Kids Coaching Triumphs

Justin was overweight, shy, awkward and without a shred of athletic
ability.

But he had a ton of passion.

Loved baseball.

And I mean loved everything about the game.

You could see the delight in his eyes and practically feel the joy
in his smile when he slid his glove on, picked up a Louisville
Slugger or laced up his cleats.

This was the kind of kid you flat out just enjoyed being around.

Not because he brought a tremendous amount of vocal energy to
the field, but because of the way he walked around a baseball
diamond in a trance-like, dream state that conveyed absolute bliss.

And what he taught me about coaching was, and is to this day,
one of the most important lessons I have ever had the pleasure
of learning.

Justin went from the shy kid who didn’t really have any friends on
his team, to a hero.

And he did it all by himself…

I won’t belabor this story or add too much in the way of detail.

I’ll just get straight to the point by saying this –

Every Child Has Currency

They’re all important.

They all have hopes, dreams and ambitions.

And most importantly…

They’re all good at something.

Part of the Art of Coaching is knowing how to create enough
of a wide-spectrum training system that allows each and everyone
of your young athletes to be "the best" on a particular day.

Justin was slow.

So when we ran reactive-based exercises, he was consistently last.

Justin lacked coordination.

So when we created obstacle courses, Justin was always awkward.

But Justin had one thing that his teammates didn’t have.

And when we did "this", his face lit up like a young kid at a circus.

Justin could hit the cover off of a baseball.

He was a touch overweight and unbalanced during dynamic movement,
but when he dug his feet in the ground, he could use his highly evolved
hand-eye coordination and literally tattoo a baseball farther than any 11
year old I have ever seen.

When we performed athletic-based movements, Justin plotted and seemed
a little left behind, both physically and socially by his teammates.

But when we ended training sessions with "how far can you hit it" games,
Justin was the King of that field.

He knew it.

His teammates knew it.

Everyone just stood and watched in awe at his power.

I’ll never forget those hot July days.

The sun beating down, the sweat pouring off.

And Justin.

Surrounded by his teammates as he tried to out-do himself with
every swing.

Justin taught me a truly and sincerely important lesson.

Every young athlete you work with his good, if not BEST, at something.

Enhance their experience of enjoying a sporting setting by being
sensitive to what that is and add to the daily routine so that all your
young athletes get to "showcase" from time-to-time.

Last time I checked, by the way, Justin was hitting clean-up on the
local high school baseball team.

I couldn’t be more proud of him.

Learning how to find the "currency" in each of your young athletes is a
skill that most Trainers and Coaches lack.

We get caught up in the volume of how to work with 20 youngsters all
at the same time, and either forget or don’t know how to make the
experience special for each and every one of them.

That’s why we spent so much time in our Youth Fitness Specialist
certification teaching you the Art of Coaching and how to apply this
incredibly sensitive and important detail into your coaching practice.

Click on the link below and see what I mean –

http://www.iyca.org/fitspecialist1.html

– Brian