Burchy and Big Guy

The Belts

In 2020, like many, the spring baseball season was canceled due to the Covid pandemic. One of our Tate baseball parents posted this picture along with a post describing the flood of memories and stories that were stirred by this 20-year collection of belts. I read the post and it inspired the following tribute to those 2020 senior moms. I thought it would be appropriate to now offer a tribute to all baseball moms on this 2022 Mother’s Day.

A long time ago
In a time that seems so far away
A story started to evolve
About a young boy and a game that he aspired to play

It started with his first glove, bat, and ball
And before you knew it,
He was signed up to play in the fall

So excited to finally wear that jersey and cap
Finish it off with that belt, cleats, and pants that only came to the kneecap
He wore it with pride and could not wait
To get on the field and step on home plate

It was time to shine and go compete
Watching him round those bases…well…it was those moments you just couldn’t beat
He played in the rain, wind, and cold
Through ups and downs onward we rolled

The years flew by year after year
Many moments that brought joy and a few that brought tears
The uniforms switched colors and the styles often changed
But his love for the game always stayed the same

Four years of high school seemed like an eternity
Blink of an eye and now there’s uncertainty
Not so long ago he felt he’d play forever
Hard to imagine life after baseball; a new endeavor

Some will go to college or perhaps be called a Pro
For some, the ultimate destination will be the show
For what once just seemed like a game
You’ll look back and realize it gave you more than fortune or fame

The game taught you life in a most unique way
Valuable lessons that can’t be bought with any payday
You respected the game and made friends for life
You learned how to handle failure and strife

Your parents stood by beaming with pride
Always teaching you to let your character be your guide
You won’t remember all the losses or wins
Dust will collect on all the medals and pins

But one day you’ll open a closet to see
Your mom kept all those belts for reasons you couldn’t foresee
Sure, to you those belts kept those pants from falling to the ground
But to your mom, those belts were windows into the past, memories that were so profound

No matter the color or the material they were made
Those belts serve as reminders that a mother’s love for her son will never fade.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

The Perfect Moment

Burchy running to meet us while Kaden’s teammates look on

In 2002, I was an assistant coach at Edmond Santa Fe high school where we were blessed with a great group of young men that year. Following a great regular season, we won our regional and punched our ticket to the state tournament. Through a tumultuous double elimination round, we found our way to the state championship game. We were the first team from the west side of Oklahoma to play in the 6A finals, needless to say we were all pretty excited to have a shot at the title.

The state tournament was being held in the Tulsa area in 2002. The championship game was on a Saturday afternoon so we would need a time filler between the game and checking out of the hotel so we decided to take the team to the local mall and spend a few hours perusing around before we headed to Oral Roberts University for our showdown with the Jenks Trojans.

I distinctly remember walking around the mall that day thinking about all the “what-if’s” that might be awaiting in a few hours. The next day was Mother’s Day, so I was trying to find a last-minute gift for Burchy that would present itself as not so last minute. She was experiencing her second Mother’s Day as Kaden was barely a year old at the time. I also spent a great deal of time imagining what that moment might be like if we were able to hoist a state championship trophy that afternoon. In that moment of potential victory, I had many questions. Where would Burchy and Kaden be in that moment? Would I run on the field or find them in the stands first? Could I get to them in the midst of celebration where they could share the joy with me? I played out what seemed like a thousand scenarios in my mind only to realize that moment would not materialize as we fell to the Trojans that afternoon.

Fast forward ten years later to 2012. In a season that probably needs to be documented in a book of its own, I was in my third year as the head coach of the Edmond North Huskies. Following an improbable run to the state tournament, we managed to win our first two games of the eight-team single elimination tournament. We were matched up with the Broken Arrow Tigers who were returning to defend their 2011 state championship, needless to say the Huskies had their hands full once again.

We were occupying the same dugout I was in just ten years earlier(cue twilight zone music) with thoughts of that day and a desire to leave with a different result. The game was scheduled earlier than before and right behind the 5A championship game. We managed a late check-out from the hotel and went straight to Oral Roberts University for our preparation. I recall not spending much time thinking about the “what if’s” this time. I do remember walking into the stadium passing the newly crowned state champion Carl Albert Titans and thinking “man, that would be awesome to finish like that”. For many, these opportunities are very elusive and hard to come by with any type of regularity so we were hopeful to cash in on this moment.

A couple of hours later, as I stood in the first base dugout at ORU with a nervous anticipation, I watched Zach Barton make a 5-3 putout(he fielded a ground ball at third and threw it to first base for the out) to etch out a piece of history for the Edmond North Huskies as the first west side team to claim a 6A state championship. What ensued after that out really cannot be described in words that do the moment justice.

When the final out was made, there was a release of emotion that I just have no way of conveying other than relief and joy to the nth power(sorry, I teach math). With no premeditated thought, I ran out of that dugout with a reckless abandon, arms in the air with index fingers pointed as high as they would go, toward what was to be a dog pile of huskies that I was not going to miss(if you look closely, you can see a #17 falling back into the pile). I dove in with not a care about my safety and felt the weight start to increase as player after player piled on to the mass of huskies in the middle of the field.

As I lay there, I then thought about how I wanted Kaden(11) and Ketch(6) to share in the moment. Unbeknownst to me, Burchy had found a small opening that gave her and the boys access to the field. Coincidentally, Kaden’s baseball team was playing in Tulsa that evening which allowed most of his teammates to attend the game. After two outs in the seventh, Burchy ushered all the boys through the opening to the field. They were virtually on the field when that last out was made. I jumped up out of the pile looking for the boys and immediately found Kaden, and with my arms outstretched he found me and jumped up in my arms. With Kaden in my left arm, I was looking for Ketch. I found him but he did not see me due to his jumping around in all the excitement, he hasn’t changed much since then either. One of Kaden’s teammates saw I was looking for him and pushed him toward me where he ran and jumped up where I caught him in my right arm. By now the tears of joy were flowing and then the moment became complete as Burchy ran up and wrapped her arms around me and the boys as she screamed “Kinger you did it”! The emotions could not be contained as tears rolled down my face as I held my family in my arms. I held them for what seemed an eternity as I continued to cry tears of joy with an elated laughter that caused people to ask if I was ok as they congratulated me.

This was the moment I had imagined ten years earlier in that Tulsa mall that came to fruition on May 12, 2012. To this day, I’m not sure if I could script a more perfect ending, it was PRICELESS. Burchy will usually post the picture at the top of this post each year as it serves as a reminder of that special day in May. It still evokes emotion in me as I remember that moment so vividly that it will often times bring tears to my eyes as I relive the occasion, it truly was The Perfect Moment.

The “Wasp”

This story was too good not to tell. The year is 2002, the team is Edmond Santa Fe, the time is a Saturday afternoon. We are due to go to Stillwater for the finals of a tournament against the Jenks Trojans. The late morning is comprised of our regular pregame routine of batting practice and pregame preparation before we load up and make the hour long trek to Stillwater. We load up on the bus and begin our journey North with coach Burleson at the wheel.

Here’s the layout, the players are all seated in their normal spots, coach Burleson is driving, I’m sitting directly behind him, coach Cobble is standing in the stair well with one leg up on a step like Captain Morgan, and coach Bryan Colley is sitting directly across the aisle from me with headphones on with his head down. As we pull out on Edmond road and head East, coach Burleson’s attention is caught by a moth fluttering in the driver’s side window. He attempts to shew it away a few times but his efforts are in vain. Seeing his struggles, I decide to raise up and help him try and eradicate the hinderance. So now, Burly and myself are opening and closing the window and swatting at the flying creature. It’s at this point coach Cobble takes interest and steps up to the top step to lean in and see what’s going on, meanwhile coach Colley has no idea what’s going on due to his head being down and listening to his music. This scenario played out for what seemed minutes but in actual time it had to be seconds.

Unbeknownst that while we were trying to exterminate this moth, no one was paying attention to where we were going on the road. Thankfully, we missed a telephone pole but drove straight into the curb of a driveway of a strip center of businesses. We hit that curb doing about 40mph and those that saw the video from the bus say that everyone flew up out of their seats in terms of feet. I can still remember the look on Burly’s face in that mirror and the panic as he grabbed the wheel. Of course there was immediate shock and awe from all of us swatting at the moth, coach Burleson quickly regains control of the bus and we make an immediate right turn and pull the bus up behind the strip center where we park. We quickly exit the bus to survey potential damages. As we are walking around the bus, we can here a loud hissing noise and soon come to realize that the outside rear wheel had popped and the wheel itself was bent. The air was flying out of that tire like it stole something. Meanwhile, we have players hanging out windows in amazement with their mouths wide open and we also had players, Kody Kaiser being one of them, that never missed a beat playing the game catch phrase.

Coach Cobble being the quick thinker he was says “quick, back on the bus and back to the bus barn.” The bus barn was about a half mile away. During our short trip back to the barn, we figured we better come up with something better than a moth we were concerned with while driving so we decided a pesky wasp was to be the culprit of the incident. We manage to get the bus back to the barn and park it. Coach Cobble finds the on duty maintenance guy and tells him that we just had an encounter with wasps on the bus which caused us to hit a curb and blow the tire. The maintenance guy replies “oh yes, we’ve been having trouble with them building nests on the busses.” We were beyond relieved when we heard those words. He proceeded to to get us a new bus and we were back on the road to Stillwater where we would claim a tournament championship that evening. WHEW!!

I think it took the entire trip to get ourselves collected to coach that game. We have laughed at that story for years and it continues to get told to this day.

The Man That Ran Over Your Face With A Truck!

Coaching for 27 years, I have amassed a plethora of memories from ball park adventures. These memories encompass everything from wins and losses on the field to experiences that occurred off the field. I can say with certainty that some of my most memorable moments took place traveling on the “yellow dog.”

The first leg of my journey as a coach was at Edmond Santa Fe High School in Edmond, Oklahoma. Over the course of 8 years the journeys taken on the “yellow dog” were nothing short of epic. These are some of my fondest memories and still cause me to laugh out loud when I think about some them.

One of the challenges facing any coach on a road trip is ensuring that at the end of the trip the bus is clean. Year to year it is hard to find many players that will volunteer to stay and clean the bus. So, what is a coach to do? Many times coaches try to devise ways to appoint a player or players to stay and make sure the bus is cleaned.

Our head coach while I was at Santa Fe was Lonny Cobble. He instituted a game called the “Who Game” on return trips back to the school to determine the lucky soul that would stay and clean the bus. The cleaning opportunity was open to players and coaches alike. The premise of the game was trying to get someone to say the word “who” and if said the response to that player or coach would be “the man that ran over your face with a truck” and at that point it was on that player or coach. It was now the challenge to get someone else to say “who” to pass the responsibility. The game started as soon as we were on the bus to return and ended as soon as the bus turned into the school off 15th street and the bus cleaner would now be official.

I cannot tell you how many times players and coaches would swear they would not speak on the return trip only to succumb to some random question and ask “who”. There were so many different strategies employed. There were conversations directed at specific people trying to entice them to say the word while others would speak hoping eavesdroppers would take the bait and utter the word. Some players would let there be silence for a while only to spring a surprise attack of vague questions with hopes to catch someone off guard. Many times the torch would be passed two, three, four times on one trip.

On one occasion, a player was boasting about not getting caught just mere yards away from the turn into the school only to fall victim to a random question of “did you hear what they said?” That player was sweeping the bus only a few minutes later.

I fell victim to the game on a particular occasion. If I recall, we were playing in a tournament in Mustang, Oklahoma during the day. I really do not remember if we had won or lost but I know that something was eating at me about the game and I was not in a particularly good mood after the game. Players were starting to board the bus and I was standing at the bottom of the stair well. As I was standing there I could hear conversations and low and behold I could not resist and voiced the word “who.” I said it without even thinking and next thing I know Barrett Whitney, one of our players, is lurching forward from two seats back pointing his finger in my face screaming “the man that ran over your face with a truck!” I’m sure many would categorize my response as classic as it provoked an immediate acknowledgement that involved finger gestures and some words that were comprised of four letters. Probably not one of my finest moments. I believe I told him in so many words that I was declaring the game not in session at that moment and not so politely to sit back down and be quiet. I’m pretty sure I cleaned the bus that day. We all had a good laugh about it later.

There was just something about my time at Santa Fe and those bus rides that were so special. I tried to carry the game on with my next coaching stint at a different school but it just never took hold. My mother-in-law always says “you can’t bake a memory” and while those bus rides reside in my memory and bring a smile to my face they will never be duplicated.

If you feel inclined to share a story about the “yellow dog”, please feel free to share in the comments. We all need a good laugh every now and then.

Opening Day!

For those that enjoy the game of baseball, Opening Day is cause for anticipation and excitement. As a fan, it generally marks the beginning of another promising season for their favorite team coupled with the sunshine that comes from the introduction of springtime. For many, these are reasons to celebrate and that bring on the warm fuzzy feelings and good vibes.

For the player, Opening Day also serves as the beginning of a new season that will serve as a proving ground for the work that was invested in the off season. It too is an exciting time that is often met with a nervous anticipation for good things to come.

Steve Springer is a former MLB player that has served as a mental performance coach for the Blue Jays and shares his wisdom through various social media platforms. Steve is always saying “play every day like opening day.” So what does this mean?

This is my take on his statement. On the surface, I think it states the obvious as it pertains to playing the game with that “opening day” excitement and “can’t wait” anticipation. On a deeper note, as it pertains to the mental side of baseball, it means to play the game with no “mental bricks.”

What are “mental bricks?” These “bricks” that players carry around result from all the negatives that tend to collect between the ears as a season goes along. These negatives are comprised of visiting past failures and projecting how these negatives will impact future performance. If the player does not have a system to recognize and release these bricks they can start to negatively impact performance.

On Opening Day, players are experiencing “firsts” for the spring which means they are void of mental bricks. As success and failures start to collect over the course of games played, these bricks can start to stack up.

I was fortunate enough to be afforded the opportunity to play professional baseball in the Twins organization. Reflecting on my short career, I know without a shadow of a doubt that my best at bat as a “pro” was my very first at bat at my first spring training back in 1990. That at bat was me, the same guy that was blessed to experience a very successful high school career. I was facing a guy that I didn’t know, found a pitch I liked and whacked it for a double. This was great!

As spring training went along, I had at bats that were good and some that weren’t so good. I remember after several games they posted stats and I saw where I was 5 for 19, that equates to a .263 average. My initial reaction was one of disgust and disappointment. Gosh Karl you suck, that is terrible! The negative self talk has started with a barrage of critical thoughts about my swing and what had to be wrong with it. The mental bricks were starting to accumulate and I had no knowledge or training on how to rid myself of the negativity. I’ll eventually blog about my “white noise” experience at a different time. The thing that I failed to step back and consider was the perspective of the level I was competing and failure was inevitable. I needed someone to tell me that .263 was pretty darn good at this point in the spring especially for a catcher. The season from that point was full of ups and downs, mostly downs, and the journey between my ears seemed to last forever.

So, how do you play everyday like opening day? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Be present. You need your mind to minimize thoughts that are either in the past or future. the present moment is the only moment you can control.

2. Take a deep breath and focus on your breathing. This is a technique that can help you stay focused on the present moment and control your heart rate.

3. Focus on the process. As a hitter, getting a hit is out of your control. Once the ball leaves your bat you no longer control what happens. The approach to the at bat or process is controllable. Hitting the ball hard each at bat is a more attainable goal each time.

4. Recognize and release the negatives. When you catch yourself focusing on the negatives find a way to release them. This can be done by a physical action or a verbal but find a way to release it a move on to the next pitch with present moment focus.

5. Try to maintain perspective. Remember that there are difficulties in every competitive arena especially hitting a baseball. Everything is relative to the level you are playing. Continue to work on your skills but also keep your failure in perspective.

6. Have Fun! Enjoy the game you play while you play. Not everyone gets to play the game. Find ways to keep the game fun.

Play everyday like opening day!!

I do have a certification in mental performance, if you want to know more about some of these ideas I have mentioned, shoot me an email.

The Mother Ship part 2

A Parents Perspective

Parents love their kids! We know the time, sacrifices and investments that are made trying to help our children become the best they can be in the areas of their life that spark their interest. Parents tend to go as the child goes. When things are going well, we feel that sense of accomplishment and pride. When things are not going so well, we share the hurt and disappointment. For the majority of parents, when their child reaches a certain level of competition, they soon come to the realization that being able to “fix” things becomes extremely difficult. It’s at this point being a spectator becomes significantly more difficult than ever playing the game. The loss of control can sometimes lead us to do some bizarre things in order to preserve our sanity. You may see moms hiding under stands with just a sliver of vision to see their child perform or you may see dads standing in odd places where others are unable to hear the groans and comments that come with their displeasure of the performance. As a parent, our circle of control has been shrunk to almost nothing. About the only thing that stays within our control is the attitude and perspective we choose to keep in regards to our child and their circumstance.

It is currently midseason for most teams around the country and by now there have been various reactions and emotions to events that have transpired to this point in the season. These emotions have ranged from joy to disappointment to happiness and frustration. For some parents their player is an “everyday” player which is reason for good vibes but may be experiencing a lackluster season which dampens the mood and can bring on concerns for their future. For other parents, their player is trying to find their way into the line up and be given a chance to demonstrate their skills. Regardless of the circumstance, negativity can bubble up very easily.

Like many others, I have had the opportunity to reside on both sides of the fence. As a parent of one former player and one current player I have experienced the range of emotions that comes from that small circle of control. There are definitely good days and bad days, seasons that were great and seasons that just could not end fast enough. The barometer for your feelings is often dictated by gauging how your child is feeling about their set of circumstances. The question becomes “So how do I manage all of these emotions during the course of a season?”.

Here are some things that we have tried to employ over the years:

Maintain an attitude of gratitude. Try to remain thankful that your child has the ability and opportunity to play.
The line up is not in your control. Coaches will make decisions based on how they see things through their lenses not yours. Try to trust the process and be intentional with your energy on aspects you can control.
Help your player maintain perspective. If your player seems to be in a negative situation or circumstance try to help them reframe the scenario in such a way that can possibly lead to a more positive outlook. Life is full of uncertainty just like baseball and many of these experiences can be preparing them for future events that may not be related to baseball. I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason.
Get involved. This one can be tough considering many times when we experience negativity there is often an urge to withdraw. I have told players for years the best way to combat their urge to focus on the bad within is to try and give your energy to someone else. Get off the bench after a strikeout and encourage a teammate or just talk the game a little. As a parent, we can try and find ways to invest in the team or program by offering our time or talents that may contribute to the overall growth of the team or program. If you find that your involvement has an undertone of “I’ll do this for that” then do not do it.
Support and encourage your player to add value to the team in whatever capacity their involvement is from game to game. Timelines are different for every player as far as physical and skill development but they can always contribute with attitude and effort in various ways.
Maintain a good parent perspective. Try and appreciate and enjoy the opportunities your player has relative to the level they are playing. Baseball playing days are finite and while we hope our player gets to play for their desired length of time the playing days do eventually end. For many this window of opportunity is small compared to the entirety of life. Most will spend more days not playing than playing.
Failure happens at every level. Baseball, especially the offensive aspect, is full of failure. Yes, during the early years there tends to be a higher frequency of success but as the years go on and the skill level of all players develops the rate of failure tends to increase. Hitting is a difficult skill at any level and ultimate success will come to those that learn how to deal with failure successfully. Trying to help your player maintain a healthy balance between expectations and failure is key for growth in the game. Even the big leaguers experience levels of failure so why as parents do we expect so much perfection from our own player? We have been there done that, again, it’s about balance.
Pray. Many times prayer is a great place to ask for inner peace.

These are some of the viewpoints and strategies Burchy and I have tried to use over the years and yes we have also failed miserably at this as well. It was especially hard with our first time through but we have continued to gain perspective on our second round but every journey is different and has its own set of challenges so hang in there.

Over the years we have also had takeaways concerning coaches. These takeaways are some that were learned through reflection as I was coaching as well as observed from the “cheap seats.”

Coaching styles vary in many ways. While I always felt good about my coaching style and it was favorable with my wife and kids it was not perceived as such by everyone. We have always tried to convey to our kids that experiencing various coaching styles can be beneficial in their development as a player as well as in life as we are not always going to be able to choose the style of our “boss” but we still need to put the work in and try to be productive for our “team.” Regardless of your style, always try to speak to your players and not at your players.
Be consistent. I had a young coach that was helping me one summer tell me that he appreciated the fact that he knew what to expect from me everyday he showed up as it pertained to my emotional state of handling things. He said that one of the things that was a negative about his high school experience was that his head coach was often unpredictable day to day and the players were never quite sure which coach was showing up each day. Consistency can also be referenced to handling situations as consistent as possible as they arise knowing there are always some exceptions and extraneous circumstances that coaches need to take into consideration.
Parents want their player to be valued. I had a meeting with a parent of a player that was not getting much playing time tell me to just make sure you make him feel valued. While they did desire to play more they were understanding but bottom line the player did not feel valued. This one may take some reflection and thought on how to help all players feel valued that fits within the framework of how a coach manages their program. This could take on developing more meaningful relationships with players where conversations can happen regarding their role and value to the team to finding ways to reward players for their efforts in the roles they comprise. “If we all don’t row the boat won’t go”, it takes efforts by everyone to contribute to the overall success of the team.
Communication. Communication is key in any relationship. The group of people that define a program from players and parents to those that help support the program want to be informed. These communications include current and future happenings that will be on a calendar to communicating the ideals and philosophies of each level of the program. These communications can help provide clarity in regards to the program and gives the coach a basis to make decisions that are founded in those philosophies and principles. This is also vitally important concerning players and limiting the grey areas they may have about their place and future in the program. As a head coach, I was very blessed to be part of two programs that took communication to a whole new level and felt like I did a good job of communicating to players and parents but I also know that I missed the mark in these areas as well. It’s easy to get caught up in the daily grind of baseball and sometimes it’s easier to bypass that “talk” with a player or parent.

Who’s on the bump today?

Prior to any baseball season, teams spend a great deal of time preparing for the upcoming season with the hopes of winning a championship. One of the major components of any baseball team is pitching. Every team has what they will define as their number one. The pitcher with this designation is often characterized by having multiple pitches that they can command in the strike zone coupled with the competitiveness that allows them to pitch deep into the game giving their team a great chance to win. If a team is fortunate enough to make it to its respective championship game, it would be favorable to have their number one available for that game.

Coaches know that many times their number one may get into trouble and in preparation for this moment they have designated a pitcher as a closer. The closer is oftentimes characterized as a hard thrower that can come in and pound the strike zone to slam the door shut on the opponent to win the game.

Due to the physical nature of pitching, it is unrealistic for the same player to pitch every inning of every game. Teams try to develop pitching depth both in the starting role as well as in the bullpen to give their team the best chance to have quality arms on the bump inning after inning. Starters will often pitch until fatigue sets in or they get into trouble and it is at this point the coach will make the call to the bullpen for a fresh arm to try and salvage the game.

I have come to the realization that every day I wake up I am playing the game of life. Through much reflection, it has become very clear to me that I have put myself on the bump every day. As a coach, I would never think about putting the same player on the mound game after game. Knowing the human body has limitations, why would I choose to continue to put myself out there to battle every single day? How do I handle the game when I get in trouble? Simple, I go to the bullpen.

I have discovered a major flaw in my pitching strategy after all these years. For years now, I have continued to start every game on the mound and when trouble starts I make the call to the bullpen where God was my number one reliever. He would enter the game and salvage the win for me and then back to the bullpen until trouble strikes again. This pattern has been repeated over and over again, game after game.

Another flaw in my game strategy has been holding the perspective that each day is like playing in the first inning, knowing that I had a lot of game left to either try and extend my lead or rally back if I was down by a few runs.

I am in a season of my life where I am changing both my pitching strategy and perspective on the game. It has become clear that every day is the last inning of the championship game and as mentioned earlier it is favorable to have your best pitcher on the mound for the “ship”. There is no promise for extra innings for we do not know when the game will end. As far as pitching goes, why would I keep my best pitcher in the bullpen during the championship game? I have decided to move God to the starting role on the mound each and every inning. As a human, I have abilities that are finite but God has no bounds. God knows the weakness of every opponent and has an unhittable pitch in His arsenal to get them out. God never fatigues and has the endurance and strength to start and finish every game. This strategy will guarantee victory in the championship.

Why has it taken so long to realize the errors in my strategies? Through self-reflection on the seasons of my life, I will try to figure out what blinded my ability to see the errors, but I know that by the grace of God every game I play from here on out will be won because God will be pitching for me.

Who’s on the bump for you today??

The Chicken Runs At Midnight

🐓🏃‍♂️⏰

One percent of a day is about fourteen minutes. Research will tell us that we will spend well beyond fourteen minutes a day staring at our phone screens looking to be entertained or informed only to realize that we generally put the phone down with no value added to our lives. So, take less than one percent of your day to watch and listen to a great story that could have a lasting impact and perhaps help you view life from a different perspective. Warning: a tissue may be needed for some!

Before every baseball game(yes, we are a little superstitious as well), Burchy and I always tell each other “love you” through a text message. After watching this story, we started adding a few emoji’s to our pregame text to remind ourselves to appreciate every moment, that even the silliest phrases can mean so much and you never know when a loved one will remind you that they are still with you. This is one of our favorite stories, we hope it has a positive impact on your life as well.

Kaden had this bracelet made as a Christmas gift for Burchy

The Waves

As long as the good Lord allows us to wake up each day life is continuous. Life happens to all of us, some days are good some a pretty rough. It’s easy to get caught up in the dealings of each day and find ourselves mentally and physically exhausted only to find we wake up and do it all over again the following day. This cycle can easily go on for a length of time and then you stop for a moment and realize that so many days, weeks, and months have flown by and you feel like you are not gaining any ground in the game of life.

Life is finite. Our challenge lies in trying to find the balance that allows us to enjoy and appreciate each day and moment along with the pride we take in the responsibilities we have accepted. I think Mr. Miyagi had it right, “must find balance”.

Life is tough, sometimes you have to take a moment, put your feet in the sand and just listen to the waves……

Have a blessed day!

Burchy and the Big Guy

The Mother Ship

A coach’s perspective

Parents love their kids! As parents, we spend years investing in our children trying to help them realize their dreams. With such an investment, the payoff for a parent often comes from watching their child perform in the arena they have chosen to participate. Watching your child’s efforts and hard work come to fruition can be very rewarding and sometimes very frustrating. As a parent, we ride the emotional roller coaster with every success and failure that comes with watching our child compete. Almost with certainty, the child returns home after competition to the “Mother Ship” where conversations take place regarding the day’s events. These conversations can go many different directions from informative and constructive to very critical and destructive. As parents, we carry a great deal of influence when it comes to either contributing to or contaminating a certain set of circumstances or situations.

Coaches love their players! As coaches, we also spend a great deal of time making an investment in our players. The investment is oftentimes in the form of helping every player refine and sharpen their skill sets for the respective sport they are playing. The payoff for coaches is watching their players or team execute their skills in such a way that it leads to victory. Coaches also understand that most of our players will not have opportunities beyond high school and thus spend time trying to inject a “life is bigger than your sport” mentality. Messages of “team first”, “be a leader”, and “we need everyone pulling on the same rope” are part of the daily process of shaping and molding their team that not only is intended to prepare them for competition but also for life. Needless to say, coaches can also carry a great deal of influence on their players.

A scene from Independence Day where David explains that the Mother Ship’s signal is responsible for protecting the smaller ships.

In my experience with coaching baseball at the high school level, I determined years ago that there is a challenge in trying to give every player a great high school experience while also trying to put the best product on the field in order to compete for state championships year after year. This balancing act can sometimes lead to friction between coaches and parents. It is difficult as a parent to trust someone else’s opinion about their child. When the opinion differs between coach and parent oftentimes there is now a fork in the road, this is where the “Mother Ship” plays a role. As the parent, do I convey a message of confidence and trust in the coach, “keep working hard, things will work out”, or do I convey a message of displeasure and contempt, “coach is an idiot, he plays favorites”. Both messages carry with them effects that can impact the team in either a positive or negative way.

As a coach, it is important that we convey messages and principles that are contributing to the development and success of the overall team culture as well as goals we set forth to achieve during a season. Coaches hope that these messages are being reinforced amongst players as well as by the “Mother Ship”. Generally, the friction between coach and parent is minimal during a season, but unfortunately, like a small amount of yeast in dough, a negative signal from the “Mother Ship” can have a big impact especially if that signal starts to infiltrate and spread among other players and parents.

If and when those bad vibes are starting to emerge:

1. Encourage your athlete to talk to the coach first.

2. Try not to “vent” about the negatives with or around your athlete.

3. Encourage your athlete to focus on the controllable.

4. If you feel a meeting with the coach is necessary, reach out to the coach about a time that works best for both parties. Try to refrain from trying to meet with a coach before or after a game.

Is a coach’s message only as good as the reinforcement from the “Mother Ship”?