Cosplay vs. Competition: 7U Signing Day Insanity - Academy Youth Baseball Podcast EP 109 | Driveline Baseball

About this episode

Deven Morgan critiques the trend of professionalizing youth sports and discusses potential solutions for the youth coaching crisis.

Cosplay vs. Competition: 7U Signing Day Insanity In this episode of "the world's most dangerous youth baseball podcast," host Deven Morgan returns for another Youth Baseball Bummer Power Hour to tackle the growing trend of "cosplay" in youth sports. Deven offers a scathing critique of signing days for 6 and 7-year-olds, utilizing the developmental theories of Jean Piaget to explain why professionalizing the experience for single-digit ages is a psychological "ticking time bomb." The conversation pivots to a proposed systemic solution for the youth coaching crisis, arguing that the current "pulse-only" requirement for coaches must be replaced by a teacher-like certification and a centralized repository for safety and compliance. Deven also celebrates the "disruption" of Jesse Cole and the Savannah Bananas as they expand into youth tournaments, challenging the traditional 90-foot game to either prioritize fun or lose its market share to "Banana Ball." Finally, the show concludes with a deep dive into five months of HitTrax data, proving through "Player 1’s" 3,000 tracked swings that development is not a…

People in this episode

Host: Deven Morgan

Topics covered

• youth baseball
• signing day
• developmental psychology
• coaching certification
• youth sports
• Banana Ball

Keywords

• youth sports
• cosplay
• signing day
• coaching certification
• development
• HitTrax
• Banana Ball

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Savannah Bananas

Books & works: HitTrax

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