I grew up loving baseball. It taught me how to win, how to lose, how to lead, and how to follow. It taught me humility and patience — skills that I wanted my students to understand and build on. So my first year teaching at Baltimore City Schools, I just knew that I wanted to coach a baseball team. I didn’t know how that was going to look. I had no idea what was out there, so I just started asking questions. I got in touch with Parks & People and found out they had a league. It’s amazing how much is happening that people don’t know about. If you want to do something, don’t give up until you find a way to get it done.
When I started the program, every single student athlete on my team had never played baseball before. Somewhere along the way they fell in love with the game. They worked so hard. I remember one of my players struggled for so long but just kept at it, until one day he got an 0-2 pitch and hit a rocket over the right fielder’s head. A bases-clearing triple; it clinched us the game. We grew a lot as a team and this year we wound up winning the championship.
But “winning” can mean a lot of things. It means setting high expectations, making the game fun and engaging, making sure that every kid feels successful every single day. It means shouting out students who are going above and beyond. Recognition is the key. If you can give these kids something that’s empowering to them, you’ve won.
Ken Tozzi teaches at KIPP Ujima Village Academy, and previously taught at Booker T. Washington Middle School for the Arts.
Photo by New Lens Productions.
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