Adversity: The Best Coach You'll Ever Have

Send us a text

"Winners rise, losers fall, and which one you become is entirely up to you." These words capture the essence of our deep dive into baseball's most defining moments – not the championship celebrations, but the crushing failures that reveal our true character.

When the pressure mounts and nothing goes your way, what happens next defines you as a player, coach, and person. Every baseball player faces adversity – strikeouts with bases loaded, dropped fly balls, lost games that should have been won. But the response to these moments creates a clear division between champions and also-rans. Winners take ownership, learn from mistakes, and show up ready to fight the next day. Losers make excuses, point fingers, and allow failure to define them.

The team dynamic during adversity tells an even more revealing story. Losing teams fracture under pressure, with the dugout becoming a battlefield of egos and blame. Championship teams, however, lean into each other when challenges arise. They understand the profound truth that baseball isn't about avoiding mistakes – it's about overcoming them together. This resilience built through baseball's trials becomes a foundation for life beyond the diamond, equipping players to face whatever curveballs come their way.

Are you building a winner's mentality in your program? Do your players find a way or find an excuse when faced with adversity? Join us to discover how championship cultures are forged not in victory celebrations but in the fire of challenges overcome. Subscribe now and transform how your team responds when everything's on the line.

Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on high school baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, youth and travel baseball, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.

Support the show

• Follow: Twitter | Instagram @Athlete1Podcast
• Website - https://www.athlete1.net
• Sponsor: The Netting Professionals
• https://www.nettingpros.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Brian Kite once said with the right mindset, a world
of opportunity opens.
So much becomes possible.
With the wrong mindset, anunfair world of adversity is all
you can see.
Even when opportunity is rightin front of you, everything
looks impossible.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken
Carpenter, presented byAthleteOne.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged withCoach Ken Carpenter, presented
by Athlete One.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged is apodcast for baseball coaches,
with 27 years of high schoolbaseball coaching under his belt
.
Here to bring you the insidescoop on all things baseball,
from game-winning strategies andpitching secrets to hitting
drills and defensive drills.
We're covering it all.

(00:42):
Whether you're a high schoolcoach, college coach or just a
baseball enthusiast, we'll diveinto the tactics and techniques
that make the difference on andoff the field.
Discover how to build a winningmentality, inspire your players
and get them truly bought intoyour game philosophy Plus.
Get the latest insights onrecruiting, coaching, leadership
and crafting a team culturethat champions productivity and

(01:03):
success.
Join Coach every week as hebreaks down the game and shares
incredible behind-the-scenesstories.
Your competitive edge startshere, so check out the show
weekly and hear from the bestcoaches in the game.
On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
This episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is
powered by the nettingprofessionals improving programs
one facility at a time.
Coaches, are you hoping you canget one more season out of your
batting cages or L-screensTired of broken ball buckets or
the windscreen flapping on theoutfield fence?
It's time to take your facilityto the next level.
Will Miner and his team at theNetting Professionals specialize

(01:44):
in the design, fabrication andinstallation of custom netting
for baseball and softball.
This includes backstops,batting cages, bp turtles, bp
screens and ball carts.
They also design and installdigital graphic wall padding,
windscreen, turf, turfprotectors, dugout benches and
cubbies.
They also work with football,soccer, lacrosse and golf

(02:06):
courses.
The netting professionalscontinue to provide quality
products and services torecreational, high school,
college and professional fieldsand facilities throughout the
country.
Contact them today at844-620-2707.
That's 844-620-2707.
Or visit them online atwwwnettingproscom.

(02:31):
Or you can check out NettingPros on X, instagram, facebook
and LinkedIn for all theirlatest products and projects.
Be sure to tune in everyWednesday for for a new episode
of baseball coaches unplugged,where we sit down with some of
the best coaches from around thecountry.

(02:52):
Let's start with a simplequestion when pressure's
mounting and nothing and I meanabsolutely nothing is going your
way.
How do you?
Because I'll tell you this thatmoment of adversity doesn't
just test your skills or yourstrategy.
It reveals your character.

(03:13):
It separates the winners fromthe losers, plain and simple.
See, adversity is inevitable Inbaseball, just like in life.
You're going to face setbacks.
You'll strike out with thebases loaded, you'll drop the
routine fly ball Heck.
You might even lose a game thatyou had no business losing.

(03:33):
Winners and losers bothexperience the sting of failure.
But the difference is winnerstake the pain and use it as fuel
.
Losers, they let it fester andthey make excuses, blame the
umpires or, worse, even quit thegame.
Baseball doesn't owe you asingle thing.

(03:56):
If you're looking for an easyride, you've come to the wrong
sport.
Adversity is coming foreveryone who plays a game,
individually and as a team.
But what defines us is how werespond.
Winners embrace the grind,losers look for a way out.

(04:16):
Let's break it down a littlebit.
When adversity hits a team, ithas one of two effects it either
fractures the group or forgesan unbreakable bond.
Losers, when faced withadversity, start pointing
fingers.
They'll say wasn't my fault, Idid my part, he didn't do his.

(04:38):
And before you know it, thedugout becomes a battlefield of
egos and the game is lost, notbecause of the scoreboard, but
because the team fell apart.
Winners they lean into eachother, they rally.
When one guy strikes out, thenext guy in the lineup digs in

(04:59):
and says I've got your back.
When a pitcher gives up a homerun, the infield meets at the
mound and says we're still inthis, keep fighting.
They understand that the gameisn't about avoiding mistakes.
It's about overcoming themtogether.
That's why winners play as ateam and losers they play as

(05:23):
individuals.
Adversity doesn't just affectthe team.
It affects you personally.
Here's the simple truth how yourespond to adversity on the
field is a mirror of how you'llrespond to it off the field.
When life throws you acurveball and no one's exempt,

(05:44):
trust me, it will Will you stepup to the plate and give it your
best effort, or are you backout of the box?
Winners develop resilience.
They build a mindset that saysno matter what comes my way,
I'll find a way to win.
Losers, on the other hand, theyfold.

(06:05):
They let the situation definethem instead of rising to the
occasion.
Let me be clear being a winnerdoesn't mean you're perfect.
Even the greatest players inthe game make mistakes.
Winners are defined by how theybounce back, they take
ownership, they learn, they growand, most importantly, they

(06:27):
show up the next day ready tofight.
Losers, on the other hand, letfailure defeat them.
They make excuses, they wallowand, more importantly, they
failure defeat them.
They make excuses, they wallowand, more importantly, they stop
showing up.
So ask yourself this whenadversity hits and it will what

(06:47):
kind of coach or player will yoube?
What kind of teammate will yoube?
What kind of leader will you be?
Will you be the guy who finds away or the guy who finds an
excuse?
Because here's the hard truthBaseball doesn't care about your
excuses.
Life doesn't care about yourexcuses.

(07:07):
All that matters is how yourespond.
I'll leave you with this.
Every single one of us coach,player fan we all love the glory
moments the walk-off homer, thechampionship win, the dog pile
at the end of the season.
But those moments, they'reearned in the fire of adversity.

(07:29):
They're earned in moments whenyou're down 0-2, with two outs
and a ninth.
They're earned when your back'sagainst the wall and you make
the choice to fight.
So the next time you findyourself staring at adversity in
the face, remember this winnersrise, losers fall, and which

(07:49):
one you become, that's entirelyup to you.
Baseball Coaches Unplugged isproud to be partnered with the
netting professionals, improvingprograms one facility at a time
.
Contact them today at844-620-2707, or visit them
online at wwwnettingproscom.

(08:11):
As always, I'm your host, coachKen Carpenter, and be sure to
tune in next Wednesday for a newepisode of Baseball Coaches
Unplugged.