OK,
First off, I don?t consider myself a ?great coach?. ?I would say, maybe, a pretty good coach. ?I have been doing this for 32 years at every conceivable level. ?From little league, travel baseball and for the last good number of years ? fastpitch softball.
What do I consider to be a ?great? coach? ?Easily-the answer is ?someone that makes an impact in a player life?.
Pull up a chair, I am going to tell you a story about a 7 year old deaf boy on the day of his first tryouts for little league.
This little boy picked up a glove for the first time when he was 4 years old. ?From that day forth he was hooked on baseball. ?Almost every day when the weather permitted, this boy and his father would go out and throw the baseball or the father would hit and the boy would shag some fly balls or grounders. ?Many days were spent throwing the ball back and forth in the back yard, even though the father, on many days, just got off of a 12 hour shift and was bone weary tired and cover with grime from a hard days work. ?This father would work with this deaf boy until it was too dark to throw anymore and eat a cold dinner because it was more important to him to be with his son.
The first year he was eligible, the father took his deaf son to his first little league tryout at the age of 7 years. ?This boy was able to catch any fly ball, snag any grounder and hit every pitch. ?He stood in pride as the rest of the parents were making comments on how well this little deaf boy played the game. ?The little deaf boy could see his father beaming with pride on the sideline.
Then came the time when all of the little league coaches made their selections. ?It was done by each coach choosing a player and it continued until each team had 12 players. ?Those not chosen were told to come back next year. ?There was one coach in attendance that already had 12 returning players from the previous year but he attended since all coaches were required to be at the tryouts.
Pick after pick was made, but this little deaf boy saw player after player pick and in the end, he was the only one not selected. ?The little deaf boy did not know what was happening; he just noticed that when he looked at his father, he saw tears in his eyes. ?The little deaf thought he did something wrong.
This boy saw that the head of the little league and the coach that did not have a selection due to having a full roster, were obviously very angry. ?He called all of the coaches together and was yelling at them. ?He called this boy?s father over to the meeting. ?The director asked why no one chose this little boy. ?Their answer ?We can?t understand what he is saying and he can?t hear, so how are we going to coach him?. ?The coach of the ?full roster? then asked the director to make an exception and allow him to take this kid on his team. ?The director granted him permission on the spot and the little deaf boy ended up playing with this coach until he was 12 years old. ?The team won the league championship each of the year this boy played on this team. ?The director worked with this boy on pitching and he ended up pitching for the final two years he played little league. ?He spent many hours at this boy?s house, on his own time, working along side of the boy?s father. ?The director and the boy's coach became a close friend of the family for many years until their passing.
When this boy was in college, he heard that the director of the little league was dying of liver cancer. ?He immediately left college to visit him in the hospital. ?He wanted to visit him one more time before he passed. ?The last time he saw this ?director? he thanked him for everything he did for him when he was young and made the comment that he wished he could pay him back for everything. ?The director made a simple request. ??When the time comes, be a coach and do the right thing for your players?. ?The promise was made.
The little deaf boy ? yep, that was me.
The people that made the tremendous impact in my life:
My father ? Curtis Clark
The director ? Denton Fuller ? Wooster Little League
The coach ? Tom Todaro - coach of the Wooster Lumber Little League team
Those were ?great coaches?.
