I got into a discussion on this topic w/my assit. and he thinks we can win just on talent - I can accept that. But, I want to take another angle and believe we'll go much further than winning if we have strong leaders from our players. What do you guys think?

I also had a thought: "do I want leaders, or do I want "clutch" players? Or, are they the same?"

Squeeze, I am a HUGE believer in leadership as well as team chemistry which comes in part from your leaders IMO.

A kid that can inspire his teammates, bring the crowd into a game, help to mentor the younger players and also feels the responsbility of being "clutch" can make the total difference in winning/loosing IMO. That player(s) can in the long run make a coach's job much easier.

I'll give you some examples of a leader - a player that would pick up a teammate every day because that kid couldn't get to the meetings in the morning, a player that is always there first and leaves last, a player that would take his phone and call other kids when he has arrived at an event and it has been cancelled, a kid who would pull teammates out of the dugout and give them the team trophy putting the spotlight on them, a kid who feels like "I need to step up to the plate and handle this", a player who doesn't fall prey to the "grumblings" of other parents/players, a player who says "Coach, I can help get the field ready"........ Every program needs its leaders to be at the top in winning and other ways!

Our HS coach always preached leadership and made it clear to a couple of players each year that he had leadership expectations of them. They are usually kids that the coach/players/parents recognize as such. They are without a doubt part of the "x" factor of a team IMO.

Good stuff lafmom, boy you've come through many times with information I'm looking for. Here's a question for ya: "should I 'drive' home this issue to the kids." I feel I should, but can I turn them off by doing so?

IMO as a parent - I think it's a coach's role to emphasize leadership to the team and to the player(s) individually that you see in this role. Just as you would teach offense and defense, IMO a coach teaches leadership. This includes "emphasizing" that expectation just the same as practice participation, academics, etc. Just my humble opinion Squeeze.

You probably have a very good idea of who you think can fulfill the role of leader on your team. The players probably do too. We as coaches, parents, adults should always foster this quality when we have the opportunity.

squeeze,

I think this is one of the better questions asked here in along time. A few years ago, I used to think baseball was more of an individual sport where the team with the most dominant players at the most positions won - especially on the mound. I don't think that way anymore. I think the best "TEAMS" win (not the best collection of individuals) and to accomplish this you need LEADERS. I believe this skill can be developed as well by basically setting a tone of unselfishness on your team and getting people to think more about the other guy than themselves.

Al Learner, the late billionaire owner of the Browns said one rule he learned about leadership was from when he was in the Marines and that was that leaders always eat last. Translated to baseball, I believe that your true leaders care more about others specifically and the team in general than they do themselves. When your best players can do this, you can do magical things as a team. In fact, you can get the whole team acting like leaders this way.

I have told this story before but it bears repeating in this context. Two years ago our hs team was dominant players wise and indeed came up just one win short of winning all the marbles. It was a team basically of superstar individuals however. We graduated every player from that team except one. It is a large understatement to say not much was expected from last years team.

I told that one returning player I was expecting him to be a leader and I was going to judge his performance on how well his team played as opposed to individual stats or achievemants. I said when the team wins, everyone else gets the credit. When they lose, you take the responsibility. I even asked him to do little things that weren't done in the past. For example, upperclassman generally were not required to do as much field maintenance after games as maybe some of the younger players. I told him to be the hardest worker at practice and after games. After a couple of weeks, I saw kids actually fighting to try and help get the field in proper order after games. I told him to gladly do any of the dirty work the team needed done such as carrying equipment, water, and so forth.

With this mindset, with a bunch of very low 80's pitchers who were not afraid to throw strikes because they knew there were players behind them who had their backs, we almost won a second consecutive state championship last year. It was my most satisfying moment in baseball even though we came up just short. You couldn't have asked more out of a group of kids who actually achieved more with less talent. I couldn't have been more proud of that one player.

For some context on this story, here are two newspaper articles that were written right after the team miraculously won the State Regional title to put them in the final four. Here is a quote by the coach from one of the articles and it is so true:

quote:

"I think this shows you that an actual baseball team can vie for a state championship," Taylor said. "We're certainly not as talented as last year's team. We don't have that one outstanding pitcher like last year. What we have are a bunch of bulldogs. And you know what? I'll take the bulldogs."

Here is a link to the articles - enjoy.

Mentor names its place

No-namers become big-gamers in hurry

CD - Nice post!

Great post, CD.
Leadership makes ALL the difference, even (and maybe particularly) for a team loaded with talent. How many times have we seen talented teams that didn't live up to their potential because of lack of leadership? My sons have been on a couple of those, and everyone ends up angry at the end, but no one stepped up to take responsibility.

Nice post CD.
A team without leadership and talent is an above average team. A team with talent and leadership has all the ingrediants of a great team.

IMO, the coach should teach leadership to the whole team and then, as the coach, he should know which guys he thinks could fill that role and talk to them individually. Some guys will step up some guys won't. And sometimes you'll get guys who step up that you don't expect. But, to be successfull you definitely need to have leadership and teamwork. Case in point. Look at the Yankees lately. They always have the biggest stars and biggest payroll. But, how many W.S. have they won lately? If was only individual talent that won World Series', they would win it every year. And even the Indians, when they had that monster lineup in the mid 90's. It got them to the playoffs, but, couldn't get them any further. Some of the "stars" on those teams are rumored to have "laid down". What kind of leadership and teamwork does that show? I'm sure there are many other examples, but, I think you get my point.

I have always found it amazing that as a coach you really do not need to designate a "leader"--

They always seem to surface thru the way they do things in practice, cheer in the dugout or during the game--even in the hotel between games.

This year the team had three co-captains and one was an underclassman---they all led in different ways but each one was a leader.

We dont necessarily preach leadership--we let it take its course and we find the cream rises to the top every year--next year we get to start with the underclassman who will be back with us

The cream does rise to the top but not without some help along way.

Shep

quote:

Originally posted by ClevelandDad:
I told that one returning player I was expecting him to be a leader and I was going to judge his performance on how well his team played as opposed to individual stats or achievemants.

CD - Awesom post. Wonder who the "one returning player" was? Now, if you could just hop on I-77 S and share that piece of wisdom with a certain 13u player, I'd be mighty obliged.

For my son, who had always been a leader in middle school and jr. legion, he was told early on what was expected of him by the high school coach. Early in 9th grade, he was called into the coach's office and I would say challenged by the coach to put his best foot forward, work his butt off and earn a starting varsity position. He had had words with his previous jr. legion coach and the coach had benched him during an important game and this coach heard what happened and talked to my son about what he expected from him. He earned the respect of the older kids on the team and wound up being an underclassman captain. I know he's big on 'the team' and he put himself on the back seat once in awhile to put the team first.

I think team chemistry is really important too. I saw our kids, who many times were up and down during the season, go up against teams that thought no way they could lose to us, wind up rather shocked when we actually won the league 3 different times. But it was the same group of kids who lived and died for each other during the summer season each and every year.

Another thing he told me not long ago was how he learned to respect the umpires and not blow off the head when they made a bad call, just to go with the flow. He's a red head, what can I say! When he was much younger, he had that temper to go with it and after a game one of the umps told him he was a good player and he didn't have to blow up and they got to talking about umping and something stuck with him in that conversation. He told me that he knew being level headed was the way to go and that he'd wound up earning the umps' respect when a catcher questioned an ump on a call and the ump told the kid that if my son didn't swing at it, it had to be a ball. As a younger kid, there were times I'd think, just shut your mouth. But with the individualized attention he got from some of these guys, it made him a better person and he led by example, be it in the dugout or on the field. If I were you, I would definately set some goals for the kids you think can be leaders and challenge them to show what they can be. Hopefully it will carry over into the rest of their lives as well.

Ohhhhhh, so good! Great stuff people, let's keep it going.

Another quick question: "how soon do you/I start "pounding" this issue?" I definetely will, but it's a matter of when. Let me tell you why; around 10-15 people are showing up for hitting, so we're missing all the basketball players - around 30. So, should start now, or wait 'til basketball is closer to being done? ]

My gut feeling is now.

squeeze, the pounding ought'a be subtle enough that they aren't aware of it

WOW, 30 hoops guys??
history says about 26 are "hoops first" athletes just playing around with baseball

but, notice the players of that group who are "breaking into" your cage area to hit after midnight, or working out in another community so their basketball coach doesn't find out and "punish" them, and you've found leaders you don't even have to "pound"


.

I never would "pound it" as squeeze asks-- you want the leaders to be just that leaders and that comes naturally-- there are leaders and there are followers--watch you kids for a short time and you will see the "real leaders" emerge on their own

Squeeze, I agree that "pounding" isn't necessary. I think you promote or "teach" leadership. When you're explaining your expectations I think is a great time to include what you expect out of leaders. As TR says the leaders usually know they're leaders and everyone else usually knows it to. I do think it's beneficial to have private conversations with the player(s) that you see in this role pre-season (now).

You can give extra assignments to your leaders - ask them to call players about a schedule change, or to help out a kid who's struggling during conditioning, etc. However, if you're lucky enough to have a "real" leader, he's probably already doing these things and a little "I've noticed Joe, that you do......" is always good for them to hear and can reinforce those behaviors.

Sqeeze - You're a good coach - you care and that's a very important ingredient to success for the program and players.

It takes all types of leaders to make a good team. You have your vocal leaders, your inspirational leaders and your leaders by example. Some of the best team leaders are the quite ones who bust their tails day in and day out and just lead by example. But you still need the vocal leader to keep things lose etc. My son's summer team last year had a ton of talent with a lot of players who were quite leaders but no one who was a real vocal leader. Thus the team played on edge and tight all summer. The coach had a big part in this also but that is another story.

Good coaches can identify who the leaders are and what type they are. He must communicate to the leaders what their role is and what he would like to see them accomplish and typically those players will become more motivated.

If you can identify several leaders on the team you don't have to have a team captain. Sometimes having a team captain causes more problems than not having one. Choosing the wrong player to be the captain can cause a great divide.

My son's HS coach usually gives the "captain" status to a senior that has showed himself to be a leader or someone the rest of the team, mostly the underclassmen, can look-up up to. The coach doesn't really preach leadership, but watches who becomes the leader. And then he relys on that player to keep up the morale, so to speak. That player can say to another player "Keep your chin up. You'll get it next time", or get the rest of the players out on the field in a hurry during defense.