By the second game of a doubleheader, the dugout can look like a different place. The first-game chatter has faded. Water bottles are nearly empty. A few players lean against the fence while somebody searches for a cold towel or the last snack in the cooler. Nobody is necessarily angry. The day has simply become long.
Then a coach claps twice and calls out, ‘Come on, let’s bring some energy.’ A few players answer with a quick shout. Someone bangs a hand against the fence. For thirty seconds, the dugout sounds alive again. Then the noise disappears and the same tired posture returns.
The problem may not be effort or attitude. The players may care a great deal. They may simply have no idea what the instruction is asking them to do. Adults know the outcome they want: an engaged team that keeps competing. But ‘bring energy’ gives an athlete a mood to display instead of a behavior to perform.
‘Bring Energy’ Is Not an Instruction
Energy is one of those sports words that feels specific until a child has to act on it. To the naturally loud athlete, it can mean yell more. To the quiet athlete, it can sound like an invitation to imitate somebody else’s personality. To the exhausted athlete, it can feel like an order to manufacture an emotion she does not currently feel.
That is how useful team energy gets replaced by energy theater. The team performs noise for the adults, but the noise is not connected to the next pitch, the next defensive decision, or the next teammate who needs help. Volume can be valuable. A lively dugout can absolutely wake people up. But volume is one possible tool, not the definition of energy.
Last week’s Sports Catalyst message was about leading before an athlete is chosen. The athlete did not need a captain’s title to take responsibility for something the team needed. This week moves that idea into a harder setting: the part of the day when fatigue exposes whether leadership has a practical shape. It is one thing to be positive during warmups. It is another to remain useful when everyone is hot, tired, and a run behind.
Useful Energy Makes the Next Play Easier
The better reframe is simple: energy is not a volume level. It is a contribution that makes the next play easier.
That definition gives both loud and quiet athletes somewhere to go. The vocal shortstop may help by communicating outs, runners, and coverage. A quieter player may have the next hitter’s helmet ready, return a stray ball, or sit beside the teammate who needs a steady reset. Neither contribution is automatically better. The question is whether it helps the team return to the work in front of it.
There is evidence for treating team state as something athletes influence together, but it should be used carefully. A study of two professional cricket teams found links between players’ moods, their teammates’ average happy moods, and subjective performance. That does not prove a louder 12U softball dugout wins more games. It does support a modest point parents and coaches already recognize: what one athlete carries into a shared competitive space may affect more than her own experience.
Likewise, research involving 776 athletes across four sports found that leadership behaviors mattered more than personality traits in distinguishing high-quality athlete leaders. That matters here. Useful energy does not belong only to extroverts. It can be taught as a set of behaviors an athlete chooses and practices.
John Wooden’s coaching philosophy points in a similar direction. He placed enthusiasm beside industriousness at the base of his Pyramid of Success, then connected team spirit with thinking of others and serving the group. In that frame, enthusiasm is not decoration. It helps people prepare, work, and cooperate.
Four Jobs for a Tired Team
When the day gets long, give energy one of four jobs: encourage, communicate, reset, or prepare. An athlete does not need to do all four. Choosing one makes the idea small enough to remember and real enough to practice.
· Encourage. Give a teammate her next chance instead of reviewing her last mistake. ‘Next pitch. You’re good.’ A useful encouragement is short, believable, and pointed forward.
· Communicate. Say the information teammates need now: outs, runners, coverage, cutoffs, bunt responsibility, or where the play is. This is not constant chatter. It is information that reduces uncertainty before the ball moves.
· Reset. Help the team return after an error, bad call, or rough at-bat. ‘We’re good. Next one.’ A breath, the ball back to the pitcher, and eyes on the next pitch can be more useful than a speech.
· Prepare. Be ready before somebody asks. Get the helmet on, find the glove, know the game situation, warm up the next player, or make sure the dugout is not hunting for equipment when the inning changes.
These jobs are deliberately ordinary. That is the point. Teams are rarely held together by one dramatic speech. More often, they are steadied by small behaviors repeated when people are tired enough to stop doing them automatically.
What a Parent Can Say Before the Game
A parent does not need to turn this into a parking-lot lecture. Before the game, offer one sentence: ‘You don’t have to be the loudest. Pick one job for your energy: encourage, communicate, reset, or prepare.’
Then let the athlete choose. If she picks communicate, she might decide to call the game situation before every pitch she is on the field. If she chooses prepare, she might focus on being helmet-ready before her spot in the order and helping the next hitter get on time. The choice belongs to her; the job simply makes the intention visible.
That small amount of choice matters. A 2024 systematic review of parents and young-athlete motivation identified autonomy-supportive parenting and task-focused climates among constructive approaches across the research it examined. This does not mean parents should become silent or avoid expectations. It means the parent can define a useful standard while leaving the athlete some ownership over how she meets it.
Do not assign all four jobs, monitor every inning, and grade the athlete from the bleachers. That converts a simple leadership tool into another performance demand. One game, one job, one honest attempt is enough.
Ask a Better Question Afterward
After the game, avoid asking, ‘Were you positive?’ That question invites a yes-or-no answer and often measures appearance. Ask instead, ‘When did your energy make the next play easier?’
She may remember calling out a runner, getting the next hitter ready, or saying one steady sentence after an error. She may also say she forgot. That is useful information. The goal is not to prove she has a good attitude. It is to help her notice where her behavior affects the team and practice the choice again.
A long doubleheader will still feel long. Useful energy does not erase fatigue, and no athlete should be expected to perform happiness for hours. It gives fatigue a better response: not fake excitement, but one contribution the team can use.