Here is one of lifes riddles: Why do you learn so much more from failure than you do from success? Wouldn’t it be great if we could be succeeding and getting wise at the same time. It’s almost like God’s draft system. If you don’t get the W’s, you get first pick at the tree of knowledge.

So this year has been a hard year in some respects. It is just little league baseball, and I don’t have a bonus to lose. On the other hand I have a group of young men who have character, play tough, show up for practice and at the end of 11 consecutive games they have gathered around me at the end of the game to hear what we should do to make sure we win next time. That makes it tough for me. In my book they are the best kind of winners and they are doing the right things.

Here is one lesson I have learned this year… You never know when the door of opportunity is going to open. Yesterday JMS who was the 7th place team knocked off the 1st place Colonie Elks. That means that despite the longest of odds the JMS kids showed up thinking they were going to win, and ignoring the fact they were playing the very best CLL has to offer. I think that the Vellano Brothers team should draw some inspiration from our friends at JMS.

Also consider that JMS had a terrible year last year. It was exactly like the year we are having this year. It may have been worse… Then they did 2 things you would never expect. They WON the pride tournament.. While the other 3 teams took it lightly and like it didn’t matter, JMS went to work and made a statement. The league may have given up on them and written them off, but JMS never gave up. The next thing they did that was unexpected. They practiced all off season and put in as many hours as any team in CLL. As a coach it is hard to ask kids and parents to give more and more at a time when most trips to the park end in a loss and sad kids. Somehow the JMS kids lost, and still had fun at the park. Somehow even when the W’s weren’t coming they worked harder.

The final thing that happened everyone knows about… .The team worked harder, got better and found the wins followed… That my friends is the greatest lesson baseball has ever taught me. Working hard and improving is not an event, it is a lifestyle. Every team, every family, every league, and every kid has their own attitude about baseball. You can’t have a great winners attitude when you are winning and then slack off when you are losing. The winners had that attitude before they were winners.

Last year in CLL two of the teams that didn’t make the playoffs are in 1st and 2nd place. That is a lesson for us all to learn. I want our team to be like that. This year when we are losing so often, we have to play like winners. We have to keep storming the field, attacking pitches, running through the bag on every play. If we do these things we will have the wisdom and the culture first and the W’s will follow.

I am very proud to be the manager of this team.