atlantic 11561 It was found they had used players from different areas, brought in "ringers" to win. The title was taken from them after it became known.
I'm a youth baseball coach, and this man gives me inspiration. My boys lost a tough game during our state tournament and needless to say, they were heartbroken. Tears were flowing and I immediately thought of this post-game speech, so I did my best to pick them up. The world needs more people like this coach!
They needed to hear from him it was okay. Heartbreaking stuff for kids to get to that point. 7 years later I’m sure they’re still emotional as much knowing the team that “beat” them wasn’t on the up&up.
One of the greatest sports speeches of ALL TIME. It's almost unreal this coach said this off the cuff... Movie worthy. I've watched this multiple times and I'm still amazed by it. "It's okay to cry", thank you Coach.
I got teary eyed watching this. Made me think of my LL coach. Make sure your kids know at that age that the only winners are the ones who have fun and make memories together
I've never heard a better coaching speech in my life and i've played and followed sports forever. The way he builds those kids up and lets them know it's alright to lose, and that their parents love them, and that they've inspired people from all over is fantastic. We use this video at work when facilitating LEAN/Six Sigma sessions around coaching and feedback. Every single time there are more tears int he room then dry eyes. I've seen it a million times and it still makes me tear up. Mr. Belisle is someone i would love to coach my kids. Congrats to you for being a roll model.
I love love loved this moment. It was amazing. Doesn't matter that they lost the game, they won our hearts. No words to describe this coach. He is an amazing guy and coach and the world needs more people like him. Not all about winning for him. He is always encouraging them. Amazing
This is what little league baseball is about loyality,pride,and having fun it doesnt matter if you win or lose it matters if you have fun i mean sure it would be nice to win but pride is the most important thing Coach Dave Belisle is right they were the team of the summer and accompleished alot if i was one of there parents i would be so proud of them because they did there best and made it to the final 8 last year its hard to make it that far so i agree with everything he said comment if you agree and well said and very touching and feel bad for the kids
Always loved this video and it always stuck with me. I had the opportunity of meeting him last year at a qualifying LLWS game. My heart was whole and it was a dream come true I never thought would happen. This guy is an incredible coach and an even better person.
I’m a Bostonian living in Chicago where my wife is from. In 2014, I got out of the navy, and moved from Hawaii to Chicago for my wife. On Labor Day, we went to see her cubbies. I had my Red Sox jerseys on, and when Jackie Robinson little league was brought on the field to applause and cheers...I stood there in disgust... Forever from the #508.... Our Rhode Island kids were screwed....absolutely SCREWES
Every time I watch the Little League World Series, I will never EVER forget this speech that David Belisle made to his team (and the world as matter of fact!) It was an absolutely perfect moment. Every team should watch this speech at some point-it would be truly inspiring and make baseball "The Greatest Game! Thank YOU-Mr. Belisle from all of your baseball fans! FRIENDS FOREVER! (It must have been good speech -he's an ESPN announcer now!)
I know how this feels a I was a batboy for varsity baseball team and we lost the Championship and this is what the coach meant and we had a great run and everyone was crying because of the lost but it was a team that dropped down in the playoffs instead of playing where they did in the regular season
Pure class and to think those kids learned from such a great coach. Who not only taught such the great game of baseball but life lessons as well. A shame they lost to the polar opposite of what youth sports is all about.
patsfan87 yeah they were. Wasn't the kids fault though. The league they were in and coaches they had knew better. I feel bad for the kids because they were great!
That's what Chicago does. I played a team from Chicago in Cooperstown 2013 called the Chicago north shore stars and the team was from Chicago but a ton of different towns and little leagues and places like that. We were one team out of one small town in CT, and got absolutely hammered 14-0 in the top 8 out of 104. They went on to win it all
Missed him doing the Regionals this year (2021). He's always been a part of ESPN's Regional coverage, providing color commentary, generally for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Regions. He was a conspicuously absent this year. Maybe due to COVID restrictions? Hope to see him back next year. He's the coach every Little Leaguer deserves.
What a great coach and a great speech! These kids were what, 11-12 in 2014? So now they're young adults and they'll for sure be going through tough challenges that life throws at them. But I hope they always remember this speech when they're going through tough times. This is the kind of speech you remember for the rest of your life.
This is what it's all about. Baseball is a game. You take lessons from the game that are applicable to all different facets of life. This coach seems to get that.
This and Kurt Russel’s (aka Herb Brooks) pre USSR speech (“each one of u were born to be hockey players andyou were meant to be here on this night “) are the best sports speeches of all time in my view. Dave’s comment “it’s ok to cry because we are not going to play baseball together anymore” even six years later still kills me. And I was drawn back to this speech today because of my profound sadness and even rage over the sports shut down policies that have exacted such a toll on kids where I live in California. We know so much about the science and data regarding the virus which demands that sports not remain shuttered yet for reasons that can only be explained by pure politics , children continue to be collateral damage. To those of you that still advocate keeping kids home and out of sports I would implore u to watch this. Kids learn so much from sports especially in failure and defeat. Please consider what your position is doing to children. David Belisle, whom I have never met, has impacted me so much. He is a little league coach for gods sake and yet his influence has been enormous God bless him and I’m so grateful that ESPN’s cameras caught this remarkable moment in time.
It's funny because I live on Rhode Island and I played for Lincoln and we lost to this team in district 4 for the championship and they get us but I saw a lot of potential in that team and I knew they would be here.
Austin Rodriguez yeah but let's be clear here on what the cheating was. The coaches of the Chicago team were using players from outside their district so they could draw from a bigger pool of athletes. They weren't using kids that were older than allowed like the Bronx team did a few years before. This was the coaches fault and not the kids.
This was a great moment. I loved this speech. What I don't understand is why he wouldn't let the kids on his team use the pool. I didn't catch the whole conversation when he said it during a game but he definitely said he didn't allow his team to use the pool while they were there. That sounds a little mean.
Sorry this is way late but many baseball coaches don't allow their players to use the pool the night before a game. Swimming actually exhausts the body way more than it seems. The day after a night of swimming causes for bad fatigue when you're trying to play another sport.
they should be happy, i cant even make it there because of stupid cal ripken, if there was one thing in the world i would wan to play there, i get sad after losing in a district game, they should be proud of themself and almost beating a cheating team.
