Baseball's Inside Journey #2

This is a podcast episode featuring Coach Drew, Eric Powers, and special guest Craig Bishop. They discuss the mental side of youth baseball and the importance of developing baseball IQ. They talk about how they introduced baseball IQ during COVID through Zoom calls and teaching mental skills. They also discuss the mindset and self-talk that hitters should have before approaching the plate. They emphasize the importance of paying attention to the pitcher and getting their foot down on time. They also talk about coaching from the third baseline and the importance of having a plan and being aggressive at the plate. They mention Craig Bishop's impressive coaching career and his involvement with EL1 Sports and the Mariners Training Centers. They also discuss their partnership with Baseball Beyond Borders, a nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for underserved communities to play baseball and softball. They briefly mention the Merchants Program, a youth baseball program that fo Welcome to Baseball's Inside Journey, the podcast that helps players and parents grow their baseball knowledge. This is the show that specializes in youth baseball. And now, here's Coach Drew and Eric Powers. We are back, ladies and gentlemen, Baseball's Inside Journey. Coach Drew, you ready for this? I'm ready, man. Let's have some fun with this. I'll tell you, we got a great guest coming up that you locked in that I consider an institution and a legend in the baseball community. Is that fair? Yeah. Around here, he sure is. Absolutely, man. Well, I would kind of blind tease you there a little bit. But first, we really wanted to get into the mental side of youth baseball right now. And a lot of parents are, you know, whether they're driving home trying to coach their kid, which scares me as a parent, or they're trying to figure out what to say, what not to say. How did you introduce baseball IQ in your baseball program during COVID, you said, off the mic? Yeah. And I think for even my son, it really helped out. Titan, it helped a lot. Just his thinking. A lot of it, I think, really, for him, popped and came alive at his at-bats. Because I feel like, you know, he's got the quick hands and he can hit. But the mental approach, I don't feel like he really has to talk about baseball IQ. Yeah. You know, the baseball IQ, like you said, came up, the idea for it came up during COVID. Because kids needed to, I wanted to keep my team going, keep them thinking. We actually started doing Zoom calls with batting practice, and I'd have them scheduled and for each kid. And it, you know, we're just trying my best to give the kids what they needed. And then from there, it kind of morphed into, also, I thought, you know, I need to, I could teach them mental skills. We don't have to get together for this. We can do it over Zoom. And so we started having, we had an agenda. We went over kind of what your mindset should be when you're hitting in certain situations or you're pitching or defensively, where you should be covering. And you know, these are the things that the kids need to learn. And sometimes it doesn't come as quickly as I think we would all like it to, because we could see it on the field. We're like, oh, get over there, get over there, do that, do that. And it doesn't necessarily come naturally to the kids. They have to go through it enough times before they start really understanding what that looks like. So talk about just maybe the highlights for us parents right now. Like when the hitter gets up and they're approaching, even maybe before they're approaching, you know, the plate, where should their mindset, what should their self-talk be? I know this is kind of the drive-through version, but what's your advice to some of these players that don't have access or aren't thinking to get this? Well, number one, they need to be looking at the pitcher and focusing on what the pitcher's doing. They need to be looking at the pitcher and if they're on deck or even in the hole while he's warming up, they should be working on their timing, trying to get their foot down on time. Make sure that when they go up there, they have an idea of how they're going to get their foot down and make sure that they're ready to hit. So many times you'll see when a pitcher's warming up, you look at the dugout and the kids are playing, you know, patty cake in the dugout and not paying attention, talk about whatever they're talking about. And it's very frustrating. Well, as parents and as a coach, it certainly is frustrating. So ideally, they're going to be working on that. In a perfect scenario, they're going to be working on watching the pitcher, watching his arm angle, watching and getting your foot down on time to make sure you're ready to hit when that pitch is coming across the hitting zone. So certainly when you're on deck, you're doing that. But you know, it depends on the situation, too. There's not just one fit for what he should be thinking about, because it depends on what time of the game it is, where he's hitting in the order, what's that situation. I mean, if he's the leading off the bottom of the sixth inning, and it's a, you know, sixth inning game, and he's leading off the bottom of the sixth, and he would represent the winning run, his job is to get on base. And he needs to understand that, and not just, I'm going to hit a winning walk-off home run. Well, is that realistic for you? Should you really be trying to do that? Or what, maybe you could just, maybe you should get on base and steal a bag and let the guy move you over, and all of a sudden, now we're in a situation where we can drive you in with a sack fly. So there's a lot of different things, the situations that come up, and you just have to talk to these kids about it. And there's no way you can cover every single little situation, but at least if you can get them thinking and paying attention to the game and to what's going on and what their role might be on that team, it really is very helpful to them. So when you're coaching from third baseline, and you've got one of your players up there ready to hit, do you, you know, I hear you always constantly say, hey, it's coming, be ready. Now, we all know, who knows what he's going to pitch, but it's always like, you know, you've got that mindset, hey, you know, player one, it's coming, be ready, I want to see you swinging. It seems like one frustration out of a lot of coaches, but especially, you know, I see it from you where these players just stand there and, you know, get caught looking, and they don't swing, and, you know, a lot of strikes roll by, and so how are you coaching them? And it feels like you're in the game with them, in a good way. You're not just sitting on a Home Depot bucket and hoping things go well. You are in the game with them, seriously. Yeah. No, you're right. I mean, that's my style. Everybody has a different style, but my style is to try to be in there with them to make them feel like I'm in that at bat with them, because a lot of times you'll see, especially at younger ages, before the kids really know who they are as a baseball player, they're going up there without a plan, and they're going up there just waiting to see what's going to happen as opposed to dictating what's going to happen, right? You need to go up there with a plan. You need to go up there looking for a pitch to hit and execute your plan, okay? And that's why I do that in particular to our kids, because I tell them, okay, here it comes. It's a 2-0 count. This guy doesn't want to get behind any further in the count, so he's coming to you with a fastball right now. Now, that might not be the case in high school or in college or professionally, right? But at the 13-U level, you could bet a lot of money on the fact that at a 2-0 count, this kid's coming in with a fastball, okay, because you're probably going to get yourself out anyway, right? So he's coming with a fastball. So I want these kids to understand that here it comes. Be ready for it, because so many times, the first thought in their head is, is it going to hit me, right? And hopefully at 13-U, it's not happening, but I can tell. You can tell. If you know what you're looking at, you can tell a kid that still hasn't really committed to hammering this pitch that's coming, right? You can see it because they're not getting their foot down. They're not being aggressive on that next pitch. See, that's what we don't see as parents. We just see they're not swinging. But you see everything from such a different vantage point. Sure, you see it. I mean, I know what to look for, and obviously, coaches that know hitting are going to know what to look for. But you can't hit and have the right timing if you're not getting your foot down. That's when somebody says, you're late. If you hear me yell at your son, you're late, that doesn't mean he's late with his swing. It means he's late with getting his foot down, okay? You can't hit without having a strong front side. Yeah. Okay, that's the whole point. If he's not getting his foot down, he's going to be late, and he's at best going to hit a rocket to down the right field line foul, right? Yeah, big time. So, yeah, that's the whole idea of talking them through it is to make sure that they are thinking the right thoughts. And again, that goes back to the baseball IQ part where I'm trying to teach them how to think, what to think about, and hopefully, at some point, they're just going to kind of know moving forward. These are those critical years, though, as they start to enter high school. They are. They are. So coming up next, you locked him down, one of our favorite guys in baseball and super knowledgeable. Man, I learn so much from this guy every time I see him. You get the honor, man. You can tee it up here. Yeah, you know, I have to say the same thing. I've played baseball my whole life. I've been around it my whole life. And oftentimes, what you see with guys like me that have been around it and still play is that they're very arrogant about the fact that they know baseball and nobody can tell them anything they don't know. Well, let me tell you something. This guy knows more baseball than I do or most anybody that I know. He's been coaching for over 30 years. He's a very well-respected coach. He's coached at the college level, the high school level, the little league level. He's coached guys that have played in major leagues, I think some that are sort of currently in the major league. And he's just got an impressive resume and has an awesome message to the kids. Yeah, right on, man. Craig Bishop coming up next on Baseball's Inside Journey. There's lots of sunken concrete out there, and most of it doesn't need to be replaced. I'm Bill Freeburg. My son Dave and I own 1866 Slab Jack. We raise sunken concrete. If you have a settled sidewalk or uneven driveway, don't worry about the high cost of replacement. We can simply raise your concrete back to where it should be, leaving you a clean, level surface. Our process is quick and easy and a fraction of the cost of replacement. Give us a call. 1-866-SLAB-JACK, SLAB-JACK. Welcome back to Baseball's Inside Journey with Coach Drew and Eric Powers. Hey, what's up? Eric Powers, Coach Drew. We are back for, of course, Baseball's Inside Journey. And we've got a very special guest on who has not only really helped us in the community with baseball, but really made a huge impact on our kids. And we can't say enough great things about the one and only Craig Bishop in the building here, or on the phone, I should say. That's right. Thank you guys for having me. Really excited, man. At first, I'm learning so much about you. We are learning so much about you just by seeing kind of your history and what you've done for 32 years coaching 13 to 18 U Seattle area summer select teams. You coached at the college level, Wenatchee Valley College, from 94 to 96. 12 seasons as the head coach at Inglemore High School, 98-2004 and 2018 to 2022. And two times King Cove coach of the year, 99-2018. And I didn't see you put it down here, but Kenmore Cardinals, you created them. I mean, what? That's what I understand. Yeah, my wife and I are certainly proud of that. It's something that we started, the local youth, I guess, team that was affiliated with the Little League. My wife was the president of Northlake Little League for a few years, and so that was something that we wanted to do to add to the experience for the kids. So certainly proud of the Kenmore Cardinals. Absolutely. And I think some people don't know that, and it's just cool to get that out there. Also, 2011 to present, general manager of Merchants Baseball Club, currently 13 baseball teams and three softball teams. How do you manage all that quickly? I don't sleep much. Good. But no, it's a labor of love, very similar to what you hear Coach Drew talk about. It's a passion, and I'm lucky to be able to make my living in the sport. But it does take a lot of management, and I'm lucky to have a lot of great coaches and support people that help me manage it all. And you know what? You've also, a handful of players, you obviously, Coach, have played in the big leagues. Every kid's aspiration and dream when they get to certain levels. And that's got to be just incredible. That's got to be an incredible feeling. But it also seems like when you make an impact on a player at any level, and you see that change and how much it really involves into their life and makes impact, that's got to be important too. Yeah, you know, it's extremely satisfying. I've kind of found, I was fortunate enough to coach a lot of great players early in my career at the college level, and then at a summer select level where many kids went on to play professionally and in major college baseball. The older I get, the more that I'm really enjoying the work that I'm doing with the younger kids and the community work, and those activations are just extremely satisfying. So it's really come full circle for me. Yeah, I mean, it's incredible. Just looking down this list is amazing. Not only a lead instructor for EL1, general manager for EL1 Woodinville, but let's get into this, 2022 present district manager, Mariners Training Centers and that partnership. Yeah, you know, Craig, that's something I wanted to ask you about. So obviously you've been with EL1, you've had your merchants program, and I was very flattered to have you ask me to start up or help start up your 12U program last year. And so with all that, now I know that you have been promoted to district manager of the Mariners Training Centers. Could you talk a little bit about that relationship with the Mariners? Yeah, sure. So EL1 Sports is a nationwide company that's in the youth sports industry. We have football, softball, and baseball. But in the Northwest, we have been very fortunate to partner with the Mariners. And so now we've opened up Mariners Training Centers. We've got five facilities, Puyallup, Tacoma, Seattle, Redmond, and Woodinville. My role has evolved into supporting those facilities. And in our core programming, which is providing facility space, back-end admin, and training services for a lot of the local select programs. But the one thing that's exciting about our partnership with the Mariners is that now that enables us to have community activations and work more with some underserved communities and provide kind of a level playing field in terms of access. So an equitable access idea, we had our first pop-up play ball day at Rainier District Little League last weekend. We have one coming up this coming weekend with Seattle Central Little League. And so those partnerships are something that are very important to the Mariners and therefore very important to us as we represent their brands. That's huge, man. So talk a little bit about, you've got so many things on your plate coming up this season. And you talked a little bit about kind of the merchants, well EL1 rather, training facility down by T-Mobile Park. Now is that facility, when's that all going to be live, open, and available? Well, I know that the goal is to have that facility open this summer sometime. The All-Star Game is certainly a target, but as we all know, it's a lot of logistics. I actually have a meeting this afternoon with the Mariners to talk more about that in terms of their vision. My belief is the intent is to have a training facility, but also a fan game day experience facility. So that's exciting for us. This summer is when it's scheduled to open, and we will help them manage that. But it's just another facility in the Northwest where people can come and enjoy baseball and softball in this game that we love. You know, Craig, one of the things I find really interesting in such a small world of the baseball community is that I noticed that you are partnering also with Baseball Beyond Borders, which actually turns out to be the charity, the baseball nonprofit that we're supporting here with Baseball's Inside Journey. So very small world on that. I was hoping maybe you could talk a little bit about what that relationship looks like as well. Yeah, absolutely. So Hookie Gates, who's the founder of Baseball Beyond Borders, is a gentleman that I've known for many, many years, back even when he was a player. He was an amazing player and ended up going to Washington State University. And Hookie is an activist. He's a man whose goal is that equitable opportunities for young men and women to play baseball and softball in perhaps more underserved communities. And so we're meeting with him, and it's wonderful to reconnect with him with that goal in mind. Baseball Beyond Borders is basically a version of what we would consider a travel team. So they have teams at many different levels that he works hard to provide support, not only mentorship, but also financial support for these kids to come and play and have that same experience that perhaps kind of our more run-of-the-mill travel programs have. So he's working hard to do that. We're looking to expand with him and partner with him so that Baseball Beyond Borders teams are a core customer for us with the Mariners' support. And again, Baseball Beyond Borders, are they affiliated with the RBI program through Major League Baseball? Yeah, my understanding is that they are the RBI version here in Seattle. I see. So they're the RBI connection for the Mariners. And for people that don't know quickly, because I want the families and friends and parents to understand the Merchants Program, and you both can talk about this. But since that is your primary right now, or one of your primaries, obviously EL1, but talk about the Merchants Program so people understand that. Sure. So the Merchants Program was founded, oh, I want to say 2008. I could be off. But basically, as a group of parents, which a lot of these programs start as, wanted to provide more opportunities for their kids to play baseball. So as that evolved, I ended up switching programs in 2010, was asked to be involved in the Merchants, and has gone from a handful of teams to now what we currently are at, which is 13 teams. We have teams from 8U to 18U. And I really learned to enjoy the youth levels, and it's a lot of fun. It's great to see that development. And we try and do a great job of tempering it with real expectation and an understanding of that development aspect. Development and winning are not mutually exclusive. And so winning is fun, and so we want to promote that desire as well. But the development for those younger ages is something that's at the forefront of what we're doing, and then the other programs as well. I was actually hoping, I mean, I know it, but I was hoping you could kind of describe the differences of different programs out there. There's tournament teams, right? There's select ball, travel ball, club teams. Can you kind of break all that down a little bit? So basically what you have are these travel teams or select teams, and the reality for that is there's many different opportunities for families. You have the youth teams in our area tend to be driven by their Little Leagues, and they tend to be – they have youth programs that play Little Leagues. And that's one thing I really – it's important for Merchants, and it's important for many, many programs in the area that are consistently making sure that these programs play Little League. I believe in Little League. My family believes in Little League and feel like that's just a wonderful community environment. And so our select programs supplement that, and that's what I founded the Cardinals on. And then as kids get into 13U baseball, then it transitions a little bit more into that classic select travel mindset where you're playing anywhere between 40 and 50 games a year. And then as they get to high school, then they're playing that same 50 games, but in a much shorter window, so it's much more of that college prep, playing the game on a consistent, everyday basis. Because baseball and softball are truly meant to be played every day. Not always easy when your children are 8, 9, 10, so that's not the goal then. But as they get older, it's certainly something that's important as they move on. It's difficult to be successful if you're not playing in a consistent level. Yeah, and I'm glad you said that about Little League because I am totally in the same boat as you. I'm totally supportive of Little League. And also one thing that should be noted too is that you were a Northlake Little League coach from 2005 to just most recently 2021, as well as a board member from 2005 to 2013. And so it just shows how you have supported the Little League and youth baseball in this area. And with that, I think there's a lot of, and we're hoping that a lot of the listeners today are going to gain something from this in the sense that we're trying to find out what should be the number one thing they should be thinking about when considering a program to go play for once they leave Little League. What kind of questions should they ask? What should they be looking for out of a program or a coach or what have you? Right, yeah, so I guess before I get into that, one thing I am really proud of is the fact that I've been fortunate enough to coach at every level from college to T-ball. And so I have a lot of experience in all of those levels. And so as people start to look for summer programs, they just need to start to ask questions like, what are the roster sizes? Obviously, what are the costs associated with that? What do those costs cover? What does your indoor facility space look like? How often are you getting together? Obviously, who are the coaches? How many games, right? So I'm constantly amazed that we receive programs where they play 30 games. So for a 16-year player to play 30 games, that's not enough. Our goal is 50 games on the course of a summer plus a high school season, which is 20. So 70 to 75 games is an appropriate amount for a high school player, in my opinion. So the number of games associated with that cost. What are their home fields? Are there, if any, playing time rules? Those are the types of things that I would encourage families to ask as we're building our merchants programs. And there's a lot of programs that do a great job of it. And some programs have different ways of doing things, which is great. It's just all about choice and knowing what you're getting into. Adding on to that, Craig, I loved it when you spoke to the parents at the merchants tryouts and you said it's a two-way street. And you got into the conversation of, it's got to work for us, but it's also got to work for you. And I think as parents, sometimes we're just so excited for our child to be on a team they want to be on and we're salivating and excited. And we sometimes don't look at it as a two-way street. And that made me think differently. Can you talk about your mindset with that? Sure, absolutely. I mean, Select Baseball is about my program selecting players, but those players also selecting our program based on what our values are and how we go about our business. And in doing so, when we make that public, it allows us to be accountable. Because the one thing that my biggest promise for merchants families is that you have access to me. You may not always like the answer, but you do have access and you will get an answer. We have very specific policies that either it will be as we say or we'll work to fix it. And I think that's one reason why we've had great success in the past. And certainly the program's not for everybody just like other programs aren't for everybody. But our goal at the end of the day is that you know what to expect so that you can make educated choices as to your child's future. Yeah. You know, Craig, I've heard people, especially during my years coaching in Little League, that are concerned about how travel ball, select ball is affecting Little League in that way. And that some people, you know, you'll see it every once in a while and you'll see some really talented players who decide that they're, you know, they're too good for Little League. They don't want to do that. They're going to focus totally on playing select ball. And, you know, it's everybody's choice obviously. But how do you feel that that plays out? Would you agree that there are times when maybe a player should just focus on select ball or do you think there's something more to that Little League experience perhaps that would benefit them? I think that people can have their cake and eat it too. I think that people can have the benefit of both worlds. So, for example, our Little League, excuse me, our select programs, they play outside of the Little League schedule. And so the Little League, they get those experiences. Because when the day's over, Little League is about community. It's about kids playing with their friends. And if they're playing with their friends, they're having fun. Regardless of win or lose, they're having a great time. And so if they're having a great time, what are they going to do? They're going to want to play more. They're going to want to stay in the game. They're going to want to keep it up. And so, for me, the community sense of Little League is a founding concept and something that I just would never recommend somebody avoid. Because I do believe that you can find that competitiveness in a select program while still playing in the Little League level. Good. I like that. When do you think your child should focus just on baseball? Or should they always be multi-sports? Or is there a cutoff when they're in high school? You know, that's a really good question, Eric. I think that it's so fluid. I think a lot of it has to do with, you know, I tell kids to play a sport until someone tells them they're not good enough anymore. You know, so sometimes that means that a kid plays basketball or football all the way through high school and while they play baseball. There are a level of kids that need to spend the extra time and energy to focus on baseball for two main reasons. Number one, they love it. And number two, it's necessary for them to continue to stay with their peers who perhaps might have a better skill set. It's along a spectrum. The range between talent and strength and experience. So ultimately, there's no right or wrong answer to that. If a kid is capable of playing varsity basketball, I'm all for it. Because learning to compete in different environments is a huge benefit regardless of whether he's... I want a kid that is coming to my baseball team that has just finished up playing highly competitive with 300 people in the stands screaming at them and they're comfortable in that environment. So I want as much of that competition as possible. So you're supportive of kids playing multiple sports even when they are also committed to the merchants. Yes, absolutely. My focus is when it's baseball season, we're asking parents to have that be their priority. When it's football season, I'm asking the kids to give their coaches and teammates the honor they deserve of having that be their priority. So we'll work with kids to try and find ways for them to stay up to date with our curriculum over the course of the winter workouts. We can do that in open facility time and other avenues. But when the day's over, I guess I just want kids to really be committed to what they're doing in that moment to honor their coaches and their teammates. Because if it was June 15th, I'm expecting this player to show up to baseball. If it's October 10th and the kid's playing football, I'm expecting him to honor that commitment and be all in on that football season. And burnout, of course, in any sport is something that you hear about a little bit. And I have heard of it. I haven't. My son's only 13 right now, so it hasn't affected him, or hopefully it never will. But what do you think is the number one reason that kids burn out in baseball? And when would that be, even when you see that? You know, I feel like I might actually have a better feel for it in softball. With two daughters that both have played softball, one currently on a 14U team, the softball animal is very much like the youth select animal, which is two days over the course of a weekend, six to eight hours a day. And it gets to be a grind. There's no question. And so, you know, we try and do things like build in weekends off. We try and make sure that not every single weekend for every single family is 18 hours at the ballpark, because that's what it can turn into. And so in that environment, I find that those kids tend to burn out more when they're experiencing that pre-puberty or even in that intermediate level, 13, 14. Now, when we get to the varsity level, yeah, we're looking to play every day. Kids that don't love the game aren't playing anymore, which is fine. But what we're trying to create is an environment at the varsity level or 16 to 18 level is, yes, this is what it feels like in college. This is what it feels like on an everyday basis. But at the younger levels, those kids aren't really mentally mature and tough enough to really be in that environment. And frankly, as a parent, it's not very easy either. So how do you manage the baseball talk at your house? Your wife's a coach. You're obviously a lead. Your kids all play baseball. Is there a Bishop turn-off the baseball talk at your house? Gosh, you know what, Eric? There's not. It's our culture. You know, I'm very proud. My son plays Division I baseball on the East Coast, and my daughter Charlie, who's graduated from WASDU this year, is coaching our 14-soccer team with my wife. It's something that we love. We watch Major League Baseball on TV, or we watch a lot of college softball on TV, which is a wonderful sport. And we just talk pitch sequencing. We talk at-bats. We talk about defensive positioning. It's just something that we all have a passion for. It's not something that's 24-7 in the house, but it's certainly fair game to talk about 24-7. No doubt. Now your son, obviously, congrats playing D1. Do you leave it to all his coaches now? Do you give him any thoughts, any advice when he has his at-bats? He's playing offense, defense. Do you ever feel like, I've got to say something? Or do you just let the coaches do what they need to do and you say what us typical parents say? Hey man, fun to watch you play. Yeah, it's been an evolutionary to get to that point, because I was lucky enough to coach Teddy, my son, growing up all the way through high school. But now that he's in college, he's a young man, and I'm trying to let him do his own thing. He and I talk about his swing, and we talk about him and how he plays, because it's just a nice way for us to connect. But certainly, I don't have any conversations with his college coaches, because that wouldn't be to his benefit. And ultimately, my goal is very simple, that he achieves his goals, and so I have to make sure I make choices that are consistent with his goals. You know, Craig, that actually is what you just said, that would not be to his benefit. That's actually a subject that we spoke about briefly in our first podcast, which was kind of that relationship between the coach and the parents, and the kids, and when to talk about concerns, and who should be talking about those concerns about playing time, or whatever those things might be, and when does that transition happen to where the player needs to be the only person advocating for themselves. So that's, I think it's great that you brought that up, because it's certainly something that I think we all know some parents have different ideas on, right? Yeah, I mean, I've had a lot of experience on both ends of it. My son has been a role player all through college at every level, and so there's been lots of time on the bench, and lots of time for him to prove what kind of a teammate he is, which I'm very proud of. But it's also very difficult as parents, so I certainly have a tremendous understanding of the desire to ask those questions, and want to get information, because sometimes teenagers don't exactly communicate effectively with their parents, and so a lot of times kids and parents say, hey, well how can this happen? Well, I don't know. So my goal is that kids are given the information that they need to communicate with their parents, and if not, then we can get parents involved, but going back to that original conversation that I know you had on the first podcast, yeah, I would say I agree completely with you, Coach, that 13U is that time where we really try and ask kids to advocate for themselves. At the 12U and under, we're asking them to learn to advocate, but at the 13U and up, we're requiring it as a first step, even if that first step is difficult, but one that we do require for 13 and above, full well knowing that all parents want is the best for their kids, and so it would be odd if they didn't want to ask questions, but if we can have coaches and parents come into it with, I guess, that desire to help their kids, we can find solutions, but if either or both parties come in in a frustrated mindset, then it tends to be so counterproductive. Now, Andrew's goal with this podcast that he came up with was to educate parents and to help parents, and so along those lines and kind of the conversation you're having, what advice should parents hear about having those post-game conversations with their kids in the heat of the moment, where they know what the kid did wrong, they believe they should be trying to uplift them, help them feel better, but nine times out of ten, we say the wrong thing at the wrong time. What advice do you give for us parents? Yeah, you know, there's a couple different ways to go about it. I've tried with my own children, I've tried the original you know, hey, we're going to just be really, you know, positive and supportive in the car ride home, and then when we get home perhaps we can talk about it so we get a chance to decompress. I found for my children anyway, that I needed to kind of because I was their coach, you know, so I needed to look at it from a different point of view. We tried that with Teddy one day on a three strikeout day, and neither of us slept that night. We just, because we got home and we were, you know, it just really, really kind of killed the drill in our communication about it. So we made the rule that I would still coach until we pulled into the driveway, and then once we got out of the car I was dad. You know, that doesn't necessarily work for everybody, but it certainly worked for our family being, you know, now if I was a parent that was not the coach then I would probably, you know, rely on the, you know, the car ride home being a positive, hey, I enjoyed watching you play, it was fun, you know, it was great to see, you know, your friend do really well and, you know, the team's looking better, etc. And when we got home, hey, was there anything about the game that you'd like to talk more about, you know, and maybe let them initiate that conversation, you know. But it's not easy, it's certainly not easy, but for me as a coach, as their coach, I needed to have that conversation before we got home so that we could get back to family time. That's awesome. You know, Craig, one of the things, one of the missions of this podcast is, of course, to give, you know, young families and kids, players access to information and answer their questions and things like that. And so, I want to ask you, you know, what advice would you give to players and families who are maybe just starting out on their baseball or even softball journey. They're maybe playing in Little League, maybe they're 8, 9, 10 years old, kind of showing an aptitude to play. Maybe the parents don't know a lot about what to do and getting caught up sometimes in the emotions of the other teams that are coming in and all those types of things. What kind of, what would you advise them to do and what kind of advice would you give them? Yeah, you know, this may sound very, very simplistic, especially at the younger ages, but it relates to all the way to conversations that I've had with my 22-year-old son. If they're having fun, they'll keep coming back. So, basically, the concept is that give them as much as they can handle and still have fun. The minute that you start to see that it's not as fun for them, not on any given day, but as a body of work over the course of time, perhaps a half a season or a few weeks. Because on any given day, things are going to be tough. You know, that's just a part of the game and that's one reason why we love it. But ultimately, as they grow, you keep adding events. You keep adding, you know, perhaps more training, perhaps a team with a greater schedule. And if they continue to have fun, then you know that they're building at a rate that they're socially and emotionally able to handle. But if you take that jump to a select team and you add 30 games plus Little League, and they're like, I don't want to go to practice today, Dad. That's certainly a red flag because then, if they're not having fun, they're not coming back. And we all love this game so much. We want our kids to keep playing. Well, in order for them to keep playing, maybe we've got to back off for a second. Let them kind of do their own thing. And then they'll find their way back to it. And if they don't find their way back to it after a few years, then they're probably going to be done anyways and find other things that make them happy. Yeah, you know, that's been one of my biggest things. And I'm sure we can talk about this. I've got a whole other podcast probably on just some of these subjects. But that's been always my big thing with my son Grayson. And any kid that I'm coaching, I'm hoping that they have enough balance in their life that they don't dread going to practice or dread doing some of the baseball activities that we're asking them to do. Because what my biggest nightmare would be for Grayson to be 15, 16 years old and then all of a sudden decide he doesn't want to play anymore because it's been kind of a job for him. Right. And it happens. It happens, Drew. Yeah, I know. Got to make sure we stay away from that. Yeah, you know, Craig, I have to tell you, I mean, we really appreciate you on the podcast today. As you know, this has been something that we've been thinking about and working on for quite some time. And so it's a real honor to have you come on and talk to us a little bit. And maybe we can have you on again sometime. I'd love to have you back. Yeah, thank you guys so much. It's exciting and fun when you guys are putting together. And I'm excited to continue to get that word out and just be a resource for families. Because I think when the day is over, we just want more people to be in the community and more people to be involved in such a wonderful game because it really teaches our kids a lot about themselves. Absolutely. And I think us parents need to thank you so much, man, for everything you've done and the groundwork you've laid. And we've all been impacted one way or another through Little League or KC or Merchants or just, you know, your name. What's interesting, too, even Coach Drew, some of your coaches have played for Craig back in high school. So you've touched so many different lives. I'm sure you realize but it's so interesting to see how it's just permeated throughout all the decades, through all the years. Yeah, I'm very proud of that. I'm very proud of there's many coaches. There's probably three or four current high school head coaches that played for me and guys that coach in college, head coaches at the college level that have played for me. And so it's just fun to kind of see and follow and feel like I can continue to mentor them. And I learn from them, too. You know, I think that as coaches, the day we're done learning is the day we should be done coaching. 100%. Yeah, I agree with that. Thank you so much, man. We're going to have you back and what an honor to have you on, man. We really appreciate it. Thank you guys both. Thanks, Craig. We encourage your feedback and topic ideas at Facebook.com Facebook.com Facebook.com Facebook.com Facebook.com Facebook.com Facebook.com Facebook.com Facebook.com Facebook.com