ABSTRACT
All of this coaching has involved my own children (Clay and Franny), with me (and my wife Cathleen Connell) following more than leading our kids’ interests in team sports. One thing I love about baseball and softball is that so much of it is about backing each other up. Baseballs and softballs have a mind of their own when hit and thrown, meaning that they often can get by you when you are trying to stop or catch them. So it is essential that everyone is backing each other up, never just standing around watching the play unfold. Thus the saying that all our players get to know by heart: “If you are standing around just watching, you are not doing your job.” One
of the best responses over the years came from Delaney, an 8-year-old girl on our community league team: “Coach John, I get the feeling that you are trying to teach us about more things than just softball.” All good coaches of young people know that they are teaching (and learning!) about far more than sports, but announcing this to the team tends to ruin all the fun, and ultimately the effectiveness. So, shhhh. Let them figure it out.
