A coach is supposed to have skin like leather. And be unrelenting. And disciplined. Every coach I have had has fit these traits except Cody Smith.

During the fall of my junior year, I needed a traveling baseball team to play for in the offseason. I tried out for multiple teams, but I either didn’t make it or it didn’t work for me. One day while working with my pitching coach he told me about his friend who was starting an organization. He gave me the details and I checked out the website.

The first thing I saw in big maroon and yellow letters was the name “POUNDTOWN WRECKERS.”

You’ve got to be kidding me I thought to myself, what kind of name is that? But there was a certain originality to it that hooked me. What other team is going to be named the PoundTown Wreckers?

I told my friend about the young league and its equally young owner and he was interested as well. We headed to the park where the tryouts were being held. And then we walked to the field to introduce ourselves to Cody.

He stood eye to eye with us but there was a confident aura around this man that made him taller. He had a scruffy chin and spiked up hair. He was 23 years old and fresh out of college. But you wouldn’t guess it by the way he talked. He was mature to the parents, but connected with his players so well it put me at ease.

The tryout went quickly and by the end of the day, Zak and I were part of this newborn organization. We bonded strong and fast with the team and soon enough we weren’t a team anymore. We were a family. And Cody was our big brother.

While being dominant, disciplined, and determined are good traits for a coach, it can also make it hard to see at their level. My coach possesses these traits but also jokes around with us and makes it easy to reach him.  Cody Smith isn’t a teacher, but he teaches for a living.