Our program has five goals that we use to measure our success:
1. To challenge each student-athlete at levels he has yet to experience athletically, while simultaneously giving each ballplayer a fun and unforgettable athletic experience.
2. To develop and push each player to the limit of his baseball potential and help players realize their baseball dreams.
3. To develop a style of play that is unique–a “Gamer” style of play that emphasizes “the pursuit of excellence” and “effort over outcome.”
4. To aid in the emotional and personal development of each of our Gamers-to help them understand:
• The importance of commitment
• The value of relationships & thinking outside of themselves
• The need to take responsibility for their own actions
• The benefit of a disciplined work ethic
5. To develop a Gamer Culture, shared by players, coaches, parents and fans, that is grounded in the principles of The Positive Coaching Alliance and builds a positive atmosphere of support before, during and after all team events.
These are really tough goals and standards to hold ourselves to. We fail often — I guess that if you always achieved your goals then the goals are not hard enough. Safe to say these are stretch goals.
The hardest one of all is teaching young men the value of relationships and thinking outside of themselves. Basically, a goal of having teenage boys not be teenage boys. This is a really, really hard one. We talk about loyalty, cooperation and friendship as the foundation of the Pyramid of Success. But, not sure that message is getting through. We talk about being a good teammate and what that means. When you see it happen, it is so awesome and impressive — it really stands out. Commitment, loyalty, true compassion (caring) for teammates and coaches. A two way street in relationships — like adults. It is way to rare to see this happen and is a goal we are struggling to achieve.
I can describe it , point to it when it happens, but am struggling to figure out how to teach it. Open to suggestions on how to teach this, beyond just forcing 15 teenagers to spend some much time together. Please leave comments below, or refer a book, or an activity. Something we can do to teach young men the value of relationships and the value of thinking outside of themselves.
