Some of the most valuable skills Marty Kenworthy uses as an attorney were learned on the baseball diamond, not from law books.

Kenworthy, an attorney with Duncan, Green, Brown & Langeness, believes that he is a more understanding person and a better communicator today than when he started coaching eight years ago in the Raccoon Valley Little League. He admits that although patience has always been a challenge for him, working with children has helped him improve in that area.

“Coaching is a matter of being patient and learning that each kid is a little different,” Kenworthy said. “Some can get instructions once and they’re off and running. For others, it takes repetition. They actually have to see it happening and experience it several times. I’ve learned that you can’t say something just once and expect everyone to get it. That carries over to kids and adults.”

Kenworthy grew up playing baseball in the Raccoon Valley Little League and continued to play through his years at junior college. He participated in several softball leagues before turning his focus to coaching 10-, 11- and 12-year olds. He looks back fondly on his years of playing baseball, and now he wants to share his love for the game with others.

Dave Arens, the vice president of private banking for Wells Fargo Bank Iowa, and Kent Bragdon, a sales representative with Data Business Equipment in Urbandale, also loved playing baseball as children. They became coaches because they wanted their sons to also have positive experiences. They have also coached their children in soccer and other sports over the years.

“I’ve been coaching my 11-year-old since he was 4,” said Bragdon, who coaches 10-, 11-, and 12-year-olds in the Urbandale Little League. “I love sports and thought it was a good way to help a lot of kids.”

Arens started coaching baseball seven years ago, and he now serves as president of the Raccoon Valley Little League and is an assistant coach for his youngest son’s team in The Majors. Like Kenworthy, Arens and Bragdon have also picked up a few life lessons through coaching. Bragdon said being in charge of a baseball team is a constant reminder to him of how one person’s mood can affect others.

“I’m a pretty laid-back guy, but I usually have one game a year where I’m a little wound up about winning, and we always end up losing,” Bragdon said. “That reminds me to take a step back and take things with a grain of salt. You can’t take things so seriously all the time.”

Arens thinks Little League teaches good lessons about the ability to work together as a team and respect one another. “The ability to get along in the office and on the field are not far apart,” he said.

Little League season officially begins next week and continues through mid-June. Teams play one weekday and weekday game and meet for practices one to three times each week. With such an intense schedule, these three coaches agree that it’s important to keep the pressure on the players to a minimum so that they don’t burn out. Arens believes that kids already put a lot of pressure on themselves to win, so he tries to emphasize the fundamentals of the game – fielding, batting and throwing – over wins.

“If you can learn to do the fundamentals better, the wining comes by itself,” he said.

“Every now and then I’ll have a young man who will start out slow as a 10-year-old and kind of struggle,” Kenworthy said. “There’s been several times the parents have told me the kid isn’t enjoying it and is thinking about quitting. I’ve been able to help keep them involved, and they’ve developed into really great ballplayers.”

Coaches also enjoy watching their players improve over the course of a season or several seasons. Often, the most rewarding moments come as a complete surprise, Bragdon said.

“The home runs are great, but the moments that I live for as a coach are those times when that kid who has struggled all season finally gets that big hit or catch in a game,” he said. “His family is in the stands jumping up and down, and the kid’s smiling and his teammates are all excited. That’s when it’s really worth it.”