Georgia Raiders Baseball

WELCOME

To all of our followers old and new. This blog will serve as your source of information regarding our OUTSTANDING baseball organization. We thank you for being a part of the RAIDER NATION!

COACHES CORNER

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!! Baseball season is back. There's nothing like America's Pastime. I get chills through my body watching baseball highlights. From Jackie Robinson stealing home under the tag of Yogi Berra to Kirk Gibson pumping his fist after his homerun in the World Series to Willie Mays' amazing over the head catch to Sid Bream rounding third base and sliding home safely to take the Braves to the World Series, whew!!!!!! You have to be from another planet if you don't love this sport..... I LOVE watching young men play this sport for pure fun and excitement. The GEORGIA RAIDERS baseball organization has garnered National recognition in only three years, and the future looks even brighter!!!!

One thing that my late mentor used to tell me that I will never forget. "People always wanna walk in your shoes until they see the corns on your feet"..... And people hate you for 1 of 3 reasons. 1) They want to be you 2) They hate themselves 3) They see you as a threat

I've been coaching for years, well before I had a son and the key to having a smooth running team is the PARENTS. They can also be the downfall of any team or organization. Every year I make make the majority of parents happy and then there are the ones that don't talk to me anymore. A coaching colleague once told me this about negative parents. He said "When a dog growls at everyone, its not about who's passing by". Its sad that when you have willing people in the community to help parents expose their kids to things outside of the norm, things that 99% of them would never experience, you have parents that will turn on you because they can't manipulate their way into power. Nevermind the fact that the child is having a ball and reaping some positive and life changing benefits while building solid relationships with boys that will be their friends for life. Recently, I just heard the parents of a 5yr old baseball player say that their son is a stud, but he's on a team full of rejects. WHAT??? And we wonder what's wrong with society and the youth being in turmoil. Yes, we lack mentoring in the community, our kids listen to unsavory lyrics in songs, play violent video games and watch questionable movies, but the REAL problem is US parents. As Bernie Mac once said "We're some punk a$$ parents!" Ignorance has become a plague and our youth are catching it like wildfire. Our society has been hijacked by a NOW mentality. If you want to meet a group of the most insecure men on the planet, just stop at your neighborhood ballpark. These are men/dads trying to live vicariously through their sons while undermining every decision and move that the coaches make. Get in the game DADS!! Literally.. Volunteer and become a coach, since every decision you make from the bleachers is the correct one. Don't get out there and just coach your son, coach the whole team. We need more male figures to step up....

Parents, what are we really teaching our boys? If they encounter a situation where they have to compete for anything and its not handed to them, then it's not the right situation. We are not teaching our youth that "LIFE is a COMPETITION". They'll have to compete to get into the college they want to attend, they'll be competing to get that dream job, they'll even compete to get the spouse that they want. But from an early age we tend to give our BOYS a pass. We pacify these young men because we want our kids to have it easier than we had it growing up. We live in the suburbs in our nice houses, nice cars with good jobs, but all we talk about is our sons going to the LEAGUE. And we wonder why academics isn't priority #1... It's US parents!! What happened to using baseball and athletics as a tool to teach good sportsmanship, respect and teamwork. If you have a child that's talented/gifted enough to play at the collegiate or professional level, then that's great. Winning on the baseball field seems to be more important than Winning in life. With more and more males filling up America's jails and African-American boys dropping out of school at an alarming rate, we ALL need to re-focus...

I love watching these 9 year old Georgia Raiders baseball players. Its amazing what you can learn from kids. These boys are incredible!! They NEVER stop having fun and fighting through obstacles that the average kid doesn't encounter. Are the 9U Georgia Raiders special? YES they are. The boys say "they can show you better than I can tell you". America's Team.... #1 in the USA

"You can try and stop a Revolutionary, but you can never stop the Revolution"

RAIDER NATION!!!!!!!!!! Silver & Black Attack

Jerry Clark aka Papa Raider

DAD/Coach/Disciplinarian/Mentor

Monday, June 22, 2009

Recap for GT RAIDERS 1ST Kid Pitch USSSA Tournament

RAIDERS 7U KID PITCH STATE RUNNER-UP

This is dedicated to all of the NAYSAYERS and the Teams who thought we were Running From YOU!

We came into this tournament after playing a few kid pitch games and we left no doubt that we are truly the best!! It was a 100 degrees (in the shade) this weekend and our boys played GREAT!

Our first game was on Saturday morning against the Dacula Falcons. Jeremiah came out throwing strike after strike, our bats were ready and our defense was on point. Final score GTR 9/Falcons 1.

Next game was against the Gamers RED. Jadyn was our pitcher and did very good. Gamers got an early lead, but the Raiders came back and put some runs on the scoreboard. In the final inning, our defense fell apart. We pride ourselves on being the best 7U defensive team in America, but we gave up three runs on errors and the Gamers Red won the game. Final score Gamers Red 6/GTR 5.

Our loss dropped us to the loser's bracket. It was an uphill battle from there. If we wanted to win the State Championship, we were faced with winning 4 games in a row on Sunday!!

We played the Dacula Dash at 7:30pm. Our bats were on FIRE. Final score GTR 15/Dash 4. This was a long day of baseball.

Sunday's Games/Only the Best Teams were left in the Tournament

Our first game was against the Yard Dogs Red. Our starting pitcher for the game was Jeremiah and he was Great. Our defense was READY and backed up our pitchers very well. We even threw a runner out at home. Good Job RAIDERS! Final Score GTR 4/Yard Dogs Red 1.

Next game was against the Yard Dogs Black. A team we are very familiar with from the past 3 years. Our starting pitcher was Cole and he was throwing strikes. Our bats were on fire. Nicho hit an inside the park Home Run and Peetee relayed the ball from the outfield, Cole on the back up, scooped the ball making a quick throw to Jaybril at home and he laid down a nice tag. Final Score GTR 6/Yard Dogs Black 1.

Championship Game was against the Gamers RED. This was a very long game... Final score Gamers Red 14/GTR 13. Our boys were exhausted, but in "TRUE" Raider form they played through the heat.

For all the teams that did not get your chance to play the RAIDERS...STEP YOUR GAME UP!

RAIDER NATION

WE READY, WE READY!