The Matheny Manifesto: A Young Manager's Timeless Wisdom on Achieving Success in Sports and Life

Kevin D.: A wonderful book for all youth coaches.

United States on Jul 10, 2023

Justin Rodriguez: I loved this book so much as a new coach and hopefully long time parent of the sport that teaches you so much of the game and your child.

United States on Jul 02, 2023

EdMonton11: Required reading for any athlete over 12 years old, and coach and any sports parent! A little heavy on the religious side of things at times but that’s the perspective of the author and in no way diminishes the value of the message. It’s an easy 2 day read.

Canada on Jan 13, 2023

Todd Cozma: for both parents and coaches of all sports

Canada on Sep 05, 2021

Joe Flavel: Good reading for youth sport coaches and parents. People outside of that community may not find it relevant.

Canada on Jan 26, 2021

Stella W.: Easy to read: how to coach kids, great anecdotes. One chapter is very religious - I skipped it and I am guessing most people who want to skip it will.

Canada on Oct 27, 2020

HumanX: Their were many take always from this book as a coach and as a parent.

But some realities are not for everyone, and some coaches cannot get the cats meow of professional baseball players to help us coach. In his own words, his team was made up of people from successful backgrounds and professional baseball players who assisted in coaching (his little league team). I am not knocking him for this, but that part of the book was hard to wrap my arms around. Also many of us coach for leagues and do not have the liberties he had to coach his little league team the way he did.

But what I did enjoy is his thoughts on building character and having his kids learn the game before concerning himself with winning. Yes he wants to win, but he also feels that kids will become better players if you put character and learning first (truly learning - not just hitting the ball and catching it).

Yes he discussed his Christianity in this book, and God Bless him for it. It is his book and he feels a great deal of inspiration from his faith in Jesus Christ. But it was not over the top or to preachy, he just stated as a person it is his belief system.

I think it is a great...

United States on Nov 06, 2017

H. Dyck: I feel guilty only giving this book 4-stars. I love the reason for this book and the message that Mr. Matheny is projecting.
The reason I'm only giving it 4/5 stars is that I wish the book focused more on the youth team he agreed to manage.
I would have loved more examples of how he was able to apply his principal's throughout the season.
However, maybe it's I who is missing the point of the book. I purchased it solely for the purpose of helping myself stay focused during my own son's sporting experiences - either as a spectator or a coach. And in that, the book succeeds.
Mr. Matheny does a great job of emphasising that as a coach, we need to remember that our primary objective is to make sure we're developing good young men and woman who treat people well regardless if things go your way or not.
Learning and loving a sport is important as well, as long as we're doing it the right way. And as the great coach Wooden said, 'winning is the icing'.

Canada on Jan 04, 2017

Star Quest: Absolutely fantastic book! I am a huge baseball fan and I remember watching Mike Matheny as a player, he was a work horse. Although not a hall of famer, as a former catcher, he understands the game and what it takes to win. Interestingly enough this book is not about winning but about having the right attitude. Matheny is a Christian and not afraid to stand his ground on his beliefs while at the same time being very respectful of others and their beliefs. Matheny was a youth league coach prior to becoming the Cardinals manager. His position on how overbearing and over involved parents have become in their children’s sports leagues inspired him to write the Matheny Manifesto, a roughly five page narrative that he wrote to the parents of the children he was coaching to give him the room to mentor and teach their kids during their practices and games without heckling, yelling, and interfering. In other words, let the coaches do their jobs during the two hours that you have entrusted your kids to them.

It’s incredible these days how intense parents have become in youth league sports, yelling at umpires and coaches as well as their children when they either make mistakes or...

United States on May 25, 2016