No, the problem is that the “youth athlete (of) today” has been coddled, bubble-wrapped, and either been given a band-aid for every boo-boo or a ribbon or trophy for every doo-doo. Kids spend far more time on console games than they do playing actual physical games.
I’m currently 44. How did my generation (and the ones before mine) learn how to hit a ball? Because we were sent out of the house at the crack of dawn, told to go find something to do or else there’d be chores to do. We would meet up at the local baseball / softball / kickball diamond, throw down cardboard pieces as bases (if bags weren’t already there), and just make teams. We’d have anybody or everybody pitch, we’d have a variety of ages from 6-7 thru 12, and one – maybe two – bats for us to use. There weren’t any pitch counts, and we didn’t even really keep specific scoring.
If we got enough kids together, we made a neighborhood team. Again, we might have 3 12 year olds, an 11 year old, 4 10 year olds, and Matt’s little 9 year old brother made 9, so we’d have a team. A league might be formed, and we’d work out something where we’d play teams from other suburbs. We wore t-shirts with numbers heat-transferred on the back, and maybe have 2 or 3 bats for the entire team to use. Again, there weren’t pitch counts, and Joey would pitch until his arm fell off (for the day) or he couldn’t find a strike if it bit him in the butt and wouldn’t let go.
This was what Little League was all about.
But then, something changed in society. In short, no one wanted to “feel bad” about losing. As soon as we couldn’t accept losing, then we had to go and make everything “Fair” and “Equal”. Could it be that this team is losing because it has more 11 year olds than 12 year olds? Then the 11 year olds should have their own team, and the 12’s should be on their own separate team. 10 year olds can’t run as fast to 1B, so they should only have to run 60 feet, not 70 feet. Why is little Liam giving up so many hits? Is his arm tired? Well, he should only throw 40 pitches then. But big Brian is dominating the other teams he’s pitching against? Oh, we can’t have that! We have to be fair! So, we’ll limit him to 40 pitches too!
Kids can’t swing a “normal” bat and get hits? Aw... well, let’s make for them special bats that are lighter than a paper towel tube, but are stronger than a tungsten rod so it really creams a ball! Oh wait, those are really expensive, and kinda dangerous, so let’s make them “drop 3’s”... no, wait, “drop 5’s”... wait wait, the little kids need “drop 8’s”.
Lemme tell ya, I see more joy in the pickup games of stickball and waffle ball, played by the little siblings (boys and girls) on the grass between fields, than I do amongst their brothers playing a “Little League” or tournament ball game within the confines of a very sterile baseball field. We are on the verge of regulating the game to death.