It's been my second week of coaching, and for me the thought of being coach has long been in my mind but i never thought i'd coach in such young age. nevertheless, i enjoy my early days as a coach. I coach U15 boys team of my club. In Bandung, players usually start at the age of 12, that gave us a disadvantage to another part of the nation in which their players started earlier, sometimes as early as 5 years old! Starting early is crucial to athlete's development. if they learn to play at early age, they will build their mechanics earlier so in the latter age, the coaches doesn't need to teach them the basics and the fundamental.
One thing i learn from this past two weeks, is that no-one has the same capabilities to learn the same lesson. I have a kid that played for a year but couldn't catch a simple grounder, whilst on the other hand i have a kid who only played for two weeks but posses the ability to read a grounder's ballpath. that's when i realise, talent really works on this game and on this stage. the less talented individual have to work harder than those who are talented, and coach have to motivate the less talented kids to work harder.
I learned that everyone posses their own unique built and identity. As we are preparing for a tournament on mid-April, i only teach the new kids some basics and fundamentals to go with them, i haven't got the time i need to explore their respective character and identity to go with their fundamentals. But after the tournament, i'll start looking at their unique identity and start working on theirs. Many coaches built their athletes the way the coaches are built. They fail to realise that they don't posses the same identity as their athletes. This leads to over-training, and could cause the athlete's to lose their potential. every individual has their own potential, and it's the coaches job to find the potential lurking inside their athletes and exploit them.
My coaching philosophy is not to build a whole team. Instead, i'm gonna build the team based on the individuals. For me, baseball is an individual game wrapped in a team sport. If every individual give offers their own unique identity and ability to the team, i think the team itself will profit from the individuals. American baseball was built this way. They tend to train the individuals then blend them into their team, and now they're the best nation in world baseball. I'll try to apply the same method used by American baseball academies into my team so that no players had the same kind of abilities to be offered to the team. That way, they'll grow fulfilling their potential and the will enjoy the success they will have based on their own self.
I'm still learning. everyday is a new sheet of paper. the hardest part is to plant the baseball attitude to them, as they came from different backgrounds. I still have to learn to be patient and to trust the process. every session is an experiment, and the kids are the subject of mine. I just hope my experiment will go as i plan
Jalu Bimasakti.
