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I want you to know what this is.

This isn't a marketing email.

This isn't a highlight reel.

This is me — holding myself accountable — every week.

I've spent 25+ years in this game.

Five continents.

Countless locker rooms.

And here's the honest truth:

The more time I spend in baseball —

The more I realize how much I still don't know.

That used to bother me.

Now it drives me.

Because I'd rather be a coach who's still hungry than a coach who thinks he's arrived.

So every week — or every other week — I sit down and I answer four questions:

What am I reading? What am I watching? What am I learning? What am I writing?

And I share it with you. Free.

No complaints. No excuses.

Because I don't believe change comes TO me.

👉 I believe it comes FROM me.

My goal is simple and I'll say it out loud so you can hold me to it:

This is going to be the best free newsletter in international baseball.

Alright.

Let's get into this week.

BUT FIRST — a real one.

I've been gone a while.

No dramatic reason.

No burnout. No crisis.

Life has just been — full.

Alpine Cup. Scouting. Systems design. Family. Wife. Kids.

A lot moving at once.

And honestly?

I'm not going to apologize for it.

Because here's what I've learned:

Being busy means life is happening.

And I am genuinely blessed that things are moving the way they are.

But I also made a commitment to you.

Every week. In public. Accountable.

And I let that slip.

So consider this me getting back to .500.

No drama. No narrative management.

👉 Just the work.

Let's go.

"You are your daughter's first love."

That's the chapter title.

And it hit me like a line drive I didn't see coming.

Meeker writes that every man who enters your daughter's life will be compared to you.

Every relationship she has with a man will be filtered through her relationship with you.

Think about that for a second.

Not filtered through her friends.

Not through social media.

Not through what the culture tells her love should look like.

Through you.

She also asked a question in her practice that I can't stop thinking about.

She asks every girl she examines:

"Tell me who in your life loves you."

About half say — my mom and dad. I guess you know they have to.

A quarter look at her quizzically.

And the remaining quarter shrug their shoulders and say —

"I don't know."

One in four girls.

Don't know if they are loved.

I read that and immediately thought about my own daughter.

I am working every day to make sure she adores me.

And I know — as Meeker says — she might hate me simultaneously sometimes.

That's the deal.

That's the job.

Because here's the truth she lays out clearly:

Love isn't something you feel toward your daughter.

It's something she has to feel from you.

There's a difference.

And that difference changes everything.

Sony Pictures Animation. Produced by Stephen Curry.

The story of Will Harris — a small goat who gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to play roarball — a fast-paced full-contact sport dominated by large and fierce animals.

Classic underdog story.

But here's why I'm bringing it to this newsletter.

Will doesn't wait until the conditions are perfect.

He doesn't wait until he's big enough.

Or fast enough.

Or until the other animals respect him.

He just — goes.

And that's the theme of this week.

Get it done.

Regardless of how hard things seem.

Regardless of who doubts you.

Regardless of what the scoreboard says in the first quarter.

The best sports stories — real or animated — are never about the most talented player in the room.

They're about the one who refused to let the size of the moment determine the size of their response.

👉 Will is a small goat playing a big animal's game.

Sound familiar?

For anyone building something in a place where the infrastructure doesn't exist yet —

Where the resources aren't guaranteed —

Where people look at you and wonder why you're even trying —

This movie is for you.

Watch it with your kids this weekend.

Then talk about it at dinner.

What would Will do?

The oldest tradition in human history.

After God created the earth — he told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden.

The serpent enticed Eve. Eve persuaded Adam.

And when God asked what happened —

Adam said: "Eve gave it to me."

Eve said: "The serpent deceived me."

Nobody said: "God. I confess. I messed up. I'm sorry."

Nobody.

The author of this devotional writes something that I read three times before I moved on:

"We can only imagine what might have happened if Adam had said, 'God, I confess. I messed up. I'm sorry.' He didn't. And he paid the price. So do we."

I've watched this in coaching for 25 years.

The player who passed the buck.

The coach who blamed the schedule.

The parent who blamed the coach.

The program that blamed the system.

And here's what I know for certain:

The buck never stops with any of them.

It just keeps moving.

Until someone — one person — decides to catch it.

To own it.

To say: I messed up. Let's fix it.

That person changes everything in the room.

That person is the one I'm always looking for.

Because ownership is not a personality trait.

It's a decision.

And you can make it right now.

And we need to fund it.

Now — in Europe — the moment you say fundraising —

People shift in their seats.

It sounds like begging to them.

It sounds like weakness.

Like the program can't sustain itself.

But here's what I keep telling my guys:

You are already fundraising.

Every time a sponsor puts their logo on your jersey —

That's fundraising.

Every time a business supports your program in exchange for visibility —

That's fundraising.

The only difference is —

👉 We haven't given the people who actually care about us the chance to be part of the story.

And that's the reframe.

This isn't begging.

This is inviting people along for the ride.

People are already following this journey.

They're watching us build something in Austria that has never been built before.

A national team. A development system. An identity.

And some of them want to be part of it.

They just need to be asked.

In the big leagues — teams do this every day.

Community partnerships. Supporter programs. Fan-funded initiatives.

It's not charity. It's connection.

So that's what I'm writing this week.

The game plan for how we fund Japan without putting the entire weight on government support —

Because when you control your funding —

👉 You control your destiny.

And control of your destiny is the whole point of everything we're building.

🎯 FINAL THOUGHT

Meg Meeker said your daughter will filter every relationship through you.

Will the goat showed up small — and played anyway.

Adam passed the buck — and paid the price.

And somewhere between Austria and Japan —

We're learning that the people who care about your story want to be part of it.

They just need to be invited.

Here's the through-line across all four sections this week:

Get it done.

Not when conditions are perfect.

Not when everyone believes in you.

Not when the resources are in place.

Right now.

With what you have.

Where you are.

Because life is full.

And full is a blessing.

The buck stops here.

👉 Stay with it. ⚾

If this hit — share it with one coach, parent, or athlete who needs to hear it this week.