Running Head: Baseball 1

Baseball

Veronica Lopez

South Texas College

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Baseball

Being a t-ball coach, I have learned a lot more about the sport now that I’m coaching than

before when I was playing in the field. Rules are always changing and updating for the little kids

even though some people forget they are still kids. Coaching my son, I always expect more from

him than anyone else, not only because he is my son, but I expect for him to listen every time I

teach him something new or correct his error. Being a coach for kids means having to learn to have

patience. Since they are kids it is hard to teach them something new since they get distracted easily,

I try to teach them the fundamentals. At the end of the season there is a team were we as coaches

nominate the team players who we think can qualify for the city’s all-stars. Once we nominate the

best kids from the team they must try out for the all-stars. Once a kid makes the all-stars, they will

form a team and start competing against other cities. Depending on how good the team is, will

depend how far they will get.

Last year my son got all the way to getting fourth in place from the state of Texas. There

have been several situations where I will message the parents for practice and only a few will show

up sometimes nobody will even show up. That is the opportunity that I take and practice with my

son one on one. There are situations where I will get after my son and of course correct him more

and that was when one parent came up and told me that why was I acting different towards him

than the other kids. The parent said that everyone knew my son was my priority that it looked like

I focused more on my son than I did to the other kids. I did not want to be rude and I just told him

it is because when I have practice, he will he only one that will not miss it, even when he feels

sick, he will still be here no excuses.

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When I took it upon myself to coach a t-ball team I knew that it was going to be difficult

since I mentioned earlier that patience is needed with little kids. I knew I did not want to favorite

my son and I wanted to be fair with all the players. My goal was to make a difference in the kids

it did not matter if we won or not. I just wanted to know that they improved from when they started.

However, when I started with practices everyone would show up at the beginning. By the second

week less kids started showing up. Kids started to show up only on games even though I would

remind parents of practices. By the time I knew it my son was the only one at practice. Even when

he was sick, he wanted to practice. His grinding never stopped, that was what even motivated me

even more as his coach. When games were available, I would just move the kids around the field,

my son was the only one that was stable on his position, since he has earned it. I kept moving the

kids since I was not sure what kid was best suited for what position. That is when parents started

getting upset how I was treating my son differently than others. They were upset since I was not

moving my kid, but I was moving everyone else around.

When Sun Tzu mentions: “A skilled general leads his army, as if he was leading a single

man by the hand.” He is saying breaking them up by smaller groups it will be easier to guide them

on the same direction. We must remember not everyone learns the same. Being a coach, it is more

practical having an assistant and dividing the kids. However, it is more beneficial for the kids to

break them up in smaller groups and focus on their weaknesses since I mentioned earlier not

everyone learns the same. In the valley another barrier kid have is language. But by dividing the

kids and teaching them by their first language I am also getting to know them more personally

meaning more bonding time. Therefore, I can focus on them what they need to improve the most.

However, I can turn the world upside down and do everything in my power to help these children.

But nothing, will matter if this will not show up to practice. If it was up to them, they would show
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up to practice. However, it is up to the parents to focus on their priorities, and up to them to decide

if their kid is one of them. There will be situations were parents will not make it to practice due to

circumstances, but it is not fair for them to miss all the practices because the parents are just being

lazy. As a coach there are times where I am feeling under the weather but since my son is willing

to practice when he feels sick, I’m willing to sacrifice for him.

Being a coach, I should focus on all kids at the same time however, I want my son to

standout and succeed in baseball. I should focus more on him since I know I’m willing to put that

extra time to make succeed and I am hoping he does to. While Sun Tzu agrees the proper thing is

to treat all kids equally and in fairness. It will be adequate for me as a coach to teach them in

smaller groups so I can focus on my goals as a coach and they can also learn properly the

fundamentals of baseball. However, I cannot coach kids that do not have time to be coached.
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References

East Tenth Group Inc. (July 2018) 5 Characteristics of the best leaders from The Art of War.

Retrieved from https://easttenthgroup.com/art-of-war-leadership-lessons-sun-tzu/