ACCOUNTABILITY

Own it.

I like to explain accountability to the kids as responsibility “squared.”

It’s not just handling your job. It’s pushing through to finish the job or finish the task.

The accountable person tries the first door – it’s locked. Tries the second door – it’s locked. Tries the third door – it’s open. Mission accomplished.

And that’s a really difficult, and a very complex, theme. Something that we fail at all the time in the world today. And as adults I know I coach college athletes now. And accountability is a huge theme.

At the high school level and even in the youth ranks it’s even harder. So we’ve got to be realistic and start somewhere. We owe it to these kids to teach them accountability. And here’s our simple challenges for this week.

Carry your own bag. In a positive way, when you walk onto the baseball field you are a baseball player. Handle your gear.

Coaches. Parents. Clean the field. At the college level, we call them “field jobs.” The same holds true for high school baseball. So assign a specific task to each player and get this field looking better than it looked when you showed up.

I’ve learned to really love accountability. As a small business owner – 15 years at an indoor training facility – these places are nuts… the “front desk dude” is my savior. He’s the most important guy in the shop. He’s the captain of that ship on a day-to-day basis and while I might be in a cage doing lessons he’s making decisions all day long about challenges and problems we could have never predicted. Those guys that lasted at the front-desk-dude position were accountable. They learned. They maybe weren’t accountable when they started, but they learned to make decisions.

And that’s the challenge. This week we’re trying to teach accountability. At the youngest level. And keep it simple.

Play hard, have fun.

Conversation Questions

1. Name something a particular position player is accountable to do?
2. Accountability can mean admitting you made a mistake – has that happened to you?
3. Never quit, figure it out, get the job done.  What projects do you attack in this fashion?

Athlete Challenge

Handle your own gear!

Coach Challenge

Field jobs and park improvements.

EQUIPMENT LIST