6 Minutes Wrestling with Life

One Person With Belief

Never doubt
That a small, thoughtful, committed group of people
Can change the world.
It is the only thing that ever has.

When I coached youth baseball, I built teams that had one goal in mind; to win a baseball game in Cooperstown on a Thursday during the summer.

I called the mission "Thursday Baseball."

You see, the Cooperstown Dreams Park Tournament was the best Youth National Baseball Tournament in the country, and the championship game was played on Thursday.

64 teams from all around the country came in every week of the summer to vie for a championship.

For various reasons, a New York team never won a Cooperstown Dreams Park Championship.

I set out to do so.

Over the years I brought eight different teams to Cooperstown.

On each attempt, the teams got closer and closer to playing on Thursday.

It was during these four years I learned the magical formula for success:

Belief + Team + Hard Work + Passion = Success

I quickly figured out why a New York Team never won.

They believed the reasons why everyone told them that they couldn't win.

"How can you compete with California kids when they get to play year round?" the nonbelievers would say.

"Florida kids are just more talented; they have major leaguers coaching them."

"They have been playing together for years, you will never beat them."

The truth is, whatever you really truly believe becomes your reality.

I truly believed one of the reasons a New York team never won a Championship at Cooperstown Dreams Park was because they didn't really try to win because they didn't believe they could win.

They believed in the excuses more than they believed in themselves.

Don't get me wrong, everyone tries to win, but not everyone is willing to sacrifice so much for such a small chance to win a National Title.

In New York it meant to play a different style of baseball than what was played locally. It meant playing with leading and stealing at an early age, it meant playing on a larger field, it meant valuing the details, the bunting, taking pitches, defense, and the ability to accept your roles. It meant everyone on the team needed to know how to pitch, hit behind the runners and know how to run the bases.

Most importantly, it meant believing in your self more than believing in the reasons why everyone else felt you couldn't win.

Each year I set out to build a team of players, who believed, who wanted to be on the team and who had the passion to pursue winning under all adverse conditions.

I simplified the formula to find the right players – the players who believed.

Over time I came up with a simply ingenious way of finding the right players for the team.

My solution was this; I held tryouts at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning in the dead of winter at an indoor facility.

Why 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning in February?

It was because if a player truly desired to be there, he could be.

No one has anything to do at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday in February in New York.