Teaching across cultures

By Scott Lowe
When you travel across the globe to teach anything to a group of people from an entirely different culture, there is an excitement that is tempered by a fear of the unknown. The feelings prior to our trip to China were no different. The end result, however, far surpassed anything that we could have hoped for - and we learned as much from the Chinese as they did from us.

Our goal was to further educate those who already coach and play baseball - so that they could pass the additional knowledge along to others and help grow the sport in a nation of more than a billion people - while also introducing hundreds of Chinese kids to a game that had brought great joy to our lives. We accomplished all of that and so much more, learning many valuable lessons about teaching and life in the process.

The trip, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Sports United program, marked the second phase of a strategic plan to grow the game of baseball in China. During the summer, 12 Chinese coaches traveled to the Ripken Baseball Academy in Aberdeen, MD, to partake in a four-week coaching education course, becoming the first international coaches to be certified by Ripken Baseball.

I was fortunate enough to lead the initial summer program, which is where the first important lessons were learned - lessons that I would like to share with those of you involved in youth baseball organizations around the United States.

Talk about a fear of the unknown! The language barrier aside, I had no idea what level of knowledge or playing experience the group of coaches possessed. I also had no concept of how knowledgeable the translators would be, nor did I know how well baseball terminology would translate to Chinese.

These people had a great distance to learn about the Ripken Way from me, so as a representative of the both the United States and the Ripken family, it was imperative that I provide the best experience possible for them. I worried about making the program too basic and boring for them. I worried about making it too advanced and them getting nothing out of it. I worried that some of them would be bored and others wouldn't.

In the end, I made a determination that even if these coaches were skilled and experienced players, they probably didn't have much experience teaching the game to kids (especially considering that they were coming from a nation with only about 50,000 baseball players). And, since one of our teaching philosophies is to keep it simple and because developing a sound fundamental base is essential to playing the game at higher levels, I decided to start with the basics by introducing them to the ways in which we teach the youngest kids the most simple fundamentals and going from there. I figured that I could determine quickly from their response if my methods were too elementary, and hopefully if they could see the amount of effort I was giving and how much I cared about their American experience, everything would work out for the best.

Fortunately, my thinking was right on the money as I watched the coaches feverishly scribbling notes, snapping pictures and videotaping everything they could. A few of the coaches spoke a little bit of English - one or two enough to hold a conversation - and the translators worked hard to learn baseball terminology as quickly as possible. Still, there were moments in which the language difference presented an obstacle rivaling their own Great Wall.

That's when I learned the most valuable lesson of all, a lesson that translates just as well when it comes to educating coaches in America: Actions speak louder, and more clearly, than words. We can sit through lectures from Nobel Prize winners, politicians, the world's most respected doctors or lawyers and top university professors. But, even if they speak the same language that we do, something inevitably is going to get lost in "translation." We learn and absorb best by doing and experiencing - by taking the abstract and making it tangible.

Of course, as someone who has been involved in coaching for the past 18 years, I was aware of this educational principle. It always was in the back of my mind, but I experienced it firsthand while directing this program and teaching a complex, cerebral game to a group of people that I could not always communicate with verbally.

A perfect example of this was a lesson designed to teach the differences between cutoffs and relays. The coaches already had some knowledge of what I was teaching, but try as he might, one of the translators struggled to communicate my lesson. The coaches had bewildered looks on their faces and were speaking to the translators in tones that seemed to be approaching anger. After about 20 minutes of frustration, I decided to put the coaches in positions on the field and literally walk them through the process. Suddenly the confused looks changed to knowing smiles. Heads that were shaking started nodding. After a couple of walkthroughs they were able to execute both team fundamentals flawlessly. They learned by doing, with baseball transcending the language barrier. It was a breakthrough moment.

Keeping the "learn by doing" philosophy in mind allowed me to develop a program for the Chinese coaches that I believe would serve youth leagues around the United States well when it comes to educating their coaches and in turn making the baseball experience better for kids everywhere. Here is how the program was structured:

Week 1
Teaching the basic fundamentals of the game to the youngest players:
• Coaches observed instructors teaching kids fundamentals at our camps while I explained why we teach that way - they were exposed to all aspects of the game.
• Coaches were put through all of the drills they had observed with me as their "coach."
• Coaches were trained, along with some American coaches, in Ripken Quickball, a ball and bat game perfect for introducing kids to baseball.
• Coaches were given the opportunity to serve as instructors and participants, running each other through the drills while I observed and corrected.
• Coaches were introduced to the concept of small group instruction, keeping players active and engaged and rotating players from station to station.
o An example: For hitting stations, I broke the coaches into four groups of three. Each group performed a different drill, with the participants acting as both instructors and pupils, rotating to a new station every 10 minutes or so.

Week 2
• Coaches observed more fundamental teachings, as well as specialty position-based lessons, at our camps in the morning, receiving instruction and explanation from me and other members of our summer coaching staff (including former MLB players Bill Ripken and Joe Orsulak).
• Afternoons were reserved for introduction to team fundamentals. These were lessons taught by me on a separate field:
o Cutoffs and relays
o Bunt defenses
o 1st and 3rd situations (offense and defense)
o Rundowns
o Steal coverages
o Pop-up priorities and communication

Week 3
Hands-on instruction week:
• In the mornings, coaches were broken into three groups of four and were active participants in our camp. Each group had a translator and traveled from station to station, rotating with the campers, and serving as both participants in the drills and instructors.
• Afternoons were again reserved for teaching team fundamentals as well as how to plan and execute practices.
o Emphasis on small groups and turning tedious drills into fun games and contests to enhance both learning and enjoyment.

Week 4
Cal Ripken World Series week:
• The 12U Cal Ripken World Series was in progress with U.S. and international teams competing.
• Coaches observed U.S. and international team practices and participated in training sessions with some of the international teams.
• Coaches observed games.
• Coaches assisted in our Kids Zone area, helping us run the Ripken Quickball station and interacting with American kids.

Important Point of Emphasis
Throughout the program, because many of the coaches did have a high level of skill competency, I made sure not to insult them by making them feel like I was teaching them how to play. Often I made certain to introduce a concept by saying something like, "I know that you can perform this skill, but it's important for me to show you the best way to introduce the skill to young players."

This is an important concept to remember when training coaches here as well. In the United States, it seems that many adults have played some form of organized baseball at some point in their lives. So, when you start to teach a volunteer coach how to throw or field properly, many times he or she may tune you out thinking that the lesson is too elementary. To avoid this, emphasize that your goal is to help them make the baseball experience better for the kids they coach by showing the volunteers the proper way to transfer their knowledge to the players.

I coach hockey as well as baseball. I've been skating since I was four years old and consider myself a strong skater, but have struggled in trying to teach that motor skill to young kids. Just because you can perform a skill successfully doesn't mean that you can teach it. As adults, especially those of us who have played competitive sports, we all have egos. It's important to keep that in mind when training coaches. If you make them feel like you know more about how to play the game than they do, they are likely to ignore you. But, if you always place the kids first and show the volunteers that you are trying to make it easier for them to coach and help the kids improve, you stand a much better chance of getting your point across.

Relating This Experience to You
I'm guessing that none of you have four full weeks in which to train your coaches. Some of you might not think that you have four hours. But, I want to refer to one of Cal Ripken, Sr.'s "Seniorisms" when explaining the importance of training the coaches in your organization. He used to say, "It takes less time to do something right than it does to do something wrong."

Taking some extra time at the beginning of the season to train your coaches in the basics is going to make the lives of the league administrators that much easier as the season progresses. Educated coaches will make the experience better for the kids. If the kids are learning and improving, they are more likely to have fun. If the kids are happy, the parents are more likely to be happy. If the parents are happy, it means fewer complaints directed toward the coaches and league administrators. If the experience is positive for the players, coaches and parents, there will be less time wasted on articulating and responding to complaints and less time spent dealing with unhappy coaches who either stop fulfilling their duties to the best of their abilities or who quit altogether. And, there will be less coaching turnover from year to year, which means less time spent beating the bushes for those elusive volunteers every winter.

So, make it a point to use some of the principles outlined in this article to construct a training program for your coaches - not a three-hour classroom session, but instead a hands-on, interactive experience. Set aside a weekend for it. If that's not practical, schedule a couple of Saturdays or evenings for the training. Involve players in the process to help make the experience more interactive. Condense what I've outlined into a workable format given your time constraints. By taking a little bit of time up front to provide your organization's volunteer coaches with some resources to help make their experience a little better, everyone, especially the kids, will win in the long run.