Coach, You’re a Psychologist || Baseball Dudes LLC

Life experience, playing experience and coaching experience may be the only way to truly understand the importance of this. Too many young coaches will fail in this area simply because they don’t have the experience. Keep in mind too that playing and coaching are two very different skills.

Understanding the mental stability of a child, let alone a HS, college or young professional, is key to a coach making a positive impact on a player and a team.

Inexperienced & experienced coaches, please take this to heart. You can not verbally insult, embarrass, belittle, berate and take your frustrations out on the players and expect them to remain confident. Expect them to remain motivated. Expect them to trust you.

That stud player on your team is just as mentally soft as any other kid his age. They are just kids and if you want to get the best out of them, and this goes for any age, you MUST help them believe. You MUST help them develop confidence. You MUST show them respect. You MUST be a compassionate leader and you MUST have their trust in moments of failure. They need to be able to fail with confidence knowing that their leader will have their back and be there to help them.

To become the best coach you can be, you need to become the best psychologist you can be.

Chris Gissell (172 Posts)

Founder of Baseball Dudes. Blessed with three beautiful children and an amazing wife. Baseball is my life, after my family, and I love sharing what I have learned from it. Thanks for taking the time to view what we offer here at Baseball Dudes.

Perspective

I’ve been instructing for I don’t know how many years. At first it was just something I did during the off seasons but had no idea what it was leading to.

Fast forward to 2012, the Angels gave me an opportunity to lead their young draft picks, teach them the game and how to be a professional, my eyes were opened. Since then my appreciation and understanding of coaching has grown deep. The amount of time coaches put in, the level of patience required, the attention to detail necessary, the consistent body language needed to lead by example, the understanding of what’s really important and what’s not, the importance of being able to relate to all different personalities, athleticism and abilities, the fact that being a good coach means consistently growing ourselves and coming to the realization that the one thing that matters most in all of this is finding ways to use the game to help them prepare for all those years when they are not playing the game.

I need to say Thank You to all my past coaches and to all the current coaches who take pride in giving the kids in front of them what they need on top of baseball skills. It’s often a thankless role but remember that no matter where they go in the game, they are going somewhere in life. That’s our mission.

– Chris Gissell

“My purpose, MY WHY, is to provide for my family, while also doing everything I can to develop quality people through the many life lessons that Baseball provides daily.”

17 Years Professional Experience (14 as a player, 3 as a coach). MLB debut 8/22/2004 with the Colorado Rockies. Retired from professional coaching on 10/31/14 to focus on family and developing youth baseball players full time.

Coach, You’re a Psychologist

Perspective

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