What’s your mission as a coach?
During the Little League World Series last month, Eli Jones from Sammamish, Washington threw the first solo no-hitter since 2015, shutting out the team from Palm City, Fla., 1-0, in an elimination game. That was a great story, but what made it even better was that Mark Jones, the coach of the Palm City team that just got beat, was the first person to congratulate Eli on his remarkable feat.
Yes, his team just got eliminated from the LLWS, and yes they were no-hit. Their march to the championship was suddenly over. But, what was most important to Coach Jones at that moment, was to give a handshake, a hug and to whisper congratulatory words into the ear of the boy who had just pitched his heart out to defeat Coach Jones's team.
Many of you who bring your kids to Bash are coaches. You volunteer to run a youth baseball or softball team. You give a lot of your time and sometimes you even give your money in the process. For that everyone involved should be grateful to you.
Professional and college coaches are expected to generate victories. They get paid for it. Youth baseball coaches aren't paid at all, yet I would argue that your responsibility is much greater.
Look up "coach" in a thesaurus and you'll find that one of its synonyms is "mentor." In Homer's epic The Odyssey, Odysseus left home to fight and journey for 20 years, leaving his baby son, Telemachus, to grow up under the supervision of Mentor, an old and trusted friend. When the goddess Athena decided to complete the education of young Telemachus, she came disguised as Mentor and they set out together to learn about his father.
Thus, a mentor is a person who is a positive, guiding influence in another person's life.
Winning games is nice. But it's nothing compared to using baseball or softball to mentor children -- to teach the life lessons that will have an impact on a young person for the rest of their life. That's your mission. Each of us remembers a coach we had who was a great influence on us. And even if you only coach a particular child for one season, you might still be that influential person remembers years later.
Think about that when you're going out to practice or to coach a game. What will the players on your team remember about you? Will you influence them in a positive or negative way?
As if that's not enough responsibility, I'm about to add more. I believe that true coaches see themselves as a mentor for both teams on the field. Of course, you're not going to pull a kid aside on the other team and take a moment to teach him something. That's overstepping and probably wouldn't be appreciated by the other coach. However, your behavior, the example you set, the sportsmanship you show will be noticed by the players on the other bench, too..
Coach Mark Jones of Palm City, Florida showed us all what the priority should be for a youth coach. He mentored both teams that day -- teaching sportsmanship and an appreciation for a great performance, no matter which player on which team delivered that performance.
In fact, I'd say he mentored a few coaches that day, as well.