Youth Baseball

Last night I did a little work with the town's youth baseball league.. specifically the 9 and 10 year olds. Now, I'm not one to boast, but I remember clearly when I was that age (4th grade) that I was making plays at shortstop (diving catches, rifleing balls across the infield) ALL the time. It was pretty damn common as a matter of fact. I was good for a diving catch about once a game. but these kids... my god. They could barely throw the ball back to the pitcher. For one they don't even HAVE a pitcher.. They are using a pitching machine set at freaking 38 miles an hour.. and they could still barely hit it. For one... they are up there swinging at everything with absolutely no reguard for balls and strikes. For the other, they still can't hit it a lot of the time.. I had to send several kids to the bench after their allotted 5 pitches.. often times giving them extras because they swung at bad ones when they should have let them go. I was even dropping the speed from time to time a mile an hour or so to help some of them out. The coach saw me do this and berated me for "confusing them.. they can't make the adjustment." I was like.. I am dropping it a mile an hour, this will make no difference in adjustment, just make them able to get around on it slightly better, they should be facing real pitchers anyway... you don't think a pitcher will vary a mile an hour or 2 on any given pitch?? It wasn't liek I was dropping it 5-10 miles and hour... throwing them sliders and brushing them back... . whatever... anyway, how much do we really need to baby kids these days?? I know for a fact that the little kids in venezuela and puerto rico aren't having perfect balls thrown to them out of a pitching machine. These kids reminded me more of what a 5 year old playing t-ball should look like, not a 10 year old. It was bad.. there were a couple injuries as well.. One kid took one HARD off the nose. They play on these damned sand fields that are hard as a rock and the balls FLY off these things, so it took a high hop and got him.. He was out of commission the rest of the game with an ice pack on his nose... Another kid took one off the chest just because he hadn't been taught how to catch.. He had his glove turned the wrong way and it hit him right in the middle of the chest. He had no business out there, he will hurt himself unless he learns how to actually catch a ball. I was ashamed of the state of youth baseball. I used to get popped with balls all the time.. usually because I was trying to make a hard play and sticking my face in there.. these kids both were afraid of the ball and were turning their heads.. thats why they got hurt.. There is no reason why they shouldn't have kids pitching at that age either. And they should DEFINITELY have balls and strikes.. and strikeouts.. They can go to the batting cages and hit all day long if they want something from a machine.. but once you are out on the field.. it isn't practice time anymore.. either you can hit, catch, throw, slide, etc. or you can't. We need to stop babying kids and shielding them from defeat. It is no wonder so many people grow up feeling entitled to get what they want.