Keepers of the Sandlot: Coaching, Parenting and Playing for Keeps!
By Bill Severns
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About this ebook
Bill Severns wrote this book to encourage parents and coaches to enjoy their kids and protect their childhood. Your children are only children for a few years-they have plenty of time later in life to be adults; it’s up to us to guard their childhood, to make it fun, and to protect that feeling of playing in the sandlot.
We’re the Keepers of that feeling. We’re the Keepers of the Sandlot.
Bill Severns
Bill (Billy) Severns is a father, grandfather and coach—a guy who loves kids. His goal in writing this book was to encourage children and their parents to engage in a conversation about dreams, problems, choices and solutions. As a sophomore, he was cut from the baseball team on the first day of practice. Seven years later he finished a college baseball career at the University of Oklahoma as the Sooners career leader in games played, hits, extra base hits, total bases, triples, stolen bases and runs scored. He had to work hard, accept challenges and make choices to see his dream come true. He hopes you will do the same. Follow Billy’s speaking engagements, read his other books, and purchase his DVD documentary by visiting www.keepersofthesandlot.com. Bill and Suzanne live in Prairie Village Kansas and have been married for forty years. They have four wonderful children and eight grandchildren.
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Keepers of the Sandlot - Bill Severns
KEEPERSOFTHESANDLOT.COM
Coaching, Parenting and Playing for Keeps
By Bill Severns
Keepers of the Sandlot: Coaching, Parenting and Playing for Keeps
eBook ISBN 978-1-943027-07-1
Copyright © 2009 by Bill Severns
Published by Electric Moon Publishing, LLC.
www.emoonpublishing.com
All rights reserved. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without the express written consent of the author.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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FOREWORD
The single greatest influence in my life has been my dad. So many of the things that I do now as an adult have traces of him, and his mark on my life will always be on me. Growing up, I took for granted what a great father-figure God blessed me with, but as I grow older and look back on those moments and experiences that shaped who I am, I recognize and appreciate his influence along the way.
Baseball was and still is a big part of my relationship with my dad. As a young player in little league, his encouragement and positive attitude kept me interested in the game and helped me to deal with the ups and downs that young boys go through as they learn to deal with the failures and successes of athletics. Baseball provided an avenue for us to bond while I was growing up; it was something we could easily talk about during those awkward years when a teenage son can be about the most difficult species on earth to communicate with, and it is a love that we both share and appreciate today.
I’ll never forget the day before I left for college where I was going to play baseball. My school would be too far for him to see all of my games as he had my whole life up to that point. We went to my high school batting cage so he could throw me one last round of batting practice. I remember thinking how much I was going to miss this lefty who could throw such great strikes. And when we finished, we hugged each other and cried: it was my dad’s way of sending me off after eighteen years together.
This book is about baseball, but it is more than that. It is about giving young boys and men the tools they need to grow up and be men and fathers themselves. The coaches of our children should not take lightly the responsibility given to them. Coaching is the opportunity to be a leader, a caretaker, and often a parent to kids who need one. Children can walk around with so many burdens put on them by circumstances at home or peer pressures at school. A coach should provide an atmosphere of growth and development, not fear and intimidation. I think this book addresses what is most important when it comes to coaching young children and it is not protecting the win/loss record, but protecting the hearts and spirits of future coaches, parents, and leaders.
I’m so fortunate to have had such a great teacher in life and coach on the baseball field as I did in my dad. When my own son was born two years ago, I felt ready to be a father and I felt like a man. It was the culmination of years of training and teaching from my best friend and the best coach I’ve ever had. While fatherhood can be a scary and daunting task, I am conf dent in the lessons I was taught. And some day when I’m coaching my own children and the children of others, I will remember to pass along the principles and thoughts written down on these pages because I am living proof of the results.
Matthew Severns
I believe that God has a plan, He has a plan for all of us, he makes us what we are and what we’re supposed to be, God made me and Billy Severns baseball coaches. Oh sure, we played the game at the highest levels, and we had some successes, but we were not great players in fact we were not very good at all compared to the everyday major league player. We had a heart for the game, we had passion for the game and most of all we loved playing the game. And through all those experiences God taught us how to be a coach, He put great people in our lives, people who took the time to help develop us as players and people, they cared for us and about us, and because of that we will never forget them.
Baseball is a great game we start playing most of us at a very early age. We learn the value of team work, we learn about work ethic, we learn how to compete, and if we are real lucky we learn that baseball is just a game, meant to be PLAYED. It is not life or death, it is a game. Great coaches realize this and coach that way. They coach to teach, they coach to build up a player not break him down. They coach to develop a young player’s life skills for use on and off the field, and most importantly they coach so that their players can make a name for themselves, not so he can make a name for himself. Give all you have for them, all your love, patience, passion, desire, knowledge, positive attitudes, encouragement, compassion, if you ever played this game at a high level you know how hard this game is , from the stands it looks easy but it is not,, REMEMBER THAT EVERYDAY!
Billy Severns and I are Baseball coaches at what level doesn’t matter because the principles are the same at all levels, little league, high school, college, or pro baseball. Teach your players most of all to have fun, Teach them how to deal with failure as well as success, teach them how to compete, teach them to respect this great game, but most of all teach them how to play the game to the best of your ability (remembering NOBODY knows all there is to know about this game) so just teach them what you know, and do it in a positive loving fun way and they will remember you for the rest of their lives!
-Ned Yost Former Manager Milwaukee Brewers World Class Turkey Hunter
In a world that constantly reminds us that winning is the only thing, and losing is not an option we often forget the innocence of sports and the love they were designed to create. Once victory is achieved it is only defeated by reporters asking whether or not the individual or team can repeat the feat the following year. This world demands perfection, yet seems to never be satisfied enough. It seems as if we have lost the wisdom of learning from mistakes. That’s what I love about Billy and what he is communicating in the pages to follow. We must return to the days where we allowed athletes to make mistakes and learn from them, not be verbally abused and scarred by them. Every summer I host thousands of teenagers at my camps in the Ozarks and our Philosophy is to never put a kid down, say anything negative, or make them feel as if they have failed anyone. It is the coach’s responsibility to encourage, motivate, and inspire the athletes through their shortcomings and make sure they are affrimed and taught through losses and mistakes. I can only pray that more coaches develop the heart Billy has for kids and the purity of athletics. I have been around Coach Severns kids for a little over a decade, and He continually validates everything he says in this book, not by the words he says, but rather the way he continually coaches and loves his boys, both players and family. May we rid ourselves of vicariously living through our sons, win at all cost attitudes, and expectations that exceed what young boys are even capable of and return to the purity, love, and innocence of the game that will only develop lifelong passions within every athlete’s heart. I could say that Billy hit a home-run in this book, but that would be a lie! It’s a GRAND SLAM!
-Joe White Owner/Director of Kanakuk Ministries Branson, Missouri
ENCOURAGING POINTERS (FROM THE PROS) FOR KEEPERS
"Let him play and have fun, or he’ll get burned out on the game before he even gets here."
Gene Stephenson Head Baseball Coach Wichita State University Currently the second all-time winning-est college baseball coach 7 College World Series, 24 NCAA Tournament appearances, And Coach of 1989 College World Series Champions
"There are two things you need to get right in the early years. Let each child develop their natural abilities and teach them to play fearlessly."
Our influence on children:
"As hard