How Coaching has allowed me Doubt my Doubts & to be ME

Doubt your Doubt; Be YOU!

As a little boy I became fascinated and fell in love with baseball.?I used to read the sports page everyday and studied the box scores before heading off to school or playing in the summer days of my hometown of Sarasota.?I still have many of the baseball clippings.?I remember watching the World Series game wen Kirk Gibson hit an impressive homerun for the LA Dodgers vs. the Oakland A’s.?This was the biggest baseball moment until…. Every game I get to see my two sons play.

Did I play baseball growing up??NO!?I did not play the game I love.?Why? I did not doubt my doubts, I was afraid to be me.?I listened to the people close to me that said I was better skilled for other sports like soccer and track.?I doubted myself, I was too tall to play (big strike zone) and my arm was weak.

This became another notch in doubting myself and deep down I began resenting this doubt in myself….

Fast-forward many years, I find myself tossing a baseball with my first-born son.?However, his throws at three years old were not perfect, but how can I help coach his throwing??I never played, what do I know????That was the moment that I was done with me doubts stopping me from stopping me.?I was NOT going to allow my doubts to impact the development of my sons.?What did I do??I watched YouTube videos and read many books.?I was determined to be able to teach my boys to properly play the game I love.?

At age of 4 my oldest son decided he wanted to play T-ball at our local YMCA and guess what, they needed coaches!?But how can I coach not just my kid, but other people’s kids??By this point, I have begun the journey of doubting my doubts and started to become ME!?So back to YouTube videos, I watched many videos on how to run a T-Ball practice and develop the players’ skills.?I was lucky in that the YMCA offered excellent training for player safety and player welfare.?

In a year or two, I find myself coaching both boys’ teams at the YMCA.?I learned importance of quickly remembering the player’s name, I found out the players respond much better to their names vs. “hey you” or #12.?I learned the importance on “how to” communicate to these little ball players, I would always kneel down and be at eye level with the player as I provided them coaching / learning opportunities.

Another year or two, I find myself at the local Babe Ruth league getting ready to coach my younger son in T-Ball and my older son’s director in the Minors division reached out to me and they needed coaches.?Again, the doubts crept in, this older division in much more complicated than t-ball and how can I coach pitching when I never played this great game??The doubts were not going to stop me now! Back to YouTube, many more hours watching videos on how to coach pitching and teach the older boys (way different then t-ball).?By this team, I decided I do not just want to be a “Dad” coaching baseball, I wanted to be wanted to be a Coach that developed players to believe in themselves, players that continue to develop their love of the game and appreciate all the lessons in life that is developed on the ball field. ?So, I studied and became a USA Baseball certified coach.?

Now I am in my last season of coaching my older son (as he is preparing for advanced travel ball next season) in the Majors and his head coach for the league’s advanced baseball 12U team.?My younger son (like my older son) is taking a 1.5 year break from me coaching him, so he can experience dealing with different coaching styles.?I am super excited about coaching him next season in the minors.

Doubting my doubts and being me has allowed to me grow and experience many amazing milestones.?I have witnessed many players hit their first hit, many players pitched for the very first time, many players working thru their fears / doubts and achieving major milestones on and off the field.?Besides being called Dad or Daddy, being called Coach John are the most rewarding words I can hear.

The experience of coaching and overcoming my doubts has develop me professionally by:

1.??????Developing my time management skills (leaders, coaches have to be not only on time but early to practices / meetings)

2.??????My communication skills (players want straight forward advice on how to improve their games, communicating to the parents about team expectations and schedules, and communicating with the Umps in charge)

3.???????My organization skills (running an efficient and effective practice is so important in having success on game day)

4.??????My ability to stay calm in tense situations helps the players or coworkers forge forward thru difficult moments.

5.??????My motivation skills, learning how to encourage players / employees to perform better than their own expectations.?In my mind, this becomes a snow ball effect for the player / employee and is absolutely breath taking to witness.

6.??????My planning skills. When drafting the new team each season, who can play what and how will these player interact and perform with each other.?Developing a player is very similar to developing employees for their next promotion / assignment.

I am proud of overcoming my doubts and becoming ME!

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