Great words from Bayou Chatter... Pull up a chair and lean in because I’ve got a story that I want to tell…three stories to be exact. All three stories took place two years ago during my team’s nine-year-old season. I certainly don’t remember every game from that season but these three I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget. I’d like to say that every game ended with a W but it didn’t. However, as you’ll see, my team gained something much more important – the confidence to stare down an ace and to not be afraid of a challenge. #1 The first true ace that we saw that season was in our fourth tournament in a pool play game. This kid was the rare nine-year-old exception. He could throw hard AND he was accurate AND mannnnnnn did he have his way with us. We weren’t used to the speed and it showed. He put on a pitching clinic and we put on a swinging at air clinic. Pitch after pitch and whiff after whiff. When the game ended we wondered what we had just saw but there was no time to feel sorry for ourselves because we would see it again soon. When the brackets came out guess who we were scheduled to play the next day? If you would have seen the game on Saturday you would have concluded that we had no chance on Sunday……but we decided to show up to the park anyway. We put our players through a few drills to prepare them for the speed. We pumped them up as best that we could. But drills and pre-game speeches don’t always translate into courage and confidence. Ultimately it was up to them whether or not they would show up to play. Would we play afraid or would we come ready to fight? I believe that it was important to find out the answer to that question because usually that answer stays the same throughout a team’s journey. So which would it be? Well here comes the pitch………….and as quickly as it came in my leadoff sent it right back out over that ace’s head! My second batter “battled” for an eventual walk. My third hitter got a base hit. By the time my sixth batter stepped up to the plate their coach was making his first trip to the mound. By my ninth batter he was making his second trip and it was wrap. Game. Over. We came to fight that day. #2 The second true ace that we saw that summer was at the state tournament. In our pre-game warm-ups (and some of you coaches will know what I mean by this) we looked across the field and there was one kid where we all said, “he MUST be their ace”. He was. Kid was tall and had go-go gadget arms. He just looked the part and he pitched like it too. Much like the first ace that we saw speed and control were not a problem. He was the real deal. But so were my batters. You could tell that they knew that they had been here before! They didn’t back down the first time and they sure weren’t going to do it now. We ended up winning but unfortunately lost our first bracket game the next day. However, soon after we got home we noticed a coach of the second ace posted this about us online. I do have to say one of the better teams was not in at least the semis. We played them in pool play and let me tell you this team can hit and pitch. We could not buy a hit to save us that game and they just smoked our ace. I was shocked when I saw that this team did not advance.... Respect. #3 The third true ace that we saw that summer was in a Global WS in Alabama. He was a man among boys. I’m guessing his pre-game meal was nails. We heard other coaches say that he was the hardest throwing nine-year-old in Georgia. Ehhhhhh I don’t know if that was true but I wouldn’t doubt if it was. To be honest he pitched so hard we were behind at first but eventually we adjusted and caught up. I’ll never forget one of my players took one right to the back of the neck…but the next at bat he got right back in the box like it never happened. In what was a “meaningless” pool play game they ended up pitching their ace a fourth inning. Some might say that was a dumb move since it limited his ability to pitch in any pool play games the following day…but we took it as a compliment. It was as if they wanted to beat us and believed the only way they could do it was with their best. We ended up losing that game 6-4…but it was honestly our PROUDEST moment of the season because it was obvious how far our boys had come. This was the best that we saw all season but they didn’t run and hide. So why am I telling you about these three games. Well maybe because this coach was just doing a little reminiscing…thinking back about some good times. And if it sounds like I’m bragging a little then call me guilty. I always have time to brag about my players. But I also tell you these stories to say that this is one of my favorite parts about travel ball. Of course this journey is about fun and great friendships and enjoying the weekend and staying active………….but it’s also about our boys and girls learning how to fight…learning how to reach out to be the best…learning to stand tall in the box and not sink with fear. The longer I coach the more I’m starting to believe that you can’t really teach confidence. All you can really do is put your players in positions where they have to fight. I’m not suggesting that you should step into the lion’s den every weekend but… If you never take your shot… If you never have to face a pitcher that makes others say wow… If you always hope to get the easy pool play draw… If you always look for the easiest competition… Then you might win a few trophies but really you aren’t doing your players any favors down the road. I wonder how the rest of that season would have went if we would have backed down from that first ace??? And let me say it’s with great respect that I write about these three pitchers that we faced. They all have bright futures in baseball. But what if in that fourth tournament against that first ace we had not shown up to fight??? Thankfully we’ll never know. What I do know is that a funny thing happened. By the end of the season and into the next season any time we would go up against an ace my boys actually started to say “that’s our kind of pitcher!” PROUD!
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 21:42:16 +0000
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