Mental aspect of Baseball

Question
Mike,
I have Managed my 9 year old Son since T-Ball and he has always been a pretty good player,His Baseball skills are not his problem, His problem is keeping his head in the game so to speak.He is the one the Coaches are constanty reminding to "Pay Attention" , He is a straight "A" student in School so I know this problem is Baseball related.Any thoughts on how I can help him to get his head in the game?

Answer
Steve,

I suppose you would need to identify what is causing the distraction. My first indication may be that he is bored. Sadly, many coaches do not know how to properly conduct their practices so that everyone is more involved. This is especially true during batting practice, where most of the players tend to stand around while the batter takes his cuts. There are better ways to conduct the practices so that everyone stays busy, both physically and mentally. Sadly, many kids are gravitating to soccer for this very reason, in that baseball is being tagged as boring. Hopefully coaches will take the extra steps to turn that way of thinking around, because there's no greater sport than baseball.

So, perhaps that could be the reason, and if so, working with the coach may help to resolve the problem. It also could be that he isn't that interested in the sport (perish the thought!), and I suppose there could be other distractions I'm not aware of. Hope you are able to find the solution.

Mike F.