The Professional Youth Baseball Coach
Coaching is not just about winning games. In fact, winning is a very small component to the job. Successful coaches help athletes master new skills, enjoy competition with others, and develop a team-first attitude. They are not only well-versed in the techniques and skills of their sport, but they also understand how to effectively teach those skills through age-appropriate practice regimens and skill-building drills. The ability to apply and communicate life lessons learned from sports participation is also of extreme importance.
The influence coaches have on young adults is far too great to believe that the utilization of volunteer coaches diminishes the professional responsibilities for effectively executing the mission. In fact, any youth league organization that does not coordinate a mandatory coaching certification course for all volunteer coaches is doing a tremendous disservice to their community. Ultimately, the amount of accessible educational coaching materials and resources is far too great for anyone to make excuses for volunteer coaches who inadequately carry out their duties and responsibilities.
The Professional Coach
The coach who responsibly performs their various roles and obligations is a “professional coach.” Anyone can be a “professional coach” even the dad who coaches his son’s five year old T-Ball Team.
The Professional Coach:
- understands that the physical, emotional, social, and psychological development of their athletes takes precedence over winning;
- is an individual of sound moral character who understand the true meaning of integrity;
- is organized, disciplined, focused, and value-driven decision makers;
- has a solid understanding of sport science, sport management, risk management, nutrition, and sport specific techniques and tactics;
- always seeks to better him/herself by attending coaching conferences, reading books and professional journals, or exchanging ideas with peers and mentors;
- has superior communication skills and understands the psychology behind reinforcement, motivation, and how young people learn.
Now that we have described what a Professional Coach is, let’s examine what a Professional Coach is not:
- The Win-at-all-Costs Coach
Coaches who adopt this style care more about their win-loss record and personal ego than the development of their athletes. They will use every tactic imaginable to give them a competitive edge, even if these tactics are unsportsmanlike and dishonest. - The Me Coach
Coaches who adopt this philosophy are more focused on “me” than “we.” For example, they may say, “I need you to play flawless today,” or “I need you to work hard for me today.” In order to build a team concept, this coach should be saying, “We (or the team) need you to play flawless today,” or “We need you to work hard for the good of the group today.” - The Want to be Popular Coach
Coaches who adopt this style make few decisions as possible. They do not hold their players accountable, nor do they demand excellence from their athletes. The Want to be Popular Coach focuses more on having fun and giving meaningless praise and extrinsic reward than challenging the team to meet high standards and expectations. The Want to be Popular Coach provides minimal guidance and instruction, and cares more about being liked than doing the job right.
If you are thinking of being a volunteer coach, please take your responsibilities seriously. Understand that coaches at all levels of competition have the power to make a significant, life long impact on the lives of young adults.
Download an excerpt from the DNA Sports Professional Coaches Manual
Andy Pohl In addition to leading DNA Sports' baseball and softball college recruitment guidance program, Andy specializes in all facets of hitting. Leave a Comment
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Andy, can you help me with an issue? I cancelled our first game of the season because it was rainy and cold (the opposing coach wanted to cancel too). It was a mistake, because later on (game time) it had stopped raining (opposite of the forecast!). Some of my parents and players were upset & disappointed that I had made the decision too soon in the day. But I was only trying to get the word out quickly and free up the day for the team. We will make the game up later in the season.
Should I admit my mistake to my team, and tell them I let them down, or should I stand by my decision and teach them that I am the coach and they have to respect my decision? Either way, I’m changing policy and will try not to have this happen again.
Thanks for all your advice and articles.
Jeff,
Thanks for your question. Canceling games can be tricky, as you have to balance out the need to let parents and kids know as far ahead in advance as possible yet at the same time keep in mind the possibility for the change in weather. Personally, I think you absolutely did the right thing and followed the correct procedure by collaborating with the opposing coach, coming to a consensus, and making a joint decision. You were sensitive to the kids and their families by wanting to give as much advance notice as possible. Furthermore, your were cautious about the fact that playing on slippery surfaces and in cold temperatures can jeopardize the health and safety of your athletes.
In terms of handling the aftermath with parents, I would simply explain the rationale for your decision and make it clear that you can only base your decisions on the information available to you at that time. You are a baseball coach, not a weather forecaster. This is your team; you have volunteered your time to coach this group of kids. The parents and the kids need to learn to respect and support the decisions you make.
As a coach, I always try to play the percentages. For example, if we decide to intentionally walk a player who is hitting .420 to face a hitter who is hitting .200 instead, we are simply playing the percentages in our favor. If the .200 hitter gets a base hit, that doesn’t mean we made a poor decision. Rather, it means we played the percentages and lost. But I can tell you this, given the same situation again, we would do exactly the same thing.
In short, make your decision, explain your rationale, and stand behind your choices. I agree that if you make a mistake, admit it, but in this particular case I think you made the best possible decision given the data you had at your disposal. Just because it didn’t work out doesn’t necessarily mean it was a bad decision on your part. As they say, hindsight is always 20-20.
Please contact me if you need to discuss further. Best of luck to you.