my first coaching job

[JimR]

all of those t-ball stories got me to thinking about Mark's first team. he did not want to play baseball until he was 9, and it was a coach pitch team with 8 and 9 year olds. by far, the worst kid on the team was an 8 year old named Willis. he was playing only because Mom and Dad wanted him to play. he did not want to play, and he could not throw, catch or hit. he also was a little jerk and rarely listened when i talked.

one day at practice, we were doing something at first base, and i put my hat down to simulate the base while i gave them instructions. i was talking a mile a minute about whatever the baseball lesson was, and i heard a couple of the guys snickering. i looked down, and Wills had turned my hat upside down and had just about finished filling it up with dirt.

my coaching career had no place to go but up after that day.

[Noe]

On practice Thursday, a kid named Brandon told me he didn't want to listen to me anymore because "I want to catch and throw the way my Dad is teaching me, not YOU!".  I told him I wasn't trying to be a substitute for his Dad nor say anything against anything his Dad was teaching.  I just was seeing some things he could do better.

He walked away and told me "I'm not listening".  End of teaching for him so I moved on with other kids who needed my help.  Does Brandon catch and throw well?  Ahum... no, he doesn't.  He won't hold the glove down on grounders, run in towards the ball to catch and throw like I'm teaching (his Dad is teaching him to stay back and wait for the ball to get to him... a good way to get hit in the mouth some time), and his throwing is the most troublesome.  He won't throw the ball on a line to first base.  He throws it to first like he's throwing a pop-up for the first baseman to catch.

His Dad thinks that is a cool.  I don't get it.

[sporadic]

On practice Thursday, a kid named Brandon told me he didn't want to listen to me anymore because "I want to catch and throw the way my Dad is teaching me, not YOU!".  I told him I wasn't trying to be a substitute for his Dad nor say anything against anything his Dad was teaching.  I just was seeing some things he could do better.

He walked away and told me "I'm not listening".  End of teaching for him so I moved on with other kids who needed my help.  Does Brandon catch and throw well?  Ahum... no, he doesn't.  He won't hold the glove down on grounders, run in towards the ball to catch and throw like I'm teaching (his Dad is teaching him to stay back and wait for the ball to get to him... a good way to get hit in the mouth some time), and his throwing is the most troublesome.  He won't throw the ball on a line to first base.  He throws it to first like he's throwing a pop-up for the first baseman to catch.

His Dad thinks that is a cool.  I don't get it.

It seems the parents that know the least, coach their kids the most.

[Noe]

It seems the parents that know the least, coach their kids the most.

Funny thing is, one Dad showed up to our practice for the first time.  His son is the best player I have.  His Dad hasn't been to any of our games yet or practices.  But he showed up this time.  He walks right up to me and introduces himself, had a firm handshake, seems very sure of himself and he's got a glove on.

I break the kids into two rows facing each other and have on side roll the ball to the other side and then have the other side practice throwing the ball back accurately.  I tell them don't throw hard, throw accurately.  The kids line up and this Dad walks up and down one side, I walk up and down the other and we're both point out things to the kids that they need to do a little better in this drill.  He's doing one heck of a job teaching too, stopping every once and awhile, talking to a kid (including my own) to show them how to stand, how to hold their glove, how to throw.  He's taken this one kid named Charlie and he's been one of those kids that would rather pay attention to the butterflies out in right field.  Dad volunteer has him doing some minor drills to stand/receive/throw better.  For the rest of the drill, Charlie is doing really well.

See, this is when I go stand behind Brandon and start to point out some things and hope to help him throw better.  That's when Brandon told me to stick it in his own child innocent way.  When we break out of this drill and move into positions, all the kids are doing great, especially Charlie who didn't miss a single grounder hit to him at second base.

But I noticed Dad volunteer is standing behind Brandon while I hit the ball on the ground to all of them at different position.  Volunteer Dad isn't giving up on Brandon even though he's told him the same thing he told me.  By the time we were done with the practice, volunteer Dad had done a wonderful job teaching the kids within the confines of the drills and practice I had in mind.  A very welcome help and frankly, he did a better job in many areas than I did.  I setup the drills and practice, he took it a great step forward.

[Mr. Happy]

See, this is when I go stand behind Brandon and start to point out some things and hope to help him throw better.  That's when Brandon told me to stick it in his own child innocent way.  When we break out of this drill and move into positions, all the kids are doing great, especially Charlie who didn't miss a single grounder hit to him at second base.

But I noticed Dad volunteer is standing behind Brandon while I hit the ball on the ground to all of them at different position.  Volunteer Dad isn't giving up on Brandon even though he's told him the same thing he told me.  By the time we were done with the practice, volunteer Dad had done a wonderful job teaching the kids within the confines of the drills and practice I had in mind.  A very welcome help and frankly, he did a better job in many areas than I did.  I setup the drills and practice, he took it a great step forward.

That's all right Noe. Sometimes a fresh face helps out. I must admit that I never had the "Brandon" problem, and frankly don't know that I would have handled it any differently than you did.

[juliogotay]

all of those t-ball stories got me to thinking about Mark's first team. he did not want to play baseball until he was 9, and it was a coach pitch team with 8 and 9 year olds. by far, the worst kid on the team was an 8 year old named Willis. he was playing only because Mom and Dad wanted him to play. he did not want to play, and he could not throw, catch or hit. he also was a little jerk and rarely listened when i talked.

one day at practice, we were doing something at first base, and i put my hat down to simulate the base while i gave them instructions. i was talking a mile a minute about whatever the baseball lesson was, and i heard a couple of the guys snickering. i looked down, and Wills had turned my hat upside down and had just about finished filling it up with dirt.

my coaching career had no place to go but up after that day.

That's funny. I think every LL/ T-Ball team has a Willis. I remember being a pitcher on a LL team in which we had a RFer (hey, coach tried to hide him) who never paid attention to the game. He would be picking daisys or looking into the crowd and invariably the ball would find him at a critical time of the game and it would be an inside-the-parker.
I wanted to strangle him. He was only out there because his parents wanted him to play.