One of the best things about getting old is that you have a lot of experiences and a lot of memories. Another of my favorite things about getting older is that I have made a lot of great friends in the coaching world. I had a great conversation with an old friend the other day and we spent a lot of time talking about how things have changed.
My friend, who has coached in the WCWS several times, made a very strong statement that I would like to share with all of you.
“When I started recruiting I spent all my time trying to find talented players amongst a huge group of very passionate players. Now my challenge is finding passionate players in a huge pool of talented players!”
Let that thought sink in for a second. Now before you write this off as the ramblings of another old fart telling the kids to get off his lawn let me share with you that this coach is young, female and by most standards would be considered almost a millennial.
So we have a very young and successful coach who is is talking about a change she has seen in about 10 years. Don’t get me started on how her statement rang true to an old coach like me.
How do you make a player passionate? I don’t think you can. But I know that we are doing something wrong when the kids keep getting better and better but seem to want to play less and less.
How many times do you feel like you have to drag your kid to practice? How often do you show up to practice and see kids whose every action screams, “I want to be anywhere else”! How frustrated are some of your players that they have teammates who, “just don’t care”!
Too often!
About the Author: Tory Acheson brings a wealth of knowledge to the Fastpitch Prep staff. He has coached at all levels of the game, including the last 25 years at the college level at the University of Wisconsin – Parkside, Tennessee Tech and Kennesaw State. He began his coaching career at the high school level spending 9 years Whitnall High School in Greenfield, Wis. and is now working as a professional softball instructor.
