POP!

POP!

POP!

It was the noise that had become synonymous with summers in our backyard at my home during my youth. It didn’t matter how hot the day was. I would be outside baseball glove in hand and a baseball in the other.

Despite other kids on the block there was no one else that I would have rather played catch with than my dad. There was just something about throwing a ball back and forth, most of the time without saying a word to each other. It was and will be probably the most fondest memory that I share with my father next to attending baseball games with him through out the summer.

Growing up, all through T-ball, I could count on one thing, that my dad would be my coach as I moved up through the different levels of play. There was one summer that I decided that I didn’t want him to be my coach but in the end I decided that I wanted him to coach me.

Much like myself, my father grew up playing baseball. I listen to the stories that he tells me about playing the game with his friends in open fields and in the backyards of neighbors as they all stood out on their back porch and watched a group of kids enjoy a summer afternoon. It was a time before video games, the internet, and cell phones.

The passion he had for the game as a youth, moved to coaching his son, and now that same passion is being passed on to another generation. I’ve only coached one season of t-ball with my son, but I could tell just how much a coach meant to many of those kids I was coaching. I remember one moment with one little girl who was afraid to come up and bat, didn’t know which way to run, and just stood around in the field and watched the boys run after the ball.

I worked with this little girl, not knowing if she really wanted to be there or not the first couple of games. But by the end of the season, I could count on her running into the batters box with a smile on her face and she ended up fielding many more of the ground balls than some of the boys. I could tell just by watching her just how much our coaches mean to their players.

Many times they are the positive role models that our youth desperately needs. Coaches are one of the few people that can impact our children more than we can as parents.

When Dove Men+Care approached me with their Caring Coach Curriculum, I couldn’t help but share the message. Even though this is more for football it can easily be translated to any form of coaching. Dove Men+Care has broken being a Caring Coach down to a 3 step method.

1. Identify the Role

2. Be A Caring Coach

3. Reap the Benefits From Your Players

As I read through these three steps, I started to look back at my dad as a coach and realized that he really embodied all 3 of those steps. He knew his role, he cared enough to listen to me when I told him that I didn’t want to be a pitcher, and he had fun at it.

The coaches that help coach our children have a profound impact them. Whether that sport is football, baseball, basketball, soccer, hockey, or cross-country so let’s make sure they are Caring Coaches.

You can learn more about Dove Men+Care deodorant Caring Coaching curriculum here.

And without further anticipation, here is the 2015 Dove Men+Care deodorant Caring Coach in a short film called For Coach. Beware, this brought me to tears at work and I’m sure you’ll shed some too.

Full Disclosure: Dove Men+Care did compensate The Rookie Dad for this post, however the thoughts and opinion are my own and not of Dove Men+Care.