SVBSA

Be present, but be mindful what type of presence you bring to your kids’ games.

👇👇👇👇👇

I think about youth baseball players a lot.
Not their stats or their mechanics.
Their inner world.

What it must feel like to be mid-development —
your brain still learning how to hold big emotions,
your sense of self still being assembled piece by piece —
and to be asked to perform in public, under pressure,
in front of adults whose reactions you can feel even when you're trying not to look.

They feel the parent who sighs when they strike out.
They feel the coach whose disappointment has a specific silence.
They feel the energy in the dugout shift when things go wrong.

And they carry all of that weight
in a body that doesn't yet know how to put it down.

We talk a lot about developing players.
We talk very little about how the adults in their environment
are either building that development — or quietly dismantling it.

There is no neutral in this.

When you're around a youth athlete,
you are either adding to the weight they're already carrying —
or you are one of the reasons they keep showing up.

Choose carefully. They are paying attention. ⚾