Coaches--what makes you love the game?

[Coach-n-Dad]

Last weekend was amazing. Another Dad and I were watching the High School team compete in the Section Championship game. He turned to me and said "Do you realize that between the 2 of us, we have coached every girl on this team?".

***instant melt***

 

[coach james]

The look on her face when she makes a highlight play or hit.... The way her confidence soars when she succeeds... The way her parents brag about how excited she is... I truly love coaching the shy, timid girl into a stud that the other kids who used to yell "easy out" have now became afraid to play against!

 

[Pitching Dad]

Watching the girls friendships develop, rubbing dirt on the spot they just got hit with the ball, that little shy one you stuck in right field with very little natural ability when she "finally" catches her first fly ball and comes into the dugout with a smile that looks like it will be stuck on her face for the rest of the tourney. The one you told to steal and she got out at home. The girl you picked up cause she was cut from the team you are playing and she just got the game winning hit................I do it for the girls!!!!......

 

[WB Coach]

I had a girl who was assigned to my team right before the first team due to late signup. She announced to me during one of our practices "I'm just telling you right now, I can't hit the ball." I said, "Don't worry about it, you will."

Half-way into the season against a faster pitcher this girl makes contact. And it was solid. Hard grounder right to SS but it was a 6-3 out. You would think this girl just hit one over with bases loaded. She was beaming ear-to-ear and laughing all the way to the dugout after she made the out. Her next at bat was a bobbled FC and she was safe at first on the overthrow. Kid played like a champ the rest of the game.

We didn't win, but we did come back from a 13-0 deficit to tie the game in the last two innings. That was a great day.

 

[Dabears17]

When one of the weaker players who I couldn't convince to even practice pitching, hears you tell the 7 girls who want to pitch in the last rec game (8u) that you'll pitch the 4 players who give you the most red vines, gives you a big container of red vines at the start of the last game, with the caveat 'I'm still not going to pitch!'

 

[WB Coach]

When one of the weaker players who I couldn't convince to even practice pitching, hears you tell the 7 girls who want to pitch in the last rec game (8u) that you'll pitch the 4 players who give you the most red vines, gives you a big container of red vines at the start of the last game, with the caveat 'I'm still not going to pitch!'

Okay, I'm confused.

 

[Dabears17]

Redvines is a brand of red licorice. I had 12 girls on my 8u team and tried to get them all to pitch. Over the course of the season, 5 pitched 6 innings, 3 pitched 5 innings, 1 pitched 4, 1 pitched 2, 1 pitched 1 inning. One really didn't want to pitch.... if fact she teared up mid-season when I tried to get her to just practice pitching.

Before the last game most of my pitchers wanted to pitch, but with 4 innings max in 8u, I only could pitch 4. I joked I would let the 4 girls who gave me the most red vines pitch, so the girl who didn't want to pitch heard I liked red vines, so gave me a big container as a thank you gift.

 

[Little Angels Softball]

I just love it for the girls. I have a wife and two daughters and I very much enjoy the fact that they have more opportunities than girls in my generation did, and their daughters will have even more.

I've coached for over a decade without a girl on the team and now for the fourth year with my DD playing. I love it both ways! It allows me to bond with my DD and I still am able to form meaningful relationships with dozens of other girls and their families.

I always seem to enjoy it most when a less-confident player has a breakthrough and suddenly becomes a softball addict. The latest is a small, skinny, timid 11 year old who plays on a different team than mine but I know from giving clinics in the area. She was at a clinic I was giving a few weeks ago and we were doing a five-on-five drill that teaches outfielders to chase down balls and get them quickly back into a cutoff that required each side to be in the field and to hit. We were keeping score, and when it was her time to hit, she stayed in the dugout and tried to get one of the other girls to hit for her. I noticed, dropped everything and went and got her and put her in the batter's box, telling her the whole time I knew she could do it because I had seen her do it at some of my clinics and that I was simply not going to let her leave the clinic without getting a hit for her team. She waved at the first few pitches, missing them all. She started back to the dugout after three misses, but I stopped her and told her to swing hard and not worry about missing and that we would pitch to her until she got it. I asked her teammates to cheer her on and to tell her that they wanted her to be up because they, too, had confidence in her. To make a long story short, she eventually ripped a nice line drive down the right field line and scored two points for her team. The smile on her face was priceless.

Fast forward a couple of weeks later and my team is short a couple of players for a tournament semi-final. I email her dad and ask if this girl wants to play. After she picks herself up off the floor, she says OK and joins us. I let her play five innings and she goes 0-3 but grounded out once and hit a deep fly ball that was caught by a very good outfielder. When she was out of the game, I made a point of sitting down beside her and asking this question: "Doesn't it feel good to hit the ball hard?" With a huge smile, she said, 'It sure does, coach. Thanks for letting me play."

That is why I coach.

 

[Riseball Rusty]

My Dad pitched fastpitch softball for 35 Years and I also have been throwing for 30 years and my DD has been throwing since she was 6 years old! She's 15 now and I think it's just in our blood! Fastpitch softball is a passion we have had in our family. Everyone in the family has played at one time or an other. I think the thing that keeps me coming back is the love of teaching kids how to become real good players and to see them develope a more complete understanding of the game. It has never been about winning! It's about softball done right! To see kids compete at a high level and see that you can make a difference in thier lives because of the instruction I have given them give me great joy. I don't think I could stop if I wanted to! I just love the game and love teaching it!

 

[quandofloo]

I had a girl on my rec team this year that had a miserable first year last season. Her coach quit with 3 weeks left in the season, the replacement coach bailed out on them right before a game and told them it was because they were not good. Her parents had to make her come to the first practice with my team. She struggled all year but enjoyed ever minute of it.

We got to the last 3 games of our season and she was the only player who had not gotten a hit yet for our team. I told her mom that I was going to have her bat lead off for me for all three games to get her as many at bats as I could. She roped a beautiful single to center field on her last at bat of the first game of a double header.

She was so excited that I don't think she touched the ground between home and first. The game ended and we were lining up to shake hands and she tripped over third base. It was a little amazing how much damage she did to her knees by just falling down, but she skinned both knees and scraped up her left hand. Her left knee also had some minor bruising. The whole thing looked pretty painful. I told her to sit down and get some rest between games and that if she wasn't up to playing then she would be fine to stay in the dugout and cheer for her team.

We had 30 minutes between games. Her mom took her to a drug store down the road to get some bigger bandages for her knees and she came back to the park right before the second game started. When I asked her how she was feeling, she told me that she was fine and wanted to play. The girl still had tears in her eyes but she was determined to play. Her mom gave me the go ahead and she played the whole game for me. She got two more hits in that game.

That little girl was ready to never play softball again after last season. She desperately wanted someone to have some confidence in her. The positive impact that I got the privilege of having in her life is the reason that I coach.