Dustin Qualls – ‘The Farm League’ Bio
Baseball – Head coach of the Rockhounds from Fall of 2009 to present. We went from a winless 6U team to an undefeated 8U team, with mostly the same players.
Football – Assistant coach of the Texans from Fall of 2012 to present.
Coaching youth sports is a labor of love, and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed doing now for the better part of 5 years. The best feeling a coach can ever have is knowing your kiddos enjoy playing on your team and want to keep returning. With our Rockhounds baseball teams, I have had an incredible time molding and coaching mostly the same group of boys into quite a formidable team.
If I were to give any advice to any first-time coaches out there, it all boils down to this: BE PATIENT and SMILE. If you are not having fun, your kiddos and their parents will not have fun. We can talk fundamentals, drills, strategy, etc, all day long… but a truly successful team is one that is having fun. I have always tried to instill this attitude on our teams first and foremost because if you can achieve this then all the results afterward are just icing on the
cake.
Patience is, like they say, a virtue. When you have kids that won’t run through 1st base, no matter how many times you have coached them to do so… be patient. When you have that one player who just can’t get on base… be patient. When an opposing coach is trying his hardest to ruin your day… be patient. These situations are countless in number, but we as coaches must have an equal supply of limitless patience.
All in all, I can’t think of any hobby or extra-curricular activity that is more rewarding than coaching youth sports. I wish anyone reading this the best of luck and I am always happy to help out any new coaches. Thank you for this honor and good luck out on the fields!
