Well for many years, my teams would lose and I would be miserable for days. Today I am home from a loss and I feel great about it. Helping a new 13U team getting used to the big field and they are really coming along. We worked pitching and defense last couple of practices and today we lost 11-4. Earlier losses were much more lopsided. We also gave up 11 walks — earlier losses had a LOT more walks. So lots to be positive about. Very few errors in the field today as well. Strength and conditioning will help with batting and we have more work to do on control and landing pitches in the strike zone but overall team spirit was really high and energized me for the whole evening.
So if you are a new coach and you are dying after each loss, what advice do I have. Try to remember that baseball has a random element and not every result is solely determined by the head coach. When you hit a ball you have no idea where it’ll go. If it goes right to a player you lose and if it goes away from a player you win. So take credit for the wins if you win, but you really shouldn’t take sole ownership of a win and definitely thank the baseball g-ds for every win — because they will come back for you eventually. Remember, the top MLB teams lose plenty of games. Why? It can be a thin margin.
So then ask yourself did you do a good job as a teacher. If your whole class fails an exam you aren’t doing a great job no matter what you are teaching but look at the game and ask yourself did some kids learn some stuff. IF they did, well that’s your job — to teach and to facilitate learning. Now, I will say most teams that lose all their games generally have a coach that just doesn’t have control over the team and doesn’t do much coaching, but winning has plenty of factors too. It’s a tough business — coaching — as everyone can see the result and it sure looks like all your fault if you lose and maybe some of your work if you win. But look beneath the surface of a win and loss and ask yourself to evaluate the level of learning and development that is happening and if you see it — well you can be happy about that. And tonight I am about as happy as I can be after a loss — I’ll never get rid of that desire to win and if I do I’m not sure I should coach — but I do like to think I am learning some perspective.
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