First Things First

One of the highlights so far for my summer has been helping coach a 5th grade YMCA baseball team. Awhile back, a friend asked me to help coach the team and my initial reaction was a little reluctant, but I'm so glad that I said yes for the opportunity that it is and what I am learning through it.

Coaching YMCA baseball at the 5th grade level, it didn't take long to realize that the competitive nature from the players to the parents is pretty low. I just wasn't sure what to expect in a culture of parents living through their kids' sporting events. Even at the 5th grade level in some cases, sports has become so much about winning, rather than fun and recreation.

This as an incredible opportunity to not only teach kids the fundamentals of baseball, but also to be a positive influence in their lives by seeking out teachable moments throughout the practices and games that apply to so much more than just the game of baseball.

And so far, the most important things I have learned is to keep the first things first.

This is something I hear often when reading/learning about organization or leadership. But, this became so apparent during warmups of one of our first games, as the following unfolded:

I told the first baseman to take a baseball with him into the field so he could throw ground balls to the other infielders while our pitcher was warming up - a very normal routine during any baseball game. He threw the first grounder to the second baseman, who proceeded to throw a grounder back to him, rather than throwing it back to him. So, I quickly instructed all the infielders, telling them that the first baseman will throw each of them ground balls, and they are to field them and throw the ball back to the first baseman. His next ground ball was thrown to the third baseman, who came up with the ball looking slightly confused, and proceeded to throw it to the shortstop.

All I could do was shake my head and laugh. And I couldn't stop thinking of the important lesson that hit me square in the face, and that I had really been learning through the first couple weeks of our season. I just finally realized it.

Keep the first things first. And I am realizing how this applies to so much more than teaching kids how to play baseball. It certainly applies to teaching kids how to play baseball, but it also applies to teaching my two year old son at home, and ministering to college students, and in whatever other roles we are playing.

I so often "assume". I assumed these kids knew the very basic fundamentals and culture of baseball. And I often assume that Christian students I interact with on campus understand things like the Gospel and who the Holy Spirit is. But these really aren't safe assumptions at all.

Coaching YMCA baseball is beginning to teach me valuable lessons that I think will have lasting implications.