Baseball Coaching

By Jon Doyle, MA, CSCS.

I remember back when I was 19 I had my first baseball coaching experiences. It was during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year at Adelphi University and I couldn't play because I was rehabbing from a back operation. So I did the next best thing, coach!

An old coach of mine was heading up a 15U AAU team. This was when AAU was just beginning to become the force that it is today. I wasn't sure what to expect other than the competition was said to be fierce and the players driven.

While the players turned out to be very talented, what surprised me was they were normal 15 year olds. They liked girls, video games and playing practical jokes on each other. Not sure why this was such a surprise to me, I guess I was expecting players whose life revolved around baseball. In a way it did, but they had many more interests. And this was my first lesson: don't make baseball life or death. Teach the kids to play right and to play hard and baseball will take care of the rest.

Baseball did hold up its end of the bargain. Our great game taught these young men sportsmanship, worth ethic, teamwork, how to deal with adversity among many other things. This is one reason why baseball is America's Pastime and shows just how important your job in proper coaching is.

I don't care if you're the coach of an undefeated AAU team or the 3rd volunteer assistant for your son's tee ball team. Essentially your job is the same and your opportunity to positively shape lives through proper coaching is tremendous.

Please do not take this lightly. And by all means use positive re-enforcement and constructive criticism to help your players improve. Please don't yell, scream or get angry at these kids. Most of them are just trying to figure out life (aren't we all) and may be going through difficult times at home. The baseball field is their escape and you can help act as a savior of sorts. Negativity will only create poor self-esteem, low confidence and embarrass the player. This will begin to seep into other areas of his or her life.

On the other hand when you are positive and use encouragement in your coaching tactics, your players will respond and have fun. They will look forward to coming to the ball field. This is positively shaping lives for the better.

Some coaches think they are positive, but when we film them coaching they are surprised (and downright embarrassed) to see how much negativity they use in their words, actions and body language. This happens on almost every ball field across America.

So I ask you to be aware of what you say and how you say it. Be aware of your actions and body language. Remember, most kids are not great ballplayers, but certainly can walk away from Little League (or whatever their last stop in baseball is) with a great memory and many life lessons. Or they can walk away scared and bitter with bad memories from this great game. And that's a darn shame when it occurs, but sadly it happens more often than not.