Friday, May 9, 2008

Great Little League Coaches

With four boys, I would say that I have become somewhat of an expert on Little League baseball. This year we have 3 out of the 4 old enough to participate. One is in the kids-pitch league, one in the machine-pitch league, and one in T-ball. You have heard a lot about obnoxious parents and over-bearing coaches yelling at the players and really making the game not as fun as it could be for the kids. To tell you the truth, I have seen the opposite so far during the past 5 years that our boys have participated. I mentioned before that in Palo Alto we have an organization called "Positive Coaching Alliance." I would have to say that it has done wonders for our league.

The other day I was at my 10 year old's game and the opposing pitcher was really having a hard time. He had walked about 7 players in a row, allowing my son's team to score the maximum 5 runs per inning (NEW rule). He was very dejected as he walked to the dug out, obviously. I watched, as the coach of the other team stooped down and looked the little boy in the eye and seemed to say "you did great! you should feel really good about the inning and just keep on pitching." He held his hand up high for a high-five and the little boy gave him a big high-five and a smile. That was a great moment. It was a great lesson for me as a parent and a coach.

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