…thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to help out with my team. There are so many other things that you could be doing, and I am honored that you have chosen to spend your time helping me to become a better athlete and citizen.
I am every young person that you come into contact with during the season. I am the players on your team, the little brothers and sisters that come to watch our games, the friends who show up and hang out around the park, and the umpires and referees who do their best to see that the games are contested in a fair and safe manner.
As the season gets underway, there are a couple of things I would like to say to you, since we probably won’t have the opportunity to sit down and talk during the season.
Please remember that my participation at this level is both a right and a privilege. There will be many, many opportunities for me to participate in activities for which I will try out, and then either be ‘cut’ or made a part of the team on the basis of my ability. But at this early point of my young life, I am allowed to play just because I want to. I don’t have to be good and I don’t have to try hard if I don’t want to. This is one of those rare times in my life that I can just show up and play a sport that I may never have the opportunity to play again for the rest of my life.
Please also remember that I am constantly being told what to do at school, at home, and just about everywhere I show up these days. I know that every activity has some requirements and that there are some responsibilities that I have to uphold as part of the bargain, but I really want to do this so that I can be around my friends and have some fun.
So then, winning isn’t necessarily the main objective as to why I have decided to play.
At this point in my life, there are so many things that I am trying to learn more about. My body is in a constant state of flux, changing day by day, so that I can accomplish some things on one occasion and then feel like a total klutz the next.
So if coaching a winning team is your chief goal and your ego and sense of self-esteem are at all tied to our final win-loss record, please do us all a favor and go find something else to do.
You might consider playing golf or softball or something that you can compete in and have more control over the outcome. Maybe there are some issues relating to winning and losing that you need to spend a little more time with. Which is perfectly okay!
But I certainly hope that your perception of social acceptance isn’t tied to whether or not you can get a group of kids my age to win at any cost.
In spite of what we might say when you ask us, we’d rather learn about the game, try our best and have a great time. If a winning season is a result of that formula, so be it. What we really want is to be taught the game and have some fun.
I also play on the other team so if you tell your players to “take an extra base on the right fielder because he doesn’t have a very good arm,” some of my friends are going to hear you.
Remember, I have to go to school and live my life with these people. There is enough pressure just being a kid my age and I don’t need the additional shame of being known as a “weak-armed outfielder” to go along with everything else.
If you are a good coach, your players will listen to you while they are running the bases anyway, so if you and the other coaches on your team don’t think that I have a very good arm, that’s okay. But please keep it to yourself. Just tell your players to keep running.
And if I’m pitching against you, please don’t get your team together between innings and tell them they have to get a bunch of hits off me because I’m no good. Instead, tell them what good hitters they are.
You might get the same result, but my life will be a lot better the next day in the cafeteria.
If I have the opportunity to move on and play at another level, and if I am lucky enough to survive being cut by a coach, and when I have played long enough to know exactly what situation I am in, then you can say that I don’t have a very good arm or that I am not a very good pitcher and I’ll be able to handle it a lot better.
But, come to think of it, why would you ever, ever want to say things like that?
If you’re my mom or dad, please try to treat me like the other kids. Please don’t show me favoritism, because that just makes the other kids show envy. Please don’t single me out from the others and give me a harder punishment if we’re caught goofing around, because that just makes the other kids show pity.
I know that it’s a lot to ask, but please try to treat me like I’m just another kid in a uniform. If this is too much to ask, hey…you don’t have to coach me…do you?
And if we lose, or if we don’t play up to our ability, please allow us to go our separate ways and let’s talk about it later. There is nothing that you can say at the time that will do us much good. Besides, we’re probably not in much of a mood to listen.
By the time our next practice rolls around, you’ll still remember the things that are really important.
Thank you for listening, and thanks again for coaching us. Now let’s stop wasting time…let’s get out there and have some fun!
