Sure, they teach kids the bones of baseball: how to swing a bat, secure a pop fly, steal third. But Little League coaches do so much more than explain the sport: they educate and entertain, nurture and encourage, laugh with and lead their players in an effort to develop life and leadership skills that will translate far behind the field.

Coaches help kids learn everything from the value of competition and what it’s like to work towards a collective goal to how to win (and lose) gracefully and what it means to respect your environment, your team and those who help you. They teach baseball, yeah. But they use baseball to teach more important stuff. It’s also a lot easier said than done. And why we wanted to talk to some notable Little League coaches about everything from how they run practices and encourage players and what they’ve learned along the way.