Not a softball story, but I'm proud none the less. My oldest nephew finished up his 4 years of D2 in 2014, and like most of us have experienced after ball, it leaves a void in your life. Some go play in area men's league baseball, some the slow pitch beer leagues, some go umpire, some do nothing.
My nephew, and 3 of his friends that grew up together ( all ex-college players ) decided to give back to the game that they love. They approached one of the longest standing travel ball orgs in the area ( established mid 70's ) and asked if there were any coaching positions available.
Going in, they figured they would be split up to teams who needed an extra assistant coach here and there. But just so happens a team of 9 year olds needed a full set of instructors. They jumped at the opportunity and seem to be having the time of their lives working with the young men.
Now my brother and I have coached for years, and watched others coach our kids, but this is the first experience where our kid(s) have taken the reins of managing a team of their own. It's been a learning experience for us who feel.............old and now limited to spectate.
The funny part is our father, is loving every minute watching us squirm, scratch our heads, jump out of our seats, playing the new role of arm chair coaching our kid(s) as THEY coach. He's been through this before, coaching us his whole life, then forced as others in HS and college coached us, then watched us coach our children while he was helplessly stuck behind the other side of the fence.
Although I think dad is wrong, he often reminds us that we were not TB coaching material out of the gate either, that we made PLENTY of rookie coaching mistakes. The most hilarious part happened last weekend at a tournament, my brother and I always sit side by side and dad on the end. A couple of managing mistakes and brother and I start ( quietly ) discussing if there is a sane person on the coaching staff. My father gets up, tells us to scoot apart and sits in between, separating us like children.
The 3 of us walking to the parking lot reminded me of our youth, dad once again giving us advice. "If you two can't peacefully watch your kid coach a team of random players, you'll never make it through watching them coach your grandchildren, trust me, I've watched you big dummies try coaching for years". ( gotta love dad lol )
Any others now watching their kids coach?
My nephew, and 3 of his friends that grew up together ( all ex-college players ) decided to give back to the game that they love. They approached one of the longest standing travel ball orgs in the area ( established mid 70's ) and asked if there were any coaching positions available.
Going in, they figured they would be split up to teams who needed an extra assistant coach here and there. But just so happens a team of 9 year olds needed a full set of instructors. They jumped at the opportunity and seem to be having the time of their lives working with the young men.
Now my brother and I have coached for years, and watched others coach our kids, but this is the first experience where our kid(s) have taken the reins of managing a team of their own. It's been a learning experience for us who feel.............old and now limited to spectate.
The funny part is our father, is loving every minute watching us squirm, scratch our heads, jump out of our seats, playing the new role of arm chair coaching our kid(s) as THEY coach. He's been through this before, coaching us his whole life, then forced as others in HS and college coached us, then watched us coach our children while he was helplessly stuck behind the other side of the fence.
Although I think dad is wrong
, he often reminds us that we were not TB coaching material out of the gate either, that we made PLENTY of rookie coaching mistakes. The most hilarious part happened last weekend at a tournament, my brother and I always sit side by side and dad on the end. A couple of managing mistakes and brother and I start ( quietly ) discussing if there is a sane person on the coaching staff. My father gets up, tells us to scoot apart and sits in between, separating us like children. The 3 of us walking to the parking lot reminded me of our youth, dad once again giving us advice. "If you two can't peacefully watch your kid coach a team of random players, you'll never make it through watching them coach your grandchildren, trust me, I've watched you big dummies try coaching for years". ( gotta love dad lol )
Any others now watching their kids coach?
