Coaching Clinic with Sandburg Coaches

I was fortunate enough to attend a baseball clinic conducted by the Sandburg coaching staff earlier this evening. The Sandburg coaches did an outstanding job presenting the materials and were very patient in answering questions. They were more than willing to respond to all of my questions afterwards as well. I greatly appreciate that the Sandburg coaches volunteered to spend a couple of hours interacting with coaches from all of the OYA Warriors teams.

Despite having coached for a long time now, I almost always walk away from a baseball clinic having learned some new things. Even when familiar concepts are explained during a clinic, often times these concepts are communicated in a different way--using different terms--which can be very useful when trying to determine the best way of teaching the idea to a variety of players who have different learning styles.

I found it very interesting that much of the pitching fundamentals originate from Tom House--one of the premiere pitching coaches in the Major Leagues who worked closely with Nolan Ryan for a number of years. In the early 1990's, House conducted a similar clinic for the league that I was coaching in back then. And, most everything that I know about pitching originates from House's teachings.

After the clinic, I thought once again about the value of education. When one isn't educated, things tends to be viewed in black & white. That is, things can be usually be explained simply and easily. Baseball is particularly susceptible to this--as nearly every American man assumes that he is an expert in all aspects of the national past-time. Yet, those that make their living coaching the game have a greater appreciation for its complexity--and soon begin to specialize in just one aspect (pitching, hitting, etc.) as assuming much more than that becomes overwhelming!

The value of education isn't so much what we learn. It's real value is teaching us how much we don't yet understand--and still need to learn! And, that realization is what then prompts us to seek more knowledge--which leads to development.

"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know." -- Daniel Boorstin, Historian

"Education is the progressive discovery of our own ignorance." -- Will Durant, Author