The Last Philly: A Survival Guide for Coaching Youth Sports

By J.J. Tuttle

Coaching youth sports teams can be very stressful. Some unreasonable parents and children can make a coach''s life difficult. Of coarse, some selfish coaches can damage the child''s sports experience as well.
This book began as a one page list of strategies designed to help the local youth league baseball coaches enjoy a season absent of parent and player grievances It has grown into a compilation of anecdotes designed to support coaching strategies and concepts that lead to rewarding seasons for everyone.
Along with a series of strategies for a happy team, this book also addresses the lessons provided by youth sports and competition, the difficulties of high expectations placed on some children with early success, how to help the less confident and less talented, how to handle difficult parents, and what it means to win..
The book is full of entertaining true stories. The final chapter, “The Last Philly”, is a true story that pulls it all together and demonstrates a magnificent payoff courtesy of teamwork, effort and encouragement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 6, 2005
• ISBN: 9781463478643

J.J. Tuttle

The author leverages a lifetime of coaching and playing experiences in order to provide strategies and anecdotes designed to help the coach of a youth sports team have an enjoyable season.   With five children, the author has a wealth of knowledge to share.  His family has them all, from the talented and confident, to the talented with little confidence, to the kid with great effort and heart but little talent, to the one with little interest.  All of them deserve a good sports experience.  All of them can learn a great deal about life from youth sports.   The author is not a psychologist of any kind, just a regular guy who would like to share his sports experiences in order to help others.  

Book preview

Contents

Introduction

A house divided

Who is hurt the most by expectations?

Put me in Coach!

Back off Daddy

Strategies for a happy team

The Last Philly

About The Author

Introduction

A friend and I have been coaching softball and baseball together for several years. We NEVER have parents complain to us over any issues concerning the team or their children. In fact, parents often request to have their child placed on our team.

Technically, we are not very good coaches. When it comes to the finer points of hitting, fielding, and pitching; we are not the experts. Only after a few years in softball did I realize that the pitching and hitting are extremely complex and much different than baseball.

So the question is ….. Why would anyone want us to coach his/her child?

That’s what this book is about. Most of the references are to coaching softball and baseball, but the applications are universal. Hopefully, you can apply some of the same principles to coaching any youth sport or leading any youth activity.

Not only has several years of coaching shaped my prospective on the topic of coaching youth sports, my five children lend greatly to that prospective. My family has them all, from the talented and confident, to the talented with little confidence, to the kid with great effort and heart but little talent, to the one with little interest. All of them deserve a good sports experience. All of them can learn a great deal about life from youth sports experiences.

Personally, I had to overcome some unnecessary confidence crushing youth sports seasons in order to be a successful high school and college athlete, as well as a high school coach.

Not being a child psychologist or a sports psychologist or any kind of chologist, I can’t claim my opinions are professional. I’m just a regular guy with a variety of sports experiences who would like to pass on some strategies that have worked for me.

The final chapter, The Last Philly, is a true story that pulls it all together and demonstrates a magnificent payoff courtesy of teamwork, effort and encouragement.

A house divided

Every youth sports event that I attend seems to have parents, players, and coaches split between two polarizing concepts:

• It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game

• Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing (attributed to the legendary Vince Lombardi).

Question: When did Rocky Balboa win?

Answer #1: When he lasted 15 rounds with Apollo Creed. Wrong Answer.

Answer #2: He didn’t win. He lost the decision to Apollo Creed. Wrong Answer.

Answer #3: When he beat Apollo in Rocky 2. Wrong Answer.

Answer #4: When Rocky defeated his self-imposed fear of failure and lack of confidence, and decided to go for it. The victory was symbolized by his ascension to the top of the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In previous workouts, his broken spirit, lack of determination and confidence prevented him from reaching the top. Rocky realized that his greatest enemy was himself. The movie could have ended at that time; it didn’t matter if he went 15 rounds with Apollo or got knocked out in the first round. Rocky already won.

The sequels to Rocky seemed to miss the point and went for the entertainment dollar which required a victory in the ring, just as many of us coaching miss the point and go for the trophy.

It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.

This does not mean that the right fielder and center fielder pick dandelions in the outfield and skip back to the dugout hand in hand when the inning ends. It also doesn’t mean that you can smile after a poor effort (win or lose).

It means that you give it your all. You hustle, fight, dive on the fumble, run to first as hard as you can, scramble to get in front of a shot on goal, …., you leave it on the field and walk away without regret.

There is no shame in losing to a more talented opponent, if you have truly performed to the top of your ability.

It means, winning is not on the scoreboard. Winning is the realization that you are competing against yourself and through hard work, focus, effort, and determination; you can be the best person you can be.

People who have competed in track and field understand this. Track and Field people talk about personal records. A pole vaulter may have a personal record of 13 feet. In the next meet, if he vaults 14 feet, he is happy whether it is first place or last place. The