Let The Games Begin!
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
I will admit it! With my son making his first all-star team and my girls playing again on the Junior Softball All-Star team practices every night from 6PM to 10PM have completely exhausted me! I was ready for it to be over. I sat in my favorite watering hole last night and could barely hold my eyes open much less think of answers to the challenging trivia questions being posed!
Then came today. 100 degrees in the shade and I am in full umpire’s gear umping a Little League Division Softball All-Star game. The first of the international tournament that ends in late August with the crowning of the Champion of the World! You would think I was miserable wouldn’t you? Completely exhausted, nothing left, practice after grueling practice, but no! LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
Time to get fired up! Reinvigorated! This is what we work so hard all year for! So to every Little League team out there, GOOD LUCK! All your hard work has paid off and it is time to show your stuff! And to every Little League volunteer out there who thanklessly give of themselves so our children can enjoy this experience, THANK YOU!
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
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MIA Cheated My Players, My Teams, Myself, and My Dignity
I have never really been the most popular guy on the planet. But, one thing I have always earned, is respect. This past year you may have noticed I have been missing in action here. I used to write every day about what was going on in my life on the field, but I stopped. Why? Because I didn’t want to hurt any feelings.
That’s right. Rick the Giant Ass tried to play nice-nice. And what did it get me? Nothing. The ones I tried to appease left angry anyway, and the ones that stood by and believed in me paid the price. Don’t get me wrong, I had nothing but good intentions.
Had I written all year about the daily activities of the league, my teams, and my players, I would have had to of called out a lot of people for behaving badly. Character would have been questioned, doubt raised, and conflict would have been inevitable. Funny thing is, those same people fought with me all year any way! And now, they have removed themselves from my life. All I did was compromise my principles in order to delay inevitable conflict!
My wife said it best, she said, “Why are you trying to make everyone happy all of a sudden? Go back to being an a**hole and at least then you are true to yourself and your core beliefs”. Wow! Sometimes we simply need a smack in the face don’t we? Don’t get me wrong, I feel that I am a fun loving great guy, but not everyone sees me that way. Go figure.
One of the coaches I respect a great deal told me like this. I asked him how he dealt with the irate, the disrespectful, and those with total disregard for authority. His reply? “I’m pretty much a ‘my way or the highway’ kind of guy”. He added, “I will tell them, ‘yeah that’s one way to do it, but it’s not how we are going to do it here’”. I love it!
Of course this doesn’t mean I am not open to new ideas, creative concepts, and individual motivational mechanisms. In fact, I am the kind of guy who likes to delegate authority and sit back and enjoy how inspiring the human spirit can be! There is nothing better than teaching a kid how to do something and then sitting back and enjoying watching them succeed. The same applies to coaches and parents. But from this point forward:
-I will NEVER compromise my integrity again.
-I will stand strong and believe in all my positions.
-I will be open to new ideas but decisive about whether to institute them.
-I will empower all those around me.
-I will praise extraordinary effort.
-I will not accept sub par effort.
-I will not permit disrespect of any kind.
-I will give those that earn it respect.
-I will not tolerate insubordination.
-I will have a plan and execute it.
-I will be honest and straight forward when delivering information someone may not want to hear.
-I will be true to my players, my league, my team, and myself.
Even with 20 years of experience, it is possible to fall into a self inflicted trap. At least I recognized the error of my ways and hope to never repeat it.
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Honored to Serve the City
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I received a letter today from Anthony Gonzalez, the Acting City Manager of the City of DeBary. The letter is welcoming me to the “DeBary Strategic Planning Steering Committee”. As a member of the committee we will help the city council and mayor determine their strategic planning for the city. The first meeting will be held Saturday the 20th, at 9AM. I guess I am about to get an education in local politics!
From the Little League’s perspective, the number one priority in my mind is making sure that the new parking lot gets built at Sullivan Park. Do you have any ideas for what direction the city should be steered into? I would love to hear about it.
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The Reason We Do This
Today I had a pitching lesson w/ a young lady that is just learning to pitch. She was struggling to throw strikes and needed a few minor corrections to help her find the zone. The entire time she was there she was attentive, trying her best, and most of all SMILING! I told her I loved her smile, but she might want to get a little meaner as time goes on if she really wants to be a pitcher.
At the end of the lesson, her dad had called to check on how it went. She was ecstatic going on about how much fun she had and asking “could she do it again”. In the short time we were together, she went from throwing the ball all over the place, to honing in on the plate. It only took a couple minor adjustments as she is fairly athletic in the first place, but the look on her face after we were done makes all the effort we put into this worthwhile.
This, my friends, is why we do this. What is your best “feel good” story? We would love to hear about it.
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What Makes a Team Magic?
A couple of years ago we had a softball team that could do no wrong. When we called bunt, they dropped the bunt down, when we needed a rally in the bottom of the 6th, we got the rally, when we played a team that should beat us, we found a way to win.
It was terribly nerve-wracking! Every game close, but somehow we won. Teams that come to mind are the 2008 Tampa Rays, the Florida Marlins pulled this off twice! How about the Colorado Rockies? All teams that didn’t really have super-stars, but they had “magic”. Where does it come from? This year I think it comes from our bright lime-green uniforms, but I have to wonder how? Why?
I have heard coaches and players at all levels speak of this before. The most magic team I ever witnessed was Joe Gibbs’ Redskins when Mark Rypien threw to the three amigos. The guy couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, but put him in a game and he would heave it down field 50 yards and Gary Clark would run under it for a touchdown! I remember having one game like this in the front yard of Riverside Elementary School. I would close my eyes, heave, and someone would catch it! Amazing stuff!
But why does this happen? What combination of attributes come together to create true magic? I am not talking about total dominance, anyone can put together dominant teams, I am talking about magic. That, “can’t do anything wrong” feeling. The kind where you turn to your friend and say, “she’s gonna hit” and she does, where does that come from and how do we continue to tap into it?
I guess if someone knew the answer to this they would be a billionaire, for now, I am just going to enjoy the ride! Anyone have any ideas?
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Tryouts Tonight!
We had our first round of tryouts tonight and everything went great! One thing I noticed was how well schooled the kids were. We have been blessed with very good coaching across the board and it shows in the mid-range age 8-11 year old players. There were no kids, other than the brand new ones, that weren’t fairly fundamentally sound.
The other part of the equation was that they actually performed those fundamentals properly! This just goes to show that they are learning them and capable of performing them when “in the spotlight”. It is important to make sure they understand they are in the spotlight every time they field a ball be it practice, a game, or in the back yard. Fundamentally sound players will excel more often than not.
Travel practice tomorrow, then final round of tryouts on Thursday!
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Girls Must Be Social
I have often wondered why my softball teams would play so well when I had them dead to rights before the game would start. They would chitty-chatty during the entire warm up session, and then, when it came time to play, they got down to business. Then when we were strict from the beginning, they would not perform. This video provides some insight into the reason.
My favorite quote from the video: “Boys must play well to feel good, girls must feel good to play well.”
That is brilliant!
Anyway, enjoy.
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The Little League Coach’s Top Articles of 2008
Looking back it has been quite and eventful year! You never really realize how much you write until you have to review it all! Anyway, these are the best articles I wrote this year. (In my humble opinion, of course.)
23. Hello World
My first post. How far we have come.
I try to do this all the time but I am only human and fail often.
21. Good Advice for New Coaches
One of my best put together articles
20. Ours is not to tear them down, but to build them up
Positive reinforcement is the key.
19. Playing Time
This controversial article lead to the most comments of the year.
This is one of my major pet peeves.
How to tear a group down, bring them back together, and move forward.
16. Rec League Cancels All-Star Game
This article is disgusting.
15. Championships or Leadership?
Leadership comes first in my book.
14. Little League to Use Replay???
I hate replay.
13. On Deck Batter Responsibilities
An often overlooked part of the game.
12. Top Ten Reasons I Love Women’s Beach Volleyball
No real reason other than we get to look at Kerry Walsh and Misty May in their bikinis again.
The title say it all.
10. Selected as the Youth Sports Expert for Flagler Parent Magazine
Not so much the article itself, but the fact that I am going to be published in print is great!
Every facet of our life includes conflict, how we handle and resolve it is what defines our character.
8. The Family at Islands of Adventure
Not so much because of the post, but because I was able to upload and integrate all the videos into the post! I hope to do more of this in 2009 as it makes things more interesting.
One of the few times I actually took a political stand. See how a little bailout can cost a small league like ours $75,000!
Just when you are about to give up, all your hard work pays off.
5. My Life Just Changed Forever
Again, not so much for the journalistic portion of it but for the content and the life changing nature it shows.
A fail safe, and parent protective, way to create your line-up.
3. 2009 Little League Rules and Regulation Changes
What this blog is all about.
Why parents lose their mind when you walk their kid.
1. Little League Umpires and the Circle Violation
I have no idea why Little League Umpires can’t get this right, but it is very frustrating.
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Arena Football Season Canceled
In my lifetime I have seen many leagues come and go. Soccer seems to be the most difficult to implement in our country, but the old Amercan Football League, the Extreme Football League, and countless others have come and gone. Today, we lose the Arena Football League. (I know they say they aren’t folding, but we all know that is BS).
This has a direct impact on our league because we are fortunate enough to host a family with a coach from one of the teams. He is not only in our Little League, but the kid played on our travel team as well. It is a tough business he chose, and he makes no excuses for it, they apparently move often. I am not that close with them, but I have spoken on occasion to them about this subject.
I don’t know what will come of the AFL, quite frankly, I wasn’t that big of a fan. It wasn’t really football in my mind, it was more like sandlot stuff more closely related to flag football than the NFL. It makes me wonder though, what about the NBA? What about the NHL? Both of those leagues have a number of teams in very small markets and exorbitant payrolls. The AFL had minuscule payrolls relatively speaking.
Today, we have no real idea what we will be doing tomorrow. Will we have a house? Will we have a job? Where will we be in 10 years? I was fortunate enough to receive a quote today from justsell.com that sums this up. It reads:
“A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”
George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
Irish playwright and critic
When I read it this morning, I figured it was just more ammunition for me to use w/ my wife about all my prior business screw-ups, applying it to the AFL anyone affiliated with the organization should be honored. I agree. I don’t care if you like it or not, they stuck their neck out and gave it everything they had, win or lose.
I haven’t talked to our friend yet, but I am certain he isn’t sitting around whining about losing his job today. I bet he is making calls, networking, and making sure his resume’ is up to date. As the quote states, mistakes are honorable. As I tell my players, striking out only means you are one swing closer to a hit.
How do you handle your mistakes? Do you learn from them? Are they opportunities?
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Spring Already?
I just spent the last four hours planning for our spring season and compiling an email to all the parents in the league. Amazing that I actually had one whole week off before we had to start working on the spring again! This truly is a full time job. That means I have exactly 4 1/2 jobs and not a second to spare in any day! Life is good!
What are you doing to make your league better next year? We would love to hear about it!
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