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I Don't Know Where to Start
From coach pitch to middle school and where we go from here!
I’ve been trying to get back into regular writing (and publishing) for a few months now, but I can’t seem to overcome writer’s block.
It’s not that I don’t have anything to write about. I have too much to write about, and I just don’t know where to start.
A big part of my issue is that I’m so worried about everything being just perfect. I want to publish content that’s easy to follow and meets the needs of everyone at the right time. I know that’s impossible. My wife tells me I just need to START and worry about the formatting later. She’s right. So here goes…
I started Elbow Up back when I was an assistant coach for my son’s recreational league All-Star team - let’s say during the 7U to 10U seasons for my youngest son, Brenton. A lot of baseball has happened since then.
The next year, that same team transitioned to “travel” ball, and I remained an assistant coach. Over the next few years, I was a team administrator, head coach, assistant coach, no coach, and back to assistant coach. This season will be his first time playing middle school (if he makes the team).
After all these years and more than 250 games, now you know why I can’t figure out what to write about - there’s so much! But here’s something you need to know - it goes by so fast! Here’s a compilation of photos of my son during the lifetime of Elbow Up. It’s been nearly 6 years, but that first picture feels like yesterday.

My youngest throughout my Elbow Up journey.
I’ll leave the life lessons for future writings, but if you take just one thing with you today let it be this…most of what I focused on early in my dad/coaching career was not nearly as important as I thought it was - some of it not at all. And based on what I’ve seen every weekend for nearly 6 years, you’re probably in the same boat too.
I invite you to follow along as I continue my efforts to tell my story, hoping to change the way folks look at youth baseball.
How We Got Here
If you’re new around here, I’d recommend catching up on a few things. Here’s a link to the Elbow Up origin story and why I decided to start this venture. Here’s another quick explanation of why it’s named Elbow Up.
We started our youngest son in coach pitch when he was four. He played in the 5 & 6 year old rec league for three years. He played and I coached All-Stars for two of those. Then we did seven year old All-Stars before “going select” with a core group of kids from that team for the 8U season.
That same team played together for the 8U, 9U, 10U, and 11U seasons. We had a really solid group of kids and parents. I’ve always thought one of the main reasons we had such a good run over that time span was because we basically took the same group of kids from our community park and kept them together (instead of having tryouts and building a team from scratch made up of kids and parents with nothing in common).
Back to Elbow Up…most of my publishing spanned from that 7U All-star season through that 9U select (or travel) season. I wrote and spoke about things like buying bigger bats, body language, focusing too much on winning, how coaches are ruining players’ arms, and how weekend tournaments are ruining player development.
Then I shifted more into recording podcast episodes and had some really good content from interviews with MLB veteran turned dad and youth baseball coach, Shawn Kelley, as well as former Cleveland Indians pitching coach turned dad and youth baseball coach, Mike Steele (part one and part two).
Now it’s time to catch up on those 10U, 11U, 12U, and now 13U seasons. I’m certain of two things:
I have more stories and content than I could ever publish.
I’ll double down on almost everything I’ve already been saying this whole time!
The Last Three Years
I’m not going to go into all the detail yet, but just for those of you curious, I’ll layout what my family’s journey has looked like. We went from playing on (and coaching) the same team for four years to being on (and coaching) three different teams in three years.
After finishing up our 11U season with Tennessee Prime, our son entered middle school. I’ve long said it’s unfortunate that kids that young have to play on a full size field and switch to -3 BBOR bats. Most 6th graders can’t throw the ball across the field nor can they swing the heavier bats.
We were fortunate at our school that there were enough 6th graders to keep together and play spring and summer ball together as a 12U team. We left the comfort of playing with the same kids (and coaches) for five-plus years and started a new team - Seahawks Baseball.
I put the team together and we hired a coach. Since the paid coach also coached in the school’s high school program, me and a few dads coached until his high school season was over. I rate the decision to do this and how it turned out a solid A+. Sure there were things I may do differently if I had it to do over again, but it was absolutely the right decision for our kids and 90% of the other parents would agree.
At the very first parent meeting in the summer/fall of 2022 I told the parents this would be a one-year commitment and that once our kids were in 7th grade they would tryout for the middle school team. The end of that season came, and it was time for the next chapter.
For as long as I can remember, there has really only been one “elite” travel program in the Chattanooga area. It’s not the same one today as it’s always been, but there’s usually just one. The issue for us is they don’t start with their paid coaches (non-dads) until 14U.
There’s a newer organization that has really focused on doing things the right way led by some guys I know and trust. My son made their 13U team, effectively ending my coaching career (or so I thought).
They hired two paid coaches who did a great job during the 2024 fall season. Surprisingly I really enjoyed just being a dad, and my son thrived being on a new team with new coaches. Even sitting outside the fence with my wife during the games was more enjoyable than I thought it would be.
Coming out of the holiday season, our head coach made a personal decision to spend more time with his family. He and his wife had a new baby on the way and he was changing careers. I got a call asking me to help with pitching. Of course I couldn’t say no!
Now we’re two weeks away from middle school tryouts and working out once or twice a week with our new summer team. It’s been a long time since I wrote that very first Coming Soon post, but time sure has flown by. Yours will too, so I challenge you to enjoy every minute!
Follow along with more details and lessons learned as you’ll start to see my content weekly (or more).
Please be on the lookout for the next email. I’ll also be publishing new podcast episodes starting this week! Here’s how to follow along…
First, subscribe to my emails. I’ll send everything right to your inbox.
Secondly, subscribe to the podcast using your favorite podcast player.
Third, please share with everyone you know. 👇🏼
I’m working on a referral program that will track how many referrals you bring to Elbow Up and offer rewards along the way.
About Kevin
Kevin Burke is a dad and coach, having coached baseball at all ages tee ball through varsity high school over the last 20+ years. He currently coaches his son’s “travel” team based out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. More about Kevin.
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