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Health & Fitness

Coaches with heart

With all the baseball posts, I thought I'd speak up about something that REALLY bothers us parents

It is heartbreaking to us, as parents, to hear coaches yell at the kids they are coaching. It doesn't matter who the team is, it quite sickens me. Luckily my son plays for a team that has coaches that understand that kids want to do a good job, they don't want to let the team down, they want their coaches and parents to be proud of them. To get a point across to a child you have to help them, show them, and correct their mistakes, even if it takes 100 times, because that's what a good coach does. And when that kid hits a home run one day that coach is going to be so proud of him that words won't even be able to describe the feeling. Right now, when kids are in the 7/8 and 9/10 teams they are learning the fundamentals of the game. Of course they aren't going to always be perfect, they won't always catch that fly ball, they'll sometimes strike out, and sometimes they will stand there holding the ball and freak out and forget who to throw it to. But, all of that is okay, they are learning from their mistakes. They need practice and help, adults hollering and getting upset does nothing but put added pressure on the child, make them feel worse, and in turn they will play worse. If you want success you practice until it's right. The kids look up to their coaches, you as coaches have the responsibility of not only coaching their games but showing them sportsmanship and teamwork, they look to you to be a role model. If a coach is yelling, calling names, throwing things, and belittling a child in front of their team mates, it is truly unacceptable and you don't deserve to be called a coach.

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