THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 2, 1996 TAG: 9608010140
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 87 lines
Tom and Ruth Green are no different from thousands of other parents in Hampton Roads who want to provide the best opportunity for their children to succeed in sports.
Once that might have meant coaching a neighborhood team and sending the kids to a camp.
But that was before AAU baseball. Before 70-game seasons that stretch over nine months for 10-year-olds. Before intense competition, not just for victories but for playing time. Before boys, in some instances, were forced to abandon other sports to concentrate on baseball as pre-teens.
That was the changing face of youth baseball last year when the Greens' oldest son, Thomas, tried out for and made his first AAU team, the 12-under Tidewater Drillers.
Six months later, their middle son Chris, joined a startup team of 9-year-olds, also under the Drillers' banner.
And on deck is 7-year-old Patrick, a Pinto League prodigy who has taken batting practice with Chris' AAU manager.
The Greens' motivation for joining AAU baseball was simple.
``We wanted to expose Thomas to the best competition in the area and the state and to raise his performance to another level,'' Tom says. ``At that time we were even thinking he might get to play on a national level.''
AAU helped them accomplish part of that goal. Just practicing with the Drillers improved Thomas' skill level.
But joining an established team that would go on to place ninth in the nation was no easy feat. After a promising start, Thomas began to lose playing time.
Then in February the manager decided to cut down from 18 to 14 players. Thomas, who had committed to play in the Lynnhaven PONY League against the manager's recommendation, was one of the casualties.
The Greens, staunch supporters of recreation sports, struggled with this first case of rejection and it helped shaped their different views on AAU.
``Thomas learned what it was like to make a team, not just to be put on one,'' Tom says. ``He also learned what it was like to sit on the bench. They were all good experiences. Some were more painful than others.''
Ruth, who coaches recreation soccer, recognizes the value of hard knocks.
``But there is a lot of pressure in AAU, and I didn't think it was good for Thomas,'' she says. ``The whole time he was on that team, Tom and I struggled. It raised (Thomas') skills. But it was not uplifting.''
Thomas agrees.
``I'm a better baseball player,'' he says. ``I learned about the fundamentals. But I sat on the bench most of the time, and I didn't like that much.''
Thomas played in the Lynnhaven PONY League this summer - with his father as one of his coaches - and made the all-star team.
``I'm comfortable with that,'' Thomas says. ``There wasn't the pressure to win all the time. It was fun.''
If there was a lesson to be learned from Thomas' experience, Tom says, it was not to join an established team. Chris is one of the original members of his AAU team and thriving under the competition.
Asked what he likes best about AAU baseball, Chris says, ``Everything.''
``It's all been positive with Chris,'' Ruth says. ``We got in on the ground level, and it's a close-knit group. The coach (Bryan Black) is a good communicator, and the kids are really friends who support each other.''
The Greens' only regret with Chris is that he had to forgo select soccer to make the commitment to AAU baseball.
``Chris made the Beach FC team, but we were going on vacation in August, and he had 16 soccer practices that month,'' Tom says. ``You can't be on two traveling teams. He had to decide.''
Chris' best friend, Will Byrd, faced the same dilemma. Chris chose baseball; Will chose soccer.
``The way the system is going kids are having to make decisions on what sport to specialize in at 10,'' Tom says. ``That's sort of a crapshoot. Some kids develop quicker than others, but at that age you don't know how they are going to end up.''
The time will arrive soon when Patrick has to make the same decision.
``I think he likes soccer and basketball just as much as baseball,'' Ruth says.
But Patrick's talent in baseball already has been discovered and rewarded. He was the starting second baseman on the Lynnhaven American Pinto All-Stars that won the district championship last month. Patrick calls baseball his favorite sport.
``We'll cross that bridge when we come to it,'' Ruth says. MEMO: Main story on page 14 and related story on page 16. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by ROBIN BRINKLEY
From left, Thomas, Tom, Chris, Ruth and Patrick Green have
experienced both recreation and AAU baseball. by CNB