For this assignment I wanted to focus on baseball coaches. However, I was unable to attend two games each on a different level because at this point in time only the college season is underway. So instead of attending a game at a level other than college, I attended a high school practice session. At first the coach was a bit apprehensive about allowing me to attend, but he eventually allowed me to after a younger brother of a friend of mine who was on the team assured him that I wasn't a spy for another team. That said, I expected the practice to be rigorous and technical in nature and a command style coach who highly valued winning. However, it was quite the contrary.
             The coach, to my surprise, subscribed to a rather submissive/baby sitting brand of coaching. The practice had very little structure or organization. After a brief warm-up period, which consisted of a light jog and short stretching routine, he simply divided the team up into two groups. One headed for the two batting cages and the other spread themselves out to fill the remainder of the gym to throw and eventually lined up to take ground balls from the assistant coach. This went on for almost entirety of the two-hour practice (the groups switched about mid way through). During this time the head coach freely roamed the gym, stopping here and there, offering at most minor instruction to where he felt it was needed. While he was doing this, those who were waiting their turn to either bat or field were goofing around quite a bit (at least according to my standards). Only when things got overly obnoxious did the coach intervene. He didn't seem to care much about the physical or mental development of his players.
             I have to admit that I was pretty shocked to see this going on. I played baseball there all four years under two different head coaches. Both were what you could call disciplinarians; they were very organized and structu...