Building Relationships

All the great coaches will tell you that the reason they coach is because of the relationships that they develop with their players and families. I can't help but think if you can correlate success on the field of play with the relationships that are built off of it. Often teams will comment that they are a close nit group, that they all hang out together or that a coach is like a second father. While I am not naive enough to believe that the only factor in success is great relationship I do believe that along with desire and talent it is a part of the equation. I also believe as a coach and parent the most important and maybe most time consuming job we have is to build a relationship with our team or children.

I was sitting in Church recently when the Pastor brought up a verse that really drilled this point home to me. The verse comes from 1 Corinthians 13:1 and it states "if I could speak all the languages of the earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or clanging cymbal." Wow if that didn't wake me up out of my pew then nothing would. Basically it is saying that regardless how well we coach, how well we can talk to others, how well we think we know how to parent or teach that if we have not first built a relationship with those that we are trying to reach all they are hearing is loud noises. The point that we need to consider as a coach or parent is to first show those that we are working with that we care for them and their well being. Then we can begin to get our message across and really start to make a difference. All to often I hear form coaches that the message just doesn't appear to be getting through the first thing I ask them is do your kids know that you care about them. Because if they don't all they are hearing is a clanging cymbal.
 
Waterford Athletic Department

Inquiring Minds Wonder

Just to get you in the spring state of mind.

“Step up to the plate or base?”

It turns out that, in earliest days, home was actually a circular object, often a dish, which led to it being

called "home plate.” Home went through several changes over the years. From a circular iron plate in

1845; a 12-inch square in 1869 with one point toward the pitcher; a square marble slab in 1872; a white

rubber square in 1885 that reduced injuries to runners. The five-sided (pentagon) home plate used today

was adopted in 1900. I read that the extra rubber made it easier for both umpires and pitchers to judge

when a ball "cut the corner," especially when dirt happened to cover the corners of home plate.

About 1919 general use-age of the phrase “ he stepped up to the plate” became common. The expression

incorporates the idea of a "challenge" somewhat contained in the idea of 'stepping forward', when others

would not. It can also mean to take on a responsibility, especially an unexpected one. For example. “In the

days following the Fort Hood shootings a lot has been made of the valor and heroism of the first responders on the scene. From

the Soldiers on the scene at the Family Readiness Center who pulled fellow Soldiers to the ground or moved the wounded to

safety to the police officers who rushed to the scene, bringing down suspected shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, our Army

community stepped up to the plate. (Taken from the US Army Blog posted November 8th 2009).

There is an element of "taking on a challenge" in the expression "step up to the plate." When you take into

account that a .300 average is considered a good hitter (3 hits every 10 times up at bat), you can see that

batting is a very challenging activity. (courtesy of Skip McAfee, editor of the "Dickson Baseball Dictionary.")

Waterford Athletic Department