Baseball!

This is for parents with kids who are athletic and for those who children may not have any experience playing sports! There are SO many reasons why involvement is a great thing to do. They don't have to be the best, they just have to want to be a part of the team!

Spring and summer will be here before you know it. Get your kids enrolled with PBO to participate in a great organization where they can socialize and make new friends, learn and practice new skills - or if they are already a baseball fanatic; improve and refine their skill set!

Here are 5 Great Reasons to introduce sports into the lives of your kids:
Kids who are involved in sports of any kind are generally more social, have a more comfortable time “fitting in”, and develop healthy interests that parents can help shape and mold from the elementary playgrounds and onward through the rest of the child’s school years! Parents, your role: help your child become involved! Play catch with them, shoot hoops with them, and kick the ball around with them.

1. Social Development:
It really does not matter who you are or what your background is, if you are a boy or girl on the playground of life, you will be surrounded by sports! For us, baseball seems to be the focus, but in general, kids who are involved in sports of any kind are generally more social, have a more comfortable time “fitting in”, and develop healthy interests that parents can help shape and mold from the elementary playgrounds and onward through the rest of the child’s school years! Parents, your role: help your child become involved! Play catch with them, shoot hoops with them, and kick the ball around with them. You do not need to be an expert, but by just showing them how to do some basic skills may get them over the hump to becoming socially involved! Make it a goal to spend an hour each week playing a sport with your child. Then, maybe, they will be participating and excelling in the recess game – and not watching, waiting, and wishing they were. Parents, I know it is scary, but you have a tremendous amount of power to affect your child’s life in good, and unfortunately, bad ways! So what is it going to be? Grab your glove and go play catch today!
2. Confidence
Confidence comes from many things, but with constant youth sports surrounding your child, it seems to be an easy boost for your son or daughter to provide them with skills that help them excel in the one activity that almost every young child participates in – sports! Granted, God gives every child different levels of coordination, so sometimes that factor comes into play. If you child if faced with in-coordination, but still has an interest in sports, do you best as a parent to work harder than anyone else in helping your child fight through some of those challenges. They can still participate, have fun, and gain confidence. When kids find themselves on the outside looking in, it can be tough on the child and even tougher for mom and dad. Here are some tips if your child may be a little uncoordinated: 1) Play with them! Help them! Teach them! 2) Encourage the skills they already have and focus on positively reinforcing those skills. Start each back yard session working on what they already do well. 3) Find areas of weakness and close your session working on one or two aspects that can easily be fixed. Remember, we talked about an hour each week (mom/dad, we do not care how busy you are, you can fit this in). Help build confident in your child today!
3. Character
It is good to focus on the positive character traits that we WANT in our kids: honesty, integrity, humble, kindness, good attitude, getting along with others – hopefully you are teaching this and more at home. Playing sports gives your child a chance to live this out! It has been said, “Prepare your child for the road, not the road for your child”. Meaning, beef up on your parenting and have confidence in the skills you have instilled in your child so that they CAN succeed in a world that is not always as safe as your home! Nothing is better for a person then to have common sense “street smarts”. Playing sports with kids from all walks of life brings about issues that have to be resolved, personality conflicts that have to be sorted out, adversity concepts that will have to be overcome, disappointment and hurt feelings that (in appropriate proportions) are good for kids to learn to handle. So many factors shape a child’s character development and most often our homes are safe and nurturing places, so much so that we might be building a culture of kids who are overly sensitive and might not be prepared for the world that lies before them. Remember, prepare them for the road of life, because YOU CANNOT CONTROL the road that lies before them.
4. Relationships
The cultural youth issues that we face today are single handedly a result of the absence of quality adults in the lives of children. PARENTING: The most important job on the face of the earth and has absolutely no prerequisites nor requires any training. If you have a child, you have a responsibility to develop a relationship with him or her. Take time today and make this a priority! Sports will give you a natural outlet and an easy way for both of your to have fun while spending time together. Last night, I spent 10 minutes teaching my 5 year old daughter how to throw a ball properly. We were in the kitchen as a family while dinner was being prepared. We had a blast and I could see a new level of confidence arise in my daughters face once she finally mastered the technique. The next time she is asked to throw a ball at school or in the neighborhood, she will step up with confidence! Not to mention the great quality daddy / daughter time we had! Parents, you are the one who controls most of the development and passion in your child. Begin building a life-long relationship with your kids through sports; you’ll never regret the time well spent!
5. Outlet
Every single kid needs to have something that they can identify with, something that they can express themselves in, and something that helps them build an identity for themselves. Balancing life’s demands of school work, church activities, friendships, family activities, all require an appropriate activity for kids to be involved in. Sports can be this healthy alternative. Many times if kid’s ‘extra time’ is not used wisely, they will find trouble or become involved in activities that might be very healthy. Watching TV and playing video games are a nice break in moderation, but this can become an addicting habit that can potentially lead a child down the road of slothfulness. Help your child develop healthy opportunities that lead to a positive outlet for them!

A little bit about PBO:
http://www.palosbaseball.org

PBO Mission Statement
The goal of the Palos Baseball Organization is to enhance the quality of life for the youth of our community by providing quality youth athletic programs where players can learn and develop fundamentals, skills, teamwork and good sportsmanship.

About PBO
Palos Baseball is a 50 year old organization in the town of Palos Heights. We are non-profit group made up entirely of volunteers. PBO is not funded in any way by the city of Palos Heights. Our program is paid for by your registration fees and by other fundraising efforts. These include our concession stand, Windy City Thunderbolts Night, Corporate Sponsors, the July Invitational Tournament and individual donations.
Our board exists of four officers (president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary) and other trustees who run all aspects of the program. Each trustee is a chair of one of our committees. The committees include: rules, disciplinary, travel, fundraising, capital improvements, fields, picnic & pictures, July Rumble tournament, Thunderbolts night, website & community relations, umpires, coach development, safety, concessions, uniforms & equipment, and four division reps.
Additionally, we have an advisory board made up of the head coaches for several of the local high school baseball teams. Their role is to advise us on all aspects of the running of our league. In particular they put considerable time in helping design our coach’s clinics, our coach development programs and our travel program.
Currently this board consists of:

• Matt O'Neill, Head Varsity Baseball Coach, Stagg High School
• Frank DiFoggio, Head Varsity Baseball Coach, Shepard High School
• Eric Brauer, Head Varsity Baseball Coach, Chicago Christian High School

Here is the link for registration: http://www.palosbaseball.org/r...

Hope to see you during the 2017 season!