Here is a question for you all. What is a coach and what should the primary goal of that individual be? Here is what we think. 1) To get the players that are directly underneath them to work together as a team. Teams will always have a super star, the one that can do it all or really stand out. But that person cannot do it alone. A great pitcher can strike out 11 and give up 2 hits but still lose due to what happens behind him. The best hitter on the team only gets to bat 3 or 4 times a game. That means that there are at least 18 other at bats (in a 7 inning game) by other players that can win the game. The coaches job is to find a way to get the rest of the team to play together and support one another. To come together as a TEAM. 2) Teach sportsmanship. There is nothing that gripes me more than to see players acting like they are better than everyone else and better than their teammates. To disrespect the team by acting against the coaches or their teammates. To disrespect the game by not giving their all due to them having a bad game or at bat. To lose and refuse to shake hands. Losing is no fun, but neither is not getting the promotion that you think you deserve in real life. BUT, you cant shut down and act like a jerk. You have to keep going to put food on the table for your family. The diamond can teach you about life if you allow it. 3) Encourage. I hear story after story about players that are told what they do wrong and WHY they can NOT succeed. That is fine, but finish with telling them what to do to fix it! If you are a coach, the job is not just to win, but to help your players. Especially those that dont make your team. Some of those kids are willing to work their tail off and get better. They might be your next super star in a year or so. Confidence can do more to a person than physical ability. I am glad that David Eckstein of the St. Louis Cardinals did not listen to the hundreds that told him he could never make it because he was so small. By the way, he was the 2006 World Series MVP. 4) Constantly learn. Science is constantly doing studies and research and can teach us all so much. We should never become stuck in our ways to the point of knowing it all. I was with Ethan in physical therapy the other day and the guy actually asked me why I was there that I probably knew more than them. I told him, I wanted to learn. To see if there is something that they do with the arm that is different than what I know to help other pitchers out. You owe it to your team to make certain you are giving them the latest information possible. 5) Stay positive. Do you make more negative comments than positive? Remind the player of what they are doing well while telling them what to do to fix their flaws. In war, tactics are used to take away the hope, to cause the POW to give up. Constantly being in the negative does the exact same thing. It takes away hope of being able to do anything right. 6) Safety. Think of the players longevity before the teams success. We do not hesitate to stop lessons or pull a player if there is the SLIGHTEST thought of an injury or pain. There is no sense continuing. Best analogy I can think of is a radiator hose. A radiator hose can leak and be a relatively cheap fix. If you let it go, it can blow a $5000 motor. STOP and fix it while the problem is minor. 7) Do your best to prepare the player for the next level. It is up to THEIR work ethic to decide if they make it or not. As a coach we constantly ask the player to give us their all. To give their team their all...we should do the exact same for our players. Give them our all. We need to walk away from a practice session or game with the satisfaction of saying, I gave those players everything I had. I helped every one of them to the best of my ability. 8) Remember the players are watching you and your actions. How you conduct yourself on the field is exactly how they are going to act when they grow up because it is what they are taught. Are they seeing you swear at umpires? Are they seeing you show disregard for your players? Are they seeing you win at all costs? Or are they seeing you be respectful and considerate of the future players. Walk off the field with integrity. Make certain that your players WANT to be just like you and respect you! It is a good recipe for success.
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 13:00:01 +0000
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