Realities of Coaching..and being a Parent

Coaching youth athletics is an amazingly rewarding experience as well as a frustrating one.  And it becomes even more challenging when one of the ball players is your own son.  We can speak to that challenge in a later post.  But the rewards far outweigh the downsides when you see a child's smile or the sounds of laughter.  This is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel as to why we endure.

Along the way, there are numerous hurdles and experiences that often make you wonder if you made the right choice to go down this path such as parental interactions and pressure to win or have their child play certain positions, difficulties with balancing family life and your professional career, keeping the children happy and engaged, etc.  These realities, paired with the lack of good resources for parents on the game of baseball and its mechanics, cause the sport of baseball to lose many talented coaches, managers and interested volunteers.  Parents who have an interest just throw their hands up and move in another direction.  I can understand why.  This is why I have made a decision to write about my experiences growing up avidly playing the game of baseball, being taught by some seriously wonderful coache and attempting to transfer the knowledge I acquired to today's children and their parents.  My goal is not only to assist the children but to help out the parents.  If I can improve the game of one child or influence parenting skills to these young athletes, I will feel successful in my role as a coach and as a fellow parent.