What the world needs – Little League World Series
In this age of performance enhancing drugs, player hold-outs, owner lock-outs, union strikes and legal troubles its no wonder that some people have a negative view of professional athletes and their respective sports today.
While I certainly agree with Charles Barkley that professional athletes are not and should not be role models off the field. I do understand when an impressionable minded 12 yr old watches his favorite pitcher plunk A-Rod or David Wright, that he may think that’s the solution when things aren’t going your way in the game. So it was refreshing to me when I was reminded why kids should play sports. All kids should play sports to learn how to deal with adversity, build confidence, to learn to work as a team and to continue to develop group social skills.
The other day I’m watching my favorite form of baseball (Yes, Little League Baseball is the best baseball) when I saw an interaction take place that really made me proud. Little Leaguer Brandon Lawler of Mercer Island was clearly frustrated after blowing the lead top of the final inning. His coach comes out to calm his pitcher down and this is what happens:
I don’t claim to be an expert on kids. I don’t claim to know anything about 12 year olds. The only think I know about 12 year olds is I didn’t like being a 12 and I beat up on my younger brother when he was 12. That’s it. But if the world of Little League, Pop Warner and every other pre-teen sports organization in the world had more coaches like this guy maybe, just maybe, we would have less Michael Beasely, Vince Young, Kobe Bryant, Michael Vick, Donte Stallworth, and Plaxico Burress incidents in the world. To think if these guys had a coach that could coach them up and yet keep them grounded how much different their lives would have been.
Check the Video below:
Video was removed due to restrictions:
