Powell’s Playbook: Coach knows what is best

There is a difference between coaching and managing, but neither a coach nor a manager can teach the intangibles.

Coaches have to teach the game to players; managers merely have to get all the moving parts to work together.

Now managers cannot be in high school or intramural or club teams because their focus is on teaching how the game is supposed to be played.

You might think that coaches have less to concern themselves with because of how little they are comparatively given, but they certainly have the hardest job in all of baseball.

Now that I have started to coach at my old high school in Fredericksburg, Va., it kills me to watch a bad play unfold.

When I was on the field, I could talk the team up, get some screaming going in the dugout and keep the emotions high everywhere.

When my friend and I were in the dugout, you seldom heard us silent.

From the coach’s viewpoint, you can teach guys where they are supposed to be on a play, how they need to think ahead of the play and you can try to keep them at a high level of intensity, but team chemistry must come from the team first, not top-down.

The coach has a bit of a manager in him, too. Not only does he have to teach the players how to think and how to execute properly, but he also has to effectively put a field and a lineup together so that everyone can work together to win a game.

Needless to say, I now have so much more respect for what my coaches had to deal with when I was playing ball in high school.

They had to get the leaders of the team to lead the team. That sounds easy, but it is incredibly difficult.

I am new to the whole coaching thing and I feel the old player in me come out sometimes.

I find it awful that I am sometimes the loudest one in the dugout or the only one trying to get the infield to talk.

In baseball, communication is key — not just to let everyone know where you are and what is going on, but to reinforce that team chemistry on the field.

I have watched some teams play now and thought to myself, “Something has changed.”

It is not always the level of competition, but the aggressiveness and the chemistry of the team. I have played teams that scared me the moment I stepped on the field because of how they acted.

My mission was to be so energized and vitalized that the other team thought I could do anything.

When I played Babe Ruth baseball, it really was for the fun of the game (but one coach did not get that message).

When I played in high school, it was the pinnacle of my day. I wanted nothing more than to practice the game, much less get in on the action during a game.

So this goes out to anyone who currently plays sports: Be intense, stay loud and intimidate the other team.

Some people love art, and others love music. If you love what you are doing, play like it; leave your heart on the field and never have any regrets.