Hardesty: For a little guy, a little coaching means a lot

The wonderful piece submitted to Round 2 last week by Melissa Morris, who coaches youth soccer for the Ravenna Parks & Recreation Department, about Kent Parks & Rec youth soccer coach Eric Allen and the positive impact he makes on kids’ lives, got me thinking about the youth football and baseball coaches I played for while growing up in Mogadore.

I could write a book on those experiences — and at some point I might — but the common denominator that connected them was this: They were in it for us. There wasn’t a self-serving coach in the bunch. That may sound overly simplistic, but it’s a rarer trait than you might think. There was a time when I covered a lot of youth baseball, and I was amazed and appalled at how many coaches thought they were Earl Weaver managing in the World Series rather than a volunteer coaching little kids.