You hear a thud in the middle of the night, then another, and another. Should panic set in? After all, your toddler has just made the move from his crib, to a new bed. As you swing open your son’s bedroom door, a smile appears on your face. Your “baby” is tossing a baseball off the bedroom wall. Now is he ready for batting practice?

Just when you thought T-ball was making children competitive at a young age, then along comes Blasball classes for three-year-olds! Yes, right out of the strollers and onto the baseball diamond.

Offered by MVP Baseball/Softball Academy in Hooksett, N.H., the program is designed to introduce the game of baseball to children ages 3 to 5 years old. For sixty bucks, you can drop off your teething toddler for a round of batting practice. Well, not quite. I would imagine the parents will still have to stick around to feed them milk and cookies between innings. And there’s probably a changing table at the back of the dugout.

I always enjoyed photographing T-ball games. Many of the “future athletes” were either picking their noses, sitting in the outfield among the dandelions, or clinging to their parents near the dugouts. The bats their parents buy them are nearly as tall as they are, and they rarely get upset about playing time, or making an error. The highlight of their game is when the ice cream truck pulls up afterwards.

So if the T-ballers an barely pay attention to the coach, who is trying to teach them to run the bases in the correct order, how do you teach a three-year-old to swing a bat, field a grounder or snag a pop fly?

There will always be those parents who have set their sights on the MLB for their son, just after birth. Dressing them in Red Sox t-shirts and Pampers, they teach them to say “Big Papi” to the television, and “Oooo” when Youkilis is up to bat. But at what age is it safe to introduce your kids to youth sports? When do you buy them their first baseball bat and glove? How soon is too soon for competive sports?

As feeder programs continue to offer competitve sports to younger children, parents will look for an edge for their inspiring young athlete. In this competitive world, parents often go overboard in trying to develop their kids too young, and that may lead to burnout or injuries that will affect them the rest of their lives.

If they can barely pick up a book to read, or need help getting on a tricycle, it’s too early to put a glove on their hands to catch and throw a baseball. Wait until they’re out of diampers, stop drouling and off the potty chair before dressing them in a baseball uniform. Let them dress and feed themselves before sending them into the world of screaming parents, stiff competition and injuries that sports brings to young athletes.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Tags: Academy, Baseball, Blasball, Children, Hooksett, kids, MVP, Softball, T-ball, Toddler