For the last 3 weeks, I have been coaching a new group of kids and using a new coaching philosphy. Since I lost my High School Varsity coaching position due to consolidation, I am now coaching a group of 7th and 8th grade boys in basketball. After reading a book on coaching youth baseball, I have decided to use those techniques this season to see if I can get different results out of my team.
The main thing I have tried to do over these past 3 weeks is be more patient and be more of a teacher of the game opposed to a disciplinarian. I have also attempted to give more praise on positive things and positive outcomes instead of focusing on the negatives. Even though it has taken every fiber in my head not to snap at these kids at times, I feel as though this may allow us to be successful.
The one area I have had the toughest time in keeping my cool thus far has come over the kids just paying attention to me when they are not in or involved in the action. This has caused me to repeat instructions on several occassions. The old me would have snapped, started yelling, and then forced the team to run until someone puked. Instead of yelling this time around, I have tried calmly telling them to be quiet and pay attention. But, as many 12-14 year olds do, they go right back to their talking ways. This has caused me on a few occassions to stop practice, and calmly put my guys on the line for a few suicides until it sinks in that I want them to pay attention. Yesterday, we had to run 3 suicides in the middle of practice for this to settle into their minds.
Will this calm approach pay off? I guess I will see tomorrow. We have our first game of the season tomorrow, and it just so happens to be a tournament. I don't feel great about my guys as a team right now. We still struggle running set plays and don't seem to have much of a concept of team basketball. I have a group of guys that love to play in PE and in open gyms, but that is disorganized, chaotic basketball. I do have a solid point guard and a really good athlete that I am hoping we can rally behind and win some games. I guess I will see tomorrow how things go...
Friday, November 4, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Coaching Football.. WHAT!?
The title says it all. There was one year in which I was asked to coach a youth flag football team. Now, I'm pretty knowledgeable about all sports I feel. I know the rules of football, know how the game is played, and how the game operates. However, I never played the game growing up. I watch it, but I never played it. So when it comes to knowing the intricate details of having to coach the game, I have some trouble. For instance, a person who watches basketball but never played it will know what a screen is, but do you know how to properly coach guys to properly set a screen and how to set up a screen? Maybe, maybe not. So I know the game, just not how to coach it.
Fortunately, I'm coaching 4 and 5 year olds flag football. Should be simple. The rules aren't that difficult. Six kids per team, 4 linemen, 1 QB, 1 RB. Simple enough. The problem is, Bud (the leader who feels he knows everything yet knows nothing. I think he was named after Bud Selig) feels as if each kid should learn different positions. Bud wants the kids to be able to learn and play every position on the field. Thus, you have big porker kids (who are obviously on the fast track to offensive lineup) need to be taught how to run quarterback. Meanwhile, my little skinny 35 pound kid must learn how to effectively block said porkers on the line. Bud's idea isn't the best, but I go with it since we're playing by Bud's rules. I now have to teach each player to play each position and after each play in a game, the kids must rotate to a new spot.
The experience of coaching that season was a learning one at best with some memorable moments. The kids seemed to have real fun playing the game, and having it be less physical helped the kids. My biggest regret of that season was probably how I handled coaching my own son more than anything.
It was his first (and thus far, only) attempt at playing football. He's extremely small, like his dad, and probably not best suited for a full contact sport. So he was intimidated to say the least. He wouldn't block or make contact with kids on the line and he would stay clear of the ball carrier for fear of being run over. He made 1 tackle (flag pull) all season. As someone who was volunteering my time and effort to coach, it was frustrating watching my own son not fully grasp the meaning of football. And I took my frustrations out on him.
On at least 4 or 5 occassions I'd catch my son crying over some issue on the field, and it would set me off. Instead of trying to console my son, I'd usually just get more irritated at him when his crying would continue. He would get upset if he didn't score a touchdown. I'd explain to him that not everyone scored a touchdown and do the best I could to calm him down. But when he'd refuse to do what I asked him to do to enhance his chances, I'd get frustrated and get mad. The same would happen when we played another team, the Giants, who happened to have a very large kid on their team that my son was terrified of. During the second meeting with the Giants, my son refused to play all together, leaving my team with only 5 kids on the field. Instead of trying to console him, I'd just get frustrated and mad. Here I would be, trying to get him to play so we'd have a full team, all the while trying to coach the other kids. Id yell at my own son, while making sure the others had a fun experience.
This would continue to be a trend over the next few seasons of him playing youth sports. I'd ensure the other kids had fun and learned, while at times jumping on my own son for not doing what I felt he should be doing. I read a book titled "The Perfect Seaspn" recently where yelling at kids was a topic. I'm optimistic that after reading this book, I will have a new perspective on coaching youth sports, spefically coaching my own son.
Fortunately, I'm coaching 4 and 5 year olds flag football. Should be simple. The rules aren't that difficult. Six kids per team, 4 linemen, 1 QB, 1 RB. Simple enough. The problem is, Bud (the leader who feels he knows everything yet knows nothing. I think he was named after Bud Selig) feels as if each kid should learn different positions. Bud wants the kids to be able to learn and play every position on the field. Thus, you have big porker kids (who are obviously on the fast track to offensive lineup) need to be taught how to run quarterback. Meanwhile, my little skinny 35 pound kid must learn how to effectively block said porkers on the line. Bud's idea isn't the best, but I go with it since we're playing by Bud's rules. I now have to teach each player to play each position and after each play in a game, the kids must rotate to a new spot.
The experience of coaching that season was a learning one at best with some memorable moments. The kids seemed to have real fun playing the game, and having it be less physical helped the kids. My biggest regret of that season was probably how I handled coaching my own son more than anything.
It was his first (and thus far, only) attempt at playing football. He's extremely small, like his dad, and probably not best suited for a full contact sport. So he was intimidated to say the least. He wouldn't block or make contact with kids on the line and he would stay clear of the ball carrier for fear of being run over. He made 1 tackle (flag pull) all season. As someone who was volunteering my time and effort to coach, it was frustrating watching my own son not fully grasp the meaning of football. And I took my frustrations out on him.
On at least 4 or 5 occassions I'd catch my son crying over some issue on the field, and it would set me off. Instead of trying to console my son, I'd usually just get more irritated at him when his crying would continue. He would get upset if he didn't score a touchdown. I'd explain to him that not everyone scored a touchdown and do the best I could to calm him down. But when he'd refuse to do what I asked him to do to enhance his chances, I'd get frustrated and get mad. The same would happen when we played another team, the Giants, who happened to have a very large kid on their team that my son was terrified of. During the second meeting with the Giants, my son refused to play all together, leaving my team with only 5 kids on the field. Instead of trying to console him, I'd just get frustrated and mad. Here I would be, trying to get him to play so we'd have a full team, all the while trying to coach the other kids. Id yell at my own son, while making sure the others had a fun experience.
This would continue to be a trend over the next few seasons of him playing youth sports. I'd ensure the other kids had fun and learned, while at times jumping on my own son for not doing what I felt he should be doing. I read a book titled "The Perfect Seaspn" recently where yelling at kids was a topic. I'm optimistic that after reading this book, I will have a new perspective on coaching youth sports, spefically coaching my own son.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Ejection in Pictures
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| Foul #1 that doesn't get called |
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| Foul #2, no call. |
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| Referee gives me my first technical |
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| In the huddle, firing up the troops. I could sure go for some popcorn right about now.... |
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| 2nd technical FT. Notice, I am sitting |
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| Referee walks completely across the floor to tell me to sit and stay in box |
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| Still telling me to sit and stay in the box. |
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| I have had enough. I stomp my foot down which earns me a 2nd technical foul and the ejection. |
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| I stand up to ask what I did. Obviously, I stomped my foot, but c'mon, how many times do I have to be told to sit when I am already sitting down? |
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| I'm calmly asking, "What did I do?" |
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| Close your eyes or else you'll be blinded from the glare from the top of his dome. I still look calm, in my opinion. Nice suit! |
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| Making the walk of shame. Notice the jacket is coming off. |
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| The jacket is off. No chair to throw. So what else can I heave onto the floor to show my frustrations...? |
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| Midway through you see my side arm heave of the jacket. Baldy said in his report I was trying to hit the other referee with my jacket. I played baseball for many years and even coached it, had I wanted to hit the other referee with it, I could have. Instead, it landed perfectly at the free throw line. |
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| Notice the two kids sitting in chairs at the end of the bench. Perhaps I am lucky those kids were there. If not, there would have probably been a chair slung across the floor. But I am gone. The game would be forfeited, decided to play, and then not played due to the "rowdy crowd". |
Friday, September 16, 2011
Ejected
Since my last post was about my JV basketball days, why not share one of the more memorable moments of my JV coaching days... The game in which I was ejected from. First, let me give the backstory...
During my first year of coaching JV, we had played our "rival" team 3 times. During the first game, we beat them rather easily. The second time we met at their place, we managed to beat them with a shot at the buzzer that prevented overtime. We had the better team all season, but we hadn't played up to our capabilities in that game and we had struggled, leading to the buzzer beating victory. The final meeting between us and our rival of 10 miles away was at our place, the next to last game of the season.
In order to try and ensure that we had the better team, we had worked on our full court press all week to make sure we had our rotations and assignments down. The plan wasn't to start out in it, mainly due to the lack of numbers and quality players I had on my team. Though I coached all of my basketball teams how to press, the lack of numbers on my team usually meant we couldn't press to start games, but had to find the right opprotune times to spring it on our opponent.
After a closely contested first half that saw us take a 6 point lead into the half, I decided it was time to bring out the full court trap. We executed it to perfection. Our 6 point lead quickly ballooned to an 11 point lead after 3 quarters. With JV quarters being only 6 minutes in length, it would be tough for our opponent to overcome the lead. But, since we had worked hard on it all week, and with the game still "somewhat" in doubt, I decided to start the 4th quarter off in the press. Besides, while an 11 point lead in a JV game is decent, it CAN be overcome.
We forced a turnover right off the bat and scored to push the lead to 13. We then forced another quick turnover but failed to score. With around 5 minutes left, we still had the 13 point lead when something happened that irritated me. A fan from the opposing team, came out of the stands, walked by my coaches box, and says "You're a jackass!" I just looked at the man and grinned as he walked by. But his comments struck a nerve. I put the rest of my subs in the game with 4 minutes left, but let them press to close out the game. We won the game by 17 that night, with my subs pressing until the final buzzer. The opposing coach wasnt' too happy about my "pressing" decision and informed me it would come back to get me.
The following year, we played them at their place to start the year, and it was obvious from the start that they hadn't forgotten about what I had done the year before. They had sent down 2 varsity players to play in the JV game in order to "pay me back" for my pressing the year before. While the move was an obvious attempt to blow us out this game, it nearly backfired. Even with 2 varsity players, my JV squad came out fired up and trailed by 1 going to the half time. My JV team would do a solid job at holding their own against much better players, but lost in the end by an 11 point margin. I shook the opposing players hands, but walked off without shaking the other coach's hand. This spurred a lot of yelling from the fans as a just grinned and walked off the floor. Finally, one parent responded "Now you know how we felt last year" which provoked my response of "Really? I kicked your ass with a JV team last year, you needed a varsity team this year." But I filed the night in my head, knowing they had a to come to my place later in the season.
Which brings me to the story of "ejected". My team was fired up when our next matchup took place. We were pumped up, probably too much so. I was pumped up, and that wasn't a good thing. We came out pressing like gang busters and forced 3 turnovers in the first minute. But since I was fired up, I was upset at the refs who didn't call fouls that I thought should have been called. This prompted me to calmly say "How about a foul" to the ref. I didn't yell it, didn't storm the court, didn't even cuss or barrate the ref. Nonetheless, he called a technical foul on me.
I took the foul call, knowing I was pumped up and had made the comment 2 or 3 times and after a quick meeting with my team to fire them up, took my seat on the bench as is required by rule after you get a technical. As I'm sitting there watching the opposing player shoot his two technical free throws, the referee marches across the floor to instruct me to sit and get in the box. I acknowledge this with a nod. He tells me for a second time that I must sit and stay in the box. I look up at him, and again, acknowledge with a nod. He then tells me for a third time. By this point, I'm extremely irritated at the chrome domed referee and look down at the floor and notice my left foot is slightly over the coaches box line. No more than my pinky toe is likely over the line.
First off, let me inform you that there is NO rule that says after you get a technical foul that you are constrained to the coaches box. Only that you must remain seated for the remainder of the game. You are restricted to the box during normal play, when you are permitted to stand, but not when you sit. Obviously, this particular shiny headed referee was unaware of this particular rule. But back to the game....
Irritated by my shiny headed official, I pick my violated pinky toed shoe up off of the ground and stomp it in the box. I felt having to be told 3 times to do something that wasn't a violation to begin with was reason enough for me to stomp my foot. Upon stomping my foot, the reflective headed official gives me my second technical, warranting my ejection from the game. Knowing that I'm been given the heave-ho from this rivalry contest, I stand up, look at the refs, throw my arms to the side and say "What did I do?" He then gives me a third techinical foul and informs me that if I don't leave the game, my team will have to forfeit. I repeat my question and receive the same answer from my follically challenged referee. Not wanting my team to have to forfeit, I begin walking off the floor.
As I am exiting, visions of Bobby Knight race into my head. Especially those of him tossing a chair across the floor during a technical free throw. There was no chair in site, so I do the next best thing... I take off my suit jacket and toss it onto the floor. Upon doing this, my comb overed referee decides this is enough to warrant a forfeit by my team.
With the score 2-1 in our favor, the game is called after 1 minute and 23 seconds of play. But not without more controversy. The referee goes and gets Orville to discuss the events. After some pleads from Orville and a parent on my team, the referees agree to let the kids play. My team rushes out of the locker room, ready to finish their objectice of kicking some butt. But the other team, knowing what is coming, opts to stay in the locker room, pull their bus to the back door, and sneak out. The opposing coach felt the fans were too "rowdy" for his team to continue on and feared for their safety. Really? There were maybe 50 people in the stands. It was a JV game after all.
In his report the following day, Mr. Balding reported that I was violent and trying to incite hostile crowd conditions. He reported I was trying to provoke the fans to come out of the stands at him and refused to leave the court. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for my pot bellied, bald friend, a parent caught the whole thing on film. If only I could upload the video. Instead, you'll have to settle for some screen shots of my eventful night as a JV coach.
The only game in which I was ever ejected from. And perhaps I shouldn't say this or feel this way, but I'm proud of it! Obviously the head of officiating agreed with me. After watching the film, he opted to lift the suspension for the next game which accompanies an ejection. He said the only thing I did wrong was toss my jacket on the floor, but even he understood my frustration by that point.
During my first year of coaching JV, we had played our "rival" team 3 times. During the first game, we beat them rather easily. The second time we met at their place, we managed to beat them with a shot at the buzzer that prevented overtime. We had the better team all season, but we hadn't played up to our capabilities in that game and we had struggled, leading to the buzzer beating victory. The final meeting between us and our rival of 10 miles away was at our place, the next to last game of the season.
In order to try and ensure that we had the better team, we had worked on our full court press all week to make sure we had our rotations and assignments down. The plan wasn't to start out in it, mainly due to the lack of numbers and quality players I had on my team. Though I coached all of my basketball teams how to press, the lack of numbers on my team usually meant we couldn't press to start games, but had to find the right opprotune times to spring it on our opponent.
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| Having a head of hair like this would have made this particular official jealous |
We forced a turnover right off the bat and scored to push the lead to 13. We then forced another quick turnover but failed to score. With around 5 minutes left, we still had the 13 point lead when something happened that irritated me. A fan from the opposing team, came out of the stands, walked by my coaches box, and says "You're a jackass!" I just looked at the man and grinned as he walked by. But his comments struck a nerve. I put the rest of my subs in the game with 4 minutes left, but let them press to close out the game. We won the game by 17 that night, with my subs pressing until the final buzzer. The opposing coach wasnt' too happy about my "pressing" decision and informed me it would come back to get me.
The following year, we played them at their place to start the year, and it was obvious from the start that they hadn't forgotten about what I had done the year before. They had sent down 2 varsity players to play in the JV game in order to "pay me back" for my pressing the year before. While the move was an obvious attempt to blow us out this game, it nearly backfired. Even with 2 varsity players, my JV squad came out fired up and trailed by 1 going to the half time. My JV team would do a solid job at holding their own against much better players, but lost in the end by an 11 point margin. I shook the opposing players hands, but walked off without shaking the other coach's hand. This spurred a lot of yelling from the fans as a just grinned and walked off the floor. Finally, one parent responded "Now you know how we felt last year" which provoked my response of "Really? I kicked your ass with a JV team last year, you needed a varsity team this year." But I filed the night in my head, knowing they had a to come to my place later in the season.
Which brings me to the story of "ejected". My team was fired up when our next matchup took place. We were pumped up, probably too much so. I was pumped up, and that wasn't a good thing. We came out pressing like gang busters and forced 3 turnovers in the first minute. But since I was fired up, I was upset at the refs who didn't call fouls that I thought should have been called. This prompted me to calmly say "How about a foul" to the ref. I didn't yell it, didn't storm the court, didn't even cuss or barrate the ref. Nonetheless, he called a technical foul on me.
I took the foul call, knowing I was pumped up and had made the comment 2 or 3 times and after a quick meeting with my team to fire them up, took my seat on the bench as is required by rule after you get a technical. As I'm sitting there watching the opposing player shoot his two technical free throws, the referee marches across the floor to instruct me to sit and get in the box. I acknowledge this with a nod. He tells me for a second time that I must sit and stay in the box. I look up at him, and again, acknowledge with a nod. He then tells me for a third time. By this point, I'm extremely irritated at the chrome domed referee and look down at the floor and notice my left foot is slightly over the coaches box line. No more than my pinky toe is likely over the line.
First off, let me inform you that there is NO rule that says after you get a technical foul that you are constrained to the coaches box. Only that you must remain seated for the remainder of the game. You are restricted to the box during normal play, when you are permitted to stand, but not when you sit. Obviously, this particular shiny headed referee was unaware of this particular rule. But back to the game....
Irritated by my shiny headed official, I pick my violated pinky toed shoe up off of the ground and stomp it in the box. I felt having to be told 3 times to do something that wasn't a violation to begin with was reason enough for me to stomp my foot. Upon stomping my foot, the reflective headed official gives me my second technical, warranting my ejection from the game. Knowing that I'm been given the heave-ho from this rivalry contest, I stand up, look at the refs, throw my arms to the side and say "What did I do?" He then gives me a third techinical foul and informs me that if I don't leave the game, my team will have to forfeit. I repeat my question and receive the same answer from my follically challenged referee. Not wanting my team to have to forfeit, I begin walking off the floor.
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| Perfect form! It could be said my temper at times mirrored Knight's |
With the score 2-1 in our favor, the game is called after 1 minute and 23 seconds of play. But not without more controversy. The referee goes and gets Orville to discuss the events. After some pleads from Orville and a parent on my team, the referees agree to let the kids play. My team rushes out of the locker room, ready to finish their objectice of kicking some butt. But the other team, knowing what is coming, opts to stay in the locker room, pull their bus to the back door, and sneak out. The opposing coach felt the fans were too "rowdy" for his team to continue on and feared for their safety. Really? There were maybe 50 people in the stands. It was a JV game after all.
In his report the following day, Mr. Balding reported that I was violent and trying to incite hostile crowd conditions. He reported I was trying to provoke the fans to come out of the stands at him and refused to leave the court. Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for my pot bellied, bald friend, a parent caught the whole thing on film. If only I could upload the video. Instead, you'll have to settle for some screen shots of my eventful night as a JV coach.
The only game in which I was ever ejected from. And perhaps I shouldn't say this or feel this way, but I'm proud of it! Obviously the head of officiating agreed with me. After watching the film, he opted to lift the suspension for the next game which accompanies an ejection. He said the only thing I did wrong was toss my jacket on the floor, but even he understood my frustration by that point.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Coaching JV Basketball
As I mentioned previously and as you can see in "My Teams" section, I have been a basketball coach at some level for 7 seasons, all of which at varying levels of high school. I first began coaching as a senior in college when I was offered the 7th and 8th grade girls job at a small high school in Virginia. It was a nice way to get my feet wet. I was also the assistant on the varsity program so I was able to learn the coaching ropes as an assistant while still calling the shots at a low pressure level. I can't remember much about how I coached that season, other than the fact that I had some pretty decent athletes and we went on to compile a 9-8 record that season.
After being hired as a teacher, I was given the JV boys position at the high school I was employed at. I knew how I wanted to coach. I wanted to coach basketball the same way that I was coached, which was very authoritative. My high school coach was a former West Point graduate who played under the system led by Bobby Knight. And thus, I wanted my coaching style to the be the same. My feelings were that hard work, discipline, and hustle would win out in games more times than good play that was lazy. So the first time I met with the boys was the first day of summer camp. I informed that if at any point during camp we didn't play hard, I would call time out and we would run. I explained I wasn't concerned about how well they played or if they messed up, I was only concerned with playing hard.
We lost that first game of camp but then on day 2, we started off slow. A kid turned the ball over at half court and everyone watched the opponent go in for a layup. No one made it to half court to even contest the layup. So, holding up to my promise, I called timeout and we ran a suicide. Reality set in for the kids. They realized I meant what I said. We came back to win that game and have a successful camp and season. We went 13-6 on the year and was 1 win away from playing in the championship game. The games we lost in our conference were close games against two schools who were considerably larger in student size than the one I was coaching.
This "hard work" philosophy continued on throughout my next 2 years of being JV coach. We weren't as successful in the wins and losses column as we were in year one, but we were extremely competitive in games. We had a far inferior team to many of the teams we played, but the boys worked their butts off. We played decent fundamentally, but we weren't afraid to take a charge, boxout, or dive on the floor. Those hustling traits allowed for us to win and compete in many games we had no business competing in. On numerous occasions parents, fans, and opposing coaches would acknowledge just how hard the kids worked. It was always my greatest feeling as a coach during those years to hear people praise my kids for how hard they worked and played.
Not all of those seasons were easy. My last team lost every game over summer camp and was getting beat rather soundly in many of those games. But I continued to stress the "play hard" mentality. We didn't have a great regular season record wise, but again, we played hard and that went a long way in making the season feel successful. These would all be traits I would carry over into my varsity coaching tenure. They were the same traits I tried using in baseball, though coaching baseball was a different challenge. Playing hard and hustling don't get it done as easily in baseball as they do in basketball. And that was evident by my poor coaching record.
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| I look upset. Probably over a lack of hustle. |
We lost that first game of camp but then on day 2, we started off slow. A kid turned the ball over at half court and everyone watched the opponent go in for a layup. No one made it to half court to even contest the layup. So, holding up to my promise, I called timeout and we ran a suicide. Reality set in for the kids. They realized I meant what I said. We came back to win that game and have a successful camp and season. We went 13-6 on the year and was 1 win away from playing in the championship game. The games we lost in our conference were close games against two schools who were considerably larger in student size than the one I was coaching.
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| During a timeout. You can't see me, which either means I'm chewing them out or diagramming something |
Not all of those seasons were easy. My last team lost every game over summer camp and was getting beat rather soundly in many of those games. But I continued to stress the "play hard" mentality. We didn't have a great regular season record wise, but again, we played hard and that went a long way in making the season feel successful. These would all be traits I would carry over into my varsity coaching tenure. They were the same traits I tried using in baseball, though coaching baseball was a different challenge. Playing hard and hustling don't get it done as easily in baseball as they do in basketball. And that was evident by my poor coaching record.
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| The little manager. |
Monday, September 12, 2011
Looking Back: Part 2 (Coaching High School Baseball, Year 2)
My second year of coaching high school baseball began with high expectations, but those expectations were dashed rather quickly. The politics of the year before were gone and I could focus solely on coaching baseball. The prospects of us having a good season were solid, since many of the players from the previous season were "expected" to return. But that wasn't to be the case.
My starting catcher and third baseman both opted to transfer to a new school. A school that would go on to win the state championship that season, the same team that beat us 6-2 in the first round of the post-season a year earlier. My starting shortstop opted to take a year off and focus on other sports. And then my best player, by all accounts, the player that pitched the no-hitter and hit the leadoff homerun to start the previous season, became academically ineligible and thus had to surrender playing his senior year. So, by my account, I had lost my 5 best players and that would set the table for the season.
We were able to capture two wins over the course of the season, both rather wild wins at that. The first win came on the road. With our team holding a slim 1 run lead in the final inning, I brought in a reliever to close the 7th inning. The leadoff batter promptly doubled and was moved to third on a ground out to 2nd. So with the tying run at 3b, the amazing play happened to give us the win. My normal 3b hadn't made a play in....forever! Luckily, I had placed the starting pitcher who had just left the game over at 3b. The next batter hit a linedrive that would have probably taken the head off of my original 3b. However, the new 3b managed to snatch the liner out of mid-air, tag the base at 3b and record the game ending double play to give us the 1-run victory.
The 2nd win came at home and had another crazy finish. Leading by 1, our opponent had loaded the bases in the top of the 6th inning (we play 7). I pulled the starter and brought in the same reliever who had gotten us out of the jam in our previous win. He wasn't an expectional pitcher, but he threw the ball hard and was the only real option we had at that moment. On the first pitch, he got the batter to hit a ground ball back up the middle. The pitcher fielded it, fired home for the first out, and then the catcher fired to 1b for the 2nd out. Another double-play to get us out of the jam. Our opponent didn't get another runner on base in the 7th for our victory. We turned 2 double plays all year. Both secured our 2 wins.
Those were the bright spots. There were plenty of low spots. My oldest son (and only son at this point) was 3, going on 4 years old and we decided to put him in t-ball. He was still little, but he had the ability to swing the bat and hit it off of the tee so we wanted to let him play. He would have a few practices and then play his games on Tuesdays and Fridays. There was the problem. My high school games were on Tuesdays and Fridays, meaning I would miss nearly ALL of his t-ball games. His first year getting to play baseball and I would have to miss his games. I spent the first few games driving the 20 mins to his games so I could watch as much as I could before having to leave to go back to my coaching duties. It wasn't the best situation. After missing a few practices and games, I quickly decided I did not want to be missing any more of my son(s) baseball games. After some conversations with my wife, I opted to resign as the varsity baseball coach effectice at the end of the season.
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| This team went 6-15. But only 5 of these guys would return. |
We were able to capture two wins over the course of the season, both rather wild wins at that. The first win came on the road. With our team holding a slim 1 run lead in the final inning, I brought in a reliever to close the 7th inning. The leadoff batter promptly doubled and was moved to third on a ground out to 2nd. So with the tying run at 3b, the amazing play happened to give us the win. My normal 3b hadn't made a play in....forever! Luckily, I had placed the starting pitcher who had just left the game over at 3b. The next batter hit a linedrive that would have probably taken the head off of my original 3b. However, the new 3b managed to snatch the liner out of mid-air, tag the base at 3b and record the game ending double play to give us the 1-run victory.
The 2nd win came at home and had another crazy finish. Leading by 1, our opponent had loaded the bases in the top of the 6th inning (we play 7). I pulled the starter and brought in the same reliever who had gotten us out of the jam in our previous win. He wasn't an expectional pitcher, but he threw the ball hard and was the only real option we had at that moment. On the first pitch, he got the batter to hit a ground ball back up the middle. The pitcher fielded it, fired home for the first out, and then the catcher fired to 1b for the 2nd out. Another double-play to get us out of the jam. Our opponent didn't get another runner on base in the 7th for our victory. We turned 2 double plays all year. Both secured our 2 wins.
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| Robbie in one of his first practices |
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| Me dressed for my Varsity game while trying to teach Robbie to steal home |
I informed my players of my decision when it was made, which meant we still had 2 months of baseball to play. The players were appreciative of me for telling them of my plans. I felt it was my responsibility to inform them since I personally felt responsible for getting a few of them to play. Considering we had only 10 players again, there were 3 or 4 kids I practically begged to play and felt closer to them than some of the other kids. Those kids didn't want me to quit, but I knew my heart wasn't in it.
In honesty, deciding to quit coaching high school baseball was a very good decision. In the 3 years since then, I have had more fun coaching my son's team and coaching youth baseball more than any other coaching expierences that I have had. There is less pressure in coaching youth baseball, though the nervousness of trying to compete is still there. Gone were the pressures of HAVING TO WIN, and they were replaced by the desire to teach and have fun. Gone were the pressures of recruiting kids, dealing with angry parents, and the losing, and in their place were the pressures of creating a snack schedule, a practice plan that included learning and fun elements, and being with my own kids.
That last thing is what made the decision an easy one to make!
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| Hopefully he'll always look UP to me |
Friday, September 9, 2011
Looking Back: Part 1 (Coaching High School Baseball)
As I mentioned previously, I am still a month away from starting up with some more of my coaching duties. So I'll take the time over these next few posts to look back on some of the coaching decisions I have had to make over the last 7 years of being both a dad and a coach.
My coaching career started 8 years ago when I was hired as both a JV basketball coach and an assistant baseball coach at a small, rural school. Baseball has always been my favorite sport, but when it comes to coaching, I have always preferred basketball. Basketball has always given me a better opportunity to control the game. Considering I have always coached at a small school where the talent level is very, very small, being able to have some control is helpful.
Two years into my coaching tenure at this high school, the varsity baseball coach stepped down and I saw this as a perfect opportunity for me to step in and become a head coach. I jumped all over the possibility of being able to run a program the way I wanted to run it, not just as someone's assistant. The experience, to say the least, was terrible.
I have always considered msyelf a pretty tough assed coach. Don't hustle.? Your're running. Mess up.? You're running. Mouth off.? Your running. After being the leader of the JV basketball team, the reality that I was a pretty tough coach had already been imbedded into a lot of the kids minds, immediately making up their minds that they didn't want to play for me. Which at the time, was fine with me. My thought was "I'm not begging any one to play. Either you want to play, or you don't. I'll take the field with 10 kids if I have to, I'm not begging."
Well, taking to the field with 10 kids is exactly what happened. After starting the first week with around 17 kids, the first week dwindled them down to just 10. Ten kids, at a small high school, playing baseball. A recipe for disaster. I guess I should have seen this coming a little earlier when one of my senior players opted to quit after a practice because I jumped on the kids for not being able to warm up properly which resulted in me making them run, throwing a baseball off of a pop machine, and kicking them out of practice.
I also had very little support from the community and those higher up. When I decided to run this thing my way, my first decision was to run the program the way I wanted to, with youth baseball leaders not getting involved and throwing in their 2 cents. My first course of action was to change the locks on the cages so that I could control who used them. This led to a lot of trouble and problems from the start. The local youth baseball leader, "Kingfish", was not to happy over me changing the locks to the building "he built". With no one backing up me on this move from on top, I quickly lost that fight. I also lost the fight over field use. Yeah, field use! As the high school baseball coach, I felt like the use of the HIGH SCHOOL FIELD should be all mine and I could use it whenever I needed and practice as long as I needed. Nope. I was told by,Orville, that my practices must end by 6:30 so that the local youth team could use the field. So let me get this straight, 80% of our games are played at night, but yet I can't even practice at night? Sign me up!
Politics aside, the play on the field was off and on all season. We played some competitive baseball games from time to time, but the fundamentals just weren't there. Throughout my time coaching baseball at this school, I always wondered what the youth coaches showed these kids when it was time to practice. Fielding mechanics were all wrong, kids couldn't field properly, catch fly balls properly, nor hit or pitch all that well. I would spend time doing basic little league drills with some of these players to try and show them the proper ways of doing things. But when you have no competition from within the team to get better due to lack of numbers, there wasn't a whole lot of incentive in these kids to change their ways.
The final result of that first season wasn't great. We finished the season with an overall record 6-15 with a 1-11 mark in our conference and a last place finish. Despite all the bad things about that first season, I will always remember some of the good things. We started the year 3-1 before falling apart. In our opener, my starting pitcher threw a no-hitter and led off the game with a solo homerun. In the last game of the season, we were playing a team that was a 7-time state champion and had destroyed us twice in the regular season. We had little to no shot at winning. But baseball can be a funny game. We'd lose the game and our opponent would lose in the state semi-finals. But we made them earn that first win. We took a 1-0 lead after 2.5 innings before giving up 3 in the 3rd to trail 3-1. We'd score in the 5th to trail 3-2 after 5.5 before giving up 3 more runs to provide the final 6-2 deficit.
With a full season under my belt, I was optimistic that year 2 would be better. I only had 2 seniors with a large group of my best players returning. That optimism would fade quickly....
My coaching career started 8 years ago when I was hired as both a JV basketball coach and an assistant baseball coach at a small, rural school. Baseball has always been my favorite sport, but when it comes to coaching, I have always preferred basketball. Basketball has always given me a better opportunity to control the game. Considering I have always coached at a small school where the talent level is very, very small, being able to have some control is helpful.
Two years into my coaching tenure at this high school, the varsity baseball coach stepped down and I saw this as a perfect opportunity for me to step in and become a head coach. I jumped all over the possibility of being able to run a program the way I wanted to run it, not just as someone's assistant. The experience, to say the least, was terrible.
I have always considered msyelf a pretty tough assed coach. Don't hustle.? Your're running. Mess up.? You're running. Mouth off.? Your running. After being the leader of the JV basketball team, the reality that I was a pretty tough coach had already been imbedded into a lot of the kids minds, immediately making up their minds that they didn't want to play for me. Which at the time, was fine with me. My thought was "I'm not begging any one to play. Either you want to play, or you don't. I'll take the field with 10 kids if I have to, I'm not begging."
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| Was the pawprint logo hat a good or bad choice? |
I also had very little support from the community and those higher up. When I decided to run this thing my way, my first decision was to run the program the way I wanted to, with youth baseball leaders not getting involved and throwing in their 2 cents. My first course of action was to change the locks on the cages so that I could control who used them. This led to a lot of trouble and problems from the start. The local youth baseball leader, "Kingfish", was not to happy over me changing the locks to the building "he built". With no one backing up me on this move from on top, I quickly lost that fight. I also lost the fight over field use. Yeah, field use! As the high school baseball coach, I felt like the use of the HIGH SCHOOL FIELD should be all mine and I could use it whenever I needed and practice as long as I needed. Nope. I was told by,Orville, that my practices must end by 6:30 so that the local youth team could use the field. So let me get this straight, 80% of our games are played at night, but yet I can't even practice at night? Sign me up!
Politics aside, the play on the field was off and on all season. We played some competitive baseball games from time to time, but the fundamentals just weren't there. Throughout my time coaching baseball at this school, I always wondered what the youth coaches showed these kids when it was time to practice. Fielding mechanics were all wrong, kids couldn't field properly, catch fly balls properly, nor hit or pitch all that well. I would spend time doing basic little league drills with some of these players to try and show them the proper ways of doing things. But when you have no competition from within the team to get better due to lack of numbers, there wasn't a whole lot of incentive in these kids to change their ways.
The final result of that first season wasn't great. We finished the season with an overall record 6-15 with a 1-11 mark in our conference and a last place finish. Despite all the bad things about that first season, I will always remember some of the good things. We started the year 3-1 before falling apart. In our opener, my starting pitcher threw a no-hitter and led off the game with a solo homerun. In the last game of the season, we were playing a team that was a 7-time state champion and had destroyed us twice in the regular season. We had little to no shot at winning. But baseball can be a funny game. We'd lose the game and our opponent would lose in the state semi-finals. But we made them earn that first win. We took a 1-0 lead after 2.5 innings before giving up 3 in the 3rd to trail 3-1. We'd score in the 5th to trail 3-2 after 5.5 before giving up 3 more runs to provide the final 6-2 deficit.
With a full season under my belt, I was optimistic that year 2 would be better. I only had 2 seniors with a large group of my best players returning. That optimism would fade quickly....
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