7 yo's baseball level emphasizes rules and basics.  Nothing fancy.  Just learning to throw, bat, field.  Lots of practice and coaching on where to stand, how to stand, where to throw.  During yesterday's practice, ds was in left field, and the ball came his way.  It rolled past him a little, he got it, and both coaches yelled for him to throw it to second.  The girl playing third base yelled for him to throw it to her.  He looked for a moment, and threw it to third.  Both coaches responded by asking him where second base was.  He got a mildly annoyed look on his face, and did a humorous point at second base.  Coaches reminded him again, when you get the ball out there, throw to second. 

A moment later, coach's wife, who was helping in left field, was listening.  She came over during a quick break to tell me what ds had explained to her.  He had looked and seen that the person going to second was already on base, but not the person running to third, so he threw it there.  She let one of the coaches know about it.  Later in the practice, it was kind of funny, because the same coach was now telling other kids to throw it to third at times.  LOL! 

Baseball is a great way to allow the kids to learn some problem solving, as they make decisions, learn when it is better to wait a moment before throwing the ball, and such.  11 yo has learned that he has to stop and think from home plate...if he doesn't take time to make a good throw, there's a cost in lost bases and maybe scored runs. 


Although I hated PE as a kid, I can really see the value of sports in this respect.  It's a great venue for learning many cooperative skills, as well as leadership skills, thinking skills, and of course, for getting good exercise.  It's an unfortunate thing that some kids miss the opportunity to grow because of an overly competetive environment.