As we like to say here at Top Coach, if it’s all about baseball, then you’re on the wrong field. Of course you’ve got to learn the game, but the game is merely the vehicle to the long term impact that you can have on young people’s lives. Today’s guest is Billy Mitchell. He’s about as far north as you can go in the continental United States — further north than Montreal and Toronto. And remote? You bet. Rudyard, Michigan is on the far eastern end of the Upper Peninsula.
Billy is one of the guys that gets it. He not only understands the game, as demonstrated by the success of his Eastern UP American Legion 18U baseball team, but he understands clearly why he’s doing what he’s doing. And, unfortunately, a recent event helped to bring all of that into focus.
In this episode Coach Mitchell talks about the UP, playing hockey and other sports as a youth in Sault Ste. Marie, coaches that impacted his life, coaching Legion and high school baseball, his job as a high school teacher, the brutal weather during the so-called Spring, why athletics are so important in their small communities, a former student who recently committed suicide, his message to students, and his message to coaches.
Follow Billy Mitchell on Twitter.
Follow the Eastern UP Travelers Legion Baseball on Twitter.
photo credit:Â Billy Mitchell
Intro Music: Matt’s Blues, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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