taken outof the game because he was cramping.

(32:20):
What, what is the trainer for?
He's supposed to go out there.
I know we had salt pills thatwe would utilize because your body's
dehydrated so you need fluid.
I don't, I don't even.
Yeah, Potassium.
I didn't, I don't see themtaking water out to the pitcher.
It's like what this guy iscramping, he's throwing a no hitter.
He can't finish the game orfinish that inning.

(32:41):
But another one that we gottahit on is the fact that when Ethan
was talking about workload ismaking sure that at a certain age
you start directing that kidto a sport that he's really good
in.
So maybe he plays football,basketball and baseball.
Which one is he good at?
I want him to spend more timein that if it's baseball or football,

(33:04):
because you don't need to doall those because your body can take
a certain workload.
But I, when I played growingup, I played basketball to get myself
in condition for baseball.
So there, there are sportsthat you can, that can help you towards
developing another sport.
But in base, in football, it'slike if you are quarterback or you

(33:26):
are a receiver, I say yeah,let your kid play.
But if you're on the line orlinebacker, I'm concerned about injuries.
Especially if you play.
You're a good baseball player.
I'm concerned about injuries.
Unless you're a quarterback orlike say a receiver.
A linebacker.
Kicker.
Yeah, kicker.
It's not unusual for baseballplayers to.
Get Tom Jones to get.
Not unusual.

(33:47):
That's right.
To get hurt playing, playing basketball.
You come down, you turn yourankle wrong, you, whatever.
So when you do that secondsport, you do have to make sure you're
doing it correctly and makesure you.
Don'T you not be playing around.
Injury.
Yeah.
To keep you out of your.
Matter of fact, I got hurt inbasketball because I was going up
for a rebound.
I hurt my knee.
I hit my knee on the rim andgoing up.

(34:08):
Oh, it must been.
No, it was 10ft.
I was so, so high.
You have a, a trampoline tohelp you get.
This is, this is my story.
It's the mascot for so.
All right, well my next one isMute that mic.
Mute it.
Let me see which one I want togo with here.

(34:30):
Cuz I've got some good ones here.
Let me see my next one.
Well, I'm going to build offwhat Ethan said when he was talking
about.
Because he's your son.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, he knows, he knows athing or two.
Eating, also sleeping.
Make sure your child is sleeping.
Yeah, make sure if it put acurfew on your child, there's nothing
wrong with that.

(34:51):
You know, one of the thingsthat we did in our house that absolutely
helped when, when we,everybody got iPhones.
Okay.
Everybody.
Or.
Yeah, everybody had iPhones.
We.
We did the find my phonething, and everybody signed in to
everybody else's phone.
Okay.
And so we're still signed intoeach other's phone.
He can look and find meanytime he needs to, to know where

(35:14):
I am.
Just all he has to do is lookon his phone, see, where's dad?
Okay.
And so what I did there was Igained accountability to make sure
that my children were wherethey said they were going to be,
or at least their phones were.
And.
Right.
And I then gave them the same accountability.
Right.
That I didn't.
I didn't care that they knewwhere I was.

(35:35):
And so that way also, if they get.
If they get in a situationwhere something's gone wrong, they're
in traffic, I got to get to them.
You know, they got a flattire, they got a.
Whatever get caught on the escalator.
Yeah.
And maybe.
Maybe all I have is that.
All I have is that cell phone signal.
I can get to them when I needto to help them.
I like that.

(35:55):
Yeah.
So it's a good.
It's a good practice foraccountability for the whole family.
Everybody sign in and make itso that you can find each.
I don't know what the Amazonor what the.
The Android equivalent is, butI'm sure there is one sign in to
make sure that you can knowwhere each other is all the time
and then put a curfew on whenpeople need to be home, when people

(36:17):
need to be in bed.
And then eventually it becomesa habit and you have to.
You don't have to think about it.
Well, your body adjusts to it.
Right.
And because ultimately your.
If your child is serious aboutwanting to play sports at a high
level, he needs to takeresponsibility and be doing that
for himself.
He needs to be bringinghimself home at a reasonable hour.
He needs to be putting himselfto bed at a reasonable time because

(36:40):
he wants to make it, notbecause you're putting it on him.
If year after year goes by andyou're constantly putting it on him,
that's when you have to sitback and go, I don't know that we're
really committed to wanting tomake this happen.
You need to see them take thatover for themselves.
But sleep.
Sleep is a big deal.
And there was a.
It's gone around a handful oftimes, but the regimen that Christian

(37:03):
McCaffrey's dad had on him,and he imparted an early bedtime
from a young age and verystrict on diet, and you know what?
It paid off.
Well, because here's the thing.
We're going to.
I mean, we're talking aboutseveral things here that have added
expense.
And if a parent.
Brady's career, if a parent isgoing to spend into this to fund

(37:23):
it, then they're owed an equal commitment.
George has talked about whenhe teaches lessons that a student
has to equal his effort whenhe's teaching a lesson.
Well, it's the same thing inthis regard.
If you're gonna.
If you're gonna make thishappen, you're gonna invest this
money this time, this effortto make this happen.
You're gonna go on thesetrips, you're gonna drive them where

(37:43):
they need to go, you're gonna,you know, whatever.
Then, then, then you need tosee that back in a commitment from
your child.
And there's nothing wrong.
Draw it up, sign it as acontract if it makes you happy.
I mean, whatever gets it donefor you guys.
And if you're not gettingthat, then we need to go back to

(38:05):
George's first point and havea conversation and make sure that
that is what they want to be doing.
Because you might be investinga lot of.
And when we say investing,it's not just financial, but you
might be investing a lot oftime and energy and money into something
that they're not passionate about.
Right.
That's okay.
Anxiety comes in.
Exactly.
A lot of.
There's.
Well, there's a lot of pressure.

(38:25):
Yes.
And so, you know, then youneed to step back and say, well,
what are you passionate about?
Let's put.
Let's invest into that.
They.
You want it more than they do.
Yeah.
And that's.
That's dangerous.
But the other part is veryimportant too.
You, when you support.
Support is that you're encouraging.
You don't want to go out thereand say things that are.

(38:45):
That are critical or being negative.
Just go out there and supportyour kid.
I just.
This, this really resounding.
When I listened to thiscommercial, it said a kid successful,
a future success depends on your.
Your support today.
So making sure that you'regiving that support but know what
support is all about.

(39:07):
And two words, you know, they.
They may be.
It sound the definition soundto be the same.
You know, commitment and sacrifice.
So you make a commitment.
You're saying that I looked atit as being more positive sacrifice.
Well, I'm giving up somethingfor you, but is you making a commitment
for that kid?
But it's.
Once again you're making an investment.
So you're going to invest.

(39:28):
What do you need to do toinvest the Time.
So you're making a commitment,you're making a schedule and you're
letting the kid know, okay,this is part of your contract.
You got to make sure yourequipment's ready, you got to eat
right, you got to, got to geta proper amount of sleep.
So it's a contract that'sbeing verbalized or written.
So this is what you need to doto get to that, that next level.

(39:49):
Absolutely.
I'll go ahead and jump off ofthat one and I'll give you my, my
third real quick.
And that was maintaining apositive environment at home.
I like that because there's alot of negativity in the, there's
a lot of failure.
I like it.
There's a lot of failure inthe game.
And so that can, and you know,there's a lot of pressure that can
become negative.
Don't bring the negativity home.

(40:09):
Keep the home positive, youknow, and keep that training at home
positive and then that willreflect out on the field.
But the one that, the one thatsticks in my mind, it's all about
how you, it's all aboutperspective and how you frame something.
But it's running.
I hated running as a kid untilI came to Rick and then it was fun
because it was a skill, itwasn't a punishment.

(40:32):
What, what did he make?
How did he make it fun?
He taught me technique and soI learned how to run.
And then there you go.
But we, and on top of that, wewere running with purpose.
We were running.
We're going to run a 15 yardsprint, a 20 yard sprint, and we're
going to do 5, 10.
It was the small increments.
It was incremental but defined.
It wasn't, oh, you're going torun stairs till you, till we, it's

(40:55):
time to switch.
I'm like that.
Why not what you ate?
It doesn't make any sense.
Well, exactly.
So, but, but that was amindset thing.
It's like, it's not a punishment.
It's not something negative.
It's a skill that we're improving.
It's positive.
So that's great.
But, but making sure thatyou're keeping that positive environment
at home.
One of the things I, I want toadd to what Ethan was saying, I learned

(41:17):
something while I was coaching.
So with my own son, with Rickyand with all the kids, but if they
had a bad game, I learned tonot say anything.
Yeah, I, I, and it took mesome time from other dads that were
coaches and we, you know, verycompetitive environment.
But I Learned to not sayanything and then waited 24 hours

(41:42):
or so.
But this is the reversepsychology of it.
I learned that when I didtalk, I started with something they
did.
Positive.
There you go.
Then I can circle back aroundand kind of, you know, say, this
is what we need to work on.
He was able to accept it alittle better than versus somebody

(42:02):
jumping on like, man, youdidn't do this.
Well, because a lot of times,most people are their own harshest
critics, and especially with kids.
So when you get in that car,he's already going through everything
he did wrong, even if he had agood game.
So you piling.
He already knows that hestruck out.
If he went 0 for 4, he knowsthat you telling him doesn't make
it any.
You know, but like you said,taking that time and then you can

(42:27):
go and figure out why ithappened, figure out how to improve
and all that.
I've seen a lot of dad coachestalk about, you know, when I'm wearing
this hat, I'm the coach.
When I'm wearing this hat, I'mthe dad.
And you have.
That could be a tricky thingto fight.
Well, and on.
On top of that.
Okay, so my next one was offerperspective and focus on what matters.

(42:48):
So one of the things I alwaystried to do with Ethan was speak
into the.
The dad relationship.
Yeah.
I was also the biggest fan.
And, yeah, sometimes I was thecoach, but I was always the dad.

(43:08):
Right.
And I needed him to know thatwhat made me proud was who he was,
not what he did.
Okay.
So.
And what he did is areflection of who he was.
So let's.
Let's take this.
So how he behaves on thefield, how he behaves with his teammates,

(43:31):
how he behaves the umpire, howhe behaves with the coach, how he
treats his mother, how hetreats, you know, other people, other
kids, parents, how he treatspeople, you know, the kind of.
Of young man that he is.
Yeah.
That is what makes me proud.
Yes.
Okay.
And so when we get in, we getinto truck, it could have been the

(43:51):
hardest game he's ever had,but I'm already proud of him.
Even if he didn't.
Even if he went over and, youknow, hit three batters and you struggled
all through.
All through the game.
That doesn't matter.
I'm already proud of himbecause of who he is and the way
he conducted his bonus.
So.
So then he.

(44:12):
So that we can build from there.
We're a team together.
Okay.
This is a.
This what I.
When we had this conversationwhen he was in junior High.
And he said.
I said, okay, it's time tohave the conversation.
We need to talk about this.
Do you know, do you want tokeep playing?
What is your goal?
And he said, I want to play inhigh school.

(44:33):
And I said, all right, ifthat's the goal, I will do whatever
it takes, whatever I can togive you that opportunity.
That's important question.
You have to do whatever ittakes to take advantage of that opportunity.
And from this step forward, weare a team.
Yeah.
And.
And so I try to offer him theperspective all the way through of

(44:54):
what really matters.
Life.
What really matter.
What really matters is theperson that he is becoming.
What really matters is hischaracter and his witness and the
way people see him and the wayhe represents our family.
That was always a huge thing, the.
Name on the back, the name.

(45:14):
That was drilled into me very young.
When you go outside this door,you represent this family, and that's
important.
You need to do it well.
And so those are the thingsthat really matter.
At the end of the day, we canwork on better hitting technique.
We can work on, you know,getting that curveball to actually
do what it's supposed to.
We can work on, you know, notthrowing that pitch to that guy in

(45:37):
that situation and, you know,those kinds of things.
But I always knew there wouldbe a day when he would say, all right,
I've played enough baseball.
I'm going to go do something else.
And on that day, I wanted himto be as proud of who he was as I
was.
So we kept that front and center.
That's important.
And so offering that perspective.

(45:59):
And the thing.
The thing about being theparent is you are the only one who
can really offer that perspective.
Right.
Coach can help.
Yes.
Private teacher can help.
Yes.
But they have to get that perspective.
From you to build on what Rickhad said about a kid has a bad day.
I always say, you have a badday if you don't improve on.

(46:20):
Learn from it.
Yeah.
You gotta learn from.
You went over four.
Okay.
What did you do?
Well, that game and build from there.
But just don't say I went overfour and forget about what you had
done.
Right.
But you.
You're looking to grow, andsometimes you can grow faster if
you didn't get any hitscompared to if you did you get.
I went four for four.
I don't need to work out anymore.
I'm fine.

(46:41):
No, but you always want to improve.
I always say better.
Your best.
Being able to get better andbetter when you go out there.
But that foundation, I lovewhat Ethan had said keep the home
life positive.
And I know that kids getuptight because the parent is more,
they want it more than the kid does.

(47:01):
And if the parent feelembarrassed if the kid doesn't do
well.
Yeah, I see that a lot George.
But I had done something withmy daughter.
It may, may not make a lot ofsense, but I made, I make it, it
was like a reward.
So she played tennis.
So if she, if she wins, shegoing to carry her own bag because
she's, she feels likeeverything's light as a feather.
She can, she can walk on water.

(47:23):
But if she doesn't win, Icarry her bag because she's had a
big burden already for, for,for not winning out there.
But I never say that shedidn't, she, she lost, she said she
didn't win.
But there's certain thingsthat you've done well to build up
to it.
When, when you play especiallyin tennis, you want to work on your
forehand, your backhand or youbuild to be that like a Federer,

(47:47):
he didn't start overnight sohe build up to it.
Now he has confidence in whatshots he's going to use at certain
period of time when Greg wastalking about so a guy.
A lot of these right handedplayers are playing a lefty but they
forget they didn't.
They don't realize until likethe third set they're playing a left
handed player.
They keep hitting to theforehand and it's to the backhand

(48:11):
to a, to a right hander.
So but it throw it and I watchit on tv.
So why did he throw that pitch?
I mean he had 02 count againstDela Cruz and then he threw him another
a breaking ball outside andcame back over the plate.
I said I'm not a pitcher but Iwould throw him inside and see if
he would go at it, make himswing at a ball.

(48:31):
You don't have to throw astrike to get a strike.
A lot of these guys on themound just throw the ball and they
don't, they're hoping and, butyou had to, you had some of these
guys need two sets ofoutfields because those guys are
tired after a while.
Well, what's another one onyour list there Rick?
Well, mines I'm going to thinkoutside the box a little bit.

(48:52):
It's the same as you guys.
But I think more is how do yousupport your children in high school?
And for me, and this isprobably why developed MDNI because
as dads we developed and I saythis as dads because how we played

(49:12):
and where we played at, and wehad a great collection of us.
We developed our own kidsbaseball iq, developed strength and
speed and baseball skill and stuff.
So I think what George saidearlier, what you guys talked about
on my end, it was more abouttime versus the money is spent.

(49:36):
And I think, and I'm talkingfrom a perspective of kids that can't
afford training and thingslike that, but I think also, too,
that dads can pick up a lot ofdifferent things.
And I think that's support ofyour kids if you don't have the necessary

(49:58):
income to pay for privatetraining or what have you.
So I always have to keep that perspective.
And also the perspective thatI know this generation and I see
it through my trainings that alot of dads didn't play baseball.
And I always say, that's okay,it's all right.

(50:18):
But learn.
This is what MDNI is.
Take a little bit of what I'mteaching and go home and work with
your kid at home.
Because guess what?
I don't have a magic wand in my.
In my hand.
And also knowing that theprocess, it might be slower.
And I think you all hit onthis, that everybody learned differently

(50:40):
physically and mentally, man.
So just having that.
Just having that period,that's support for me, for the kids
that's gonna play in highschool and beyond.
Yeah.
The thing that stands out,what you were saying is stay in your
lane.
Yes.
Because a dad think that heknows the game.
Cause you think it's easy.

(51:00):
It's not easy.
No, it's not.
He's talking about you gottaswing the bat like this.
You gotta do this.
Yes.
No, you don't know what you'retalking about.
Getting the kid confused.
Yeah, I see that a lot, Rick.
One of the things on mine wasaid and in home practice.
And I think one of the waysyou can really maximize the value
of paying for private lessonsis sit there and watch it.
And like you said, picksomething out of the lesson and work

(51:23):
on it at home.
It doesn't take any skill tofeed a tea or to.
Or to catch a bullpen.
You know, it takes a littleskill to hit fungo.
Okay.
But you can get there.
So there's a but.
Just.
Just participating, you know,is a big deal.
And you don't have.
Like I said, you don't have tohave that experience to still eat
at home.
I ran into a guy while I wasworking out at Lakota west.

(51:46):
And I was on the football field.
I was getting my workout in.
So I had another dad comes in.
He had A bat in one hand, aglove in the other hand.
I've seen that.
Yeah.
And he was hitting fungoes flyballs, and the wind was blowing in.
So as I was ran across, Isaid, hey, you need some help?
I'll catch for you, man.
And so his son kept hittingsome bad fly balls to him.

(52:08):
So he comes over and asked mesomething about, you know, we was
talking, and I said, yeah, y' all.
You're.
You guys had varsity coach.
Cause he's on varsity now.
Varsity coach played with myson Ricky.
Okay.
And they won state and everything.
He said, really?
I said, yeah, and everything.
And we just got to talk to the dad.
I said, you sure you.
I'm like, okay.

(52:29):
He said, nah, I got it.
I said, but it was cool.
And I told the kid, I said,man, this is cool to see your dad
hit.
Yes.
Yes.
You know, Fogos, too.
I always kind of gave him a.
Fist for working with him.
Yes.
And he says, I remember youfrom team first around the corner.
He said, yeah, I used to bewith Diamond Elite.

(52:49):
I was like, yeah, man.
And I'm like, man, that is socool to see you out here again hitting
fungos and stuff with yourkid, man.
And I said, yeah.
He says, man, it's been a while.
I said, yeah, but they.
I look at you go to training,you take hidey less, and pitching
less is like a.
A gps.
So now you're gettingdirections on what you need to do.

(53:11):
So carry home and work on it.
Not just, okay, we'll waittill we go back to Coach Rick.
And.
No, I don't want to know.
Like you say, pick one thingout and just focus on that.
Yes.
And I love it when the dadsthat come in and work with a kid
and stuff, man, because I takepictures of them and stuff.
I posted on there, man, andright now, even putting goosebumps

(53:35):
on my arms when I see these.
These people.
If it's softball or baseball,whatever, CDs, dads coming in, they'll
hit ground balls, they'llpitch a bullpen and everything.
And I'm starting to see thesame guys come in.
And I.
And I love that, man.
I love that energy, man,because that's what it's about, really
is.
And they.
They might pick my brain,like, hey, man, what you think about

(53:56):
this and stuff?
You know, what you doing out here?
Nobody has.
I taught a lot, work with alot of kids, and this is.
It was probably about thesecond lesson I had given this one
kid, and it's like a lightcame on and he looked like a hitter,
but before he looked like he'sa pretzel up there.

(54:17):
He's trying to unwind.
But I said, wow.
But each time I was, wow, thatis great.
But they're thinking,sometimes they're thinking that I'm
saying something is false encouragement.
But it said, no, I'm excited.
That is awesome.
So I'm getting to the point, Ineed more superlative.
I'm going, awesome.
I may have awesome, awesome, awesome.
But that was the best, Iguess, result that I had seen.

(54:40):
I said, I said to myself, wow,what you're saying they're receiving
and there's One kid is 10.
No, he's nine.
And I asked him about hisstride because he was.
His left foot was.
Or I started with having that.
I say, you see where your leftfoot, your front foot is going?
It's pointing towards me.
I want you to point it towardsthe plate.

(55:00):
Did.
All of a sudden I said, that's.
That taught me.
So when I'm working with theseolder kids, that's where I'll start.
Yeah.
I mean, that was so enlightening.
Ethan is more than my podcast partner.
He's my son.
And like every baseballparent, my first priority was his
development as a player.
Every year we'd start out witha new coach and a new team, making

(55:22):
new promises, only to end upplaying the same same old tournaments
with little to no practice in between.
You know what I'm talking about.
That's why I'm so thankfulthat we found MDNI Academy.
I first met Coach Rick over adecade ago when Ethan was just a
kid.
And I'll never forget therelief I felt watching his first
lesson.
I knew right then that nomatter what team he played for, my

(55:42):
son would have amazing,consistent instruction from someone
who cared.
Rick has trained baseball andsoftball players at the select, travel
and even college levels.
So I knew that Ethan couldcontinue his excellence through training
approach.
For his whole baseball career,he learned hitting, pitching, catching,
fielding, and more all in one place.
Most of all, he learned tolove the greatest game in the world

(56:04):
and how to play it withcharacter and integrity.
MDNI is a first class facilitywith plenty of tunnels for hitting
and pitching instruction thatopen up into large areas for teaching
fielding, base running speedand agility.
They even have a weight roomfor strength training.
So if you're wearing yourselfout running all over town to multiple
teachers or worse, you'recounting on that new select coach

(56:25):
to actually develop your child.
You need to check out MD andiAcademy today.
Go to mdaiacademy.com andcontact Coach Rick to learn how you
can get all the baseballinstruction you need from someone
who cares about your favoriteplayer as much as you do at MDNI
Academy.
Okay, so let me offer you this.

(56:46):
Now, we obviously are offeringa lot of perspective, dad perspective,
because we're all dads and allof that.
Let me, Let me offer you somesuggestions in this regard.
Maybe, maybe you're a single mom.
Maybe you're trying to supportyour son and you're trying to get
him, and you're not reallyinterested in going out, letting
him throw 85, you know, 80mile an hour, fastballs at you.

(57:09):
Maybe you are.
And then good, good on you.
But maybe you need to engineerthat opportunity for him.
Maybe you need to say, hey,get a few of your buddies together.
I'll be the one who'll driveyou over to the park and you guys
can go and do this.
Or maybe you're seeking outthose opportunities.
I'll take you over so yourgrandfather can work with you.
Or I'll, you know, there's acouple of guys, you know, getting

(57:32):
together over here.
Let's, you know, maybe you're the.
Maybe you're the person whobrings lunch.
You're the person who drivesthe car.
You're the person.
But you're facing,facilitating that experience.
And you can absolutely be partof it.
Be part of it and be aninstrumental part.
Well, George, you had saidmany times that your mom was a.
Was a big part of yourdevelopment growing up.

(57:53):
Very much.
She was there every game.
Make sure that I was there.
But the thing that stood out,a lot of kids don't maybe look at
it.
But my uniform was clean.
Every game she would watch notonly wash and clean, but iron it.
You must die for balls.
Enough man.
Or slide man.

(58:14):
Angel man.
When I hit home run.
But I was clean, like outthere, like Prince, you know, I was
clean.
I had all the creases in my pants.
I'm looking.
I was styling out there.
But she was there all the timebecause she said, this is what you
want to do this.
You got to go and work.
And she was there supporting me.

(58:35):
And he's talking about.
But in the country, you areeating right.
Yes.
Because you're getting foodfrom the garden.
You don't have to be concernedabout chemicals.
But talk about cook.
She could cook.
You had a tough mom, man.
That's awesome.
But she was stern.
She was learned another one onmy list, which is something.
This could be your mom, yourdad, or anybody is make sure they're

(58:59):
staying up on their academicswhile they're doing this.
Those grades open the door.
Doesn't do them any good tothrow lightning if they can't be
eligible to play on the team.
So keeping that balance intheir life of not only supporting
what they're doing with, withtheir, their sports and their, their
workouts and all that, butalso making sure they're keeping

(59:20):
those academics up so thatthey can be eligible because.
That can open up a lot of opportunities.
Right.
For college scholarships.
Another thing that I, I waswith my boys, especially Ricky, since
he was recruited in footballand baseball.
I made it a point to.
In him too.
I kind of had to work him intomeeting with his guidance counselor.

(59:41):
Man.
A lot, a lot of people missthat because I have.
My mom was involved in theschool system, man, all the time.
My sisters were too, and just.
Our parents were and.
But I learned to keep in towwith the guidance counselor.
Man.
People I think theyunderutilized at least.

(01:00:03):
But they don't understand theimportance of it.
The importance of it.
But that's what they're there for.
That's what they're there.
But what one thing that whilewe're talking about grades and I
find that sometimes the bestplayer is not the one that go to
college, the one that go tocollege because they had the grades
or they have the finances todo it, but the one, the better player
may not go to college becausethey don't have the grades, they're

(01:00:25):
not eligible.
I agree with that.
So that, you know, stressgetting the grades have that balance
out there.
And like Greg said, you can bethe best player in the world, but
if you don't have the gradesto go to college and plus, even if
you don't go to college andyou go into pro ball, it's just going
to help you with your balance,knowing what to do.

(01:00:45):
You want to have at least ahigh school education or something
as such.
But having a good grade isgoing to open the door for you.
Sure.
Well, and we talked about lastweek that the average baseball scholarship
might cover like a third, likea third of your tuition if you can.
That was a big awakening.
If you can combine that withacademic scholarships on top of it
now, you might actually beable to get more of your college

(01:01:06):
covered and paid for if youcan qualify both as an athlete and
as a scholar.
So, yeah, I was talking to.
I had a pitcher from MiamiOxford in the shop the other day
and you know, we were makingsmall talk.
Ask him what his major is,whatever he said, Mechanical engineering.
I said, whoa, and you'replaying ball.
I said, you just said you're aglutton for punishment.
He said, well, if I'm going togo, I'm going to get my money's worth

(01:01:29):
and I'm going to get a good education.
I was like, I mean, hey, man,good on you.
That's interesting.
He's a senior and he's so.
With mechanical engineer,being a doctor, and I've had players
that were in that at differentschools now, they got to make sure
that baseball and the coachunderstands their schedule, the travel

(01:01:53):
schedule.
Travel schedule.
Now that's where the academicadvisor comes in and kind of work
with them on that.
So you got to utilize thatonce you get the.
Want to get to college also.
Yeah.
Well, does anybody have anymore on their list that they feel
they really want to get to something.
Something important that wehaven't said yet?

(01:02:14):
I just.
Just to build it once againoff what Rick had said is the scheduling
and making sure that the schedule.
The guy, the kid plays a sport.
That is scheduling.
It does not conflict with theschooling part.
Some kids have gone homeschoolto make it more convenient, but making

(01:02:35):
sure that you have thatschedule is not going to conflict
there.
Yeah, yeah.
The only one.
The only ones I had left, oneeasy one is filming for review.
You know, film what they'redoing so that they can look at it.
Yeah, I agree.
That's just a quick little one.
Another one, we kind oftouched on it, but setting goals,
you know, have something.
Have something specific and attainable.

(01:02:57):
You know, I want to throw thismany innings or I want this many
strikeouts or I want this.
I only want to have this many air.
You know, something.
Something tangible that youcan say, yes, I met that.
No, I didn't.
That kind of thing.
Yeah.
And then my last one thatwe've touched on without saying it
specifically, but keeping themaccountable, it's.
Yeah, there's a differencebetween keeping them accountable

(01:03:19):
and nagging.
And accountable is saying,hey, you said that you were going
to do this.
Let's stay up to it.
Nagging is, hey, why didn'tyou do this?
Why?
You know, but.
But keeping them accountable is.
Is.
Is you.
You said you were going to do this.
Now I'm going to help you.
Yeah.
Reminder.
It's.
It's a way to keep.

(01:03:39):
You keep both the parent andthe player on the same team on the
same side.
Yeah.
And say, hey, we're going todo this so that we can succeed.
Succeed together at the sametime, making sure that you are Accountable
for your.
Oh, yeah.
As well.
They're going to use it as an example.
Yeah, that goes into my lastfew here.
Number one here or the, mynext one here is know what you're

(01:04:00):
getting into.
So let me, let me just kind oflay this out a little bit from a
parent perspective.
So if you are going to headthis direction, then you're going
to be looking at playingselect and travel ball, which means
you're going to be going to tournaments.
A lot of these tournamentswill start on Thursday nights, they'll
play Fridays, they'll playSaturday, they'll play Sunday and
then you're going to drivehome and you're going to be hundreds

(01:04:21):
of miles from home.
So that means that you have tomake sure you can get that time from
your job to go and do that.
I, I was self employed whileEthan was doing it.
I worked from the road.
There were a lot of times whenI would work from our Airbnb or wherever
we were, campgrounds.
I worked from all kinds of places.
And I said many times, I don'tknow how people who aren't self employed

(01:04:44):
find the time to do thisbecause it's extremely hard.
You're going to be spendingyour vacation time doing this.
And if you have more than onechild, you have to figure out how
you're justifying spending thefamily's vacation time from your
job on one child and howyou're going to make that work.
Now I have some suggestionsfor that, but that's, that is a thought

(01:05:06):
process that you got to go through.
So time is a big deal.
You're going to have to havetime for these things or you're going
to have to send your childwith another family.
And maybe, so maybe thisfamily is going to go to this tournament
and they're going to cart,make sure you rotate and then you're
going to go to the next oneand you're going to, you're going
to cart their child with you.
And you know, maybe, maybethat's how you do it.
There's lots of ways to workit out, but it is a significant time

(01:05:31):
commitment.
On top of that, you're goingto have driving to practices, you're
going to have driving to lessons.
You're going to have.
So there's a lot of miles onthe car and gas in the tank and,
and food along the way andkids this age are eating machines.
And so there's, there's, youknow, this not cheap.
I mean, in a day you can't goto, you can't go to McDonald's for

(01:05:52):
five bucks.
You got to pack a lunch.
Yeah.
Fruits.
You're also trying to have.
Yeah, yeah.
You're also trying to have thehealthy food, so you're taking it
with you, and you're trying tohave options.
And eating healthy costs morethan eating junk.
So all of these things factorin to what you're doing.
They do.
The other thing is the priceof lessons, the price of gear, the

(01:06:13):
price of playing on a team,and the price of playing on a select
team can widely vary.
It does not necessarilycorrelate to quality.
Exactly.
You could get into a teamwhere you're paying 6, 7, $800.
You can get into a team whereyou're paying 2, $3,000.
Yeah.
Yes.
You know, and, and.
And it depends on what theteam is doing, what you're buying.

(01:06:36):
This kinds of things.
Now, let me give you some.
Some things.
If the money you're spendingto be on a team is mainly going for
travel costs.
Tournament.
Tournament registrations, youknow, those kinds of things.
That's one thing.
That's right.
If they're, if you're payingin and your kid, they keep telling

(01:06:57):
you that you're gonna get lotsof swag.
They're giving you.
You're getting a big bag andyou're getting three different uniforms
and you get.
Okay, you can go shopping forclothes on your own.
Okay.
What a child needs to playball is a T shirt and, and pants
and shoes.
You know, I mean, it is notthe, the world's fanciest outfit

(01:07:17):
does not make your.
Your son a better ballparkfashion show.
So.
Yeah.
So what, what does the moneygo for?
Make sure you have theorganization explain that.
I know.
If they're upset with it, back off.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
If they're.
And they.
Every one of these.
Well, the, the reputable onesanyway, are probably nonprofit organizations.
They, they.

(01:07:38):
They should be willing andready to.
To share anyway, becausethat's the way the organization is
created.
So you want to ask a lot of questions.
If I'm.
Every dime that I'm paying in,where does it go?
What does it buy?
What does it do?
Because if you're paying in,you know, thousands of dollars to

(01:07:58):
be on this team, and then atthe same time, they're going to.
Yeah, but you're also coveringall your own travel and you're covering
all your own hotel and you'recovering all your own food, and you're
coming up.
What am I paying for?
Like, how does that work?
What.
How does it break down anddifferent Every organization is going
to be different.
They're going to havedifferent ways that they do things.
So you have to.
You have to make sure thatfits in your budget.

(01:08:19):
So maybe have some offshore accounts.
All of this stuff, all thisstuff is going to cost money, and
it's all going to add up, youknow, on top of it.
So that leads me to my nextone, which is, if you're going to
commit, then be ready to workto make it happen.
You may have to take on extra work.
You may have to do somethingin addition to your job to make it

(01:08:41):
happen.
I know lots of.
Lots of people who have.
I've never had one job in mywhole adult life.
I've always had things I didon the side and extra things here
and there, trying to make themoney that we needed to get by.
I learned that from my dad.
My dad always was doing extrathings in addition to his job.
We call it hustling.
Yeah.
So you very well may need tofind ways to have that side hustle,

(01:09:06):
to have a way to bring in themoney that.
That it takes to do this.
Now, that's great.
Back to the idea of you'reusing your vacation time now to do
this.
Okay.
My encouragement would be whenyou go on these trips, make those
trips more about.
More than just baseball.

(01:09:26):
We always did this.
We would find some fun placeto stay, usually in an Airbnb, because
it was way cooler than stayingin the hotel with all.
With all the other family.
Right now, if you're.
If your church, if your coachis real wild about that, and there's,
like, they want you to allstay together.
For reasons and because of tournaments.
Yeah.
Deal with it.
But we never did.
We stayed.

(01:09:46):
We would go and they wouldhave some.
They'd stay at the Hyatt Regency.
And all the families arepaying 150 bucks a night, and we're
paying 99 bucks a night tostay in a complete apartment somewhere
on somebody's, you know, insomebody's Airbnb, and we're twice
as comfortable and better fed.
I'll add something into that, though.
And that was also partially aresult to poor team chemistry, because

(01:10:10):
I played on a different teamevery year, and we never gelled.
Well, if the team gels welland the parents gel well, I think
that the hotel thing is agreat idea.
I wouldn't knock it.
You need to identify your scenario.
And unfortunately, every timewe went out of town, we did not have
that chemistry.
And so for me as a player, forus as a family, it was better that

(01:10:32):
we Were separated.
Well.
And so what we did was then weadded on to the trip.
We would go and we'd use it.
We'd go.
We'd go fishing or we'd gofind a different route home and go
see some stuff.
Usually it was fun places to eat.
Yeah, we try fun places to eat.
Or you know what?
We always made it when we were.
When we're at the field, itwas all about baseball.

(01:10:52):
It was all about.
It was all business.
But then when we walked offthe field, vacation is about to have
fun, had a good time.
So I would encourage you turnthose trips into something.
Something fun and memorable.
There's a lot of memorablethings, and some of them were weird.
Yeah, there was a lot of weird stuff.
But.
But we had fun.
Ethan and I always had fun on.
On the trips, and I willforever be.

(01:11:16):
Be glad that we took those.
Yeah, there's a lot ofaggravation with teams that don't
work well and things likethat, but, man, that's part of.
Growing and to have kinds of fun.
Yeah.
Yeah, I could.
I remember when I.
When I got married to.
To my wife, and she brought upvacation, and I was like, what are
you talking about?
What about vacation?
Vacation?
And it occurred to me, like, Ihadn't been on a vacation since I

(01:11:39):
started playing travel ballbecause that became the vacation.
So, yeah, you know, it's.
It's true.
But.
But I wouldn't.
I don't regret it.
We.
We found a way to have fun.
But we did, and we saw abalance at.
A balance.
Yeah, absolutely.
My wife, Sonya, man, she always.
Whenever we went on our lasttrip of the year for.
For baseball is always in July.

(01:12:00):
It's always on her birthday.
And for years, man, wecelebrated her birthday and.
And all of that.
The parents would get her acake or whatever.
Yeah.
After I would say, by the timeyou got to high school, it was just
me and Ricky.
She said, I'm gonna do my own thing.
Well, like, we did a thing.
We went to.

(01:12:21):
We went to Myrtle beach, theRipley Experience, and we played
down there.
And then at the end of thatweekend, my wife flew down and we.
She met us there.
And then we drove up and wedid the.
The Outer Banks and came upthrough the mountains and North Carolina

(01:12:42):
and all that, and then cameback in through Virginia.
And that was also.
Ethan was a big one on tryingto get in as many states as possible.
So we would always try and seehow many different states we can
get.
Interesting.
Yeah.
And then he was always aboutwhere we were eating I just love
to eat.
Always have.
And it was.
He would think he would lookup some fast food chains that he'd
never, you know, dad, we gotto eat at Whataburger when we go

(01:13:03):
on this, or we got to eat andcook out, or we gotta eat, you know?
And so we would try all thesedifferent places that he always wanted
to eat.
But like, now, when mydaughters had come in, so they.
They stayed at the HamptonInn, because what's great about it,
they have.
They have breakfast there.
So now you.
That's money you can save, andit's right there.

(01:13:23):
Yes, we had a lot.
Had a lot of continentalbreakfast, didn't we?
And we went.
We've seen.
I don't know how many.
I don't know how many bass proshops all over the place.
We would always try and go toone of those if it was at a different
region, because, you know,they have different things in there.
When I.
In spring training, we alwaysgo to a cafeteria.
Okay.
And so that was the savings.

(01:13:44):
You get more for your money, right?
You do.
And, I mean, you had a lot ofassortment of food.
So we enjoy going to cafeterias.
I will warn you, if you godown south for a tournament and somebody
says, you need to go to acalabash buffet.
Yeah.
Be ready to shell out.
They ain't cheap.
They're a lot of fun, but theyain't cheap.

(01:14:06):
We got surprised by what.
Yeah, that was.
We had a family member that oranother teammate who had talked was
talking about it, and wedidn't know anything about it.
We're like, yeah, we'll go.
And so we sit down, and he gotup to go to the bathroom, and the
waiter comes and.
And he said, are you doing the buffet?
I said, yeah.
He said, okay.
And so he brought us theplates or whatever.
Didn't.
Didn't give us a menu to seeprices or anything like that.

(01:14:27):
All right, fine.
And he came back.
I said, well, here's our plates.
Let's go.
We finished eating it.
It was like 40 bucks a person.
Yeah, it was like 80 bucks.
It was a lot.
And I was like, I'm sorry.
He was like, I didn't know.
We made three more trips backfor crab legs.
Yeah, we got maxed out on thecrab legs for that.
You want to take a bag?
And so, yeah, we.

(01:14:48):
We did not do our research on that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well.
And we stayed.
We stayed in KOA campgrounds.
We.
We stayed in.
Yeah.
In Airbnbs, we.
You know, we've done a lot ofdifferent Things like that.
And so you can turn thoseexperiences into something fun.
So these are just some thingsto keep in mind.
We just do a whole episode ofName Five.

(01:15:08):
Yeah, we just did.
That's all right, man.
That's.
That's this.
I knew this was going to kindof go this way.
Rick, did you have anything else?
I do.
If anyone's been listening tothe podcast.
I've been part of travelbaseball since 2001, so about over
20 years or so.
And there's a differencebetween select and travel.
And so we played travel, sowent from rec to travel baseball.

(01:15:33):
And I've still got the ad thatwas in the newspaper at the time.
11 UABC baseball tryouts, andthey won national championships and
stuff like that.
So I knew that this guy was agreat coach.
Okay.
We played to win a nationalchampionship in it.

(01:15:53):
And on this.
And I'll pass this around onin here, that was our mentality.
I think the mentality of thatkind of.
Kind of passed away now.
Well, what I'm hearing fromyou, Rick, is just a tunnel vision
focus on development.
And it was that simple.
And anything else, you know,now you're saying, looking back,

(01:16:14):
oh, well, we could havecharged that.
That's because of where thegame's at now.
You weren't, you weren'tthinking about that, that you're
like, what do we need to develop?
We're gonna develop.
And we got this many kids,we're gonna develop them.
And then you ended up.
You.
Your success was where it wasas a byproduct, like we always talk
about, because of the focus ondevelopment and the focus on the

(01:16:36):
process.
So I.
I hear what you're saying, our.
Back then, and I can look atplayers like yourself, Ethan and
I, like, man, they would havethrived on our team.
That's what I said.
Because I see where the pieces fit.
Yeah.
You see what I'm saying?
If you come out stronger onthe other side of it, you know, I

(01:16:57):
was very fortunate in that.
Ethan has always been a verygrateful person.
He was a very grateful child.
He was always thankful for the sacrifices.
But you said a great foundation.
Just listen to you talk that.
Mom and I.
You had a good communicationthat there.
Well, yeah.
And we.
We forged a.
We forged a teamwork, like Isaid, when he was three years old.

(01:17:18):
I mean, we were.
We were each other's buddyearly on.
Great.
And we were very fortunate tohave that time.
But this is, this is the thingit's going to teach as a parent.
It's going to try Your, yourpatience and your endurance and a
lot of things as your child.
It's going to try them astheir, their attitude, their, their

(01:17:42):
gratitude, their lots of things.
Okay.
So that you know you're gonnahave your, your, your discussions.
It's all part of thechallenges that you're going to be
confronted with.
Level swing, let it travel,Wait for your pitch.
Be aggressive out there.
It's no wonder young playersget confused at the plate.

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(01:18:46):
for power, bunting and more.
Every team needs players whocan hit.
And George explains the gamein a way that's easy to understand
and exciting to learn.
So check out George Fosterfosterbaseball.com to learn how you
can apply for private lessonswith a member of the Cincinnati Reds
hall of Fame.
Spots are limited and theroster will fill up fast, so don't
wait.
Apply at george fosterbaseball.com Let me go back over

(01:19:10):
just a few of these things andwrap us up here.
This is like a psychologyclass which is needed.
The mental part of not onlybaseball, sports, but life itself.
Yeah.
So I've been writing thesedown while we've been doing them
and here's some good ones.
Number one, get an honestevaluation from a third party who's
impartial.
When you, when you get started.
If your child says I want toplay in high school.

(01:19:31):
Good.
Get a good baseline.
Find somebody who will do an evaluation.
You can contact Rick, youcontact George, you can contact him
through our website.
See where you can go to get anevaluation so that you know where
you're starting from.
Find out what the high schoolstandards are.
What do they want to see whenyour kid gets there?
What do they want to.
Where do those stats need to be?

(01:19:53):
Keep those stats and startworking on them going forward so
that you know where you Arefind a good private teacher.
If you're going to play athigher levels, find a private teacher.
It's very important.
In fact, I would.
This is just my opinion.
This is not based in any sortof science.
It's just my opinion.
But I would say I would ratherhave a top notch quality private

(01:20:16):
teacher and play on a lesserselect team.
If you had to, if it was amatter of budget and you had to cut
somewhere, I would cut and play.
Because what matters is yourquality of your instruction and then
the playing time is the rope.
Right.
Yeah, I agree.
Okay.
So hold your playeraccountable for personal practice.

(01:20:38):
You know, hold themaccountable for doing what they're
doing.
Make sure they're eating well,make sure they're sleeping well.
Make sure that they, they stayup on their academics so they are
eligible for being able to play.
Give as much positive feedbackas you can.
Truthfully, that's important.
Yes.
It doesn't help anybody foryou to get overstress that.
Yeah, it is.

(01:20:59):
It doesn't help anybody togive loads of positive feedback.
That isn't true.
So you need to give thepositive feedback.
That is true.
Like what Rick was saying.
Start with, hey, this went well.
This went well with this.
This, you did well today.
Now let's talk about thisother places where we can do some
work and then finish it up with.
Here's another thing that justreally went well.

(01:21:19):
You know, sandwich that in between.
Yeah.
A couple of things that weregood but you know, give that, that
positive feedback.
Keep it positive at home.
There's going to be enough,enough out there in the world challenging
your, your son and daughter.
A lot of criticism.
Enough criticism outside.
They don't need it in the home.
Yep.
They know when they come home,everybody's on their team.

(01:21:41):
Yeah.
Okay.
Pick them up when they're struggling.
You know, sometimes that's what.
Sometimes they need somebodyto just come along and say, hey,
you know, pick it up.
There were times when, man,when we were at some of the biggest
struggles and, and I wouldlook at him and I'd say, okay, so
is this where we, is thiswhere we.
Where we call it quits?
And he'd be like, it's gonnatake me a day or two.

(01:22:03):
I'm like, take a day or two.
Yeah.
And he'd come back and he'slike, nope.
No, I thought about it, Iprayed it through.
We're gonna keep going.
Okay, then we're keeping going.
That's great.
But there, there are timeswhen you have to reevaluate that.
Yeah.
Take them to lots of games.
High school games, collegegames, minor league games, independently
games, pro games.
Just game.

(01:22:24):
Pro games can be expensive.
A lot of these other thingsmay be even free.
Odds are your local highschool team.
Yeah, especially the localhigh school.
Okay.
Local college.
Yes.
So minor league tickets aremuch less expensive than major league
tickets if you've got one near you.
Right.
Independent leagues like wehave the.
In Florence, y' all, you know,we have.

(01:22:45):
They.
They Dragons, too, up there.
Dayton Dragons up there.
So, you know, go.
Go to lots of games.
You can.
It is not possible to watchtoo much baseball.
It just absolutely isn't.
And next week, we're going totalk about how to watch baseball,
and that's going to be fun.
Offer some perspective.
Keep them focused on what matters.

(01:23:06):
Let them know that you areproud of them because of who they
are and because the effortthey put in and because of the commitment
that they're showing,regardless of where the results are
right now.
And then you work from there.
But it's not the results thatmake you proud.
It's the.
It's the person that they'vebecome that makes you proud.

(01:23:26):
Yes.
Then very well put.
Advocate.
Advocate for them when it's appropriate.
As George said, interview the coach.
Look at that program.
What is your money paying for what?
Break that down.
You know, are they getting alot of.
A lot of, you know, sillythings that don't matter, or are
they getting qualityinstruction and development and lots

(01:23:46):
of opportunities and.
And make sure that you areadvocating for your player to.
To get, you know, offer themthe best opportunity you possibly
can work to afford it.
You may have to sacrifice extra.
You may have to cut somethings out.
You may have to go to your sonand say, all right, but we, you know,
we got to cut satellite TV ifwe're going to do this, because we

(01:24:08):
got to make this okay.
We're so.
We're the whole family.
We're doing this together, youknow, or whatever.
We may have to sacrifice thisthing or that thing to make this
happen.
Okay, fine.
You may have to take on extra work.
There's a lot of things thatmay have to go on there.
Make sure you're ready for that.
And finally just constantlymake sure that you're getting a good

(01:24:33):
return for what everybody'sputting in.
You don't want.
You don't want your.
Your player to feel like theygave their heart and soul to something
and got nothing back, even ifwhat they got back was a lot of quality
time with you.
Right.
That's value.
That's price.
Yeah.
That's in value.
So make sure that when youtake these trips, you're, you're

(01:24:55):
crafting them in a way thatthere's other things to do besides
baseball that you're, you'remaking the use of the time you've
been given to have thatquality time together to do fun things
you enjoy so that when youlook back on them, you can say, man,
that team was a mess.
And that, that whole, thatwhole tournament was absolutely a
bust.
But, man, we had fun when wedid that thing.

(01:25:16):
Right.
Know we want those split out.
Yeah, absolutely.
I would, I would have takenthat trip again just because we,
we were able to have fun.
And my, my favorite part aboutthat whole list is none of that requires
the parent to have played orhave any prior baseball knowledge.
No.
Right.
Those are all, all easy.
Yes.
Well, I'm not gonna say easy.
They are not heavy baseballiq, you know.

(01:25:38):
Right.
Demanded things.
And that's kind of the pointin that when you're the parent, your
job is to be the support.
Support and the backstop.
Your job is not to be thecoach or the trainer or the teacher
or whatever, unless you arelike in, in Rick's case, he was,
he was, he was the coach andthe trainer and the dad.
Yeah, okay, but not everybodyis like that.
And that's, that's, andthat's, that's what I'm trying to.

(01:25:59):
As the parent, you are the,you are the support, you are the
funding, you are the, the, thepartner, the teammate.
You are a lot of things, but.
I like that word partnering,because you're partnering.
And the other part is beingaccounting, taking accounting.
If it's a weekly or monthly,where are you in the program?

(01:26:21):
Where are you in the kids development?
Because, you know, they talkabout 21 days to learn a new muscle
memory.
So, like, you look atdifferent stages.
Where are you.
So the first lesson you take,don't expect if it happens, but understanding
that it may not happen rightaway, but see some growth and not,

(01:26:43):
once again, judging on the results.
So I hope you've enjoyed thediscussion that we've had about how
parents can support their kidsto play in advanced levels of baseball.
And I hope we've offered yousome hope and some good suggestions
on what you can do to reallyget behind your kids.
If this is where your baseballjourney is going to take you, remember

(01:27:04):
that in the end, it is apartnership and you are the first
manager that your child willever have.
And so, you know, you are the,the agent, you are the publicist,
you are the, the, everything,you know, and no one is gonna, no
one's gonna care about hisdevelopment the way you will.
So that's, that's important.

(01:27:25):
And so if you've, if somethingthat we've said has sparked some
ideas or some questions andyou want to ask us anything, feel
free to do so.
You can find the podcast onall the places that you would normally
listen to podcasts, AmazonMusic and iHeartRadio and Spotify
and Apple podcasts and allthose places.
You can also find it on YouTube.

(01:27:46):
You can also find it onFacebook if you just search Complete
Game Podcast on either one ofthose and you can leave us a comment,
ask us a question, tell usabout your experience.
What's your experience beenwith, you know, getting behind and
supporting your child towardplaying advanced baseball?
It at other levels like that.
We'd love to hear what yourshare has been.

(01:28:08):
Yeah, that'd be great.
So until next week when we gettogether again for the guys, we,
we wish you well and we hopethat you've enjoyed it.
We'll see you real soon on theComplete Game Podcast.
We hope you've enjoyed theComplete Game Podcast, the show that's

(01:28:29):
all about baseball.
New episodes drop each week,so be sure to subscribe so you don't
miss a thing.
If you'd like to support thepodcast, consider leaving us a five
star rating or better yet,drop us a comment or a question.
Let us know what you think.
The Complete Game Podcast isproduced and distributed by 2Creative
Digital Marketing.

(01:28:49):
Check us out at2CreativeDigital.com on behalf of
Ethan, Coach Rick and theSilver Slugger George Foster, I'm
Greg Dungan saying have agreat week and we'll see you real
soon.

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