The Hickory Algorithm
How local REC sports helps shape our community. Trophies go on mantels. Purpose, mounts on the wall.
I struggle with deciding which part of the year is my favorite.
I love having things to look forward to, if you know me well enough, you will hear me say “ like a carrot on a stick.”
Things to look forward to - is so good for my mental health.
September through January is peak football season. On television and locally with watching my kids playing for Hickory High becomes day to day activities to watch and share with family.
Then include things like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s.
Love it.
Love, looking forward to it.
March, April, and May are months that the pollen in our area starts creeping back in and the changing of seasons is sitting right in front of us.
That means, spring sports baby!
Things start to ramp up!
Local Recreational sports sign ups are out and I couldn’t recommend it more for you and your child.
Talk about something to look forward to and it maybe my favorite time of year.
No Purpose
When I look back at all the teams I’ve coached with youth REC baseball. There are so many stories that come to mind. None of them are about a trophy on the mantel.
I don’t even think I still have this one because the trophy I cherish is the one mounted on the wall in my home.
Don’t get me wrong, we won.
But, the impact of REC sports is more than winning.
In Pittsburgh, the first team I was ever a Head Coach with, we ended up winning our ‘community’ league.
When I joined this new league. I didn’t know anyone. I didn’t have an assistant coach at the start, besides my wife, whom I pull in every year - and still do.
Sorry Jenn. 😘
Turns out this team I started coaching was a team that ‘other coaches’ didn’t want. I didn’t know that till the parents started talking to each other at the first practice and informing me about their experiences.
I remember driving home after the first practice talking with my wife and our two sons in the backseat of the about how the parents and kids feel like none of them wanted to be there at the baseball field.
How they felt overlooked and left behind in organizations that favored kids whom other coaches felt 'deserved’ more playing time. How the parents have sat through multiple seasons of their kids sitting in the out field, having to sit on the bench for many innings, and never got a chance to really do anything else.
Talk about a Michael Jordan meme moment for me.
“That’s all I needed. It became personal with me."
Personal to me
I would look every week at times the fields were available and being unused.
If the weather was nice and fields were not being used I would send up the ‘bat signal’ on social media.
The practices weren’t mandatory or anything but, if you wanted to come - we would be there at the field, if they wanted to join us.
The first time I did it, only a couple of kids, maybe 2 or 3 showed up. That didn’t bother me at all. That just ment more one on one time with those kids.
After a couple of bat signal practices I would find myself on the field looking around seeing parents from other age groups and coaches from other age groups watching us practice. Some of the questions I would get asked:
“Weren’t you here yesterday?”
“Didn’t you have a game earlier today?”
“A night practice?!”
I’m sure people started to feel some type of way about what we were doing but, we truly did not care and kept working.
We were the ones on the field - not them.
Very quickly our whole team was there at every practice. We would practice 3-4 times a week if the fields were available. It didn’t matter to me if we were on a t-ball field, an old unkept field, or 15u field. During the day, on the weekend, or under the lights. If it was available we used it. Monday through Sunday.
The kids started enjoying each other’s company at the field. Rooting for each other. The kids that could never hit a ball started hitting the ball, making plays on the field, and knowing what to do with the ball when they got it.
The parents starting bringing treats and inviting other kids from the team over to each other’s houses where the parents would send me photos of their kids with one of their ‘new baseball friends’ out in their backyard playing catch.
Jenn, made an ‘Effort Belt’ that we would give to the kid that was making strides to get better, showing up for practice, and the kids would get to take it home - tell their family about it / carry it around - but, had to bring it back so that another kid would have the honor of it.
We lost our first game of the season, 2-1 to another member of our organization.
One of the parents called me after the game and told me he heard the other coach say to his other coaches ‘they did all that practicing for nothing and still lost.’ He was going to say something at the next board meeting and how it’s only 8u baseball etc etc.
I asked him not to say anything and told him that the field is free tomorrow, the weather is looking good, the bat signal will go up - we will have practice.
The Bat signal kept going up during the season.
One week my wife (and fellow coach) “told me 4 practices and two games in one week was a little much for 8 year olds… honey.”
She is right, of course, but I asked the kids at our next game if they wanted to take more days off. Was it all ruining the fun? One (7 year old) player quickly responded without hesitation:
“I was upset, Coach Chris, we didn’t practice or have a game on Sunday, I wanted to play.”
“That’s all I needed. It became personal with me.”
Purpose
We didn’t lose another game that season.
Even when we got to the community finals where multiple organizations had multiple teams we were met with one team combining all 3 of their teams to play us in the finals (their travel team they used for the summer).
Not cool.
Our parents were upset and wanted me to do something about it but, I told them - if they need to win this ‘8u’ league this bad then…
Let them.
Because, we already won.
To make it this far with this group to work this hard, we already won. Look around at the kids smiling, cheering on each other, and then look over there at the other team’s coaches combining teams to beat us and yelling at their kids about winning this 8u championship game.
Then next thing I told our irate players parents was..
“Now imagine this…
But, what if we beat them?”
And we did.
We won the league.
The trophies went on the mantels and we celebrated.
Here’s the thing, and the beauty of it all.
Each one of those kids on our team had to work, challenge themselves, leave their comfort zones and also the parents had to commit to the what was happening for this team to create something I will never forget.
REC sports to me is something that should be about the growth of the individual, whether you win or lose you learned something during the experience.
If you decide to leave your comfort zone and push towards something you feel passionate about.
Turning no purpose into purpose.
Growing together to create purpose is what we envision for our children, our community, and it’s something we can achieve together.
I hope even if you are on the fence about signing your child up for REC sports, you do.
REC sports is a place for personal growth.
For the kids and the coaches.
HICKORY REC BASEBALL LINK HERE
Trophies go on mantels.
Purpose, mounts on the wall.
#fortheloveofthegame
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Connecting you to the algorithm of Hickory, North Carolina.
Chris Goldby is a writer and multimedia storyteller based in Hickory, North Carolina. He owns The Hickory Algorithm a hyper focused lens on Hickory, NC and is a contributing writer and Head of Documentary/Docu-series with Akula Literary Partners.
CONTACT ME:
chris@hickoryalgorithm.com
Chris, this may be your best Algorithm yet! Awesome post.
I love this!! I love those kids! And I love their coach!