Sideline Sessions

Ross Romano: [00:00:00] Welcome everyone to Sideline Sessions here on the Be Podcast Network. Thanks as always for being with us and that we're going to have a great conversation upcoming here about youth sports and coaching in the youth [00:01:00] environment, particularly in little league baseball, our guest.

We'll share his experience coaching over the years as a the things that he has observed, the things that have worked for him some of the ways that he focused on helping his athletes develop. And it'll give you a chance to hear about some strategies that might work for you. Maybe you're a parent who is interested in coaching in the present or future.

Maybe you already are doing some coaching for your kids, or maybe you've even been a little afraid of it because of a lot of dynamics that play out in youth sports. Or just feeling like You're not sure how you could get involved. And I think there's going to be something here for you to think about and the opportunities that are available in some ways to really feel like it's a positive experience.

So our guest is Matt Murawski. He has been a Little League Baseball coach for more than six years. And like many coaches, he was inspired by amazing coaching experiences and seeing, you Poor coaching situations for kids. He's a big fan of the player centered approach to coaching, which we're going to talk [00:02:00] about.

Matt, thanks for being here.

Matt Murawski: Yeah, absolutely. Ross, I appreciate you having me on. It's exciting to I think youth sports represent such a great opportunity, right, for, of course, primarily the youth but also for our community and for the parents and the coaches that you're talking about or the budding coaches. So, excited to chop it up a little bit.

Ross Romano: Yeah, Canon should be lots of fun for all involved. So I think our conversation will illustrate some of the ways to make sure that happens. From your perspective, what inspired you to get involved with coaching?

Matt Murawski: Yeah, sure. So, I mean, it was a kind of a winding piece, but basically growing up in sports and having positive experiences and actually having a father my father was lucky enough to have as a coach, and then he went on to.

Coach at the high school level and be a batting coach and just saw so I had really modeled really well and knew it was there and then also just saw the benefits, right, like I benefited, but also have kind of grown up and saw how much of an impact he had. [00:03:00] on those that he coached that weren't not on my team.

So kind of just seeing that connection and that impact that you can make really was something that kind of like initially probably got me excited about it. I actually then candidly, like when my kids started to get into sports, I have two boys and they're doing that. I was a little, I was one of those reluctant coaches that you're, That you kind of addressed it could be in this audience, right?

And I think I did kind of sit back with my oldest first God in there, but then I realized Not that I could do it better But I realized that there's definitely not it was definitely something in my capacity and I did see a couple for Coaching moments that really kind of took the fun wasn't there For not all the kids a couple kids were benefiting from the fun but not all.

And I knew that that's something that I was easy, I could do, I could cure that part of that piece.

Ross Romano: So what about the sport of baseball? How did you determine that was the sport that you would coach? Do your kids play a couple different ones? Is baseball their main focus? Was that just a sport that [00:04:00] you played and knew a lot about? How did you make that decision?

Matt Murawski: Sure. Yeah. I mean, so I am one of those folks that just loves the sport of baseball.

So that was one part of the equation, but really it was just out of like what my children were involved in and already participating in. And I think, and it did help though, that I had a long I played through high school and as I mentioned, my dad coached all the way to a high school level as well.

So I had confidence in my confidence around this sport as well. But I think also one of the things I learned and I think this would be important for others is like it where there was other very effective coaches that did not have that same background. And so I think a lot of the coaching is yes, you need to understand the game, you need to know how it is to be packed in the game, the dynamics of that and the techniques and the skills.

But also, especially when we talk about youth sports, you can also surround yourselves with those that have that and pick that up. And I think if anything, you just. So much of the game and helping today's youth and [00:05:00] maybe it's always been part of it, but it's really like that mental side of it and kind of how people are showing how the, is there one navigating that sport, how they're navigating being a part of the team.

There's so much of that and so much that you can just show just in level of being prepared, no matter what the sport is. And you can still accept, but that essentially, yeah, I got into baseball cause kids were signed up for it. I knew enough to be dangerous and I knew I could impart some stuff, but as I learned, like a lot of it is like learning from the youth, the kids themselves.

And just kind of being adaptive, something that's changed quite a bit in today's world.

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Ross Romano: In my youth, playing a variety of different sports, observed that who was successful as a youth coach. Meaning in terms of providing a great experience for the kids, and having everyone feel like they had an opportunity to learn the sport, to participate in all of that.

It was Not necessarily always [00:06:00] correlated with what their personal experience with the sport was. I think in particular at that time let's say in the the nineties, right? Playing soccer, for example. When the adults at that time who were coaching the teams, there were not as, there were not a lot of youth soccer programs when they were kids.

So a lot of them had never played the sport. They might've had an interest in it or not, right? But they got involved. Sports like baseball, maybe the coaches were more likely to have played or basketball, but maybe they only played it. as a youth, right? And it doesn't necessarily mean they played high school, college, pro but having an interest in, one, I think identifying what are the real goals here?

What is the reason why we participate in youth sports? Learning what you need to learn, Not continuing to be willfully ignorant about the the rules and strategies of the sport, but of course you can have assistant coaches. You can go and do some training and [00:07:00] learn more about it. I had another guest that'll be part of this season.

Who talks about he's the commissioner of the local basketball. Police Athletic League, and they've implemented training for the coaches at the beginning of the season and so they can go through some of that right and a lot of that I'm sure is about just how to run a team and how to work with youth and all of that in addition to basketball stuff, but to say, look, You don't have to be a professional at this, but there, there's a way for us to make everybody feel like it shouldn't be an impediment because you don't feel like you're an expert at the sport.

The most important thing is wanting to do it, wanting to provide a good experience for the kids and being committed to that, I would think.

Matt Murawski: Absolutely. I think 100 percent like knowing that you want to make an impact on the experience for the kids like so much of us. So if we stick with the youth sports, a lot of that has been parents have signed their kids up and they have that with the aspiration [00:08:00] of like What they want out of that experience is for the game to teach them lessons.

They want to learn the lessons that are important that you learn in a team environment. Right. So then the role of the coach is to really just kind of help facilitate that. Skills are certainly important, right? Knowing the foundational skills that your athletes will need is totally important. But like you said, I think you can kind of learn and seek that out with assistance or just learning on your own.

And you can always be ahead of it. But so much of what we're really trying to talk about with the youth and what they want is just positive. You want them to be having fun and learning the lessons that the game just naturally teaches and that being in a team naturally teaches. You want to facilitate those things so that you can really unlock that fun and they can see that that is the win.

Now, conversely, I'm not saying like, coaches of course are focused on wanting to win, that creates happiness. I would say, like coaches though, [00:09:00] we all know that we need to have something higher, a higher purpose than a win, because you don't win all the games. Sometimes that's just not a reality. So if you always have, if you're, if that's too, it's overly deflating, then you're just not going to have a positive experience as a coach.

Those children are not going to have the positive experience that they want. And it's going to deteriorate kind of like why they're in that initially.

Ross Romano: Yeah. I'm interested in what you have observed. Just, this is kind of. I guess the integration of sports participation and burgeoning sports fandom and how those different things intersect in, in our lives, but as far as the kids that are playing Little League Baseball.

I have one of you observed as far as their engagement and interest in the sport as fans and the professional game, etc. Because of course, there's been a lot of trends over [00:10:00] the decades of what sports have become more popular or less or seem to have more. more media attention or not.

And again, like I remember when I was that age and playing Little League Baseball, I mean, like most of the baseball players were the biggest thing around, Ken Griffey Jr. That, that whole era. And you know, and it might not be as prevalent among a lot of young kids now. But you know, I also just think as far as, right, well, as kids grow up and as they become adults they determine what they're interested in.

But I also would see getting involved in these sports as young athletes also creates an opportunity to learn more and have more interest in following it at other levels

Matt Murawski: yeah, I mean, I think I, I've observed a mix of like the fandom level, right? There's always like kind of a bell curve of kids or some [00:11:00] that are just like not really connected at all.

And some that were, I can still remember like at a very young age, this one kid came up and said, are we home or away? And I go, we're away. Oh, so we're playing at Comerico Park today. You know, like he like as a kid that knew. All the ballparks. And that was something that I did, but I, and then he also would like be in the dugout as an announcer that I feel is like an anomaly, right?

Like you don't, and that's a neat connection that you can have that I had. I carried it into my sports, but I think from, as a coaching standpoint, at least my observation is I had less of the kids that were kind of really tracking with major league baseball and therefore low league, but that's fine.

What do they want to care about? They want to connect about it. Is this going to be a good time? Am I going to have fun? Am I going to be hanging out with my friends? Am I going to be having a good time? And that's what I need, where you need to kind of put your focus as a coach. And one of the big things that I've changed or thought about deliberately is the game itself is fun.

The [00:12:00] game takes care of itself. Like you drop into a game, majority of those that are participating are there and they're having a good time because it's a competitive thing. It's been set up, it's archetyped. For a coach, you have to make the practices. Just as much fun, just, and just as attractive and exciting as that game day.

So I think it's like, okay, if not all the kids are falling along with the sports and passion, like, let's think about what's now. Well, it's being present in what you're doing is what really matters. So as long as they're, I guess the thing really for coaches is make sure they're engaged in what you've got set up.

And if they're not engaged, then really we have to reflect as coaches. on how do we flip that?

Ross Romano: It's interesting you know, it's certainly having kids have an opportunity to participate in the sports themselves, having a positive experience of it and just having direct experience and awareness of it, how it might inform their own opinions and perspectives on it.

I [00:13:00] just noticed this. Last weekend, I have a son who's almost four. And so this past spring, we had gone to a couple of college baseball games because they're nearby, easy to go to. It's a great thing for a young kid because it's inexpensive to get in, general admission, you sit where you want.

And you stay as long as until the kids go home and and those games the college game is not caught up to the pro they take along. I mean, the one time I said, wow, you did really well, he lasted three hours and it was only like the sixth inning, but but there's a lot happening, a lot to see, and then this past Saturday, we went to his first football game.

And it was a college game again, and I was just thinking about, man, there is so much of the time here where there is nothing happening between timeouts and TV timeouts and the huddles and and then the plays run and the play takes [00:14:00] about five seconds. And, but I was just, I never thought about it as much before, but thinking about it when you're with a kid who's kind of a little antsy and just learning the sport and things saying because this is the thing that people say is a criticism of baseball, but realistically with this sport, there's very little of the time you're there is there actually like, is the ball in play.

Sure, right. Compared to you know, of course when baseball is played at a lower level and their pitchers having trouble throwing strikes or when nobody's putting the ball in play there's less action. You know, and of course there's other sports where there's more continuous action, but it just occurred to me that I think.

There's like what the perception or connotation is around these things where they say, well, this one has a lot of action and this one doesn't and to actually participate in it and learn about it and to learn the mental game, which we'll talk a little [00:15:00] bit about, right? And understanding the strategy and what's happening and all that a lot of the action might be internal, might be thinking about, okay, what's going to happen next?

What can I anticipate? That you just would have a much. different perspective of it. Some people are going to decide that they enjoy one and not the other or whatever, right? But you, you get it more when you've been there and done it and had that experience and aren't just relying on what somebody else said about it.

So it was just, Yeah, that was the first time I had really thought that much about it. When you're trying to hold somebody's attention, right, who's saying, man, there's a lot of time here where there's just not really much going on.

Matt Murawski: And that's a different time when we think about fandom in general for kids, like they're different entertainments or different things.

And yeah, looking through the eyes of the child, right, is super helpful with us coming to those realizations. And I think that's really helpful. Back to kind of like with baseball, it is a game that I [00:16:00] feel like teaches us so many things, and it does impress on us that there is a lot of things inherently with waiting, being patient, and just but you also kind of have that you and you have that coupled with the uniqueness of being on the stage of as a pitcher or as the hitter.

So you're also in focus. So there are dynamics to it that make it really challenging for a kid to fall in love with it. Because of that kind of waiting aspect and also knowing that you're going to be the attention is going to a lot of attention is going to be on you. So it's a different level of pressure than you see in other sports.

And that's why I've just found it fun. It's been fun to have watch over years, over years that the kids kind of keep amping up and like signing back up to play another season to another season. It I've heard a coach said that early on that, like, Yeah. The mark of a success is how many of your players carried over from one season to the next, right?

And they're doing that despite maybe baseball, as this is our example, right? [00:17:00] As drop in popularity. So you do lose a little bit of that, but then, again, it's just, I think it's universal across all the sports. Kids are there to have fun and learn, right? They suddenly want to learn, right? The things that sport is going to teach them, the development that they can have in the team environment.

And so when we center on those things, that's where we can win. And actually, when you really center on those things, actually do that does translate to winning itself.

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Ross Romano: Unique among team sports in the way that everyone will have their opportunity, right? A sport like a basketball, soccer, there's a lot of sports where, if performed in one way, the ball and the action can be dominated by just a few players.

And especially in youth, there's a couple of kids who are probably a lot better than everyone else. And The other kids may not have as many opportunities in baseball. When it's your turn to bat, it's your [00:18:00] turn to bat. And it's one of the things that sometimes is. used as an explanatory factor of why sometimes it's harder for a casual fan to have interest in a game because when you watch, when it's the last second of a basketball game the best player is going to get the ball and have a chance.

And when it's the ninth inning of a baseball game, the manager can't just say, okay, I'm sending out my best guy, whoever's up is up. But from a player's perspective, it's okay. When it's your turn, it's your turn, and it's part of a team game, but everybody who's in the lineup, when the balls hit to you, it's hit to you, and nobody can prevent that.

What have you observed in the youth, just in the youth sports dynamics and landscape as you've been coaching over these years? Of course, there's a lot of things that people hear about and whether they've experienced them directly or not as far as the challenges with how parents get involved in ways that are or are not super appropriate and between officials, [00:19:00] right?

And all these, the people who are really important to making sure that those programs happen, the volunteers. Who are filling all those roles, right? And when I mentioned some of the fears for some people getting involved, for some people that might just mean, well, I don't really know that much about the sport, so how can I do it?

For other people it might be, I do not want to be the one who's getting yelled at by parents or that sort of thing and but you've had direct experience. So, like, what is your experience been actually being in it versus what people might hear about?

Matt Murawski: You're right. I mean, youth sports definitely have a, has connotations that come up to us where we get a little bit worried about the parents are involved.

And of course, yes, parents can always, are oftentimes what is the challenge. Challenge for teachers, challenge for sport, coaches, all that, definitely. So I think it's not, I wouldn't go in and just be Pollyanna ish about it and say, it's not going to happen. But I have been [00:20:00] very lucky in the fact that I've gotten a lot of support from the parents, and I think that, that happens when you've got a strong coaching culture that is focused on their children having a good time, getting better, having, making sure that they have success.

But you do have to be ready, and I think that's something that coaches have to be ready to do, is to have direct conversations with folks on what flies and what won't fly. How you're gonna talk to the players on your team. There's certain moments that I do remember in a baseball one of our games and some of the parents were starting to chirp a little bit at the umpire.

And I asked one of my assistants, Hey, can you go, Hey, talk to them and let them know, like, roll that back. Like, we're not, that's not cool. It's 14 years old that they're giving a hard time. And my assistant froze up. Like it just. And I was like, okay, fair enough. Like, I took up the level of the head coach.

If you're not comfortable, that's fine. I got no problem going [00:21:00] over there. And they just had to, like, make a statement. You know, wait, let them kind of respond. And then, boom, they shut it down. Right? And then just make sure, like, move forward. It's not going to happen. Same thing with the kids. Like, I think about this a lot.

One of the perks that or one of the things that I think is really important for us to coach for the kids, as well, is how they act Or, okay, how coaches act during practice and how coaches act during the game. And same thing for a player. A player, you can come in with certain attitude. You need to come in with an attitude of practice and game that's slightly different and nuanced.

And when it comes to the game, what I talk about is, it's all about encouragement. We're all in the heat of battle. You're in the heat of battle. There's a lot of things that are going on and there's a range of emotions that are a little going to be heightened than they are in practice. And all good, but we have to be there and encourage, with encouragement first, right?

And so what that shows up for in like a baseball idea is I've had to talk to some of my [00:22:00] kids, pull them aside, and I think that's something new to now is one on one conversation when you're going to give feedback. is critical. Feedback given across the whole team, sometimes, but like, I do that just a little bit, but most of the time it's going to be a one on one conversation and we talk about that.

One way I couch it with some of the players, I think it's just a tactic. A lot of these kids are invested, they're motivated, they're like, it could be some of your best. And I always say, hey, You're great. You could be a future coach. You're so good at this. And I see you as one of my coaches in the dugout.

What I need you to recognize is during the game, when you see that your friend swung at a high pitch, I'm like, have you swung at a high pitch? Yeah, yeah, coach, I have. When you swung, after you swung at the high pitch, did you realize, oh, I just swung at a high pitch? Yeah, yeah, coach. So does your teammate.

So when he's up, when your players, when your teammate's up to bat, swings at a high pitch, don't say, Lay off the high ones like they know, right? You need to [00:23:00] help direct them like we're talking about is the next pitch, right? You gotta be like, no worries, shake it off, get the next one, we got this.

And you have to help your coaches understand that too. As well as, and then that translates to parents, like, how we act in the game, how we're showing up has got to be in that way, because the game itself can pull us into those ugly situations that you kind of highlighted. Like, that's where you see it, you hear it the most, and you also have a great friend who's a coach who, in his practices, he'll have scrimmages going on.

And let someone get fouled, and he won't call it, and they're looking for the foul, and he's like, Are we gonna get called that in the game? Are we gonna get everything called? No. Good. Next. Yeah. Roll. Keep going.

Ross Romano: Yeah, and I want you to, to just describe more about your player centered approach to coaching, and, but I certainly that's I think an example of it is feedback, right?

It needs to be centered around the person receiving the feedback. So, what [00:24:00] is actually helpful and useful to this person right now. Maybe there's, maybe it's nothing. And we need to talk about it later. Maybe there's something right, but telling somebody something they already know that's just going to frustrate them.

You made a mistake. Well, yes, I know I made a mistake or something that they just can't do anything about right now. And all it's going to do is heighten that negative emotional response to I already feel bad that I made a mistake. And now I feel I have it on my mind. Versus, okay, is there Something we can do here, and what would that look like, and especially, yeah, in the moment of, in the middle of a game, when the intensity is already high, when there's already a lot going on what is useful, what's valuable and what's helpful and supportive but yeah, so player centered coaching, tell me more about how you approach that, how you think about that.

Matt Murawski: Yeah, I mean, I think this is one of the philosophies that like kind of came to me [00:25:00] delayed too, right? So you asked me kind of like why I got into it. It was because I could coach it as a softback coaching. I also, And this happened with me. There was tragically one of the players that we had that I was fortunate to coach, had a tragic accident and died.

And it, I mean, heartbreaking. It was all right, like just devastating. You can't imagine, right, how that family had to kind of go through that and do that. And I have no attachment to that level of understanding, but it did give me a moment to reflect. So, God. I loved it when he would run up, coach Matt, what's going on?

And he would light up and see me and say, Hey coach. And we have these just had a good connection to bond. And so that also got me to really double down into coaching and realizing the impact that coaches have. and how much we kind of really can imprint for the kids on our teams.

And then also then kind of like catapult, then I also kind of [00:26:00] ran across this a book. That highlights player centric coaching, which is really kind of like where we see sports going now, where it's less about, when I came into the sports, it was like, hey, we're all, here's how to hit a baseball. This is the way that everyone should hit a baseball.

Go for it. Here, you want to know how to throw, here's the key tennis to throw. Now there are, of course, foundational elements to a game. But one thing that's different about foundational coaching, or for player centric, is that I look at rocks. Watch Ross just swing about. What are you're probably already nailing a couple of foundational things, right?

Let's see, maybe one of the, those foundational things you're not doing perfectly. Let's see if that's really an issue, right? Like some of it is just allowing Ross to use your natural ability and create some choice for you to like not break all the rules, but bend rules that make sense for you, right? And who you are as an athlete.

And we can cut and then so [00:27:00] that's kind of like a thing that I think is different so that so then batting exercises are a little bit different in that example. But it also shows up with pitching. Again, there's some key things that we're kind of looking for and there's clues on what we want to, where we would direct folks.

But letting the player just kind of develop that way is great. And then over time what I've learned is And when you go in with that philosophy with those kids, even with it all depends on their age, but first let them show up the way that they know they can see how successful they are. Build some trust with them.

And then once you've got that trust, then you can start saying, Hey, do you mind just trying this out? I know trying something new is always a little weird and I appreciate but we're at practice. Practice is all about preparation. I can talk about that, but like doing your best is really around preparation.

Like, let's just try this out and see what's same or different. Better, same, worse. And that's how you can get it. Like that's just one example of like where, how we were taught before. The other example I talked about in the dugout is like a lot of it was [00:28:00] like directing everything specifically at the group.

You still have to do that, but a lot of that, most of that now you continue to focus around phrase, recognition, calling out individuals for things that you recognized and saw in a group setting. But individually, it's like working through those feedback things. It's also understanding that you're developing not just a team, but you're really developing each individual.

And who they are as a player, but also as a person, and that's been a lot a different thing. I think also where when I was a kid in baseball, I did. It was just starting where it was like talking about visualization and things like that. But like, so much of that has proven to be effective as far as like, and I cover things with my kids, like on how to do some breathing techniques, doing some visualization, training, those types of things.

Ross Romano: I guess part of being player centered but also, I mean, it's about right, the way you communicate and the perspective taking and putting it [00:29:00] in a way that is relevant to the person you're talking to. And sometimes, one, accommodating and adapting to who they are and what they're interested in and what their strengths are.

And also when you see other opportunities, helping them to understand that, right. Cause you might see, I mean, I had a coach once who I think never forgave me for not being a pitcher. I'm six, five and I in high school, I probably entered high school around six, three and grew to six, five, so and at the time.

And I had never really been a pitcher. I was more of a power hitter first base type and and at the time, I don't think I totally understood that the, I guess, advantages of height to pitching. I mean, I had always been a fan of the game, but I I just think it wasn't something, and, but it was never really explained or there was never any saying, well, how about if we try to really [00:30:00] approach it because it could, now, I don't think that was ever going to be my path anyway, but it was the kind of thing where it was like A new coach came in, said, do you pitch?

I said, no, I really don't. And then there were maybe some half hearted attempts at it, but it was just I think after that X was put through that, there was not really ever an interest in the player that I was. And it's like, well, these are the things that I can do and do well. And also to your example about the hit I had a very different,

style of hitting than the hit down on the ball like the middle infielder style, that wasn't how I played it as those kinds of things to say. And that happens at that was not a youth level. That was a little higher level, but the same kind of things of saying one, certainly if you have expertise in the sport, you may recognize an opportunity that the player doesn't.

But you have to make them see that opportunity and be interested in it and see, like and there is a way to do that, to, to see it through [00:31:00] their eyes and why this might be something they could be really good at. But also, what are their strengths or what is, what does work for them? If there's something that's clearly not working, then address it. But if it's working you know, there's plenty of unconventional I mean, there's plenty of unconventional approaches out there, but there's also just total variants where if you watch a game Whatever the sport is, you're going to see different players performing the same action who have very different ways of going about it.

Matt Murawski: Yeah. For kids, you have to abandon that because they could always, if they are watching sports, they'll find the example of like, well, they're doing it. I can do that. And they're right. Like they need to also, and kids do this better now than when we were, they always should ask why the coach is asking you to do something.

Should always be able to ask why, and they should come up with, we should have a, be armed with a question, the response that's suitable, and then to lean into the individualized piece, to give a [00:32:00] shared tactic that I ran across. This was done by like a teacher to their students. But like, it can be adapted for coaches where it says, and I do this in a, I do an intake form with all my players in advance just to kind of get to know them.

And I'm getting to know them with like, how do they feel about their skills? What are the positions that they like to play? What do they like to do? In fact, they trying to understand each of them on an individual level, and I give them the form, kind of do on their own, come back to me and we'll talk to 'em about it.

And fun. And it's fun too, like I. One of my big things, I talk about the mental preparation piece I ask, what's your walk up song? So I want all the kids to share with me a walk up song, because a walk up song and way that you're coming to bat really does impact your impression, how well you do at bat.

But there so there's fun parts. There's talking about skill, practical, trying to figure out what they do for practice. But to this question, I say what's one thing I wish my coaches knew about me that would help them coach me better. And you [00:33:00] get ranging things, but every season I get two, two to three responses that I go, thank God I asked this question, right?

Like just ranging from things where I don't really volunteer, feel free to volunteer me to step up and do. You know, exercises or whatever it is, or I whatever they kind of, some of them were vulnerable enough to share those things. They even had one to make sure that they knew that their pronouns were them and they. Like, great.

Okay, like that, how would I, how I would have stumbled on that without this, both of those scenarios, or maybe just missed altogether would have been a miss for making and connecting with that player.

Ross Romano: That's a great strategy. Yeah. Are there, any other little tips, tricks, strategies you use to kind of put your coaching philosophy into action and connect with your athletes?

Matt Murawski: A lot of it, as much as I can, I give control to the players. So, that's something that I think important for coaches is one, you should always, one [00:34:00] thing I think about when coaching and serving great coaches, I think you always coach at a higher level. You talk to them at a level or two above where they're at.

So if they're junior high, you should coach as if you're a high school coach, as an example. And you just talk to them as if they're high school players, because they can reach that level with you. You also should try to, skill development is one of those things you have to observe, and then put in the right drills to kind of move them along and make them uncomfortable.

But also putting them at the, in charge when it comes to baseball from a tactical standpoint, kids warm up themselves, don't have you warm up with another code throwing, you're not doing that with a coach, you're playing catch with your teammates, because in the game, you're going to be playing with your teammates, and so you're not, and it helps them understand the concept of playing catch versus throwing it wildly, because you can throw hard and have fun with an adult, so that's one thing.

In the game. The players are also in charge of what's going [00:35:00] on in the situation. They have to call out, where's the play? Who's got what? Shortstop at second base. We need to talk to people. If I make sure, my coaches freaked out for seasons long when I would be like, guys, turn the game. We're not telling the fielders what to do.

That's, we're not out there. And they're like, well, what if they throw to second, but there's no force? Like, great, right? Who, like, sorry, even when the game gets, starts getting on the line, like, that is one, like, non negotiable that I kind of, like, picked up that I felt, like, the game teaches us that the coaches then, again, we're here to guide them, right?

Give them guidance, encouragement, show them ways to kind of get prepared, but the game is the teacher.

Ross Romano: Yeah, and I, that's part of, like, kind of the mental side of the game, like, Having the appropriate focus and practice, being prepared for the game situations, being ready to think through those things, because at one point or another no matter how much guidance your [00:36:00] coach gives you, there's going to be a time when you have to make a decision or where you have to recognize the game situation and scenario and the more reps you have of that, the more likely you are to make the right decision or to learn from a mistake.

And I would imagine that'll that not only makes them better, at the sport and more knowledgeable and more aware. But also more engaged and interested in saying, okay, I'm really, this is what it's like to play this sport. It's you have to recognize those things and do it right. Are there any other elements of that mental side that you prioritize or that you feel are the most beneficial?

You know, the things that, that, Kids learn by playing the game that may relate directly to the game or may, may relate to other things they do in their lives.

Matt Murawski: I think a couple of things I land always with the players is like, we talk about the notion of doing your best, and I [00:37:00] put a finer point on that.

Say, well, doing your best is basically being in the best position, and to get in the best position To succeed takes preparation. So I make sure I know as a coach, Hey, I'm going to prepare overly prepared. You're going to, I have practice guides. I have all the things set up in the game, like everything I am.

I will do my part as far as a level of preparation of what I can do. I'll observe where the team needs to kind of focus to bring certain if it's fielding, okay, great. We'll make the next thing to really around fielding. If we need to be and I'll make sure that the practice is set up that we really.

reinforce those things, again, in a fun but learning way. So really talking to them about preparation is the key piece for them to be in the right position to then do their best. It's not really just doing your best, it's going back and thinking about how do we prepare for that. And then if I think about preparation, there's of course preparation [00:38:00] around how to hit a baseball, how to feel the baseball.

That's, those are the easy ones. Additional ones that I'll work through with them though is, I talk, alluded to the walk up song for batting. So with batting, I talk to them about, let's have that routine. You come in and I don't even, you don't even want to, I talk about in baseball, there's so much time for waiting.

That thinking creeps up and thinking is the destroyer of a build. Okay, you have the natural ability, your thinking will get in your way. So you want to build up habits and routines that will just kind of mitigate that. And it's not like we're not thinking, but I think you understand where I'm going.

It's like, so have a deliberate way that you come up with a deliberate way that you get ready. something that you also say to yourself when you're coming up to the event. So what do you talk yourself? Talk, I think, is something additional that I talk to kids about for preparation. And I talk to them about coming up with mantras before the play, when you've got two strikes on you, when you're in X situation, like, what are what are you saying?

And one [00:39:00] nugget that I read an outside article was talking to yourself in third person. So if you're, so that means instead of like, I've got this, it's like, you've got this. You know how to smash a ball. Next pitch that comes, your next pitch that you can smash, let's smash, right? You got this. But those would be things like, so additional preparation would be the mental, add some of that, some self talk.

I talked about the, I hinted on breathing, so showing them that they can use breath to also get themselves present. Those would be things that I kind of like work with them on as far as preparation.

Ross Romano: Excellent. So, Matt, as we're kind of wrapping up the conversation, I know you have some books that you enjoy that you recommend for coaches and parents.

Tell us about those.

Matt Murawski: Yeah, sure. Yeah. So I there's a lot, but if I was the one that I really would recommend every coach would be called Every Moment Matters and How to Build World's Best Coaches. It's by John O'Sullivan. He really leans into the player centric coaching. So that's a great, there's a manual for [00:40:00] coaches.

When I think about like, and then great coaches through time, of course, is a great way to learn. So, Coach K with Duke has a lot of books, but the one that I read and enjoyed was Beyond Basketball. Sticking with coaches, John Wooden, the UCLA coach, called A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections, On and Off the Court.

But the one going back to like being a great coach, not is Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Galloway. I mean, have you run across that one before? I have, so that's one that I listen to on before every season to remind myself the balance of ability and what we, and you know, the two sides of, Kind of where we're going, because that, I think, coaching that, making that awareness, and some players are mature enough that actually turn them on to books like that, or books like the one Sean McPhee wrote around basketball he wrote A Sense of Where You Are, it was profiled by Bill Bradley that's also fun.

I think [00:41:00] for directing kids to resources is. For the right kids, those big fans, having them see a great player like Freddie Freeman hitting off a batting tee, that's great. And then the last one I'll bore you with, but I, because I also point these to the adults, the parents, because I think these are great books for you to kind of have, but also the punies.

So if you have young kids and you have four year olds, right? But these. The Peonies is something that Kobe Bryant came out with. Are you familiar with that series? No, I don't think I've heard that. So, it's a series of like, you can't, they're like 10 minute podcasts, right? For firing up on the little drive between errands.

And then just like little sport centered stories that always teach a good, teach you, teach the things to the kids or say it, explain it to them of what we.

Ross Romano: Excellent. So Matt, it's been great to have you here and listeners. There's a lot there to think about. We'll, Capture this in the show notes so that you can look for some of these books if you're interested, some [00:42:00] of these other resources.

So check that out, or just take what is useful to you from this conversation, from these different perspectives, coach, parent, working with young athletes and just having them, I think, have a positive experience learning the lessons of sport and through sport. Please also, if you have not already, subscribe to Sideline Sessions.

We have more great conversations coming up this season about a variety of different sports from a lot of great guests, so lots of things to think about. And if you have been with us for a while and you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you'd leave us a review of those five star Apple reviews, or if you're on Spotify, or Another platform really helps us to reach new people, helps others like you learn about the show.

And so that's really valuable as well. You can also visit bpodcast. network to learn about 40 plus other shows across the education landscape. So if you're involved in education from any role, there's something there for [00:43:00] you. Matt, thanks again for being here.

Matt Murawski: Absolutely, Ross. Appreciate it.