Mike Matheny’s book is the best book I’ve ever read on youth sports.
Matheny is the current manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and a retired catcher who played 13 seasons for four teams, winning four Gold Glove awards for his defensive prowess behind the plate. He replaced legendary manager Tony LaRussa in 2012 and won the National League pennant in 2013.
In 2008, between his playing days and his managing career, he was asked to coach his son’s youth baseball team. He agreed, but only if the parents agreed to a set of rules or operating procedures that has since been codified as the ‘Matheny Manifesto’. The manifesto can be downloaded in pdf. Essentially, Matheny wanted to make sure the parents understood that, if he was going to do this, he was going to do it right – meaning he was going to take the opportunity to build the character of the kids on the team. Shortly after giving this speech to the parents of his son’s team, the manifesto went viral on Facebook. Matheny’s book includes the manifesto, how his experience in youth and professional sports resulted in this philosophy, and expands into other areas of life that sports can contribute.
Highlights of the manifesto:
- It starts with this: “I’ve always said I would coach only a team of orphans. Why? Because the biggest problem in youth sports is the parents”.
- “I believe biggest role a parent can play is to be a silent source of encouragement”.
- “Attitude, concentration, and effort are three things they can control”. You know I love this quote – he essentially said my Hustle & Attitude pitch…I had been coaching for several years by the time he said it; so I’m guessing I said it first!
- “I know times have changed, but one of the greatest lessons my father taught me was that my coach was always right-even when he was wrong”.
- “There’s never an excuse for a lack of hustle on a baseball field”.
Concluding the opening chapter introducing the manifesto, Matheny says “Only a miniscule fraction of the boys and girls you and I coach will ever make a living or even put themselves through college as athletes. But they can all become better men and women if we can instill in them values they can apply in the workplace, in their homes and families, and in their communities”. AMEN BROTHER!
The book is then broken into 3 parts: The Problem, A Better Way, and The Keys to Success. Highlights of each part include:
Part 1 – The Problem
- “Somehow, the more organized sports became, the more they became about the parents and not about the kids”.
- Explaining that some parents were OK leaving a team where they “put less emphasis on winning, refused to dominate other teams, and purposely moved players around in what appeared to be nonsensical lineups”.
- In explaining how parents can reduce the pressure on their kids by being “just a spectator and fan of your child doing something that he loves” instead of being “the world’s best cheerleader”, Matheny says about kids “He has the rest of his life to learn about real pressure and disappointment. Let him have fun”.
Part 2 – A Better Way
- “Our sole desire was and still is to use the arena of youth sports-in our case, baseball-to teach kids the game, encourage them to love it, and set them on a course toward becoming responsible members of society”. WOW!
- On playing multiple positions: “I did push the kids on our youth team to try new positions at least once”, “I do believe kids should start specializing in certain positions at some point, but not until they are well into their teenage years”, and “Please let them play all the positions at the beginning stages of their games, and I’m talking about more than tee ball”.
- Matheny has a chapter where he goes through Hall of Fame basketball coach John Wooden’s maxims, including one of my favorites: “The best competition I have is against myself to become better”.
Part 3 – The Keys to Success; in this part of the book, Matheny goes through his experiences and how they have shaped his youth sports philosophy (fans of the University of Michigan and the St. Louis Cardinals will enjoy these sections)
- Leadership
- Confidence
- Teamwork; “Many coaches don’t leave families any room to enjoy their summers aside from the baseball schedule. Try to remember that these kids have these summer breaks for only a few years”.
- Faith; another thing I appreciate about Matheny is he is a Christian. In this section, he explains that he doesn’t openly evangelize as a youth coach (or Cardinals manager for that matter), but that his faith is important to him and he will never shy away from it.
- Class; “Resign yourself to the fact that by and large the umpiring at the lower levels is going to be bad, and set your team’s expectations accordingly” and “usually bad umpiring is not intentional”.
- Character; on page 182 (of the hardcover version I have), Matheny comments how it seemed that everywhere his team went they heard positive comments about the boys’ “hustle and discipline” and later he explains that it wasn’t about “attracting only the best talent” but “this was all about attitude“. Any questions why I really like his philosophy?
- Toughness; in this chapter Matheny relates his own story dealing with concussions that forced him to retire. Further, he describes the situation “Kids in youth sports think they’re invincible” and “it falls to us adults to do the right thing…to guarantee that nothing close to what happened to me-and so many others-ever happens to a player who has been entrusted to us”. I particularly like the way he puts the last part…players who are entrusted to us.
- Humility
There are only two areas where I slightly disagree with Matheny: participation trophies and player selection.
I have written about my position on participation trophies before. Matheny is against them; suggesting that it is OK for a child’s first or second year of organized sports, but “at a certain age there is way too much to learn from loss and failure to let kids continue thinking that everyone should get a trophy, even when they finish in last place”. He goes on to say that a participation ribbon or certificate would be OK, but not a trophy. As I have said before, I agree that sports provides life lessons on how to win graciously and not be a sore loser. As for the harsh realities of the world, I say let the kids be kids and they’ll learn the harsh realities when they get to high school. And, essentially, Matheny’s concession about certificates or ribbons means he’s all for all players getting something at the end of the year, just not trophies. He makes a distinction between trophies – which should go to the winners – and certificates and ribbons. I think the hubbub about participation trophies is blown out of proportion; it’s not that big a deal.
As for our differences on player selection; it really boils down to the type of leagues we’re talking about. Matheny describes having to tell players they weren’t welcome on the team anymore because they didn’t appear to have the desire to put the effort required to be on the team. Well, that sounds like a select or travel team. My philosophy is specifically intended for youth recreational sports . In recreational sports, no child is turned away. Every child that joins the team makes the team and the Hustle & Attitude philosophy is that they play equal amounts of time at multiple positions. What is encouraging is the significant overlap between the Hustle & Attitude philosophy and Matheny’s philosophy (see all the highlights above) and how many of the principles apply to select and travel leagues as well as recreational leagues.
In summary, if you care about youth sports at all, I recommend you read Matheny’s book. His manifesto is all about providing positive experiences for youth in sports (just like the Hustle & Attitude philosophy).
Hustle & Attitude 
I will have to read his book but I firmly agree with his position on participation trophies. It also seems you may be inserting your phisophy on who should play. I will get his book but I believe he will lean more towards playing the better players even at a younger age. I bet he feels the same as I do that it is never to young to learn that life will never be easy and you will have to be better then the other guy if you want to achieve your goals in life. Iet me qualify my feelings, don’the think for a second that my heart dosen’t go out to that youngster and his parents who just cannot grasp the basics of the game and dosen’t get a chance to play. I had the pleasure of couching little league baseball players for many years and I don’t remember any problems from the players or very few from the parents of those youngsters who made the team but did not get to play much. I was blessed to have an example of a multiple sport player in my home who grew up under my phisophy and turned out to have a rewarding life career and wonderful family.
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