Courage, Character and Loyalty

What does COURAGE – CHARACTER – LOYALTY mean to you as a Little League coach?

COURAGE…is providing every player with an opportunity to play and contribute to your team in the face of pressure to win.

It doesn’t take a lot of courage to pick 7-8 of your most talented and skilled players and play them every inning of every game and leave the rest of the playing time to your weaker players. It takes courage to give every player on your team regular opportunities to start and more importantly to play complete games during the season.


CHARACTER… is stepping up to support and be positive with your players when things aren’t going well.

Any coach can look good when the team is winning and everyone is happy. Coaches, your true character shows up when a player on your team makes an error in a key situation or when the umpire makes a call that doesn't go your way during a critical part in the ball game.


LOYALTY…is stepping up to defend and support coaching baseball the “Little League way”.

Little League is one of the only youth sports organizations that accepts every player that walks up to the registration table in their community; regardless of their skill, ability and experience. Every player is assigned to a team with a coach, with equipment and uniforms needed to have a safe and fun experience in baseball. Loyalty to coaching the “Little League Way” causes every player on your team to be excited about continuing to play Little League next season.


Wouldn’t it be great to get honest feedback from your players and find out what they think of you as a coach and a person? Their feedback is the most important of all!

Al and I have created a feedback form with a series of questions we think players would be more than capable of answering. We believe the best way to find out how you are doing from a Courage - Character – Loyalty perspective is to ask your players. Al and I have underlined the responses that we hope that your players would select for each question below.


Please use the scale below when responding and write in comments at the end as well.

A – Always B – Usually C – Not Usually D – Never (Circle A, B, C or D)

My Coach….

A B C D        expects me to be early for practice
A B C D        expects me to be prepared for practice and games
A B C D        expects us to warm up before we start to practice or play
A B C D        treats me as a individual who is important to the team
A B C D        puts me in the starting line-up
A B C D        takes time to help me when I am having difficulty
A B C D        teaches me the skills of the game
A B C D        makes practices fun
A B C D        shows an enthusiasm and interest in baseball
A B C D        knows when we do not understand what is being taught
A B C D        is patient
A B C D        is polite with players
A B C D        is polite with umpires
A B C D        is polite with my parents
A B C D        tells me how I am doing
A B C D        is there to help me out when I make a mistake
A B C D        is honest
A B C D        knows how to work with players who are not behaving
A B C D        is concerned about my safety
A B C D        is prepared for each practice
A B C D        uses my first name
A B C D        cheers me in practices and games
A B C D        treats me fairly
A B C D        is fun to play for
A B C D        notices the improvements I make
A B C D        notices the improvements the team makes
A B C D        tells us what we do wrong
A B C D        tells us what we do right
A B C D        is positive when we win
A B C D        stays positive when we lose
A B C D        takes me aside when he needs to correct my behaviour
A B C D        talks to me at practices and games
A B C D        is a good person and role model

I enjoy playing Little League because... ___________________________
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Coaches, we hope this little form will help you reflect on your approach with your players and also provide you with an opportunity to get feedback on what Little League is all about, the development of Courage, Character and Loyalty.

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Al Herback and Al Price, Authors and Instructors of the Little League Education Program authored this coaching tip. The training materials they have put together include hundreds of drills, competitions and fun activities. They also include progressions to help you teach the fundamental skills and guidance on how to plan practices for all levels of play. Please go to www.alandalbaseball.com for more information on the complete program library & to order your own set of training materials. To date, thousands of leagues and over 1 million coaches, managers, players and parents have taken advantage of the training materials.