If you build them up, they will play

STEVE SMITH

By the time you read this, the Costa Mesa National Little League

Minor A Dodgers team I’ve been coaching will be playing their last

game together. Anyone who looked at our won-lost record would

conclude that our season was a disaster. But the record doesn’t tell

the whole story.

This season, we may have made a baseball player out of Connor

Gilligan, whose appreciation for soccer was made clear to me early in

the season. But Connor turned out to have a very strong and accurate

arm and started many games at pitcher for us. Connor is a bona fide

pitcher, and if he does not play next year, it will be a great loss

to the league.

A couple of players, Matthew Castaneda and Zachary Bates, showed

up looking for coaching and experience and wound up becoming very

strong players. During the last half of the season, I felt very

comfortable with either of them at first base.

Daniel Shammas played as much second base as I could give him, and

in return, he turned three double plays. In two of them, he fielded

grounders, tagged a runner headed for second and threw to first. A

couple of times, I spoke to Daniel about celebrating these and other

accomplishments before the game was over. By the end of the season,

he had matured and was setting an example for the rest of the team.

That example, by the way, was one that former UCLA basketball

coach John Wooden expected from his teams, and it evolves into a way

to stay completely focused on the game. In short, it’s a matter of

behaving so that anyone watching the game without a scoreboard would

not know if you are winning or losing.

Every team should have a player like Riley Schoneman. Not only

does Riley come to play, he brings his exceptional attitude and

constant smile. It’s impossible to have a bad day around him,

something that was particularly important to me this season. Riley’s

dedication was matched by his mother Jamie, our scorekeeper, who

attended more practices and games than anyone else who comes to mind.

Nick Covelli played the first or second toughest position on the

field, depending on whom you ask. As one of our two catchers, and a

new one at that, he was often asked to do more than he had been

coached to do. But he rarely complained, and when he did, he usually

had a good case.

Then there was Andrew Albers, who joined our team a little late

thanks to the defection of one our star players. Andrew is tall and

broad and batted fourth in our line up. That, as you may know, is

called “clean up,” the theory being that this batter comes up to

drive in the batters before him who have made it safely on base.

Andrew played the role very well and proved to have a great throw

from third to first.

Three guys -- Brian Golden, Alex Tenno and Carter Norris -- played

more outfield than they would have liked, I am sure. But along the

way they learned what it means to be part of a team. I know that they

will all contribute to their next team next season.

That’s my hope -- that each of these players returns next year to

play some more baseball. If they do, I’ve done my job properly.

Oh, and there’s one more player to mention. That would be my son,

Roy. Once again, I asked too much of him, and often he was not shy

about letting me know. Having compared notes with enough other

coaches, it seems that that is standard operating procedure for a

coach and his kid. Roy is my kind of baseball player -- always

thinking ahead about the next play or the next two plays.

Last baseball season, Roy and his friend, Ryan Christopher, took a

few pitching lessons from Dan Keller. Dan runs Lifeletics, a coaching

and summer camp program.

Dan was recommended to me by someone whose name I can’t recall,

but I remember the recommendation. “He coaches the whole game,” was

what I was told.

I didn’t know what that meant until the boys started their

lessons, and I started to receive Dan’s e-newsletter. It was then

that I realized that in addition to fundamentals, Dan taught

patience, decency, civility and sportsmanship, with an emphasis on

sportsmanship.

I asked Dan to give me a coaching nugget or two, and here’s what I

got: “Be realistic. Maintain a goal of developing the kids, with an

emphasis on success. Do not get caught up in winning a 10-year-old

league championship at all costs. In the big picture, this is just a

step in the development of an athlete and more importantly a young

person. Be realistic with the ability of your youngsters. This makes

victory more fulfilling and assists with learning how to handle

frustrations.”

Parents and coaches, please read that two or three times.

This is my kind of coach. If that’s your kind of coach, you can

reach Dan at (714) 875-5294 or at dan@lifeletics.com.

Thanks for the memories, Dodgers!

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.