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Coaches You Will Always Remember

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Double Eagle

Registered User
You always read about the whack job coaches who punch refs in the face, tell seven year olds they suck, etc. How about a few good stories about the coach you will always remember. The guy who said something to you that you will never forget or made sports an enjoyable part of your childhood.

I'll start it off with a second hand story from NU great and NHLer Jim Fahey. Jim spoke at his hometown's youth hockey banquet shortly after making his NHL debut. Everyone was expecting to hear about his NHL experience, the Beanpot, some highlights at NU, etc. Instead Jim decided to pay a tribute to his first Mite hockey coach, who stayed involved in youth hockey and baseball long after his kids had grown. Jim ended his speech with the following story:

"And I'll never forget a game in Mites when we were trying to protect a one goal lead. The goalie made a save and the puck popped right onto my stick. I tried to clear the puck to the end boards but instead roofed one over the goalie's shoulder into my own net. I made my way back to the bench and sat at the end with my head down. I felt a hand patting my shoulder and Mr. L. leaned over, gave me a big smile and said to me, 'Nice shot, Jimmy. Next shift let's try to put one of those past the other goalie.'"
 
Re: Coaches You Will Always Remember

I had a summer little league baseball coach once...went by the name of "Shoes." He liked to keep it simple for us kids. His "sign" for you to steal a base while in the 3rd base coaches box was to yell STEAL!! at the top of his lungs. You had to be pretty **** fast to steal successfully when you played for him. ;)
 
Re: Coaches You Will Always Remember

I have a few but I'll focus on 1 now; had a grade school basketball coach that had coached a HS state championship team prior to having a son with a disability..he took a higher paying job to help pay the bills and coached for our school team because he loved it.

Here is one thing I'll always remember...when we were practicing foul shots one of our loudmouth kids complained about how hard it was because the rim was barely bigger than the ball. Coach bet him that you could fit two basketballs through the rim at the same time...he took the bet... coach walks down the hall, comes back with a ladder and proceeds to climb up and prove to a bunch of 12 year olds that foul shots aren't that hard because the rim is twice as big as the ball. I forget how many laps or suicides the kid had to run but it was great. I can still picture us all standing there in the lane watching him put the balls through, just like it was yesterday.

Because he was old school and had coached at a much higher level we learned so much...great guy, wish every coach my kids had were that good.
 
Re: Coaches You Will Always Remember

Coach Bernie. Who taught me not to be afraid of the ball hitting me, because it hit him right in the chest, as hard as Geeb could throw it.

Again he said.

If you're afraid of the ball hitting you it hurts twice as hard when it actually does.
 
Re: Coaches You Will Always Remember

the one I never heard of. who worked in obscurity. did it for free. got no credit. won no awards. who had a good time and taught the kids to have one too.
 
Re: Coaches You Will Always Remember

As a rather small 4-foot-3 11-year-old, I was just stepping into the batters box when the other team decided to change pitchers. They brought in one of those 6-foot-1, 13-year-olds who was known for his super blazing pitching speed and a serious lack of control to go with the speed. You could hear his pitches whistle as they came flying toward your head, and the fear was palpable...

As the man-child was warming up, my coach pulls me aside, knowing full well that everyone on our team was seriously terrified of the big kid on the mound...

"Swami", he said in a clear, steady voice. (okay, so he called me by my real name...). "When he throws you a fastball you can really drive, aim it right back at his mustache."

That kid did have mustache! Suddenly, the fear had dissipated....

I never did hit the mustache, but I was able to hit a triple down the line, and more importantly, I gained a whole lot less fear of mustachioed, fireballing 13 year olds after that.

Thanks, coach.
 
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Re: Coaches You Will Always Remember

Puck Swami said:
As a rather small 4-foot-3 11-year-old, I was just stepping into the batters box when the other team decided to change pitchers. They brought in one of those 6-foot-1, 13-year-olds who was known for his super blazing pitching speed and a serious lack of control to go with the speed. You could hear his pitches whistle as they came flying toward your head, and the fear was palpable...

As the man-child was warming up, my coach pulls me aside, knowing full well that everyone on our team was seriously terrified of the big kid on the mound...

"Swami", he said in a clear, steady voice. (okay, so he called me by my real name...). "When he throws you a fastball you can really drive, aim it right back at his mustache."

That kid did have mustache! Suddenly, the fear had dissipated....

I never did hit the mustache, but I was able to hit a triple down the line, and more importantly, I gained a whole lot less fear of mustachioed, fireballing 13 year olds after that.

Thanks, coach.
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That's awesome. When I coached at my son's baseball teams I used to tell the nervous kids to pretend the ball was my head.....to terrific results. :) When I would visit the mound I'd ask the pitcher if he'd seen any good movies or get any new CD's lately or something offbeat like that....and almost always the pitcher would begin to again throw stikes. It always amazes me how quickly kids would refocus when you inject a little positive humor into the game.
 
Re: Coaches You Will Always Remember

My Dad. He coached my Little League team for several seasons. I was the best player on the team, but my Dad had a policy of playing all the kids the exact same number of innings. Not playing the worst kids to minimum they had to play, as pretty much all the other coaches in the league did. Our team lost some games we might have otherwise won, but it was a great example to look back on over the years.
 
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