February 28, 2025 • 26 mins
Fred discusses the first training program with Bill Baggett ,former president of Juno Fl. Little League
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Sports for kids in America began with what we affectionately
called sandlot ball, where kids organized their own games, made
their own rules, and played until the sun went down.
Then came along parents.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I'm gonna get you to night because you let me down.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I don't know you did.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I'll what you do let me down.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I don't care if you've.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I'll get you.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Day.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Every time I see that, my blood curdls. Hey, we
got a great show to know and the show to go.
You ever heard that expression a thousand times that.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
The show must go on? Well you can tell by
my voice this show must go on. But just can't
get rid of this cold.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
But you know what, We've got a great pioneer with
this whole organization. I was telling John my Son, who
now runs the National Alliance for You Sports, yesterday saying,
you know, we would even be here if it wasn't
for this guy. And he's what you would call a pioneer,
pioneer that started the organization with setting the standard for
(02:00):
many youth organizations across the country. And his name is
Bill Waggett. I'm really happy to have him on the
show today. There is with my friend Bill Waggott Paddi Fred,
how are you doing, buddy?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I'm doing a good Bill.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
And you know what I mentioned the fact that you're
a pioneer, and you really are a pioneer in this
whole thing.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You know.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
I remember the time I went back to the very
beginning and trying to come up with an idea that
you're going to train coaches and have them understand what
the role was playing in kids' sports. And I went
to John's coach and I said, hey, I have this
idea about having coaches be trained before they got out
(02:44):
there on the field.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
And he said, that's a great idea that it will
never happen.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
You're not going to get these people out there on
the field, Fred in a room.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
You know, they're going to get them in there to
get trained. They're volunteers. And what I thought, Oh, this
is the end of it.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
And then, for some reason or another, and you remember, Bill,
we had a meeting of the Youth League residents in
Palm Beach County and that was a long time ago,
and I thought maybe if we bring them together that
I could make sense to them.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And it worked.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
You were there, and you were there not only there physically,
you were there in mind of thinking something needed to
be done. And so with that first meeting, I left
and the next thing I heard from you, and that
was that you were going to do the program. So,
(03:42):
like I say, you were the first person to the audience.
People can think if you had kids and coaches. An
organization starts somewhere, and it starts with somebody who takes
the effort to do what is right.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
And I want to applaud you for that, and I want.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
To ask you what was it like to be able
to get out there and.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Tell these coaches that they're going to have to be trained.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
Interestingly enough, Fred I started as a t ball coach
for six year old kids. For two years. Our league
was called North County Little League based in Juno, Florida.
We had three baseball fields, two or four the little
league players and the other field was up the road
(04:29):
for the senior league players. So we had children ages
six through eighteen playing in our league. We had three
hundred parents. We had twenty baseball teams, but in addition
to that, we had eight girls softball teams in the league.
So we had a very diverse league there with wonderful
(04:51):
players and parents and field facilities. I met when I
met you at the hotel there, I was blown away
because I listened to listen to you describe what your
plans were to proceed with making you sports of positive
and safe experience. And I thought about that, and I
(05:15):
contacted you after that about a week later and says,
we are all in fred. I had a meeting with
the board and they're going to They're in your corner.
Whatever you need, We're there for you. The next step
we took was you set up a date for this
certification clinic. And I believe it was the first certification clinic,
(05:35):
if not in Florida, possibly in the United States of America,
possibly in the country, and I asked, well, how's that
going to take place. You said, well, we're going to
have a big screen and we're going to show videos
of the different tapes that we have. I says, that's fantastic,
can't wait to see it. Then before I attended, I
(05:57):
thought more about it, and I said to myself, if
you know what, we need to share this stage with
other leagues within our area, not just for my league,
North County Little League, the coaches and managers and assistant
managers in my league, but in addition to that, let
me invite two of the neighboring leagues to also attend
and bring their coaches and managers. So I called. I
(06:19):
phoned the league president of North Palm Beach and asked
him to bring to come on board, and he readily agreed.
Then I also called the president of the league in
Lake Park and wanst him to attend, so we would
have three league presidents and attendance at this program. What
(06:40):
we did we went to Palm Beach Gardens High School
and we rented out the auditorium because we knew we'd
probably have about one hundred different coaches and managers representing
three different Little leagues in northern Palm Beach County, and
it was a phenomenal start. Fred, you gave the opening remarks.
(07:00):
The first night was three hours of videotapes. We returned
the second night after that for an additional three hours
of tapes, or a total of six hours, and that
is began a new era in youth sports coaching in
our leagues in northern Bomb Beach County, Florida.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
That was phenomenal. Well, that's amazing. You know you're saying
that because you know, it's like the old snowball begins
and begins to role.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
A lot of people wouldn't imagine that today where you
had the first one.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Now there's over four.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Million people who act as coaches of parents that did
in the past and still continue today to do that program.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
So it's amazing.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
But the question I have for you, Bill is, you
know when Jones, coach told me a good idea, but
what never happened? He said, you know these coaches wouldn't do.
What happened after you talked to them, and you know
they showed up.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
That's another good question.
Speaker 6 (08:01):
Let me reference something here there with me just a
second right in my notes. Anyhow, we went to the
board and asked to describe the benefits, advantages and so
forth of NYSCA and the certification program, and they unanimously,
(08:21):
quickly and unanimously approved that. So I needed board approval
and they were behind us one, so that that kicked
it off. And thereafter I invited the adjoining league presidents
and their players to join us as well.
Speaker 7 (08:37):
What a what a phenomenal star, wasn't it?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Well it was?
Speaker 7 (08:41):
And you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
I remember after you did your program and began to spread,
I ran out and did clinics and ran programs and
there was one that I.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Will never forget. What happened is we went through the
whole deal with the coach talking about the.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
Psychology of you know, it was the importance was being
fair and honest and ethical with kids. And after all that,
the discussion went on with the coaches and you know
what role they would play. And when it was all over,
Guy walked up to me and I thought he was
(09:28):
going to say, you know, why did you make me.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Come out here on a Saturday morning to go through this.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
I knew to do this, I needed to cut the
grass and everything else around the house.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
But he said, I got to tell you something.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
After hearing that sports psychology guy on the screen talk
about how you affect kids, I want to tell you
I have damaged a lot of kids. And I thought,
you've got to be kidding me. He said, no, it's
I've done just what you talked about of being abusive
(10:05):
to kids, yelling, screaming, and psychologically harming them. And he said,
I certainly learned a lot. So yeah, it was just
wonderful hearing that all that from somebody. So I know
you did and you continue the program. But a funny
thing that you said. You said NYSCA, and somebody might say, hey,
(10:25):
I saw this program and said the National Alliance for
Youth Sports, So what is NYSCA, and nobody realizes what
happened in the beginning. It was the National Youth Sports
Coaches Association.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
Right, correct, Yes, that was how we started.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, go ahead, yeah.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
Nysc National Youth Sports Coaches Association. Wow, we got off.
We were out of the gate fast, reread in one
hundred percent in believing and practicing and with everything that
you presented.
Speaker 7 (11:05):
I looked at my notes.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
I'm going back to nineteen eighty one and you met
with our league in person, and you also commented on
how well organized and sophisticated our league had become and
that you are proud to be associated with us. You
mentioned that Bill Baggett, representing our league, was recently appointed
(11:28):
to the national Board of NYSAA. What an honor that was,
and that was our humble beginnings. Fred, the first forward
meeting was the four of us. It was you, it
was me, it was John Dance, who was the director
of Parks and Recreation for Palm Beach County, and Jim Bohan,
he was the head of Wells fight As Chocolates.
Speaker 7 (11:51):
That's what's the start.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
You remember that far back, it was just incredible, and
what you grew into year after year and.
Speaker 7 (11:59):
Decade after decade was just phenomenal.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Our initial visit, Fred, together with our league members, you
showed the video tape that had been made in conjunction
with North County Little League on our fields and was
seen by thousands thousands of people around the country.
Speaker 7 (12:18):
You asked for our cooperation.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
Again with two new training programs which will be filmed
at our baseball park in juneo One is a softball
video tape featuring the National Commissioner of the American Softball
Association and second a baseball video tape made in conjunction
with the University of Miami baseball team, which was the
(12:42):
nineteen eighty two National Collegiate champions. That was Coke stip
Bertram back then, you remember, head coach of the Miami Hurricanes
baseball team and the video tapes. I've got this. I
want to just kind of cover what they were in
the beginnings. It was a brand new videotape series developed
(13:03):
by you that offers comprehensive guidelines for parents, players and
coaches who were involved in community youth sports programs. One
of the tape was by Gary Sparks player coach Relationships
Ideal for showing at league organization meetings. Another take was
by doctor Richard McGill, who was a sports psychologist from
(13:26):
LSU University. He came to our field and it was
filmed on our field. If you recall, it was called
the video was Parents Guidelines for Youth Sports, a musk
a musk for showing at special meetings for parents who
signed their child up for your program. The third video
tape that we showed at our joint meeting with the
other leagues was how to Conduct an effective coach in
(13:50):
parent meeting, presented by again Gary Sports, Gary Sparks, which
every coach needs to know how to deal with parents.
Dealing with parents, This show, this tape will show you how. Then,
of course it was doctor Richard McGill videotape which were
from the phenomenal He's a sports psychologist. His take was
(14:11):
the psychology of coach coaching Youth Sports. Another tape preventing
Injuries in Youth Sports. Another tape by someone else's first
aid and the volunteer coach the coach. The videotape by
Skip bertram In the Miami Hurricane National Baseball Championship team
was teaching kids the fundamentals of baseball and softball, filmed
(14:35):
right at our field in Geno Park.
Speaker 7 (14:37):
Those were the days, Fred mart They.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
Yeah, well, let me go back to something before you
had mentioned being on the board. I'll switch twitch foxboard
for a second. But remember we started out with the
organization with about one hundred and twenty four dollars in
the bank, and I had no idea how we're going
(14:59):
to continue.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
But then we had a bright idea.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
And you and me, and that was to go to
a bank because maybe if we can get the bank
to give us some money to get it started.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
So one of the board members we talked about it, said.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Yeah, that's a good idea. And then we said, well,
we need someone like you that has a background because
they're not going to give any money to me. And
Bill was, you know, being my support there. But James said,
all right, I'm going to not mention his last name,
(15:36):
even though he's not around anymore.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
But he said, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
I'll meet you at the bank on Monday morning at
nine o'clock and we'll go in and we'll go talk
to the people in the bank and get our twenty
thousand and we'll be off and running. It's it's funny now,
but it wasn't funny then, remember, So we go there
and we sit outside and we wait and nine o'clock
and then it's nine ten, fifteen, twenty nine thirty were
(16:05):
saying he ain't on a show.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
And he never did show.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
But you know what.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Happened from that. I don't know, maybe.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
In one of your meetings somebody picked up on it,
but there was a guy that was there that was
president of one of the local paternal organizations and he
invited me to come to speed, and I went in
and spoke. He came up afterwards he said, a great idea.
We're going to donate ten thousand dollars to you guys.
(16:34):
And I thought, oh my god, we're going to get
ten thousand. So that led us on our way and whatnot.
And you know, but I want to tell you, I
want to thank you very much for being here today.
It was really great seeing you and knowing, as I
said at the very beginning, you're a pioneer in all
of this and setting this whole thing across America for
(16:55):
the last.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Almost forty years.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
So again, thank you. But one thing before I had
to show you this, I'm gonna ask go on to
turn it on. There was a thing the other day
and you'll see it, but it reminded me of your
wife be running the concession stand, and we're doing it
doing the concession stand. I want your reaction after you
(17:20):
see this, and a second if Bond can pull it off.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Koma, a Little league basketball program will be unable to
follow its yearly tradition of providing its players with college
scholarships this year, after Hara police say the program's treasurer
drained the league's bank account, spending it all at restaurants,
stores and much more, coffee shops, instacart, PayPal, at and
(17:46):
T bills. Those were just a few of the things
and places that Hara Police Chief Marty Burns told News Nation.
The defendants spent more than twenty seven thousand dollars that
belonged to the Hara League Basketball Association over the past year.
A lot of these, a lot of these were very
obviously not basketball related, burn said. Burn says his department
(18:11):
first started investigating after the association's president reported to police
that the association's bank account had been nearly drained of
all funds. There was about two dollars left in the account.
Burn said, Can.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
You imagine that Berrell, as I mentioned before, you're right
being took duties of running your.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Concession stand there. That was such a great time.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
We did a video that was sponsored by day Rade,
and I wondered, have you ever heard of anything like
this before?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
I know it goes on across the country, but give
me your take on what that guy just said.
Speaker 6 (18:50):
Unfortunately, it's a rarity and it's ex extremely unfortunate that
something like that would occur an elite in a league
because league spends a lot of time and effort in
fundraising to make things possible for a successful season. V
for example, took a shell of a building and she
converted it into what became our largest money maker in
(19:15):
the entire league. She said she had everything inside that
can set you stand, that you could ask for. She
generated over thirteen thousand dollars in profit for the league,
which was partially responsible for us to buy all of
the players, ran new uniforms, field equipment, do the field
(19:36):
upgrades and field improvements and so forth.
Speaker 7 (19:39):
I want to show you real quick.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
This is an article, an annual article that appeared in
Women's Day magazine and on the cover it was about
little leagues throughout the nation. On the cover is Tom Selik,
remember Tom Selick from Magnum p I see. And inside
this article was a two pay story about my wife
(20:02):
be entitled how to Paint Your Little League Green, and
it described.
Speaker 7 (20:09):
Everything that we had done.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
We came from concession stand to confession confession stand because
everybody loved to migrate.
Speaker 7 (20:19):
Around the concession stand and talk and chat and have
a great time.
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Be met instrumental in helping me personally with all the
clerical duties, the typing programs, administrative aspects to go along
with what we accomplished for the parents and children in
that league back in those two years.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
It was just a wonderful experience for us personally.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, I can't remember all the things that she did.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
And you know the old expression that takes two to tango,
and you guys did really tango. But Bill, again, I
want to thank you for being on and thank you
for all the years that you gave to the organization.
Speaker 7 (20:58):
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Fred.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
You are a living legend, guy, a looting legend.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
I know how modest you are, but boy, what an
impact and difference that you've made in many, many people's lives.
Speaker 7 (21:09):
Thank you for what you did.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
See and Bill, we're going to go now to a
little commercial I think for mom and promote a book.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
That I wrote.
Speaker 8 (21:22):
In this best selling book, a child, while failing to
live up to his father's expectations, is shamed and humiliated
beyond belief. He vows to never allow his own son
to face the same.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
It's try to have a bill bag it back on
the program.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
While he went back, he'd never been been back in
my mind, because I hadn't seen him for a while
and you think back, Wow, loose years and everything.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
We try to do.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
But you know, I mentioned before that we have the
opportunity with the National Alliance for You Sports to interview
a great number of top athletes and coaches.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And throughout the country.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
And we showed an excerpt of Herb kirk Street last week,
and this week we have Greg Olsen and Greg is
talking about something that is so important to parents, and
that is dealing with failure. You know, I'll never forget
And I told this before on a previous show. A
(22:27):
judge was telling me that they're going home from a
football game and his wife was sitting next to him
in the car yelling at her son, their son about
all the things he did wrong in the game and
why they lost. And I thought, man, somebody's got to
understand this. So I want you to listen to some
(22:48):
of the things that Greg Olsen has to say if
you're a parent and if you're thinking about coaching or or.
Speaker 9 (22:54):
Coaching, and it's very easy as parents and all and
we all fell guilty of this, including myself, at times
where you feel like you're doing a better job as
a parent if you remove the ability to fail. You
don't put them in that tough spot, you don't put
them in that hard game, you don't put them in
that critical situation. And that's in their best interest because
everyone directly correlates failure and lack of confidence, and they're
(23:19):
not going to want to do it anymore. And all
that I have constantly reminded myself, and I try to say, hey, no,
like I want my kid to fail when he's ten,
because if they fail when they're ten, there's really no stakes.
I mean, of course they're disappointed it was a big
game or whatever it was, But I don't want my
kid to fail for the first time when he's eighteen, Right,
(23:40):
failing quote unquote failing or having a setback or a
letdown or one of those moments that get away. If
you've been protected and that path has been just paved
for you your whole life under the guys of being
in your best interest to develop confidence, you've really developed
a false confidence because now all of a sudden, you're
going to find somebody at some point, either better than
(24:00):
you or a game that's not going to go your way.
It's inevitable. It's not a matter of if it's going
to happen. It's just a matter of when. And the
more you challenge yourself and the harder competition and the
higher level you try to pursue, the more likely and
the more often that it's going to happen. So I'd
rather that happen to my kid when he's ten and
have that bad game and that tough ride home and
feeling like he let his team down or lost his
(24:23):
starting position, or didn't make the team, whatever the category
if you quote unquote failure is. I'd rather them learn
to deal with those setbacks now when they're ten and
they're at home and they're with mom and dad and
we can talk through it. They're a little more open minded.
An eighteen year old who's never experienced failure, who's always
been the best kid, who's never had missed, you know,
never had a game that he lost because everything was
(24:44):
paid for him. He always made the team, he was
always the starting short stop. You know, that kid, all
of a sudden, at eighteen could experience his first setback,
and that's a heck of a lot of it. That's
a different time for these kids. The way their brains
are wired, the way they're maturing, and they're that's a
whole different animal. And I think, you know, all of
a sudden, that kid doesn't know how to handle it
because it's the first time he's ever done it. So
(25:05):
I'm a big believer fail often fail, and to fail
early on as long. And then we got to really
work on what is the process for overcome and failure,
you know, by talking about it and making a plan
and making sure the mindset is the right.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
So there's a lot to that psychology.
Speaker 9 (25:21):
But yeah, I'd rather our kids fail when they're nine
and ten than when they're twenty.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
What great advice he's got. Who all your parents out
there are coaching, are going to be coaching?
Speaker 7 (25:35):
Think he did?
Speaker 5 (25:36):
That? Been a great show this week with Bill Bigen
coming back on to tell us.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
About the past.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Each week I talk about who we're going to have.
We had for her cur Street, he was great. Ray
Olsen know you enjoyed that.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
But that's week. We're going to have a good one.
Like I said, this show must go on. I'll try.
We're going to have the University of.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Connecticut basketball coach Dannie Hurley talking about his take on
kids playing sports.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
So I want to thank you for joining us this.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Week and every Friday at eleven am, we'll be here
talking about why Johnny hates sports.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And what we can do about it.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
This program is sponsored by Sir Dirff Publishing in the
interest or Better Sports for Kids, Better Kids for Life.
Speaker 8 (26:34):
In this best selling book, a child, while failing to
live up to his father's expectations, is shamed and humiliated
beyond belief. He vows to never allow his own son
to face the same
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
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(00:20):
choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Sports for kids in America began with what we affectionately
called sandlot ball, where kids organized their own games, made
their own rules, and played until the sun went down.
Then came along parents.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I'm gonna get you to night because you let me down.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I don't know you did.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I'll what you do let me down.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
I don't care if you've.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I'll get you.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
Day.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Every time I see that, my blood curdls. Hey, we
got a great show to know and the show to go.
You ever heard that expression a thousand times that.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
The show must go on? Well you can tell by
my voice this show must go on. But just can't
get rid of this cold.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
But you know what, We've got a great pioneer with
this whole organization. I was telling John my Son, who
now runs the National Alliance for You Sports, yesterday saying,
you know, we would even be here if it wasn't
for this guy. And he's what you would call a pioneer,
pioneer that started the organization with setting the standard for
(02:00):
many youth organizations across the country. And his name is
Bill Waggett. I'm really happy to have him on the
show today. There is with my friend Bill Waggott Paddi Fred,
how are you doing, buddy?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I'm doing a good Bill.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
And you know what I mentioned the fact that you're
a pioneer, and you really are a pioneer in this
whole thing.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You know.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
I remember the time I went back to the very
beginning and trying to come up with an idea that
you're going to train coaches and have them understand what
the role was playing in kids' sports. And I went
to John's coach and I said, hey, I have this
idea about having coaches be trained before they got out
(02:44):
there on the field.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
And he said, that's a great idea that it will
never happen.
Speaker 5 (02:49):
You're not going to get these people out there on
the field, Fred in a room.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
You know, they're going to get them in there to
get trained. They're volunteers. And what I thought, Oh, this
is the end of it.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
And then, for some reason or another, and you remember, Bill,
we had a meeting of the Youth League residents in
Palm Beach County and that was a long time ago,
and I thought maybe if we bring them together that
I could make sense to them.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
And it worked.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
You were there, and you were there not only there physically,
you were there in mind of thinking something needed to
be done. And so with that first meeting, I left
and the next thing I heard from you, and that
was that you were going to do the program. So,
(03:42):
like I say, you were the first person to the audience.
People can think if you had kids and coaches. An
organization starts somewhere, and it starts with somebody who takes
the effort to do what is right.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
And I want to applaud you for that, and I want.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
To ask you what was it like to be able
to get out there and.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Tell these coaches that they're going to have to be trained.
Speaker 6 (04:08):
Interestingly enough, Fred I started as a t ball coach
for six year old kids. For two years. Our league
was called North County Little League based in Juno, Florida.
We had three baseball fields, two or four the little
league players and the other field was up the road
(04:29):
for the senior league players. So we had children ages
six through eighteen playing in our league. We had three
hundred parents. We had twenty baseball teams, but in addition
to that, we had eight girls softball teams in the league.
So we had a very diverse league there with wonderful
(04:51):
players and parents and field facilities. I met when I
met you at the hotel there, I was blown away
because I listened to listen to you describe what your
plans were to proceed with making you sports of positive
and safe experience. And I thought about that, and I
(05:15):
contacted you after that about a week later and says,
we are all in fred. I had a meeting with
the board and they're going to They're in your corner.
Whatever you need, We're there for you. The next step
we took was you set up a date for this
certification clinic. And I believe it was the first certification clinic,
(05:35):
if not in Florida, possibly in the United States of America,
possibly in the country, and I asked, well, how's that
going to take place. You said, well, we're going to
have a big screen and we're going to show videos
of the different tapes that we have. I says, that's fantastic,
can't wait to see it. Then before I attended, I
(05:57):
thought more about it, and I said to myself, if
you know what, we need to share this stage with
other leagues within our area, not just for my league,
North County Little League, the coaches and managers and assistant
managers in my league, but in addition to that, let
me invite two of the neighboring leagues to also attend
and bring their coaches and managers. So I called. I
(06:19):
phoned the league president of North Palm Beach and asked
him to bring to come on board, and he readily agreed.
Then I also called the president of the league in
Lake Park and wanst him to attend, so we would
have three league presidents and attendance at this program. What
(06:40):
we did we went to Palm Beach Gardens High School
and we rented out the auditorium because we knew we'd
probably have about one hundred different coaches and managers representing
three different Little leagues in northern Palm Beach County, and
it was a phenomenal start. Fred, you gave the opening remarks.
(07:00):
The first night was three hours of videotapes. We returned
the second night after that for an additional three hours
of tapes, or a total of six hours, and that
is began a new era in youth sports coaching in
our leagues in northern Bomb Beach County, Florida.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
That was phenomenal. Well, that's amazing. You know you're saying
that because you know, it's like the old snowball begins
and begins to role.
Speaker 5 (07:26):
A lot of people wouldn't imagine that today where you
had the first one.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Now there's over four.
Speaker 5 (07:33):
Million people who act as coaches of parents that did
in the past and still continue today to do that program.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
So it's amazing.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
But the question I have for you, Bill is, you
know when Jones, coach told me a good idea, but
what never happened? He said, you know these coaches wouldn't do.
What happened after you talked to them, and you know
they showed up.
Speaker 7 (08:00):
That's another good question.
Speaker 6 (08:01):
Let me reference something here there with me just a
second right in my notes. Anyhow, we went to the
board and asked to describe the benefits, advantages and so
forth of NYSCA and the certification program, and they unanimously,
(08:21):
quickly and unanimously approved that. So I needed board approval
and they were behind us one, so that that kicked
it off. And thereafter I invited the adjoining league presidents
and their players to join us as well.
Speaker 7 (08:37):
What a what a phenomenal star, wasn't it?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Well it was?
Speaker 7 (08:41):
And you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
I remember after you did your program and began to spread,
I ran out and did clinics and ran programs and
there was one that I.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Will never forget. What happened is we went through the
whole deal with the coach talking about the.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
Psychology of you know, it was the importance was being
fair and honest and ethical with kids. And after all that,
the discussion went on with the coaches and you know
what role they would play. And when it was all over,
Guy walked up to me and I thought he was
(09:28):
going to say, you know, why did you make me.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Come out here on a Saturday morning to go through this.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
I knew to do this, I needed to cut the
grass and everything else around the house.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
But he said, I got to tell you something.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
After hearing that sports psychology guy on the screen talk
about how you affect kids, I want to tell you
I have damaged a lot of kids. And I thought,
you've got to be kidding me. He said, no, it's
I've done just what you talked about of being abusive
(10:05):
to kids, yelling, screaming, and psychologically harming them. And he said,
I certainly learned a lot. So yeah, it was just
wonderful hearing that all that from somebody. So I know
you did and you continue the program. But a funny
thing that you said. You said NYSCA, and somebody might say, hey,
(10:25):
I saw this program and said the National Alliance for
Youth Sports, So what is NYSCA, and nobody realizes what
happened in the beginning. It was the National Youth Sports
Coaches Association.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
Right, correct, Yes, that was how we started.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, go ahead, yeah.
Speaker 6 (10:47):
Nysc National Youth Sports Coaches Association. Wow, we got off.
We were out of the gate fast, reread in one
hundred percent in believing and practicing and with everything that
you presented.
Speaker 7 (11:05):
I looked at my notes.
Speaker 6 (11:06):
I'm going back to nineteen eighty one and you met
with our league in person, and you also commented on
how well organized and sophisticated our league had become and
that you are proud to be associated with us. You
mentioned that Bill Baggett, representing our league, was recently appointed
(11:28):
to the national Board of NYSAA. What an honor that was,
and that was our humble beginnings. Fred, the first forward
meeting was the four of us. It was you, it
was me, it was John Dance, who was the director
of Parks and Recreation for Palm Beach County, and Jim Bohan,
he was the head of Wells fight As Chocolates.
Speaker 7 (11:51):
That's what's the start.
Speaker 6 (11:52):
You remember that far back, it was just incredible, and
what you grew into year after year and.
Speaker 7 (11:59):
Decade after decade was just phenomenal.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Our initial visit, Fred, together with our league members, you
showed the video tape that had been made in conjunction
with North County Little League on our fields and was
seen by thousands thousands of people around the country.
Speaker 7 (12:18):
You asked for our cooperation.
Speaker 6 (12:20):
Again with two new training programs which will be filmed
at our baseball park in juneo One is a softball
video tape featuring the National Commissioner of the American Softball
Association and second a baseball video tape made in conjunction
with the University of Miami baseball team, which was the
(12:42):
nineteen eighty two National Collegiate champions. That was Coke stip
Bertram back then, you remember, head coach of the Miami Hurricanes
baseball team and the video tapes. I've got this. I
want to just kind of cover what they were in
the beginnings. It was a brand new videotape series developed
(13:03):
by you that offers comprehensive guidelines for parents, players and
coaches who were involved in community youth sports programs. One
of the tape was by Gary Sparks player coach Relationships
Ideal for showing at league organization meetings. Another take was
by doctor Richard McGill, who was a sports psychologist from
(13:26):
LSU University. He came to our field and it was
filmed on our field. If you recall, it was called
the video was Parents Guidelines for Youth Sports, a musk
a musk for showing at special meetings for parents who
signed their child up for your program. The third video
tape that we showed at our joint meeting with the
other leagues was how to Conduct an effective coach in
(13:50):
parent meeting, presented by again Gary Sports, Gary Sparks, which
every coach needs to know how to deal with parents.
Dealing with parents, This show, this tape will show you how. Then,
of course it was doctor Richard McGill videotape which were
from the phenomenal He's a sports psychologist. His take was
(14:11):
the psychology of coach coaching Youth Sports. Another tape preventing
Injuries in Youth Sports. Another tape by someone else's first
aid and the volunteer coach the coach. The videotape by
Skip bertram In the Miami Hurricane National Baseball Championship team
was teaching kids the fundamentals of baseball and softball, filmed
(14:35):
right at our field in Geno Park.
Speaker 7 (14:37):
Those were the days, Fred mart They.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
Yeah, well, let me go back to something before you
had mentioned being on the board. I'll switch twitch foxboard
for a second. But remember we started out with the
organization with about one hundred and twenty four dollars in
the bank, and I had no idea how we're going
(14:59):
to continue.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
But then we had a bright idea.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
And you and me, and that was to go to
a bank because maybe if we can get the bank
to give us some money to get it started.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
So one of the board members we talked about it, said.
Speaker 5 (15:16):
Yeah, that's a good idea. And then we said, well,
we need someone like you that has a background because
they're not going to give any money to me. And
Bill was, you know, being my support there. But James said,
all right, I'm going to not mention his last name,
(15:36):
even though he's not around anymore.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
But he said, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
I'll meet you at the bank on Monday morning at
nine o'clock and we'll go in and we'll go talk
to the people in the bank and get our twenty
thousand and we'll be off and running. It's it's funny now,
but it wasn't funny then, remember, So we go there
and we sit outside and we wait and nine o'clock
and then it's nine ten, fifteen, twenty nine thirty were
(16:05):
saying he ain't on a show.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
And he never did show.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
But you know what.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Happened from that. I don't know, maybe.
Speaker 5 (16:12):
In one of your meetings somebody picked up on it,
but there was a guy that was there that was
president of one of the local paternal organizations and he
invited me to come to speed, and I went in
and spoke. He came up afterwards he said, a great idea.
We're going to donate ten thousand dollars to you guys.
(16:34):
And I thought, oh my god, we're going to get
ten thousand. So that led us on our way and whatnot.
And you know, but I want to tell you, I
want to thank you very much for being here today.
It was really great seeing you and knowing, as I
said at the very beginning, you're a pioneer in all
of this and setting this whole thing across America for
(16:55):
the last.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Almost forty years.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
So again, thank you. But one thing before I had
to show you this, I'm gonna ask go on to
turn it on. There was a thing the other day
and you'll see it, but it reminded me of your
wife be running the concession stand, and we're doing it
doing the concession stand. I want your reaction after you
(17:20):
see this, and a second if Bond can pull it off.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
Koma, a Little league basketball program will be unable to
follow its yearly tradition of providing its players with college
scholarships this year, after Hara police say the program's treasurer
drained the league's bank account, spending it all at restaurants,
stores and much more, coffee shops, instacart, PayPal, at and
(17:46):
T bills. Those were just a few of the things
and places that Hara Police Chief Marty Burns told News Nation.
The defendants spent more than twenty seven thousand dollars that
belonged to the Hara League Basketball Association over the past year.
A lot of these, a lot of these were very
obviously not basketball related, burn said. Burn says his department
(18:11):
first started investigating after the association's president reported to police
that the association's bank account had been nearly drained of
all funds. There was about two dollars left in the account.
Burn said, Can.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
You imagine that Berrell, as I mentioned before, you're right
being took duties of running your.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Concession stand there. That was such a great time.
Speaker 5 (18:36):
We did a video that was sponsored by day Rade,
and I wondered, have you ever heard of anything like
this before?
Speaker 3 (18:44):
I know it goes on across the country, but give
me your take on what that guy just said.
Speaker 6 (18:50):
Unfortunately, it's a rarity and it's ex extremely unfortunate that
something like that would occur an elite in a league
because league spends a lot of time and effort in
fundraising to make things possible for a successful season. V
for example, took a shell of a building and she
converted it into what became our largest money maker in
(19:15):
the entire league. She said she had everything inside that
can set you stand, that you could ask for. She
generated over thirteen thousand dollars in profit for the league,
which was partially responsible for us to buy all of
the players, ran new uniforms, field equipment, do the field
(19:36):
upgrades and field improvements and so forth.
Speaker 7 (19:39):
I want to show you real quick.
Speaker 6 (19:41):
This is an article, an annual article that appeared in
Women's Day magazine and on the cover it was about
little leagues throughout the nation. On the cover is Tom Selik,
remember Tom Selick from Magnum p I see. And inside
this article was a two pay story about my wife
(20:02):
be entitled how to Paint Your Little League Green, and
it described.
Speaker 7 (20:09):
Everything that we had done.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
We came from concession stand to confession confession stand because
everybody loved to migrate.
Speaker 7 (20:19):
Around the concession stand and talk and chat and have
a great time.
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Be met instrumental in helping me personally with all the
clerical duties, the typing programs, administrative aspects to go along
with what we accomplished for the parents and children in
that league back in those two years.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
It was just a wonderful experience for us personally.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Yeah, I can't remember all the things that she did.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
And you know the old expression that takes two to tango,
and you guys did really tango. But Bill, again, I
want to thank you for being on and thank you
for all the years that you gave to the organization.
Speaker 7 (20:58):
It's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Fred.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
You are a living legend, guy, a looting legend.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
I know how modest you are, but boy, what an
impact and difference that you've made in many, many people's lives.
Speaker 7 (21:09):
Thank you for what you did.
Speaker 6 (21:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (21:11):
See and Bill, we're going to go now to a
little commercial I think for mom and promote a book.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
That I wrote.
Speaker 8 (21:22):
In this best selling book, a child, while failing to
live up to his father's expectations, is shamed and humiliated
beyond belief. He vows to never allow his own son
to face the same.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
It's try to have a bill bag it back on
the program.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
While he went back, he'd never been been back in
my mind, because I hadn't seen him for a while
and you think back, Wow, loose years and everything.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
We try to do.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
But you know, I mentioned before that we have the
opportunity with the National Alliance for You Sports to interview
a great number of top athletes and coaches.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
And throughout the country.
Speaker 5 (22:03):
And we showed an excerpt of Herb kirk Street last week,
and this week we have Greg Olsen and Greg is
talking about something that is so important to parents, and
that is dealing with failure. You know, I'll never forget
And I told this before on a previous show. A
(22:27):
judge was telling me that they're going home from a
football game and his wife was sitting next to him
in the car yelling at her son, their son about
all the things he did wrong in the game and
why they lost. And I thought, man, somebody's got to
understand this. So I want you to listen to some
(22:48):
of the things that Greg Olsen has to say if
you're a parent and if you're thinking about coaching or or.
Speaker 9 (22:54):
Coaching, and it's very easy as parents and all and
we all fell guilty of this, including myself, at times
where you feel like you're doing a better job as
a parent if you remove the ability to fail. You
don't put them in that tough spot, you don't put
them in that hard game, you don't put them in
that critical situation. And that's in their best interest because
everyone directly correlates failure and lack of confidence, and they're
(23:19):
not going to want to do it anymore. And all
that I have constantly reminded myself, and I try to say, hey, no,
like I want my kid to fail when he's ten,
because if they fail when they're ten, there's really no stakes.
I mean, of course they're disappointed it was a big
game or whatever it was, But I don't want my
kid to fail for the first time when he's eighteen, Right,
(23:40):
failing quote unquote failing or having a setback or a
letdown or one of those moments that get away. If
you've been protected and that path has been just paved
for you your whole life under the guys of being
in your best interest to develop confidence, you've really developed
a false confidence because now all of a sudden, you're
going to find somebody at some point, either better than
(24:00):
you or a game that's not going to go your way.
It's inevitable. It's not a matter of if it's going
to happen. It's just a matter of when. And the
more you challenge yourself and the harder competition and the
higher level you try to pursue, the more likely and
the more often that it's going to happen. So I'd
rather that happen to my kid when he's ten and
have that bad game and that tough ride home and
feeling like he let his team down or lost his
(24:23):
starting position, or didn't make the team, whatever the category
if you quote unquote failure is. I'd rather them learn
to deal with those setbacks now when they're ten and
they're at home and they're with mom and dad and
we can talk through it. They're a little more open minded.
An eighteen year old who's never experienced failure, who's always
been the best kid, who's never had missed, you know,
never had a game that he lost because everything was
(24:44):
paid for him. He always made the team, he was
always the starting short stop. You know, that kid, all
of a sudden, at eighteen could experience his first setback,
and that's a heck of a lot of it. That's
a different time for these kids. The way their brains
are wired, the way they're maturing, and they're that's a
whole different animal. And I think, you know, all of
a sudden, that kid doesn't know how to handle it
because it's the first time he's ever done it. So
(25:05):
I'm a big believer fail often fail, and to fail
early on as long. And then we got to really
work on what is the process for overcome and failure,
you know, by talking about it and making a plan
and making sure the mindset is the right.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
So there's a lot to that psychology.
Speaker 9 (25:21):
But yeah, I'd rather our kids fail when they're nine
and ten than when they're twenty.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
What great advice he's got. Who all your parents out
there are coaching, are going to be coaching?
Speaker 7 (25:35):
Think he did?
Speaker 5 (25:36):
That? Been a great show this week with Bill Bigen
coming back on to tell us.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
About the past.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
Each week I talk about who we're going to have.
We had for her cur Street, he was great. Ray
Olsen know you enjoyed that.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
But that's week. We're going to have a good one.
Like I said, this show must go on. I'll try.
We're going to have the University of.
Speaker 5 (26:05):
Connecticut basketball coach Dannie Hurley talking about his take on
kids playing sports.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
So I want to thank you for joining us this.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Week and every Friday at eleven am, we'll be here
talking about why Johnny hates sports.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
And what we can do about it.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
This program is sponsored by Sir Dirff Publishing in the
interest or Better Sports for Kids, Better Kids for Life.
Speaker 8 (26:34):
In this best selling book, a child, while failing to
live up to his father's expectations, is shamed and humiliated
beyond belief. He vows to never allow his own son
to face the same
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