Reflections of a 15u Baseball Season:
What some 15-year-olds taught me about what George Brett taught me 10 years ago!
So, this past weekend marked the end of my first ever coaching endeavor. I've spent the last 2 months, or so, as the pitching coach for a 15u baseball team, here in Middle Tennessee. I get the question all the time, "how was it?" or, "how did it go?" My best reply is something along the lines of this.
"It was good. A little frustrating at times, but a lot of fun. The kids were really good kids… most of the time. They listened very well….. usually, which made it easy….. sometimes. I saw 5 errors in one inning followed shortly thereafter by a complete game shutout. There was highs. There were lows. I saw 3 (or 4) intentional walks in a row (not by us, of course). I even had an umpire ask ME if the guy was safe! The bottom line is this though, at the exact moment you're fighting off the urge to smash the water cooler with a bat because Billy just struck out on a ball 2 feet over his head…. for the 7th time, you realize….. they're 15. I quickly think back to when I was 15, and it brings a smile to my face, because I know that these kids are twice the player, and three times the person I was, and they have a bright future!"
So…… What did I learn???
From time to time, throughout the season, I tried to instill small tidbits of ideas, dealing mostly along the lines of mental approach and situational philosophies. I felt like that was the kind of stuff that, generally, get looked over the most at the youth level. So, after the last game of the season, I wanted to leave them with some sort of "final thought," ala Jerry Springer. I wanted to give them something they could easily translate into other sports and even other avenues of life. I decided to talk to them about "how to play the game right." I got about 4 words into it and I could feel it coming! I thought maybe I could just muscle past it and I'd be fine once I did. I continued to speak, with the feeling growing more and more intense. You see, the topic was playing the game right, and when it's all said and done, don't have any regrets. And there's the magical statement…. "when it's all said and done." And I couldn't hold back the tears any longer.
Part of my talk was recalling some things that George Brett had said in spring training one year, as he addressed the entire minor league battalion. Mr. Brett was talking about playing the game every day like it was your last, and when that last day does comes, being sure that nothing was left on the table and there are no regrets. As George reached the part where he mentions that last day, the day you "hang 'em up," he began to shed a tear. I sat there in wonderment as I watched a Hall of Fame player cry as he spoke about his time as a player, and to see how much the game had meant to him. I can remember thinking, "Man, I hope my career will be great enough so that one day I might look back on it and shed a tear."
And so, there I was, in front of ten 15-year-olds, sobbing as I spoke about my thoughts on how to play the game right, and how to play it with pride, and play it like you mean, and play it because YOU want to know how good you are. All I could think of was how George Brett had done the same. I was like George Brett!!
It really sank in on the car ride home as I sat there and thought about that very statement. I was like George Brett. But my career never came close to, even remotely, resembling what his was. I like to think I got a little more than "a cup of coffee," but it sure wasn't Hall of Fame material. And that's when it slapped me right across the face. It's not about the results, the accolades, the fame, or the money. I'm sure they would have been nice. But in the end It's about the game, the will to compete, and the desire to prove yourself to no one other than, YOURSELF. That's what makes it hard in the end. To know that you poured your heart and soul into something, and then it just stopped. That's the kicker with sports. The heart and soul may always remain in tact, but at some point your opportunities will run out. It has finally dawned on me that I can look back on my "body of work" thus far, back on everything that I gave my all to, and hang my hat on it. Maybe it didn't end like I had imagined it would, but I can look back and hold my head up high knowing that I played the game right. And maybe it was just a pot of coffee, but it was one of the best pots I've ever had!
A special thank you to the 15u Middle Tennessee Bruins for reviving my innocence for he game of baseball!
