For Andy Schweigert, baseball has always been about more than wins, losses, hits, and runs. It’s about connection.

Andy is the proud dad of Cashton and Cameron, works at PACE Fundraising, and is a lifelong baseball lover who hopes to pass that passion for the game on to the next generation. As he jokingly puts it, his coaching career “started with a North Dakota State Senior Babe Ruth Championship with the Fargo Jets in 2011 and has been a devolution ever since.” But behind the humor is a coaching philosophy that has evolved into something far more meaningful than any championship trophy.

Andy believes a coach’s job is to help young athletes understand not only the game in front of them, but also the people and world around them.

Competition still matters. Winning matters. Effort and ability matter.

“It’s OK to be good, and it’s OK to win,” Andy says. But athletes also need to recognize that the players in the other dugout have ability, give effort, and want to win just as badly.

That perspective is part of what makes baseball so special to him.

A successful baseball team requires nine individuals with different abilities and personalities, placed in different roles, learning to work together with faith and trust in one another. Players have to understand their teammates’ strengths and weaknesses, observe their opponents, accept outcomes they cannot change, and keep moving forward.

That lesson reaches far beyond the diamond.

For Andy, the most important trait a coach can possess can be summed up in one word: connection.

He works intentionally to create it. Practices and games include circle stretches with a different player taking the center leadership role. There’s joke time. There’s energy and chatter in the dugout. Players learn to pick up their teammates, celebrate when someone else does something well, and leave the dugout looking better than when they found it.

Andy calls these the “nonbaseball, baseball skills.”

They might not show up in a box score, but they help turn a collection of individual players into a team.

That same philosophy shapes how Andy views every athlete who walks onto a baseball field. Through his years of playing and coaching, he has become convinced there is a place on a baseball team for anyone who genuinely wants to be there and contribute.

The responsibility then falls on the coaches.

They have to find what each player can do. They have to cultivate it. They have to celebrate it. And ultimately, they have to figure out how to use those individual abilities for the benefit of the entire team.

Keeping that group moving together throughout a long season doesn't require a complicated formula. Andy boils it down to three things:

Action. Energy. Positivity.

Keep moving. Bring energy. Find something positive to build upon.

It's a philosophy that recognizes baseball for what it really is: unpredictable, difficult, funny, frustrating, rewarding, and occasionally downright chaotic.

And that leads to the advice Andy would give any coach just beginning their journey.

“The beauty is in the chaos. Accept the difficulties and enjoy the moments.”

Because eventually, the innings end. The players grow up. Wins and losses fade from memory.

What remains are the moments—the jokes during circle stretch, the teammate cheering from the dugout, the kid who discovered where he belonged, and the relationships built through a shared love of the game.

For Andy Schweigert, that's what coaching baseball is really about.