Today on BRING IT IN at 11 a.m. ET: Erie Bayhawks coach Ryan Pannone (who goes way back with David Thorpe). Thursday on BRING IT IN: Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey.

BY DAVID THORPE

When my son Max was ten, he played baseball on a Little League All-Star team led by a local attorney and former Florida football player named Don Tinney. Don named me the team's "general manager"—with the job of acting as a liaison between parents, coaches, and players. And then he banned all the other parents from practices! The idea was to build a special bond among the players. 

Little League is unlike AAU or "travel" baseball in that the players are not typically all that serious. Or experienced. Many of the players are just playing competitive sports for the first time.

The year before, our nine- and ten-year-old All-Star team had been talented enough, but had underperformed. So what was the problem? It turned out the issue had less to do with fielding grounders or hitting the strike zone—and more …