9781422285251

Like any other coach, Bill Pintard is a juggler. It’s game day, and his Santa Barbara Foresters college summer-ball baseball team will be taking on its archrival, the Conejo Oaks. First pitch is hours away, but Pintard is already hard at work. Before he gets home tonight, he’ll juggle a dozen different tasks, even though his job title is simply, “Coach.” As this book will show, coaching is about much more than just the time on the field. Coaches at every level need to be experts at the game they teach. They need to understand strategy, game and roster management, and the rules of the game. They have to be leaders, and able to organize and inspire people—often young people—to do their best and work together for the common goal of winning. Being a successful coach also means being successful at a wide range of skills. It’s not enough just to have a whistle, a clipboard, and a loud voice. Coaching today is a complex job with many moving parts. (Note: We’ll touch on scouting a bit later in this introduction.) Game Day Morning It’s a rough morning already. Pintard has a bit of a cold, his team lost last night, and there is a problem at home he’ll have to deal

9

I ntroduction