Home

5

Nov, 2025

Do I Have What It Takes To Be A Coach? (Spoiler: YES!)

When it comes to youth sports, we all know the fun had and lessons learned make up a huge part of our kids' childhood memories. It's why we spend our weeknights and weekends in the car, in fast food drive-thrus, passing our spouse as we go from field to field like two ships passing in the night. What makes it all worth it is the pride we see in our kids when that hard work finally pays off on the field, and knowing they've unlocked an understanding of what they're capable of with a bit of hard work and determination.
Those moments are made possible by a whole community of folks: the league administrators, the other team parents, the umpires, and perhaps most obviously, the coaches. A great coach can wake up a kid to a belief in themselves they never knew they had. They can make a kid feel seen, valued, and believed in in a way that's just different from how they relate to their parents and peers.
But what makes a great coach? A bottomless well of knowledge of the game? The equivalent of a phd in physics based on their understanding of mechanics? The strategic mind of a baseball Bobby Fischer? Or maybe it's just a pair of rad sunglasses, a sleeveless hoodie, and a well shaped beard.
While all of these traits may make up what we think of as the quintessential "baseball coach", they're really just icing on the cake. Great coaches are folks who understand what youth sports means in the life of a kid, and want to step in to give the kids in their community the best experience possible. In the same way that a great coach can teach kids a growth mindset of lifelong learning, they model that by learning on the job.

Any human being with a pulse can coach a tee ball team. You round up ten kindergarteners and play with a ball for an hour and let the chips fall where they may. The basics of the game are easy to learn and explain at this level, and let's be honest: only about 10% of what you say is going to stick. It's all about having a blast, getting these kids outside, and enjoying the fun of being around friends, putting on a cool uniform, and trying something new.
Then your kid moves up to coach pitch. Alright coach, now you gotta learn to lob in a strike. You learn to throw a strike while your kids learn to hit a moving target. You're growing together, and just a little more of the teaching is starting to sink in.
Next year comes single A. You start to wonder if you're out of your league- you weren't any kind of high level player, how can you teach kids how to pitch? Well, you already taught them how to throw. Now you just have to learn to teach them the mechanics of pitching from the stretch, so you go to the USA Baseball website and watch a free 40 minute course on how to teach pitching to young kids. Boom. You're a single A coach.
But now you've hit AA, and *gasp*, there's a trophy on the line. The wins count, the losses count, and the families seem to have gone from totally chill to competitive maniacs overnight! You're learning how to strategically spread around opportunities at different positions while still giving your kids a chance to win, and some days it looks more like a circus than a baseball game out there. Again you have to remind yourself that you're all learning. You, your players, your families, even the umpires. Give yourself some grace and stick with it, you'll be amazed at how much your team grows over the course of the season.
On and on it goes, every next division with something new to learn- but you've realized something. Every time you take a new step, you're taking along everything you've learned along the way, and you just have to learn a little something new with each step. And you've noticed something a little strange: you've gone from one or two wins a season, to a handful, to sitting around .500, to all of a sudden stepping on the field knowing you could win a game against just about anyone on a given day. Somehow, by simply sticking with it, you've turned into a pretty dang good baseball coach. You've made some great friends on your staff along the way, and you're saying tearful goodbyes to kids that aren't yours when the journey is ending.

When my oldest son's final season in Little League ended, I was wrecked in a way that surprised me. Now, on the surface, you might assume it's because after playing the league championship game to a 7-7 tie after six innings, we gave up 25 runs in the top of the 7th. You read that right. But after the dust settled, I realized I was experiencing a kind of grief deeper than the result of any game could bring. What I realized was this: I had coached my son on a baseball field for the last time. My sadness was not coming from unmet expectations or from falling short, they were tears of longing for one more day, one more practice, one more game before it was all over. I could think back to that 5 year old still looking like a baby giraffe taking grounders at the park like it was yesterday, and now here we were, turning the page. And while it was hard to let that season go, I will be forever grateful for those years.
Coaching in Little League isn't easy. The time, the commitment, the frustrations are all real, but I'm here to tell you that I'd do it all again (and actually am, starting with my teeballer this Spring) in a heartbeat. I've never been the greatest mind when it comes to baseball, but you don't have to be. You just have to be someone who's willing to put their hand up and say, "I guess I can do it".
You'll be amazed at the journey it brings.

For more information on coaching with Ken Caryl Little League, CLICK HERE

Website Manager

Ken Caryl Little League

News Detail

5

Nov, 2025

Do I Have What It Takes To Be A Coach? (Spoiler: YES!)

Local Sponsors

Ken Caryl Little League (#68081)

LITTLE LEAGUE® International