Ask North Delta baseball coach Tim Fehr about his recent rise to B.C. minor baseball fame, and he’ll mention the kids who played on his team, the parents who brought them to practice and the universal demands of coaching.
He’ll say little about himself, his coaching style and his 23-year history as a baseball coach. Humble, the recently named Peewee Coach of the Year simply said: “We just had a great group of kids.”
On Feb. 1, Fehr found out he was named BC Baseball’s coach of the year for 13U teams for his first season coaching the AA North Delta Rays. It was announced without much fanfare, Fehr said. North Delta Baseball Association president Brent Dingsdale met him during a soccer practice both their sons were attending and told him the news.
That night, the news was posted on the NDBA website and people started calling to congratulate him on the honour. But Fehr is quick to point out the honour wasn’t his to take.
“There’s three parts that make up a youth team,” he said. “There’s players — the kids, there’s the coaches, and there’s the family. And if any one of those isn’t there, pulling in the same direction, then it doesn’t work.
“So, really, to be recognized as a good coach is pretty cool. But really, that opportunity came from that group of people.”
Fehr started coaching in the mid-90s after he graduated university and wanted a place to play baseball. After stints coaching for Team BC, he began coaching in North Delta at the youngest levels — where his son was playing.
This past season, Fehr was asked to coach the Peewee team. He agreed.
That year, Fehr and his team of fellow coaches led the Rays to the semi-finals in the 16-team John Main tournament and the provincial championships, as well as a spot in the Surrey Peewee AA All-Star tournament championship.
But, the achievement he is most proud of as a coach, he said, was “to be able to keep a group of 12- and 13-year-old kids together and happy and smiling and having fun when they’re at practice or during a long season with all those hours they put in.”
But it also wasn’t hard to keep his team happy, he added. “After practice they don’t leave the park,” Fehr said about his players. “They’ve just been at practice for two hours, sometimes more than two hours, and the first thing they do when practice is over is they grab a ball and a bat and a glove and run out to the outfield and play this game Cherry.”
The game, which consists largely of hitting and catching, is “a nothing game,” Fehr said.
“But when you see kids doing that, and investing their own time — this isn’t mom or dad forcing them to be on time for practice. This is now their time; practice is over. And they might have their parents hollering at them from the parking lot that it’s time to go, but what do they want to do? They want to stay and play.”
That commitment is what Fehr said made it possible for his team to have the success they did. And that commitment is also what he credits for the honour bestowed upon him by BC Baseball.
On Feb. 17, Fehr was recognized for his achievements at BC Baseball’s coaches convention in Langley. When asked a week earlier about how he felt about receiving an award at the convention, Fehr laughed.
“Humble. It’s weird,” he said, then paused. “I had to think a long time about whether I would do an interview or not,” he continued. “It’s really nice to be recognized. Obviously it makes you feel really good — it makes you feel good about yourself, it makes you feel good about your community and the things you invest time into.
“Honestly, I think it should be a team award. Because like I said at the start, you can be a great baseball coach, you can have all of the knowledge in the world, but if you don’t have a group of people to work with that have a common interest and common goal, your level of success is going to be minimal. Your ability to affect people will be minimal.”
grace.kennedy@northdeltareporter.com
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