Pride...

Very rarely do I blog about my job. But the other day I witnessed something that gave me great pride. It really encompassed all the reasons why I love education and coaching. It didn't happen inside the classroom; it happened on the athletic field. It was truly inspiring and probably something I'll remember for a very long time.

Right now we are in the middle of intramurals. Practice basically. It's not mandatory but it is mandatory. We have about 35-40 kids that come out and we practice them altogether- 9th-12th graders. All talent levels. We go over all the things the kids need to know in the game of baseball. Although it's tough to recognize on a daily basis, the kids that come out and make the COMMITMENT get better over the course of the winter leading up to the season.

My coachig staff is exceptional. I'm very lucky. When I took over the program in '04 I was nervous. I didn't have one single assistant and I was young and didn't know much about running an athletic program. Trial by fire. Well, I survived, the kids survived, we've had some success, some fun, some ups and downs, and lo and behold I now have a really good, solid coaching staff. There's 6 of us. We're a team. And I consider all of them good friends of mine.

We don't always agree on everything, and sometimes we fight about stupid stuff, but one philosophy we all agree on is- a strong work ethic and commitment. We are constantly preaching to the kids to work hard, put the time and effort in, make yourself better, make the commitment to the team and yourself, discipline in and out of the classroom, etc.

Really, we're preaching life lessons more so than anything else but the kids usually don't realize it until years later when they're in the real world. If these kids (and people in general) want to find success in this world, really, there's no shortcuts. You have to work hard, be disciplined, be committed, and so on. Most successful people in this world got to where they are through hard work, showing up to work, persistance and perservance. It's the same thing we preach to the kids.

I am constantly saying: make the commitment, come to baseball every day, be on time, work hard, don't make excuses, and good things will happpen. If they make this committment, guess what? They usually make the team. I take pride in rewarding kids that work hard and put the time in. There's always a spot on the roster for a kid that busts his butt day in and day out, regardless of his talent level.

Well, in a perfect world 100% of your student-athletes would show this type of dedication every single day. Well, it's not a perfect world. Most of our kids make the commitment and come to school and baseball every single day and what do you know? They're baseball skills improve. And usually they do better in school too. Go figure. But often you get the excuses as to why a kid can't make it to baseball. They're all terrible excuses and honestly I don't like them. And being as I only missed one day of school in 4 years of high school and zero days of baseball, I can't relate.

Well, every once in a while something will happen on the ball field which serves as a perfect example of what you've been preaching for years...

We were doing a routine fly ball drill and one of our kids got absolutely drilled in the face by a fly ball. Basically, he caught the ball with his face. He went down hard and there was blood and spit and crap everywhere. It was gross and scared me to death. I rushed out to the kid, took him to the trainer and hoped for the best. He was going to need stitches as his right nostril was split completely open. This happened on a Monday. I figured I'd see the kid in a few days while he recuperated. This actually would have been a pretty reasonable excuse to miss a day or two of baseball.

Tuesday. Less than 24 hours after this incident occured...

I got out to the field and was taking roll. My usual routine. I got to this kid's spot on the roll sheet and called his name. As I was about to mark him absent I heard- "here". I was shocked. I looked up and there he was. His nose was all bandaged up and his glasses didn't even fit right because of the bandages. I talked to him after warm ups and he had 7 stitches in his nose. He had been at the doctor's office pretty much all night.

If that's not dedication, committment, and desire then I don't know what is. I had never felt so proud in all my life for a kid. It serves as the perfect example for all the things we are constantly preaching about to all of the kids that come out to baseball.

Committment...Dedication...Hard Work....Desire...

What else is there?