Even the smallest gesture can make a huge difference.
When I turned 12 or 13 years old, even as a dad, you can't make a kid play anymore, but up until that point, he pushed me to keep playing, and when I turned 13, I didn't want to do anything else. He was just there with me at the cage every day because I wanted him to go with me and throw to me and work on what I needed to work on.
If he wasn't so vital in my younger days, I would have never kept up with baseball. At some point, your dad has to motivate you until you actually realize what you're doing.
We were driving by the local athletic association in Orange Park, Florida, and there was this sign for T-ball signups. I was maybe 6 or 7, and my dad looked at me and said, 'Hey, do you wanna give this a try?'
The questions don't happen when you hit 30 homers, right? If you hit 30 home runs, you hit 40 doubles, I don't think anybody questions your conditioning or your offseason program.