Coach?

I think it was my Junior year of college. Back then it wasn’t common to have video used in
baseball training. Other than still shots, I didn‘t know what my baseball swing looked like. You
can only accomplish so much in front of a mirror. Hard to watch the ball AND the mirror at the
same time...

One day our coach brings out a video camera (camcorder) to video our swings and then we set
up times to go meet with him to analyze our swing and find opportunities to get better. I was
really excited about finally getting to do this. While I was good, I wanted to get better.
My time to meet with our coach came and I got to see my swing and hear some suggestions on
how I could get better. Kind of like a performance review (360) on the job. It started off well.
Coach complimented my swing. That made me feel good. But, then he said something I’ll
never forget. “Tony, you have a textbook swing. I can’t find anything to improve.” It was true, I
had been working on my swing for 12-15 years and I had studied the “textbooks” on swings.
BUT, I was still getting out 60-70% of the time and I had zero professional scouts looking at me.
Surely I could have done something better.

A coach exists to enable a team, and the players on the team, to accomplish something they
couldn’t do on their own. He had one job. To help me get better than I could on my own. He
failed.

Remember that HS coach that told me I was fat? The one that changed my life more than just
about any other human? They both had the same position. The same title. Which would you
rather be? The coach that changes lives or the coach that just says “good job”?

In order to be a good coach, you must know what needs to be said AND be willing to say it. My
HS coach knew.