A Little more about Opening Day..... - page 1 -

• A Little more about Opening Day..... by Mikekoz13 on 21 Apr, 2008 06:08
• A nice little story from Opening Day.....
  
  In my 5-8 year old game the team we were playing against has a coach that not too many people are fond of. He's a big mouth guy( coming from me that's saying a lot) and he just isn't good with kids. But he does try... I'll give him that.
  
  Anyway his own son was really having trouble hitting the ball and both the coach (the Dad) and the boy were very frustrated with each other. So I stepped in and said "hey dave, is this your son". he said yes. I said,"You know, your own kid is always the toughest to caoch, mind if I help him out". He said to go ahead.
  So I stepped his boy out of the batters box, fixed a small thing with his grip, had him cock the bat back a little farther, and flatten the bat while in his stance. Then i leaned close to him and said, "The main thing is to have fun, don't worry about your Dad".
  The kid clobbered the next pitch right over third base. His dad (mister know-it-all) actually thanked me.
  
  All this was just the warm up for the main part of my story....
  
  The next boy up had was a new kid who was really struggling with his swing. i noticed that when he came up to bat, a man in his late 40's about my age, came up and stood right behind the back stop. The boy looked at him and the man said, "You can do it".
  The boy swung at about a half dozen pitches and never got close to hitting the ball. (We give the new kids at this level 8-9 swings). So I stepped in and again just made a few minor tweaks in his grip and stance. I said to him before he got back in the box, "Now you're ready to really hit the ball. Relax and when you hit it run fast.... it's going to feel great".
  He stepped up to the plate and missed the next two pitches. Before the coach could tell him "Nice try", i said, "dave he's going to hit the next one... give him one more.
  The kid nailed it... right up the middle. man that kid was jumping up and down on first base with the biggest smile you've ever seen. All the parents stood and cheered LOUDLY! It was an awesome moment..... but while everyone was looking at that boy they missed the most special thing.
  
  i turned back to where the boys Dad was standing. He had tears in his eyes and he was silently mouthing the word "Yes!"over and over again with raised, clenched fists. Then he realized I was looking at him. He just nodded at me. I quietly said, "it feels good doesn't it?" He nodded again and just mouthed the word "Thanks".
  
  We lost because i helped those two kids hit the ball and that turned out to be the difference in the game. But guess what... nobody cared.... and there were a couple of awefully happy boys and Dads.
  
  THAT"S what Little League is all about................
• #1 by SLYinKC on 21 Apr, 2008 06:40
• Great story, Mike.  It's easy to forget that it's all about the kids......not the parents.
• #2 by JDog on 21 Apr, 2008 06:42
•  
  
  Awesome.
  
  I cant wait to see my kid belt the stitching off a baseball when he is older.
• #3 by Marz on 21 Apr, 2008 10:34
• Mike,
  
  I love you man!
  
  Keep it up, that post just made my day!
  
  
• #4 by Tyler on 21 Apr, 2008 16:27
• That's awesome Mike!  Baseball was a huge influence on my life, mostly due to the coaches that I had.  I'm sure this kid will remember you until the day he dies.
• #5 by schro on 21 Apr, 2008 16:34
• Awesome!
  I've had a couple of proud moments with my son & daughter through all their activities (as I'm certain every other Dad on SBG has). Still, reading stories like that never gets old.
• #6 by PigPen on 21 Apr, 2008 16:59
• That was awesome Mike, gave me chills. That's what I love about helping coach the kids TBall team.
• #7 by warhawk on 22 Apr, 2008 04:43
• koz:  thanks 4 sharing that special story!  that was a true disney moment! what a way 2 start my morning.
  
  WARHAWK
• #8 by Mikekoz13 on 22 Apr, 2008 05:05
• Quote from: Tyler on 21 Apr, 2008 16:27

  That's awesome Mike!  Baseball was a huge influence on my life, mostly due to the coaches that I had.  I'm sure this kid will remember you until the day he dies.
  

  
  Tyler gets it exactly correct here. Baseball was a tremendous influence on my life as well..... because of the coaches. My Coach was Coach Harry. Harry was about 5 feet 4 inches tall and couldn't throw a baseball from pitchers mound to first base. But he took a bunch of kids from the toughest part of Baltimore city and turned us into a team of young MEN. Discipline was #1 on Coach Harry's team. Tucked in shirts and hats on the right way. He would always gather us up after practices and games and sit us in a circle around him behind pitchers mound. We would talk about making proper plays and being responsible to your team mates and coaches. At the time, we never realized he was really preparing us for life.He coached me from the time i was 11 years old until i stopped playing at 18 years old.
  
  Coach Harry taught us that no matter where you were from you could be what you wanted to be in life. He would schedule our team against anybody that would play us. We played a lot of rich kids in fancy uniforms from all the surrounding counties that were the best teams in their areas. they would laugh at us when we walked on the field... we were a rough looking bunch.... and then we would proceed to kick the crap out of them.
  
  Over 30 years later I still talk to a couple of those guys now and then...... all are successful and happy in their lives and every single one of them gives Coach Harry a lot of credit for that.
  
  I ran into the Coach Harry about 15 years after I stopped playing. He was pretty old by then and life had taken it's toll on him. He had just had a bout with cancer. We spoke for a long while about how my life had turned out. He hugged me tight and told me how proud of me he was.
  
  (Very misty eyes as I'm typing......)
  
  The bottom line is that the influence he had on my life was just not measureable. I think of him often.
  
  I loved Coach Harry......
  
  
• #9 by warhawk on 22 Apr, 2008 05:27
• koz:  u got my eyes stinging.
  
  WARHAWK
• #10 by Tyler on 23 Apr, 2008 01:57
• You just inspired me to look up Coach Oscar.  He's one of the single biggest influences on my life next to my parents.  It turns out he's coaching a team of 15 and under boys just about 30 minutes from my house.  I'm going to try to get in touch with him to let him know how influential he was.
• #11 by Mikekoz13 on 23 Apr, 2008 04:42
• Quote from: Tyler on 23 Apr, 2008 01:57

  You just inspired me to look up Coach Oscar.  He's one of the single biggest influences on my life next to my parents.  It turns out he's coaching a team of 15 and under boys just about 30 minutes from my house.  I'm going to try to get in touch with him to let him know how influential he was.
  

  
  Way to go Tyler...... definetly look him up...... and let him know what an influence he was on you and your life. He'll appreciate the gesture.
• #12 by PigPen on 23 Apr, 2008 07:25
• Mike and Tyler both, that's awesome!
• #13 by nomad on 23 Apr, 2008 17:11
• Mike thats an awesome story, got me a little misty eyed thinking back to some of my football coaches and the big influances they had.
• #14 by xnewyawka on 14 May, 2008 12:23
• Mike, great stories and they really hit home.  You've brought me back a bit to my CYO baseball days. I have some very good memories of playing myself. As a boy I loved baseball and we played whenever we could (sandlot, park, anywhere).
  Anyway, I really felt where you were coming from with Coach Harry. Men like this have a way of staying in your memory. Sounds like he was the true meaning of a man.
  Good to hear your stories of what sounds like some excellent days.
  
  I have to say you are following his lead with your coaching style too, Mike.
  I think what you are doing for these kids, and their parents, is wonderful. Keep up the great work , bro!