In April, nine 7-year-olds first joined forces for what would develop into possibly the greatest Orioles baseball team of all time. While the second part of that comment may be significantly exaggerated, our Orioles Little League team wrapped up our baseball season this week on a fun and lesson-filled journey.
To reflect on day 1 practice to where these kids ended up at the end of the season is such an inspiring thing to watch. The baseball fundamentals and knowledge evolvement are one aspect, but what’s even more rewarding is the development of skills they’ll use well beyond any game of baseball.
Each game or practice we talked to our team about 3 things we’ll focus on:
- Learn more about baseball
- Be a great teammate
- Have fun
Pretty simple ideas but throughout the season, there would be constant challenges to disrupt carrying out these 3 priorities. When a kid strikes out, some may struggle still having fun. When a teammate misses a fly ball or boots a groundball, being a great teammate is tested. When unfavorable weather conditions show up, outside elements can impact how much fun takes place.
Coaching young kids gives a platform for taking what may seem to be trivial lessons learned in a youth baseball game and turns them into insights they can use well beyond sports. Understanding how each team member is unique in how they can help the team will provide perspective developing leadership skills. Recognizing there are uncontrollable factors (thank you Iowa weather) we constantly face can help provide a mindset of acknowledging the uncontrollable but focusing in on what can be controlled. Cheering on the teammate to their left and right gives practice to helping elevate others around them in the future.
We can make whatever we want out of the situations we embark on. Coaching a youth baseball can be simply coaching kids how to swing a bat and throw a ball. Or coaching a youth baseball team can be so much more in helping shape behaviors in these kids on how to be a positive influence in our community.
Lessons within the game of baseball are abundant. Handling an error or strike out can be practice for dealing with failures we all inevitably face in the future. Seeing a teammate struggling or down on themselves can be practice for learning empathy and helping lift others around you. Constant work practicing on their swing can teach the critical lesson of success coming from consistent and persistent hard work. Baseball will provide many unfavorable situations which translates into plenty of practice for each of these kids to work through difficulty to learn a better path forward.
While I hope our coaching staff helped shine some light on some of these successful behaviors, the kids also created plenty of lessons learned back to us coaches. When you put yourself out there to coach, mentor, or any other form of leadership, it creates space to help influence others while also learning and progressing in your own growth journey. Fun year, fun times, and even more excited for the fun ahead.
Shoutout to Andrew Nixt and Aaron Bloodsworth for being great coaches and mentors to these kids!
Take your step: we all serve in a coaching, mentoring, or leadership type role in one or many aspects of our lives. Whether it’s a formal title or not, we each have the platform to help influence positive behaviors to those around us. Regardless of the activity – sports, music, work, etc. – take another look at how you’re approaching opportunities to influence. Using the coaching baseball analogy, are you simply teaching fundamentals of the game or is your approach to connect lessons in baseball beyond just the game? To take your next step, evaluate opportunity for your influence to go beyond just the topic at hand and provide perspective on growth well beyond just the one situation. Helping others grow is a path to helping yourself grow.