Good Player, Great Coach

Taylor started up Fall baseball season last week and he’s lucky to have another good coach.  He had a great coach this past Spring and I’ll never forget the lesson on leadership I learned from coach Jim.

It was the end of the year party for Taylor’s baseball team, the time when the coach says an encouraging word or two for each player.  When it came to Taylor, coach Jim said, “He’s a good player, but not a great player.”  Some of the teammates said, “Coach, that hurts his feelings!”  But inside, I said, “Way to go, coach!  That’s telling the truth.”  That great coach immediately taught the team a lesson on truth over feelings:  “Well, it’s the truth.  He’s a good player, but not a great player.  He might become a great player down the road.”  Now that’s a great coach.

But the second comment that he made was something that I was most proud of:  “I picked Taylor for my team because he is very coachable.”  Coach Jim had Taylor a couple of years ago when he was playing AA ball when he wasn’t all that good, but he remembered that Taylor listened while other kids just did their own thing on the field.  Well, a few days later, the true test of listening to the coach came at the last game of the championships.

It was 2 outs with runners on second and third and Taylor was up to bat.  (That’s as stressful as preaching before 200 people! 🙂 )  The count was three balls with no strikes on Taylor.  Taylor looked for coach Jim’s sign and he took the next pitch for a called strike.  3-1.  Then, as Taylor later informed me, the coach signaled to him to take another pitch which was another strike!  Taylor clearly was frustrated because it was a pitch that he felt he could have hit.  And with the count now at 3-2, the next pitch was a swing and a miss, strike three!  They ended losing the game and came in second place for the season.

There are times when I wonder if Taylor had swung at that 3-1 pitch, if he could have hit a home run and been on the road to MLB!  But I’m glad that he was able to listen to this great coach who not only knows the game, but also knows the value of truth over feelings.  If Taylor is lucky enough to have a great coach like Jim next season, maybe he’ll become a great player one day…as long as he remains coachable.