Character Lessons from the T-Ball Outfield
Things we can learn from the most boring place in all of sports
I’m a certified strength and conditioning coach. I get to work with some of the best people on the planet everyday. I love my job!
But, if I’m being honest, I’ve got more important jobs. I’m a husband. I’m a dad to two beautiful girls and a 6-year-old little boy. Thus, one of my most important jobs?
T-Ball Coach
I’ve coached my son’s team since he was 3. Yeah, I know. It’s the wildest, most frustrating, most exhausting, most fun and rewarding experiences I’ve had. Sports teach a lot of life lessons and t-ball is no different. You can learn things all over the field , but I think you can learn some big lessons amidst the flowers and weeds in the outfield.
Opportunity rarely comes when you expect it
We may go entire games without hitting a ball to the outfield. It can be a boring place to be and 95% of the time when a ball gets hit there, no one is paying attention. The instant gratification of picking dandelions or making faces at a teammate easily get in the way. Life isn’t much different. There may be seasons when you feel like the ball will never come your way, but stay ready. You don’t want to be digging up bermuda sod when your opportunity comes.
Sometimes the most important thing you can do is have someone’s back
Kids get so enamored with the ball that no matter where it is hit, they want to go try and get it. Explaining to your right fielder how we don’t need help on that ball that was hit to 3rd base can get a little frustrating. Everyone has a job and sometimes the best thing you can do is stand behind someone and let them know you have their back.
If you can be trusted with a little, you can be trusted with a lot
The kids that can focus in the outfield, with none of the action and all the distractions, will always be reliable no matter where you put them. If you can watch 12 hitters come to the plate without hitting a ball within 50 feet of you and still be locked in for that number 13, there isn’t much you can’t do. Want to be trusted with big things? Be reliable in the little things.
You don’t have to be out front to lead
I had a great assistant coach that would help me and he would just yell “BASEBALL READY” and the kids would yell it back and get in their ready position. By the end of the season, you would hear those words just randomly come from kids in the outfield and all the infielders would respond by yelling back and getting ready. You don’t always have to be out front to lead. Sometimes a pat on the back and an encouraging word is exactly what your team needs.
