When it comes to youth sports coaches, everyone, it seems, has a story.
There is the Montgomery County parent who described her angst at seeing a coach in an 11-and-under baseball league this spring intentionally walk a batter a second time so the pitcher could again face the same weaker hitter.
"In this league, getting walked is particularly harsh because the pitcher doesn't even have to pitch, they just point and make them walk, bringing up the next kid even faster and increasing the anxiety," said the parent, Michelle Desiderio of Silver Spring.
"Of course the poor boy knew what was happening and was visibly upset by the second time he pulled that trick, and, of course, he did strike out," Desiderio said.
Then there is the former middle school basketball player who said he wanted to recognize his coach, Joe Nolan, for years of good work.
Eddie Healy says he remembers the little things about Nolan, 47, a commercial real estate broker who coached Healy four years ago at the School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen.
Healy said he remembers how Nolan gave kids rides to school, counseled them about the dangers of alcohol, never cursed, treated opponents with dignity and "cared about us as people."
As part of a July 5 story on new training requirements for youth coaches, The Sun invited readers to submit accounts of their experiences with coaches. Contained in the several dozen e-mail messages were stories of coaches good and bad.
A common thread was the influence coaches had on people, in some cases, many years later.
Said Nolan in an interview: "You hope your influence is going to be appreciated. If you touch one kid, you feel good."
Many readers - some coaches themselves - wrote about coaches who seemed to lose perspective in their zeal to win games.
Earl Brewer, a high school lacrosse coach in McLean, Va., said he was helping a friend coach a 9-and-under team this spring when the opposing coach ordered a "stick check" on a 7-year-old who had scored a goal. It turned out the stick pocket was too deep and had to be adjusted.
"But that wasn't enough for the opposing coach, who wanted the goal disallowed and would not leave the field until we agreed," Brewer said. "The poor little player that scored the goal became very upset and cried because he thought that he had cheated and done something wrong. It was one of the saddest things that I've seen in all my years of coaching lacrosse."
Walt Bondarenko of Nottingham said he has been coaching girls fast-pitch softball for about 25 years and that he never forgets he's dealing with kids.
"The kids nowadays have enough pressure on them from doing their chores around the house, to fitting in socially with their peers, to the tons of homework they bring from school each day," Bondarenko said. "That's why my team only practiced on Friday and Sunday while school was still going on. I wanted the girls to have time for the other stuff about being a kid first and [an] athlete second."
Other readers wrote how much they appreciate good role models in the often thankless job of coaching.
Larry Hackley, an umpire who assigns fellow umpires in Anne Arundel County, mentioned an encounter with a team visiting from New York.
"The head coach told us at the home plate conference 'If any of my kids get out of line,' let him know. We need more coaches like that," Hackley said.
jeff.barker@baltsun.com