One thing I love about coaching softball is the opportunity to see players and coaches learn valuable life lessons.
I also love the way life, business, and relationship lessons or principles often overlap with what we see, learn, teach, do, and have a chance to practice on the field.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen or heard concepts shared well outside the context of coaching softball and the first thing I think of is how it also applies to the game!
I ran into this again recently when I saw a tweet by Dave Ramsey, who will probably never really talk about softball because he is a personal finance/business leadership guy. I’m not sure Dave Ramsey has any experience whatsoever with the game of fastpitch softball, but still I loved his tweet…
Now he was talking about business, but this totally applies to coaching softball! Actually, it can apply to raising kids as well.
Our job, as softball coaches, is to equip our players with the tools they need to get the job done, think on their feet, and function well without us. On game day, there’s only so much we can do. We cannot play the game for them, though I admit I’ve wanted to steal a jersey and jump into the game myself on a number of occasions.
The reality is that many key plays and decisions will be must by the players themselves in the heat of battle.
There is NO way you can instruct every move and every decision from the sideline, though I know there are probably times you wish you could. There simply isn’t enough time for you to command every part of the game. Some decisions on the field have to be formed and executed before your brain could ever get the message to your mouth to say the words.
Not only that, can you imagine how annoying it would be to play for someone who constantly barks from the sideline as if they have no faith and no trust in your ability to make plays and make decisions on your own? That’s not the ideal situation to play in.
Like Dave says, “If you take…the time…to TEACH your team…”
Have you ever seen those coaches who don’t explain anything. They are just commanders. They command that players do this or do that and players have no idea why other than “Because coach said so.”
Teams coached in this manner will fall apart under pressure!
Coaching softball successfully requires that you TEACH your team so they understand why they are doing what you are asking.
This way, in game situations, they will be able to stand on their own two feet and make key decisions and plays without you. Because the honest truth is, in the game, you CANNOT do it for them. They must be able to think on their feet and make adjustments on the fly in order to be successful!
The same is obviously true with raising kids…eventually, they must be able to make great decisions without you. I’ll admit, as a mom, I wish I could control every decision my children make. They’d make less mistakes that way so there would be less stress and pain right? But they’d also be useless on their own and probably lack any kind of self confidence as well. Not a life I want for them.
How different is that from coaching a softball team? If you want your team to be confident…If you want a team to be able to perform under any circumstances… you must give them the tools they need by teaching them they WHY, not just telling them what to do.
I think free advice comes with the territory when it comes to softball coaching. Sometimes it seems that everyone and their mother has an opinion – literally. One word of caution when taking free advice…sometimes it’s worth what you paid for it. Nothing.
Players often ask coaches about “chances.”