Issues That Every Coach Must Face

As with any organized sport, there are always problems or issues that can arise. Deb has explained that the players are not the biggest trouble makers; usually it is the parents. My favorite quote from Deb is, “They say there’s a fence on Little League fields created to keep the parents out. Sometimes that really is the case.”

When handling parents, Deb tells them this is the time to be getting involved with their kids. The only time she confronts parents about what they say to their children is if they are interfering with or contradicting her coaching. Then she just handles it by reminding parents of what she tries to teach their children. The parents who get really out of hand she may "banish to the parking lot," but in most cases she does not have to be that extreme.

When the kids get out of hand she has many ways to deal with that. The little kids she just gets them to settle down and does not give in if they are yelling or fighting. "They all want to be pitcher or first base, the key is to give them the exact opposite of what they want." The older ones she has more control over. In some cases she may have them run laps, but she does not like doing that herself and "would not want to make anyone else do it.”

The other problem that Deb can not fix is that “the women who would make really good coaches still want to play.” But these players are lucky Deb is willing to donate her time and effort to teach them about her favorite sport: baseball.