The development of teenage athletes

I was lucky enough to spend the weekend in Sandusky, Ohio with the Adrian American Legion team.  Last year I had planned to help Aaron Klotz coach the team but my spring/summer health kept me at home.  This year, though Klotter is no longer the coach, I have appreciated not only my good health, but another opportunity to coach baseball, as Dave Stanifer and Don Cappelletty have brought me along with their team.

Though I am most accustomed to coaching college aged (age 18-22) players, because of my own kids and doing camps and lessons I do enjoy working with younger athletes.  The Legion team is made up of guys between the ages of 16 and 19.  The game of baseball is the same for them as it is for the college guys, but the high school aged players aren't as refined with some of their skills nor as experienced with many of the situations that occur during games.  Because of the fact that these players are at the age that they can learn so much, I have the fabulous opportunity to teach while in the dugout.  Every pitch of every game brings a new situation; therefore every pitch provides a learning opportunity.  Hopefully, you can imagine how much fun it is for me.

One of the major teaching points that I am able to help these athletes with is the mental/emotional part of the game.  Their ability to control their thoughts, and thus their emotions, is so important in developing their abilities to be successful in game situations that they perceive as stressful.  That part of the game is so important for athletes who are hoping to continue playing a sport (or two) after they leave high school as well as for the ones who are playing just because they love to play.  There are so many gifted athletes in the world, but the ones we watch on television who are paid millions of dollars to play games are the ones who have separated themselves from the others, often due to their ability to control their thoughts and emotions while in the middle of a competitive situation.

Through the years I have learned over and over the importance of the mental and emotional side of competing.  I have had to learn how to improve that part of the game for myself as a coach, too!!  Last summer when I was holed up in my house, I had the opportunity to watch more professional tennis and golf on television than I ever imagined myself doing.  While doing that, the commentators, especially the former pros in the broadcast booths, constantly talked about the athletes and their abilities (or lack of) to handle the mental/emotional parts of the games.

So for me, as fun as I am having teaching baseball skills, pitching and hitting mechanics and philosophies, etc., I am also enjoying the opportunity to help these guys with the mental/emotional part of competing, which will ultimately enhance their ability to execute efficiently and effectively with their athletic skills in all the sports they play.

Tomorrow is the last day of the school year for me......then my summer truly begins!!!  I couldn't ask for anything more!!

Summer Baseball!!

It is now mid-June and the NCAA Division III season has been history for a couple of weeks.  Though we didn't win the Regional or National Championship, 2011 was a rewarding season with great players and fellow coaches.  We finished second in the country in team ERA, behind the National Champion Marietta College team.  We were also the only team to shut out Marietta this season, beating them 2-0 in Florida in early March.

I am still in the classroom for another week or so, but a new baseball season has begun for me.  I am helping coach the Adrian American Legion team for the summer.  Two years ago I helped Coach Aaron Klotz during the last three weeks of their season and was planning to join him again in the dugout last summer.  Unfortunately I had a health issue and took the summer off, and now with Coach Klotz coaching Logan and the 8U Adrian Dirtbags I have decided to help new coach Don Cappelletty with the Post 275 Legion team.

We were able to have two practices before last night's first doubleheader against Brooklyn, and for those practices we were without the Tecumseh High School players who had advanced to the state quarterfinals that were played on Tuesday.  I congratulate their high school team, and all four of out Tecumseh players played in last night's opening doubleheader.

We won both games last night by scores of 3-1 and 3-2, and then won game #1 of the Blissfield Tournament today 3-2 before getting rained out in game #2.  It's great to win games, but I've gotta confess that just being out there at practice, and especially being in the dugout for the games, is a special thing for me.

Coach Klotz has been telling me that he enjoys the constant coaching he gets to do now with the eight year olds, and I echo his feelings now as I have the privilege of working with high school age players.

For a long time, I have defined coaching as 'teaching and developing/nurturing relationships'.  With players I have never coached before (other than working with them occasionally at camps, etc.) I now have this opportunity to teach them and interact with them virtually every day, every game, every inning, and every pitch.

I have to admit, for me, this beats just about anything else I could be doing!!!!

I have more exciting things happening, but I'll save that for another time!!

Does the season ever really end?

Our season has been done for two weeks now.  What is it that college baseball coaches do when their seasons end?  What I do now is different than when I was a full-time head coach, and it is different that what full-time assistant coaches do.

I teach in the public schools, so I am still working at getting through the school year.  Today we even had an injury at school.  One of our students lost a tooth when he was hit in the mouth by a swing.  I felt so bad for him, but he handled it like a trooper and was on the bus heading home fifteen minutes later.  I have seen similar types of injuries on the baseball field over the years, but I seem to expect to see blood on the field more than I would at school.

Anyway, the day after our season ended I went to Comerica Park to watch the Detroit Catholic League Championship games with Eric Theisen and Xander Younce.  They both have 'Recruiting Coordinator' listed as part of their jobs, so they were (apparently) working hard.  I was just along for the ride, but I always love those games.  I played at Tiger Stadium in the same games when I was in high school and coached there (and won) in 1987.

I have been to a few other local high school games in the last two weeks, sometimes after school and also on the weekends.  I don't really do any recruiting, but I have been able to see some kids I know play some games.  I have given lessons to some of the kids in the county, and some pitching staffs in the county, and I rarely have opportunities to see them play in games.

The full-time guys are going all over the place watching high school games.  For the most part, the 2011 recruiting classes are all wrapped up and the coaches are trying to tie up some loose ends and maybe find a player or two who have slipped through the cracks.  This is a great time to add to the list of 2012 high school seniors that college coaching staffs have already been working on.  State tournament games always tend to have some more excitement and intensity than some other games that are played during the high school season, so the idea of being able to see kids compete and observe how they respond to various situations can be beneficial in determining where a player may go on a coach's recruiting list.  Eric and Xander are in Columbus, Ohio today and tomorrow watching the Ohio State Tournament, and then they will be back here in Michigan watching District Tournaments on Saturday.

In the meantime, Luke Harrigan is finishing up his work at Adrian College and getting ready for his first head coaching venture at Westminster College in Missouri, where he will undoubtedly find success carve some history.

One thing I always enjoy while at high school games is the opportunity to trade idle chit chat with some of the locals, who are usually parents, grandparents, or friends of the players on the field.  These people always know more about most of the players on the field than I do, and of course they always have more at stake in how the game is being played than I do.  Just in the last week I have had the privilege of talking to school administrators, aunts and uncles, siblings, parents, step-parents, and friends of the players and the coaches.

The experience of having nice, relaxing conversations at baseball fields with other baseball people is one of the great joys of the spring and summer.  I have to make sure I get out and see some other local kids, and my nephews, play in the next few weeks.  I may not appear to be having as much fun as the kids on the field..............but I am!!!!