Oakland Travel Baseball Players "Rules To Live By"
These guidelines will not only take you a long way on the ball field but also in your everyday life.
1. No Excuses
Do not blame teammates, umpires, coaches, fans, or the position of the moon for your performance. Take responsibility for what happens on the field. Stand up, make no excuses, and refuse the excuses others might offer you. Excuses get in the way of learning because mistakes are denied. Be accountable. Remember you are not expected to be a perfect performer. No one is. Baseball is not an easy game to play.
2. Play With Honor
Always hustle, run out every ground ball and pop up, encourage your teammates, especially after an error, bad pitch, or a strike out, carry yourself with pride and dignity. Do not in frustration throw equipment. Do not ridicule another team or an opposing player’s name, physical appearance, skill. Do not taunt. Do not distract an opposing player with low-level antics. Be positive with teammates. Never ridicule or criticize your teammates. They need your encouragement the most after they have made a mistake. Show your teammates, your opponents, the entire world the values you hold dear by how you play.
3. Be Relentless
Never Yield. Never Yield. Regardless of what the scoreboard says, you are never defeated unless you give up, unless you go belly up. No opponent can make you do this. Giving up is something you do. Regardless of what the scoreboard says, no opponent can extinguish the flame in your heart or crush the intensity of your will without your consent. Play hard and never let up.
4. Don't Worry About the Things You Can't Control
Ignore those things outside your control: the judgments of umpires, the conduct and ability of other teams, the weather, your amount of playing time, the final score (this is a tough one). Do not show frustration or disappointment. Do not allow your opponents to gain joy from your inability to cope with self-pity. Do not throw equipment or whine in anger or slump your shoulders. Such behavior impresses no one. Maintain your poise. Learn, prepare, and focus on the next event. We cannot change the past. Instead, we should focus on the next action with determination, joy, and resolve.
5. Take Responsibility for Those Things Under Your Control
Your effort; your attitude, your commitment, and your approach to the game are under your control. Be enthusiastic, play with great effort, conduct yourself appropriately, and meet this opportunity with great joy. Listen to your coaches. Be alert, play smartly, and know the signs. You are always accountable. How you react to situations and circumstances reveals the person you are and the person you might become.
6. Play the Game One Pitch At A Time
Focus on the current pitch. If you are a pitcher, what are you throwing and where? If you are a fielder, what are you going to do if the ball is hit to you? If you are a base runner, what are you going to do on a fly ball, line drive, ground ball, to the right side, to the left side? If you are a batter, what are you trying to accomplish on this pitch? If you are on the bench, how are you helping your team be successful?
7. Focus On Behaviour, Not Outcomes
The results of your performance are not fully under your control. The other team may be very good, or very bad. The bounces may go your way, or not. But your behavior and approach are under your control. At the end of the game, you, and perhaps only you, know whether you gave 100%, whether you did all you could to help your team. Winners take care of the things within their control, enjoy their participation, and are justifiable proud of their effort.
8. The Best Players Are the Best Learners
Players who are coach able are always trying to help learn more about being successful ballplayers and people. They listen and apply what their coaches and teachers suggest. Are you coach able?
9. Be A Joyous Warrior!
Be enthusiastic, positive, give 100%, and understand that relentless effort in the pursuit of excellence is its own reward. The joyous warrior exemplifies the slogan “No Retreat & No Surrender.” Win with humility and lose with dignity.
10. Players, Coaches, and Parents All On the Same Team
Players will make sure they look like baseball players from the time they arrive at the field until the time they leave (keeping jersey tucked in, wearing hat forward correctly, and keeping cleats tied, etc). At the end of every game or practice, players will help the coaches put away the equipment, help the coaches carry it to their cars and help make sure the dugout area has been cleaned of all debris.
Adopted 12/06