Best thing you ever did for the worst athlete on your team...

[RetiredCoach]

It seems that every year I coach a girl that needs extra attention and special handling. A few years ago
as an AC of a rec team, we had a girl who was forced to join fastpitch softball by her mother, a single
parent.

This girl had plenty of attitude and rubbed many of the girls on the team (and coaches) the wrong way. Most
of them, as did this girl herself, did not want her on the team. So, I put my plan in place and executed it. I would
pay her extra attention. I would compliment her when she did something good and ignore it when she did something
bad. In games when she did something well I would go and compliment her and then go and enthusiastically talk
about her good play/hit to her mother.

As the year went on, her attitude diminished and she, actually, seemed to want to be on the team. The girls accepted
her and made friends with her. The coaches had nothing more to complain about. Her skills developed well enough
to play "B" level TB and she is still playing today!

 

[SoCal_Dad]

Lots of stories to tell, but the best one was years ago on a rec soccer team I wasn't coaching. The worst athlete on the team was the typical heavy kid that struggled to keep up with the other kids and was typically marginalized on teams. The coaches were very experienced and ran extremely well organized practices that consisted of a series of doing a drill for 15 minutes, running 300+ yards and taking a water break. She struggled on the runs in the beginning and finished way behind the rest of the team, however she got in shape over time to where she finished with the team. The coaches ran drills that developed skills and promoted competition. All the girls improved a lot and everyone settled into vital roles that contributed to a championship season. This particular girl finished the season transformed - she was in shape and competed hard in games for the first time in her life. It carried over to softball in the spring as she worked harder to became a solid player. Playing on that soccer team for 1 season changed her life as she's stayed active, in shape and confident in her ability to overcome challenges with effort.

The common element of the best cases is coaches making everyone a valued member of the team that contributes to the best of their abilities. The best coaches start their preseason practices with rudimentary basics and work their way up from there. John Wooden famously started each year with "this is how we put on our socks" and finished with 10 NCAA championships.

 

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

Had a 4-year old on my tee ball team. She came from a broken family, mom didn't have much money but always made sure her daughter was at practice and games. Dad got her when it was convenient and tried to coach her when he did show up, regardless of how it looked. She was a tiny kid, had a really sweet disposition, you could tell she wanted to learn how to play but felt overwhelmed. I just made sure that she felt like the most important kid in the world when she first showed up. I try to do that with all of my kids, it takes so little effort but you can see those smiles that melt your heart if you put some effort into it She wasn't very good but I let her play every position (may have kept her off of first, can't remember) and by the end of the year she was hitting off of a coach-pitched ball and made a couple of outs on throws to first base. She just wanted someone to believe in her and a chance to succeed. really proud of how hard she tried and nothing but respect for her mom.

 

[obbay]

I coached with a guy who could and has talked about how he took the weakest player on the team and helped her become a decent player. The point he misses completely is the career he took away from the player who ultimately paid for his project for the 3 or 4 years they were teammates.

While I like to believe that I've helped some girls, it's the one I couldn't help that made the biggest impact.
This was LL U10. this girl was overweight and I don't think I had ever seen anyone run slower, but she was very sweet and always had a smile. I don't think she had any friends either. no one was mean to her, but no one was usually with her either. As the 2nd AC I was basically a scorekeeper for that team, but I would encourage her whenever I could, stressing that getting on 1B with a walk was still getting to 1B. I used to work with her throwing and catching too. The HC basically ignored her.

She did make it to 1B on hits that she beat out, I think 3 times that season.

in what would be the last game of the season (playoffs) the coach had her batting last against the advice of the AC. The team had rallied in the last inning and when she got up the bases were loaded with 2 outs and the winning run on base. She didn't want to take her AB, she was afraid she would make the out that would end the game. I tried to encourage her, take some of the pressure off, pump her up with some stats that made her sound like a good ballplayer, etc, etc.

I didn't convince her. she got up and struck out. and the tears started before she left the batters box. two things indelibly tatooed on my memory from that season- My daughter crossing home plate in the light of the setting sun after her first home run, and this girl standing at home plate by herself with tears streaming down her cheeks as the other team celebrated in the infield. she went to the bench with her head down, weeping for a whole season of failure.

She never played again.

She doesn't know it but even though I couldn't help her, she helped me. she made me a better person and helped me make a better experience for a lot of girls who came later. I always wanted to see her again so I could tell her that she made a difference in my life.

 

[Sweet Lou]

Not really anything I did, she did it herself. At 7-8 rec we had a shy girl who on the small side and not very athletic. She'd reached base a few times but I don't think she'd hit the ball past the pitcher all season. We are in the playoffs, everyone makes it, and it's the last inning we are down 1 run with a runner on 2nd, 2 outs and wouldn't you know it this girl who comes up. She gets to coach pitch on ball 4 and on the 1st coach pitch she nearly takes off the coaches head with a double to center field to tie the game.

We wound up losing in extra innings but the smile on her face standing on 2nd was priceless and her big hit was all we could talk about after the game. She still plays today.

 

[YOCOACH]

Thank you all for sharing! I've had tears in my eyes since the first post. It is such a blessing that we are given when we are able to coach at any level and we should never forget that it is all about the kids.

 

[02Crush]

Thank you all for sharing! I've had tears in my eyes since the first post. It is such a blessing that we are given when we are able to coach at any level and we should never forget that it is all about the kids.

I wish everyone really did understand this perspective. I tell people often that when the girls are 40 they will not remember their team winning percentage in 12U. Nor will they remember if they were the "best" on the team. They will remember being scarred emotionally for life. They will remember if it was a good time. They will remember if they learned something from it. They will remember certain moments in time about where they went or nicknames or players they spent time with. They will remember the days outside playing something they enjoyed.

 

[cmustangsfp]

My story revolves around a girl I coached in rec ball. She didn't want to play, her mom made her to get her some exercise. She didn't fit in well with the team because she was not very athletic and despite my best hitting instructions, looked like a tree logger every time she came up to bat (think chopping wood). She also was very socially awkward. She would invent these softball stories to try to get girls to like her (like the time she hit it over the fence). She was not very good at running either. Every time she mad a mistake she complained about being "hurt". As a good coach in rec ball, I tried to make sure everyone got a game ball during the season. It was evident as the season went on that it was going to be really hard to find something this girl did to be "gameball worthy" to give her a gameball. Then this scenario came up:

Late in the season we are in a game we are about to lose. We had a rec rule that no new inning could start after 1 hr and 30 minutes. The first 3 innings were capped at 5 runs allowed and then unlimited runs after that. We had already scored 3 runs that inning (we were in the 3rd) so the most we could score was 2 more and we were down by 3 runs. We had 5 minutes left before the no new iining rule was about to get us. We had bases loaded, 2 outs, and this girl standing on 3B. It looks like the other coach is beginning their "stall" tactics. They know if they can delay the inning just long enough they will win. So they do their mound conference, the "Sally, tie your shoes!" thing and the throwing "intentional" balls so my hitters can't hit them. Down to 2 minutes left. Realizing that unless something miracleous happens, the opposing coach is going to try to stall to win, then the idea for the miracle comes to me. Send her home on purpose to end the inning and get the next one started. It would be nice to score the other 2 runs and get the inning ended that way, but there is no way the opposing coach is going to let my hitters hit, if he walks the next 2 batters, enough time will have elapsed that no new inning can start, so something has to be done and done now.

I frantically wave at my 3B coach to get her attentiion and give her the "Steal home on the next pitch" signal. She quizically looks at me, knowing that she will get walked in with a few more pitches (the way the current pitcher was throwing anyways - but remember she was walking runners on purpose). She raises her arms like "Why?" I send the signal again and add the "cutting throat" symbol for the suicide squeeze call. She instructs the runner to go no matter what. I know that even on a passed ball there is no way this girl will be able to steal home in time and luckily for me the opposing coach did not include his catcher in the "delay the game at all costs" strategy meetings with the pitcher. So she attempts to steal home and the catcher easily tags her out, end of the inning. I had already instructed the girls in the dugout to have their gear on and be lined up to take the field and as soon as the ump signals "Out!". We take the field immediately. This girl comes over to me with a tear in her eye and says "Sorry Coach." I tell her "No. I needed you to get out. You did exactly what I wanted and you did it perfectly. Now get your glove and get out there. I will explain later." The other team scores 1 run so now we are down 4 but are in unlimited runs so the other team will have to try to pitch to us if they want to win. We end up scoring 5 and after the 5th run scores the ump calls "Ballgame!".

After the goodgame line we all huddle on first base for the gameball "presentation". When I say I am going to give it to Taylor, the team looks at me strangely. I then explain "In the 3rd inning we were about to be beaten on time. The other team was stalling, we needed someone to get us out of that inning so we could start the next one and have the chance to win. I asked Taylor to do something that is hard for "ball players" to do and that is to get out on purpose. If she had not done what I asked her to do so perfectly, we would have lost the game. She saved the game for us and allowed us to come back and win today. So our game ball for todays game goes to Taylor." She walked up to accept it with the biggest smile I have ever seen from her. Her teammates are slapping her on the back, cheering and saying "Way to go Taylor!" and "You go girl!". I swear that she floated off the field that day.

I left the area the following year so I don't know if she made it back the following year or not, but I know for one day at least, she felt like she was a "ball player", an important part of the team and someone special for her teammates to look up to.

 

[smddad]

I didn't give a girl much play time. She then worked her butt off during the following years and earned a D1 scholarship.

 

[InsidePitch]

I let her play where she wanted to.

She showed up for fall ball wearing a hoodie, hands stuffed in the front pocket and the hood pulled down so I could barely see her face. She sat off by herself from the other girls and I presumed she was not there because she wanted to be.

She didn't say much when I tried to talk to her but being it was my first HC job I was determined to try and make it enjoyable for each kid. About 1/2 way through the fall season her mom came to practice and told me she'd been trying to learn to pitch at home and could she have a try. This was really REC with a mixture of 10s-12s and she was 11. I put her in that day and with a slow type of slingshot where she retired a few kids and those that got hits stayed in the infield. She went on to pitch our league winning game. To see her mobbed by her teammates and the beaming smile on her face stays with me years later.

In this case all I had to do was say yes.