Chick-fil-A Hustle Award

In late 2010, at the end of a long Coke season in which we endured a difficult losing streak, we decided we needed to do something to reinforce positive behaviors that we wanted to see repeated. One such behavior was extraordinary effort. I’m not talking about just running on and off the field. Teams I’m involved with are expected to do that. What I wanted to see was players diving all over the field trying to make plays. My contention, and the source of some debate within our coaching staff, is that the diving attempt (as opposed to the diving catch) can serve as a huge inspiration to teammates. When teammates see one of their own giving an extraordinary effort, even if the play is not completed by recording an out, the effort often inspires those around you to give similar efforts.

So, at the end of the 2010 season, on several occasions, I offered up milkshakes to any player willing to make a legitimate diving attempt for a baseball in the course of the game. In total, I probably bought 10 milkshakes in 2010 from various local vendors in and around Charlottesville. The low number of milkshakes purchased, however, had more to do with my inconsistency in bringing it to my players attention than it did with players unwillingness to respond. Going into 2011, I decided that I wanted the milkshake for diving attempt to be part of the fabric of our team…not an afterthought. I wanted players who were willing to “get dirty” for the sake of their team, and if a milkshake reward was what it took to get that extraordinary effort, then I was “all in”.

I polled some of our older team members and found that the Chick-fil-A milkshake rates at or near the top of everyone’s “best milkshake in town” list. So, knowing how community focused Charlottesville’s Chick-fil-A owners have been, I approached them in early 2011 with an idea. I wanted to name the award the Chick-fil-A Hustle Award (so that players would begin to talk about it by name) and I wondered if our local owners would be willing to donate coupons to be given out. In what was a real blessing to me and our players, our local Woodbrook Chick-fil-A owners were very excited to be involved.

Between my Coke and Total Performance Elite teams, we have granted approximately 120 Chick-fil-A Hustle Awards over approximately 60 baseball games (2 per/game) in 2011, and we certainly plan on keeping this award/bribe in play for 2012. It has been so much fun to watch kids excitement in the dugout when they see their teammates on the ground after a dive. I even enjoy the banter with these guys when they lobby for the milkshake after an attempt that might fall just short of a legitimate dive. I love to see the play made/the out recorded, but again, at this level (9-12 year olds), rewarded effort is repeated and eventually the skill level increases such that the play will actually be made after the attempt. As I’m often reminded, kids get bigger and their skill level increases, and in turn, they have a better chance to make plays in the future than they do now. But without effort, sometimes extraordinary effort, even skilled older players do not make the plays we think they should make. If we teach (and reinforce) effort in these young formative years, I have a feeling we’ll continue to see diving attempts and outs recorded even once the milkshakes stop changing hands.

I want to encourage my peer coaches to establish core principles for their teams. Make those principles well known to all in your baseball community and then find ways to reinforce the behaviors that support those principles. Our job, as coaches, is not merely to teach the game…it is to help raise these young men (and women). On Coke and TPE, we want to see extraordinary effort, and thanks to Chick-fil-A, we saw more of it in 2011 than we did in 2010.

If this kind of award appeals to you, please do NOT overwhelm Chick-fil-A with additional requests. I’m confident that there are many vendors or other giveaways that you can think of to create your own unique award.

Jeff Burton