This message board is great! I enjoy reading all the posts and appreciate the fact that the SCAC seems to be one of the conferences full of devoted fans that follow their teams day-in and day-out. It is incredible to see how busy this board is compared to many others.
I would like to make a few points if I may. First and foremost I wish to echo what I have read here in many other posts, this has been quite a season in the SCAC thus far. The predicted leaders are both in places other than atop their side of the SCAC. I think it speaks to the fact that the level of competition in the SCAC has increased. That is a good thing for everyone in the conference.
I would also like to touch on something Frank has posted about. The spirit of a team is important and a coach's major role is to keep his team up and ready to play! That means keeping every member of the team inspired and not all coaches know how that is done but it is one of the greatest skills they can develop for it will pay off tremendously in the end. I would like to give one small example of this if I may. My son played in a travel football program in his pre-teens and before middle school. This team dominated their conference and always won in end of season trips to tournaments in Florida. The team had an end of year banquet and one of the coaches said something to the starters that stuck with me to this day. He said, "You gentlemen who started for us should thank those who were your backups. Those young men pushed you to be better and when you scrimmaged you played the second best team in the division for our second string was better than any other team you played on Saturdays!" Coaches need to develop every player, starters and bench because you never know when someone will be hurt and your backup may have to play.
The next two weeks will be huge for everyone and it will be interesting to see who makes it to the crossover and from there to the championship. I have enjoyed following this season with all its ups and downs. My son has friends from his former high school team playing throughout Division III baseball and boards like this make it possible to keep track off all those teams!!
I would like to make a few points if I may. First and foremost I wish to echo what I have read here in many other posts, this has been quite a season in the SCAC thus far. The predicted leaders are both in places other than atop their side of the SCAC. I think it speaks to the fact that the level of competition in the SCAC has increased. That is a good thing for everyone in the conference.
I would also like to touch on something Frank has posted about. The spirit of a team is important and a coach's major role is to keep his team up and ready to play! That means keeping every member of the team inspired and not all coaches know how that is done but it is one of the greatest skills they can develop for it will pay off tremendously in the end. I would like to give one small example of this if I may. My son played in a travel football program in his pre-teens and before middle school. This team dominated their conference and always won in end of season trips to tournaments in Florida. The team had an end of year banquet and one of the coaches said something to the starters that stuck with me to this day. He said, "You gentlemen who started for us should thank those who were your backups. Those young men pushed you to be better and when you scrimmaged you played the second best team in the division for our second string was better than any other team you played on Saturdays!" Coaches need to develop every player, starters and bench because you never know when someone will be hurt and your backup may have to play.
The next two weeks will be huge for everyone and it will be interesting to see who makes it to the crossover and from there to the championship. I have enjoyed following this season with all its ups and downs. My son has friends from his former high school team playing throughout Division III baseball and boards like this make it possible to keep track off all those teams!!