Play Ball !!!
September 12th, 2007 by Steve YoungbloodPlay Ball!
Life is a river not a lake. The only thing that never changes is that constant change is here to stay. This truth became evident to me this summer while coaching my son’s high school baseball team. Although it had been years since I played baseball myself, when no one else would take on this summer team, I was nominated.
Approaching this job with trepidation I wondered if I could recall enough history to even be competent as a manager/coach. My wonderful memories of playing ball are a part of my library of past life experiences. I still recall my old coaches with fondness, and when I meet them today my standard greeting is still, ‘hey coach’…good to see ya!
I never thought much about what it was like for them back in the day. My mind was pretty much centered on, good ole me. It was all about whether or not I was playing catcher or third base, where I would bat in the line up, and how I would perform in that day’s game. I was sure that all eyes were on me; I would lay awake at night, before and after each game, dreaming about what I was going to do, or fretting about what I did.
According to the ‘stat books’ and Bob Carlson, ’the radio sport’s guy who broadcast our games’ I was an above 300 avg. slugger and had a rocket arm to second base. Baseball was good for me; it instilled confidence and success in my life in a time frame filled with teenage insecurity. Even though I thought the game revolved around me… baseball can be credited with helping me become the man I am today.
Thirty years later and now as a coach, I see the game and it’s players in a whole different way. As a coach I was there for the kids and their futures, not just for a (W) in the won/lost column. The green field, the bright lights, the umpires in blue, the rowdy spectators, clean sharp uniforms, white bases, the dirt base paths, foul lines, batters boxes, snack bar, and PA announcers were all in place for different reasons now.
Today it’s about helping a group of terrific young men navigate their path into adulthood. I see in their lives, future’s full of hope and promise, If only they can learn the lessons of the game; they can succeed in life. They must learn that practice makes perfect and that perfect practice makes you practically perfect. It takes diligence, endurance, and hard work, and I hope they learn that hard work is rewarded.
It is important to me for them to learn to be humble in victory and graceful in defeat. They need to learn to respect the umpires, and to take responsibility for their own mistakes, rather than making excuses and passing the buck to someone else. They must never throw their helmets in disgust, or slide into base with their spikes high. I want them to tip their hat to a good play made by an opponent, and congratulate a teammate for good performance.
I want them to learn how to handle success, failure adversity, and superiority. I want them to be honest hardworking young men, who become friends for life. I hope they continue to improve as athletes and people and I hope they learn to most important lesson of all which is … to never ever give up!
Upon reflection I have learned that I have changed. I know that baseball has been good to me; in fact baseball has done fore for me now than I have ever done for baseball. I trust that this will be the case for 18 young men who spent the summer of 2007 playing ball on dusty fields around the Midwest. Maybe on day when they are old like me, they will call me ‘coach’ and I can go watch them as the trick another generation into growing up by teaching them to play a game.
Life truly is a river not a lake, and constant change is surely here to stay. Amazingly I can see that I have change a lot, and I hope that I always will. Play Ball!
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