Our Coaches
Our two primary objectives with the Westside Cubs are to teach and to
have fun. One of the primary reasons the Cubs have been so
successful is because of Parental involvement. We encourage every
parent to participate on the practice field in teaching our kids the
proper techniques.
While other teams have strict "no interference" rules as far as
parental involvement, we want our parents involved in every aspect of
their child's life. While "officially" the Whitfield County
Recreation department recognizes only two coaches, this rule is designed
to prevent 10 coaches from "loading up" a single team with the best
talent.
However, if a parent is involved and the other coaches believe the
parent is instructing the players an improper technique, they must be
able to accept correction from the other coaches.
During most practices, The Cubs typically have 6-7 fathers on the
practice field working together to teach our players proper techniques.
This allows us to place a parent at each position helping the players to
"remember" their responsibilities.
During games, we have four uniformed coaches on the field. A
head coach, a first base coach, a third base coach, and a scorekeeper.
While this webmaster is somewhat biased, I think our coaches do a great
job in teaching good fundamental skills and managing our players.
Managing youth in sports amounts to situational leadership.
Each child responds to different management styles. Each child responds
to different types of feedback. Some players require positive
feedback to build confidence. We try to point out everything thing
they do right. This encourages them to excel and accomplish even
more.
Others players, who already possess confidence, respond better to
negative feedback. This encourages these players to correct their
mistakes and the next time they respond to the "correction" and make the
proper play, we provide positive feedback. Also, some players learn
from other players mistakes, so it is important to keep all our players
"minds" on the game. When our team is in the dugout, you may
notice all our players standing at the fence, watching the game.
When the opposing team (in the field) or our base runners make a
mistake, we make our players aware of the situation, what was wrong, and
how to correct the error or how to prevent the error from occurring.
Players at this age are like sponges; you would be surprised at how much
they learn by watching. We also want our players to mesh together as
at team. Hopefully, each time a player scores a run, every player
in the dugout will meet the player at the dugout entrance and give "high
fives" or congratulations. This builds team cohesiveness. We have a good blend of coaches that
accomplish each of these management styles. The next time you hear one
of our coaches shouting instruction at one of our players, remember
another coach is on the sideline quietly explaining the mistake,
explaining why the error occurred, describing how to prevent the mistake
the next time, and the next time the player corrects the mistake, each
coach provides positive feedback for the player and lets the player know
that we are are proud that they made the proper play. Most often, it is
more difficult for the parent than for the child because the parent may
not be aware of the total shaping process that is taking place.
Over the 5-year history of the Cubs, we have had one player leave in
mid-season. This child did not respond to any feedback (positive
or negative) and quickly lost interest in baseball. This child does not
play any youth sport- three years later. Remember our two
primary objectives are to teach and to have fun. Learning can be
just as fun as winning. However, a player that neither learns nor has
fun, quickly loses interest in baseball.
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