Maybe you’re nostalgic for your Little League days and want a chance to give the same opportunity to your community. Or, your kids play Little League and you want to be involved in their extracurriculars as they get older. Perhaps you’ve never considered coaching before. You know it’s a significant commitment of time and energy, and you’re wondering what you might get out of this volunteer opportunity.
Coaching little league can make you a better man, and even make you more attractive. Here’s a few other reasons why you should become a coach:
Coach to Become a Leader
Leadership skills may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of coaching Little League.
You will need patience. Maybe more patience than you’ve ever needed before. Your players will be coming from a variety of backgrounds, have different skill and fitness levels, be outgoing or shy. You will need to adapt your leadership style to the challenges these differences create.
Coaching is teaching. The rules may be different depending on what Little League division you’re coaching. And all the time you’re explaining these rules, you’re also trying to instill in them life skills and the core values of baseball. You’ll offer technical advice and explain baseball concepts, but your biggest challenge will be in maintaining a positive atmosphere for all of your players. Your players might not remember, so you’ll have to remind them: It’s a game, and it’s supposed to be fun.
You’ll also need to learn to communicate and work through disagreements with parents. Coaching Little League can help you get better at working through conflict — will you let an argument with a parent break out on the field, or will you defuse the situation and offer a time where you can talk later?
Coach to Give Back to the Community
One coach, interviewed about his seven years coaching Little League, said that what he tried to instill most in his players was a love of community. It makes sense — not only is it a good lesson, but Little League Baseball is an excellent opportunity to teach it.
All your players will be from around the area. In some places, like inner-city leagues, they may be less privileged. Some players may be less outgoing, and have a harder time making friends. What you do as a coach is to bring together your community in friendly competition. You’re teaching them the power of working together as a team. The moment-to-moment ups and downs of baseball can help these kids learn to deal with whatever life throws at them. And they’ll take those lessons with them back into the community and beyond Little League.
Little League can also help you find your place in the community. If you’re a parent, Little League coaching is a great way to meet other parents in the area. All of you will have some level of common interest. And if you’re having a hard time with small talk, there’s always baseball.
Coach to Help Kids
Baseball is a game of failure — even great hitters at the professional level can miss 90% of the time when they’re in a slump. In sports, there’s never a guarantee of winning. But that’s part of what makes baseball a great sport for kids. Failure is a part of life, and it’s an almost certain component of any path to success. A Little League coach is there to help their players work through failure, learn from it and overcome it.
You’ll need to keep in communication with your players to make sure no one is getting left behind. Some coaches may feel tempted to focus on their star players, but a team is more than skilled individuals.
Other lessons your players will learn from Little League can include teamwork, social skills, how to compete respectfully, and how dedicated practice yields results — even if it’s difficult and takes months. Who knows, you might end up coaching a future world champion.
And you may find seeing kids learn these lessons helps you remember them, too.
It’s About More Than You
Little League is a place that will remind you about the things that go beyond you — it’s bigger than the coach and even bigger than baseball. It’s a chance to remind yourself of the community or find yourself a place in it.
You’ll be teaching your players how to play the game, but you shouldn’t count out the things you might learn along the way.
