"When baseball is no longer fun, it is no longer a game." – Joe DiMaggio

Baseball was never just a game to me; it was a way of life. It was an escape from the noises of the real world. It was my safe haven. It was beautiful. Many friends were made, many laughs were had, and the memories will last a lifetime. Championships were won ... and lost. Childhood heroes retired and up-and-coming stars were born. But the game remained constant.

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Chris Oldner pitched at the Cal Ripkin 10-Year-Old World Series in Williamsburg, Virginia. His then-catcher is now a player for the Baltimore Orioles organization.

The older I get the more I reflect on my time playing baseball. I look back and think about all of the home runs, big strikeouts and diving catches. I think about the smells of the ballpark and the crack of the mitt after a sizzling fastball. I think about cracking jokes in the dugout with my best friends between innings and pregame handshakes that will never be forgotten. Baseball allowed me to be me. It provided an outlet for a kid who was insecure and shy. I was blessed to grow up playing a game that gave me so very much.

Now that my playing days are over I have directed my attention to the next wave of ball players. I have coached teams, given lessons and umpired hundreds of games in the past few years. I see these kids enjoying the game like I once did and now understand that it is my purpose to give back to the game by influencing the next generation of athletes in a positive way.

What players and parents need to understand is that baseball is a game of failure. How the players, parents and coaches respond to these failures is the kicker. I’ve seen countless parents and coaches tear into their kids for striking out or missing a routine groundball. The kids don’t need to be ridiculed for failing. They need to be taught that failure is OK. It is a part of life and in life we all fail — a lot!

Time and time again I have fallen short, but if baseball has taught me one thing it is that I can continually fail forward. The kids have the choice to dwell on the end result or the lesson that was learned from their shortcomings on the baseball field. Our jobs as coaches and parents is to simply be cheerleaders during these moments. Attitudes are contagious and trickle down from the top. A positive attitude can make all of the difference in a good player and a great player. I know it might sound cliché but the power of positivity cannot be denied.

At the end of the day my goal for the next wave of ballplayers is that they can play this wonderful game with the same sense of reckless abandonment that I was allowed to play with. Once the pressure is taken off kids can get a taste of what baseball is all about: Family, friendship and a way of life.