Best attributes of best coaches

* Parenting Skills - raising or raised their own kids, especially HS coaches. One local 4A coach has matured greatly over the last 5 yrs, his demeanor with players and parents has benefited from this process.

GED10DaD

Impartiality. Everyone gets treated the same.

Accountability. Holds himself and his players acocountable. No excuses.

1. Coaching the individual - Baseball is a TEAM sport...I understand that. But any good coach knows that each of his players is different. Each will respond best to a different manner of motivation and instruction. Some are visual, some want it explained, some need you to show them, some just need to do it etc.

Passion, presence, genuineness (a word?) a sense of humor that relates to the age group...

Funny, I just bounced into this thread from the USA Baseball thread where there was a tip of the cap to Chuckie Fick. His dad (I assume) Chuck coaches the Cardinals SoCal scout team. My son's team has played against them a handful of times including this past weekend. I don't know the man... met him very briefly in a hotel lobby a month or so ago and left feeling like I knew him for 20 years. This weekend at the game, my wife snuck over to the "other side" to snap a few photos. Chuck crossed in front of her while headed back to his dugout. In the three steps it took for him to cross, he introduced himself, excused himself, told a joke, found out the name of my wife as well as the name, position and age of my son. Who doesn't want to play for a guy like that?

Oops, sorry about naming names.

My son's coach in that league rides the players hard, loudly and sarcastically. I think this parent group has been around the block enough to look to see the boys' reaction instead of just listening to the coach's words. The boys LOVE it. He connects with them on their level. They love to play for him.

They stand up for their players, no matter what.

Great Coaches are Great Teachers. To be a Great Teacher you have to have the comminication skills, and usually the organizational skills, etc., mentioned above.

I always distinguish between Coaches and Managers. To me, Coach = Teacher. Managers may also be Great Teachers, but frequently are not. Managers may be great game "coaches". They may be great with X's and O's, but may not be able to teach hitting, pitching, etc. Many guys who "coach" show up and play teams tend to fall into the manager category.

They know how to inspire their players.

enthusiasm. A respect for the game and desire for their players to grow and keep growing on and off the field... never think of themselves as flawless..

Once your player gets to this H.S. level and above; some differences emerge to me. My son responded best to a very experienced baseball man who knew how to push the right buttons necessary to get the most from each player. He always did so without raising his voice (he saved that for an umpire call here and there) or berating players.

Moreover, besides that very important skill, he had an almost inate "feel" for the PULSE of the game. I have seen so many guys that just didn't know when to do something and when not to. Often, they seemed to call for a play just because they thought they were expected to affect the game. Our favorite Coach, always knew when to go get a pitcher, steal a base, sacrifice or go for the big inning. I know this is a baseball skill, not the non-baseball stuff the Op asked for, but at the higher level it's what I wanted as a player, as a parent and certainly what Jr. most appreciated once he experienced this mans professionalism!

At the hs level for me it all starts with the ability to inspire players. To translate your passion for the game to the players. To have the ability to get the very best out of a player. To look at one player and understand what makes him tick. To look at another player and understand that something totally different makes him tick. To be able to connect with a young man and help him see the baseball player and young man that he has inside of him. And then push the right buttons to allow that to come out.

Showing up every day at the field with a true love and passion for the game and then translating that to your players. Teaching them that what they do when no one is watching will determine what they are capable of doing when everyone is watching. Teaching them that what they do in the off season will determine what they are capable of doing during the season.

Inspire. Motivate. Teach. Coach. Give them everything you have every day. Being consistent in who you are and how you do things. Demand that they give everything back to you and the team that you give to them and the team.

Teach them to be great in everything they do. And great is being the very best you can possibly be every day. If your early your on time. If your on time your late. If your late dont bother coming. Do it better than everyone else. Play the game with passion. Work at the game with passion. Strive to be the very best you can be every day. On the field and off the field.

Inspire those around you. Inspire them to be great. Motivate them to push to levels they have never been. Then reach some more. Fight for them. Work for them. Sacrifice for them. They will fight for you. They will work for you. They will sacrifice for you. And they will reach their goals for themselves without even noticing they are doing it.

When they are done playing they will have tools that will allow them to be successful in life, the same tools that made them a success on the baseball field. The best coaches are the ones that inspire you to be great. They will run through a brick wall for you because they have seen you do the same thing for them.

Being "real". Comfortable in his own skin - not trying to hard to be one of the guys or trying to hard to be anything he is not.

Being "honest" about everything - on the field and off. When your word is of value it goes a long way.

Being "respectful". Respecting people - opinions - opportunities - and himself.

The best coaches my boys have had taught them to play above their level.

What I mean by that, is they taught the boys what they needed to know for their age group or level of play. But then they went on to teach them things that many players don't learn until the next level.

These coaches didn't just assume the players were locked into a certain level of learning and playing the game.

biggerpapi great point. I totally agree.

Just play the best players. You would be amazed how rare that is.

Our new haed coach that started last year did one thing that really impressed me(actually he did many things) but one stood out. He took all of the infielders and taught them to field like MLB'ers. He didn't care a dang thing about how good they were using any other technique. He teaches MLB style. He didn't care about errors. He cared about learning to field the ball the right way. Learn it or go to the outfield. Our kids learned it. And really, and I mean they got really solid on defense. He teaches the freshman the same way. It is impressive.

THe best coaches learn the player's motivational factors that inspire every one of his players to play & practice at the highest levels possible. In addition, a great coach will pass on life wisdom that will stay with a player forever.

quote:

Just play the best players.

going to ask a stupid question? Isn't that what you should do?

Good coaches get players to play to the best of their abilities , be humble and don't play daddy ball .

All of these are great responses....sounds like many of you are or have had great coaches in your lives.
I heard the definition of a coach one time that I thought was excellent:

"A coach is someone who makes players do what they don't really want to do so that they can be what the really want to be."

Thought that kind of summed it up for me...and I've spent my whole career trying to guide players both on and off the field.

quote:

Originally posted by Coach Knight:
...and I've spent my whole career trying to guide players both on and off the field.

...and, Coach Knight, as one who had the privilege of watching you go about that very thing (albeit, from the other end of the county), you've succeeded exceedingly well!

quote:

Impartiality. Everyone gets treated the same.

I read years back where a coach dismissed players for breaking a rule. He spent most of the rest of the season defending his decision to school administrators parents etc etc . It was a nightmare for him

All the things in the posts are great. We hear the thing about being fair. Sometimes fair only deals with somebody elses kid.

Thanks Prepster...I truly appreciate that.

Will, you are very right....hard to do what you want as a high school coach without the proper support. Amazing how people sometimes assume the rules apply to OTHER kids and not their own...or how much people will try to push a coach out if he doesn't give their kid the "fair shake" that they think he deserves.

I gotta say, JustBaseball got it right off the bat (no pun intended) with "Communication". Teaching skills, building a fan base, increasing parental involvement is pointless without effective communication.