Third Base and Professional Coaching

My dream job is to be a minor league baseball third base coach.

Before I go any further, there are a few key things you should know.

I am overwhelmingly underqualified for such a position.

I struck out at tee ball, often.

I did catch a ball in a minor league game, but I was eight years old and I’m pretty sure it bounced off my dad’s glove before my tiny hand grabbed it off the bleacher floor.

That’s the full extent of my actual baseball experience.

• I could swing with passion, but I couldn’t hit the ball (strike 1).
• I could hit just below the ball, striking the tee just enough that the ball pathetically plops off the tee and yet does not roll out of the batter’s box (strike 2).
• I could strike the tee hard enough the ball rolled just outside the batter’s box, where any gum-chewing 5 year old could grab instantly and I was OUT. 

So why this bizarrely passionate drive to be a third base coach for the minors?

I beg of you, just stop for a moment and recall any epic moment in the history of baseball.

Whose job was it to provide real-time leadership by LITERALLY jumping up and down with zest, whilst completing a powerful communication combination of full body motions, emphatic gestures and hollering simple, but essential, commands of GO GO GO or STOP!

That’s right. The third base coach. 

This coaching position does it all.

• Strategizing in real time based on the unfolding conditions.
• Communicating in code, at a distance – that’s some sneaky stuff right there.
• Delivering pep talks in ten seconds or less – that’s efficiency.
• Going ALL in toward other’s success, including, but not limited to, jumping up and down, hollering like your life depending on it, and literally running alongside your person hyping them home for the point. 

Whose delightful job is it to stand just barely outside the official game lines, read the field, assess the possibilities and probabilities, and fully dial in with someone, and go all out toward their individual success and a collective win?

The third base coach.

It’s also why I love professional coaching, even though my “field” looks more like a zoom screen than a baseball diamond.

That’s me in a nutshell. 

• I have always been a professional team player – investing in other’s success brings me great joy. 
• I go all in for people I am investing in. 
• My personality can be as big as my curly hair – laughing out loud and making a bit of a playful ruckus. 
• I think communication is essential, and because it’s also really hard under pressure, I think predetermined codes are both efficient and sneaky fun. 

If you’re interested in having a personal third base coach on your team, let’s talk.

Coach Rebecca