5 Lessons I Learned From Coaching Tee-Ball
Coaching tee-ball has been an absolute joy.
My 4 year-old just finished his second year of tee-ball and it was my second time coaching.
I never intended to coach, but the first season, the league needed extra coaches so I volunteered. Well, I really enjoyed it and decided to do it again.
In doing so, I have five lessons I learned from coaching and I want to share them with you today!
1. Patience
When I first told my bride that I was going to coach, she wasn't so sure.
"Are you sure? You better develop some patience quickly," she urged.
She was correct. Yours truly lacked tremendous patience, but these three, four and five year-olds forced me to learn them fast.
They just don't move as quick as I would like or listen as well as I would like, but this is my oldest child's age group so I have to learn that a lot of it is just AGE.
I'm thankful for these boys teaching their coach PATIENCE.
2. The Little Things Matter
Sometimes as adults and parents, we get so worked up over big things like mortgages and insurance and careers and we forget to make the little things and the little moments count.
Although, I would consider myself to value the little things and pay attention to them more than most, these young 'ens have showed me to value them even more.
For example, I always start out the season by giving out candy at the first practice. This is a little trick I have used (I can't believe I'm sharing this publicly) that makes the kids know "MY COACH (COACH RUSS) CARES ABOUT ME." They automatically like me as their coach because they know I value them. I value them as kids over and above the sport they are playing and hopefully this helps them realize that. Also, because they like me, I feel like they do play a little harder than if they didn't like me. I think this fall season it was just a little baby bottle bop with the colorful sugar powder! LITTLE THINGS go a long way.
Also, early on...I got into the habit of putting Eye Black on the players before our games. We call it War Paint, although they don't understand that yet. They all Most of them love it. It also gives me 9.6 seconds to try and say something positive to them while I'm applying their War Paint. But I do have to say, I am not the #1 Eye Black applicator in the world. But it works. Again, it's the little things that matter to the kids.
Two more quick little things that matter.
They LOVE counting and yelling "1,2,3 CUBS!" Every player wants to be the one to count. So I try and rotate and let different players be our designated counter both before and after the games. It's just a little "1,2,3" before the whole team yells Cubs, but it matters to them.
I also made it a tee-ball habit of giving every player a game ball through out the season. I just basically made it a priority to celebrate each individual player at least once throughout the season. Receiving the game ball has been a lot of fun for the kids. It's just a little thing and just takes 4.9 seconds to recognize the player, but it matters to them.
I'm thankful for these boys teaching their coach that THE LITTLE THINGS MATTER.
3. I Care Too Much Sometimes
As a competitor, I usually just want to win.
Now, I want to win fair and square (no cheating), but I want to win.
I definitely had my moments in tee-ball where I realized I care too much sometimes.
Like the time, in the middle of a play I realized I was halfway up the fence screaming, "RUN HOME!!" My beautiful wife looked at me rolling her eyes and said, "Russ, they are four years-old."
I told the parents at the beginning that I do realize this is all for the boys and we want them to have fun. But in my opinion, if you can have fun AND win, it beats JUST having fun.
Still, sometimes my competitive nature takes over and I quickly realize I care just a little too much.
It's not so much that the players don't care, but they are little. They are learning. They don't put a whole lot interest in winning which makes it pretty fun and innocent for them. Also, if they aren't knowledgeable in a certain aspect of the game, it's probably because I don't believe in practicing kids this little 3x per week (or any times :)) once the season starts.
I'm thankful for these boys reminding their coach that I Care Too Much Sometimes.
4. The Process Is More Important Than Winning
As much as I want to win, I'm not so caught up in that as I am interested in players developing. Honestly, if we practiced more, they would develop more and I realize that, but in this case I am talking about game-play development.
For instance, my son's first season in tee-ball, he played in the outfield because that was definitely best for the team. He played in dirt the entire time and early on, it bothered me. But I did learn that it's just part of that first season. I do know that it is hard to pay attention in the outfield especially if the infield is good enough to stop most balls from ever coming out there. Over time, my son developed to understand a little more and now has a much better understanding (but still a long way to go) of what he is doing. This season we had so many good players that we couldn't fit them all in the infield. I'd say it was a good problem to have.
I have seen teams who move most of their players out of the way to allow their lone one or two outstanding players to roam the infield field, rule the defense, and make 97.69% of the plays. While that is "within the rules of the tee-ball game" and IT IS conducive to increasing the chances of winning the ball game, I just don't think it's right. It's basically telling the other players in the infield that they aren't good enough and causes them not to develop at all. Sometimes balls need to be hit at players and they need to boot them just to help develop them.
Anyway, my point is the process of growing and developing is more important than the big WIN.
Another part of the process is them having a good time. Youth athletics should be about giving these young kids something to do other than sitting inside and playing video games and chillin' on a tablet. The fact that they are taking part and having a good time doing so means a lot to me.
I'm thankful for these boys teaching their coach that The Process is More Important Than The Win.
5. There Are Good Parents In This World
If you look around the world, you see a wild and whacky generation.
Most of this generation's issues are a product of poor parenting, especially in the area of MEN and DADs which is the whole purpose of this site.
We also see a lack of caring from moms as well though.
I have been so fortunate to be surrounded by such a great group of parents in my first two years of coaching.
It gives me tremendous hope for the future of our country.
I am thankful for these parents showing me that There Are Good Parents In This World.
Although both seasons we came in second and we came in second to the same opposing coach both times, I have learned a lot and I'm ready to rock and roll again in the spring!
Thanks to the players and parents from these tee-ball years! So many of you helped me on the field and in the dugout and it means so much to me!
Although this post is written with the Fall Cubs season fresh on my mind, I am thankful for the Spring Yankees too! : )
You all have made my life better!
Go.
Be.
Great.
See you soon,
Coach Russ
2020 Spring/Summer Yankees
Colton, Ethan, Miller, Andrew, Ezra, TJ, Carson, Fisher, Wyatt
And all of your wonderful parents!
2020 Fall Cubs
TJ, Jaxon, Fisher, Mason, Graves, Ezra, Hayden, Lincoln, Ben, Beau, Kaiser, & Holder
And all of your wonderful parents!
