Carbone Took on Double Duty This Summer
Mike Carbone played soccer at East Haven High School, as well as Little League, Babe Ruth, and American Legion baseball in town while growing up. Mike then took to coaching when it was time for his three kids to play and he’s been in the dugout ever since. This summer, Mike was an assistant coach for the 89ers Senior Legion baseball team and he also coached an East Haven 17-U squad.
“I’ve enjoyed coaching just as much as I enjoyed playing,” Mike says. “I get to meet all the kids and, everywhere I go now, all the kids that are in high school, or even I’ll see these kids that are freshmen or sophomores in college, and they all know me. I know so many of them and their families. It’s really a great feeling. I feel like I’m still a part of their lives a little bit.”
Mike first coached softball when his daughter was playing and he eventually made the move to baseball alongside his sons, whom he still coaches. Mike started at the Little League level and was always heavily involved.
“Once I got into Little League, it was a big part of my life. I’ve met great people who all shared my same interests and [East Haven Senior Legion Coach John Longley] and I even made our own team to keep the kids together as long as we could,” says Mike. “I was even a part of player development where I held camps and clinics for the younger coaches. It was a really good Little League at that time. We had some good kids come through the program back then.”
As his sons got older, Mike continued moving up the ladder and then he took over as head coach of East Haven’s Junior Legion baseball team last year. The 89ers didn’t have an official Junior Legion team this summer, but they still fielded an equivalent club at the 17-U level, and Mike guided the squad as its skipper.
“It was a lot of baseball. Multiple weekends of three games. It was a very demanding schedule,” he says. “It was good to get some kids more at-bats and playing time. We were afraid of losing some kids if we didn’t have both teams, so it was a good way for us to keep all of our kids together. We want them to play, so eventually they’d move up to the [Senior Legion] team.”
Having Mike on the coaching staff was great for Longley as the duo had worked together in the past. Their styles meshed well to effectively get messages across to the players.
“He has a good baseball sense, is good with the kids, and is a great communicator,” Longley says of Mike. “He sometimes gets really fired up for the game. He loves the game of baseball and is always there to help out at practice.”
Since Mike’s kids have typically played the infield, he’s always viewed that area of the diamond as his strong suit.
“I feel I’m more of a fielding coach. I do a lot of infield with the kids and teach the proper techniques,” says Mike. “Both of my boys played infield, so we did a lot of work on good technique using repetition. That’s the key to baseball—lots of repetition.”
Mike has enjoyed the experience of coaching East Haven’s ballplayers at all levels. He says that working with the older kids is his favorite because of how committed they are, in addition to the competitive nature of the games.
“I enjoyed both, but enjoy the older kids more because they take it a little more seriously. It’s more competitive and the kids that want to be there stick with it. You feel more pressured as a coach because you don’t want to let them down,” says Mike. “For the younger kids, it’s more instruction. These kids start to pressure you. It means a little more for these kids, the juices are flowing, and you don’t want to make any mistakes. It’s about putting them in a position to succeed.”