I have been extremely fortunate to work with a number of great mentors throughout my career. While finishing my degree in Human Kinetics (UBC), I started working for a recognized leader in the strength & conditioning industry. I loved training athletes, but my favorite days were delivering our certification programs and having the opportunity to coach the coaches. The senior strength coaches from our company would always start the certification with a slide that read:
"Everything I know is wrong...and given enough time, that will prove to be true."
I still remember how uncomfortable that made me when I heard it for the first time. We were there to provide information, so why would we tell everyone that we were wrong? Weren't we supposed to have all the answers...we were the experts? Why didn't anyone leave after hearing this absurd statement? Remember, I was still in university and that is an environment where no one admits they are wrong.
It didn't take long before I realized that the "everything I know is wrong" mindset is crucial for being a leader, coach, or effective learner.  Here are 5 reasons why you need to come to grips with the fact that everything you know is wrong:
1. What is right for one person may be wrong for another
Coaching isn't one size fits all and it certainly has evolved from the "my way or the highway" approach of past decades. As baseball continues to embrace an athletic approach of developing on-field skills, the coaching will have to keep pace with a teaching style that is equally as diverse as the athletes that play the game. There are always a list constants or absolutes related to each skill, but mechanics that work for one athlete might not work for another.
2. Provides an opportunity to teach players to stand their ground
In my opinion this is a BIG concept for players and coaches to understand. As a player grows and matures, he needs to understand what works and what doesn't. "Standing their ground" essentially means that a player becomes more comfortable evaluating the information he is given and becomes more skilled at declining to employ every new idea that comes his way. It is the responsibility of the coach to provide enough information to their players that they begin to understand themselves better, rely on coaches less, and have the tools to evaluate information accurately. Coaches should consistently introduce new concepts and challenge players, but it is up to the player to know what pieces of information are critical for their success. Here is a personal example to illustrate...
I was a hard working player in high school that listened and respected all of my coaches. Coaches enjoyed working with me because I actually listened and made all the changes they asked me to make. In many ways this was a curse because in a 4 year span I had 5 completely different swings and ZERO consistency. I didn't critically evaluate the information I was being given and finished high school with no real understanding of my best swing.
3. Promotes lifelong learning
The sooner you realize that what you know will never be 100% correct for everyone or will be proven wrong over time, the more committed you will be to consistent self-education.  Continue to learn and be excited when you are embarrassed by some of the things you were teaching 5 years ago.
4. Helps avoid complacency
Given enough time, much of what you know will be proven wrong (remember when slow motion video became mainstream?!?). This should be a very strong motivator to evolve your teaching methods over time. Don't be left in the dust by a world of instant information. The biggest enemy of progress is the phrase "that's the way we have always done it". Reevaluate the idea or concept immediately if you ever catch yourself uttering these words. 
5. Realize you don't have the answers
​This concept changed the way I approached coaching. Athletes tend to rely on coaches to provide them with constant feedback and solutions to what ails them. They become reliant on coaches. I turned this concept upside down and told my players that I don't have the answers. In fact, they have all the answers.  My job as a coach is to provide them with opportunities to find the answers from within.

I recently had a conversation with another coach about the best way to reach a player who seemingly does not want to adjust or acquire new skills.  I thought I would share a few of the ideas that came from our brainstorming.
In a situation like this, I think it is very important to first understand whether the player is truly unwilling to make adjustments or if it is a situation where they are unable (either physically or mentally).  If they have a physical or mental impediment that is reducing their ability to change and adapt to the requests of a coach, this needs to be removed before the player will begin to utilize feedback.  I often see players who are benched and labelled as uncoachable for not making adjustments in situations where they are completely willing, but unable.  Here are two examples:
Physical deficit: A coach repeatedly instructs a player to “STOP dropping their back shoulder”. This player is dropping their back shoulder because their back leg is collapsing.  In this example the mechanical error is in fact directly related to a strength deficit that causes this type of swing fault.
Mental deficits: A coach ridicules a player for not taking a HBP.  However, some players have a legitimate fear of being hit by a pitch that may have roots back to an incident that occured prior to this coach working with the player. The coach will have to identify the fear and help the player remove the fear before they will become willing to get hit by pitches in games.
Assuming that the player is truly unwilling to change, here are some tips to attack the problem:
1. The first failure or repeated failures can help a player be more receptive to coaches input.  Don’t miss the “teaching moments” that are surely on the horizon! 
2. Make sure the player fully understands the WHY behind what you are asking them to do.  This is one of the keys to effective teaching, but becomes even more vital when you face some resistance from the student.
3. One cause of player resistance to feedback is a fear that because they need help from the coach, they are somehow vulnerable as a player. Coaches should review the situations where they have been providing the player with feedback and see if it is possible to reduce the amount of anxiety felt by the athlete. For example, try taking the player into more of a 1-on-1 situation to work and explain the desired skill. By providing instruction away from teammates you can remove any feelings of inferiority or vulnerability.

So many of us have started as an assistant coach with a team and felt like we were relegated to the first base coaches box to keep us busy and out of the way.  Many years ago I started as an assistant coach in the BC Junior Premier League.  I had stood in the first base coaches box as a player and was instructed to yell “BACK!” every time I thought the pitcher was going to pick over.  And, at first, I was content to contribute to this extent as a coach.  It only took a game or two before I wanted to make a much bigger impact and I made it a point to come back and discuss the inning with our third base coach to get more information to pass on to our players.  Since leaving the Junior Premier League after 4 years I have only been a first base coach for one other team.  My experience since then, however, has provided me with some insights into the responsibilities of “the other” base coach, the type of information that should be communicated and the proper positioning for various situations.
Check out our resources page for a starters guide on coaching first base. 
Coaching first base is often a role that players and coaches work hard to avoid.  It is, however, crucial to ensuring that your base running philosophy (and every team should have one!) is adhered to.  Make sure your 1st base coach, whether a coach or a player, understands their role and watch your team’s offense benefit from effective base running .

WHAT we say to our players and HOW we say it has a huge impact on performance. Here are a few things to think about when speaking to your son or your team.
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FOCUS ON THE PROCESS: When players are preoccupied with the outcome (hits, wins, runs, etc), they tend to go away from the things that make them successful. Hitters start to press when they come up with the bases loaded and swing at bad pitches. Players have difficulty finding positives in games that they lose or they do not learn from games they win. Hitters try to do too much when they are in a slump even though they have been hitting the ball hard. To combat all of this it is useful to focus players on the key things they need to do to be successful. For example, teams will score runs and win games if they put together quality at bats consistently throughout a game (hit line drives, see 6 or more pitches, move runners over, get into hitters counts, etc.). Rather than become frustrated and press when they don't score runs off (what players may feel) is a weaker pitcher, try to encourage them to trust their hitting approach and continue to grind out each at bat rather than look for the "5-run home run". This also allows teams to see a large number of small victories rather than only one large victory (winning a game/tournament)
What can you do?
-Ask you child/team HOW their at bats went, not how many hits they got. Did they hit the ball hard? Did they get themselves into hitters counts?
-Ask your child/team if they made quality pitches on the mound, not how many strike outs or whether he won.  Did they throw consistent strikes?  Did they use their off-speed pitches effectively?
-Ask your child/team questions around effort and how hard they competed. How was their preparation? These are all parts of the process...positive outcomes will follow.
FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL: No matter how hard players try, they really have no impact on the umpire, other players, the weather, or where a defense plays you when you hit. So don't let them waste their energy worrying about it. In my 12 years of coaching I have never seen an umpire change a strike call.  Arguing about it decreases our team's chances of learning from the situation and we are less likely to adapt our strike zone to increase our chances of being successful. The same goes for balls that you hit hard - you have no control over whether a play is made or not so worry about what you can control. Take care of the strike zone and do your best to square a ball up - after that it is out of your hands! 
What can you do?
-Avoid yelling at umpires as this promotes players focusing their energy on something they can't control. Players sometimes use fan reactions as a way to justify their feeling that he/she was "right" and was the VICTIM of a bad call. No learning will come from this scenario.
-Effort and compete level are ALWAYS within a players control - encourage these characteristics
STAY IN THE PRESENT: We all lose confidence (a mental state based in the PAST; developed from lingering thoughts about stike outs, errors, etc) and we all get nervous sometimes (a mental state based on worrying about an outcome sometime in the FUTURE), but the more we can focus on what is happening right now and the process required to execute that skill, the more confident and relaxed we are. 
What can you do?
-Chose more "directive" cheering; phrases like "come on guys" or "lets go" (usually right after an error and in that pleading tone we all hear around the ball park) focuses players on a past mistake or some big moment in the future.
-Try phrases that reward effort and focus players on now; "best swing right here" or "next pitch" (after a bad swing or close strike call) or "another quality pitch and a ball in play" (after an error).  Help players learn from situations and move on quickly.
PHYSICAL ERRORS ARE DIFFERENT THAN MENTAL ERRORS: As coaches and parents we need to understand that physical errors happen. Balls will be dropped, batters will be walked, hitters will chase pitches over their head, and fielder's will throw balls away. These things happen. The difference (and often the subjective judgement from coaches) is whether mistakes are made because players are unprepared, not focused, or not willing to give maximum effort. A good example is the difference between a ground ball going through a fielders legs (physical) and a fielder throwing to the wrong base (mental). Did that base runner get picked off because he wasn't paying attention or because he slipped?
What can you do? 
-Before games encourage players to maximize effort.  This needs to be the identity of EVERY team and it is contagious!
-After poor performances ask players questions around their preparedness and compete level.
-Help players understand that physical errors are part of the game and are learning experiences.  Learn from them as best you can and move on.