Coaching

As most people know I have been coaching baseball for the past 4 years at various age levels. I started off with T-Ball. Then I coached 17-18 year olds for 2 years. This year I am coaching 12 year olds. I love it. I love baseball. It was my first love as a kid. It was the sport I played up until my sophomore year of high school. I try to encourage all my friends with kids to get there children involved in sports. It is the most reflective aspect of how our lives operate in the real world. There is winning and losing, and it isn't fair. It teaches kids how to get along with others, how to lead, and that sometimes you can do everything right and still lose. This was one of the greatest life lessons I learned from playing sports. Sometimes I would have a great game and lose, and sometimes I would play awful and still win. The great thing about team sports is the collection makes the whole. You win as a team and you lose as a team. I credit sports for allowing me to get along with different personality types long after playing.

It took me awhile to make the transition from playing into coaching. Nothing beats the feeling of being able to physically affect a game, and as a coach I can't do that. What I have learned is that I can try to put my kids in the best position to win and teach each one to get better, and that is satisfying in itself. My 12 year old team is drama city...and I love it. I really like them because they have a swagger about them. They really believe that every time they go out on the field they're the best team and they're going to win. During my pregame speeches I tell them to hold on to that. I say, "Play confidently, but not cocky." I always tell them, "If we all play with the right amount of effort we'll be competitive today." One kid on the team I've known for 4 years. He's like a little brother that I'm trying to tame. He's one of the biggest, most intense kids in the league. The other day we had a play on where the catcher was faking the throw to second base and turning and throwing to third base. It worked like a charm except the catcher threw it a little high and the ball went into left field. The aforementioned kid was pitching and turns and looks at me and says, "You're stupid coach!" To which my only response was immediately to say, "Oh yeah, well you're stupid" I felt like the biggest idiot after the fact. I talked to him after the game and said, "Listen I'm sorry for saying that to you" He said, "What did you say? I tuned you out" I said, "That's why I love ya, crazy."

I love it. Seeing kids win at different levels is simply amazing. You see the pure joy and jubilation. It's real. I can remember coaching T-ball when I would be thinking strategy and look up and one kid is climbing the outfield fence, one is drawing smily faces in the dirt and the other is digging a hole in the grass. They all wanted to win because they would all look at the scoreboard, but it wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing on their mind is, "What's for snack?" It would always crack me up when they would ask me right before they hit, "What's for snack after the game?" I laughed and said, "I don't know, but I'm sure it's good." The intensity and desire to win goes up at every level culminating with the upper age group and that's OK.

So, I continue to coach and have fun with it and remember what it was like to be a kid at all levels...having fun with your friends. I'm not a kid anymore ahd I have responsibilities now. I'm not upset about that. I actually enjoy responsibility. It keeps me focused. But, I will never stop enjoying life and having fun with my friends and family. Balancing the serious side of life with the fun side, till the day I die...that I can promise you.