Kid's Sports and Coaching

On Sunday February 24, Minneapolis StarTribune printed a short interview with a 32 year old pitcher trying to make the Minnesota Twins. He'd played around the league and he was asked to compare the Twins to other organizations he'd played for. He said, "I see why they win a lot...the guys are laid back and fun. It's kind of just a kids playing baseball attitude, instead of like the Cardinals and Yankees where it was all kind of a business attitude."

Pat and I have been attending a lot of basketball games lately. Our grandchildren play in park and recreation leagues - 9 to 11 year old kids with a lot of enthusiasm. It has been fun to watch how coaching shapes and develops these energetic kids. Coaching styles range from hands off let the kids play, to sideline pacing motivators. Some coaches are laid back and some are “all kind of a business attitude.” They all seem dedicated and care about the kids.

The coach we see most often is our son in law, Thor Westra. During play there is always a lot of cheerleading and instruction coming from the coaches as they pace the sidelines. It is always fun to watch those coaches that clap, laugh and celebrate the good plays and hold criticisms for the breaks in play. Thor, if he does instruct during play, is less a barker than the purveyor of friendly suggestions. On the other hand, during breaks no teaching moment is lost. Thor huddles the team to review their play during the previous period and go over things to work on and set the plays and the line up for the next period. Watching from the sidelines you can see the how the kids have applied what they have learned over the season; they are moving, not just standing and waiting. They are passing the ball, running set plays, increasingly aware of the clock and time remaining. I don’t know what’s going on inside Thor, but outside he seems patient and content to let the players use their developing knowledge without much interference from him while they are on the floor. He seems to know what the kids are capable of and lets them have fun.

Watching Thor and the other coaches makes me think about the false dichotomy I've heard over the years about process versus results and the focus on winning. First, watching these coaches exemplifies that results are the outcomes of a process and if the process is good the results will be optimal. It seems to me also in watching these young players those teams that have fun and are well schooled in the fundamentals seem to win more.

John Wooden, now in his 90's, is the legendary former coach of the UCLA Bruins basketball team. He once told an interviewer that during his years of coaching he got more satisfaction from practices than games and more joy from teaching his players than winning championships. His teams, by the way, won 10 NCAA basketball championships.

You might ask how Thor’s methods are paying off. To Pat and I, we’d say he seems to get a lot of joy from teaching those kids how to play basketball. For me, I wish I would have practiced more.