During this episode of Ahead of the Curve, I interview Jason Bell, MiLB Field Coordinator for the Houston Astros. Jason Bell talks about the art of cultivating team culture, methods to adapting your coaching style to your various players, and his process of adjusting to a diverse group of players. Episode Highlights: How did Jason Bell get involved in baseball and as a coach?   How does Jason Bell go about designing practices? Jason Bell talks about: how to get on each player’s individual level? What is Jason;s take on positive and negative affirmations? What are the things Jason does to adapt his baseball style? What does Jason Bell believe team culture is? What if your players don’t seem to be adjusting to training? What is his process after the practice of self-reflection? What advice does Jason Bell give to be useful to a diverse group of players? What are some learning things that Jason is excited about? What are things his players get excited about doing? Is there anything that Jason Bell believes that other coaches might disagree with? Which things that happen during practice typically that we would notice? What are some of Jason Bell’s favorite books and resources?  3 Key Points: Get on each player’s level. Research says that it should be 3-1 positive to negative affirmations. Pay attention and listen to your players. Tweetable Quotes: “Teaching life through a game. I know what the game has done for me and how much better of a person I’ve become through the game of baseball.” – Jason Bell (00:37) “We just believe that the body will self-organize itself, and you know, maybe sometimes it does. But maybe it doesn’t do it in the most powerful way.” – Jason Bell (08:10) “I think the art of coaching and why we are most important is that it is our job to relate to each and every player that we have.” – Jason Bell (16:13) “If there are 25 players on a team, it is more important for us to be 25 different types of people rather than 25 different people changed to our system as a coach.” – Jason Bell (16:22) “You need to use feedback on the player’s body language. How he is taking the coaching that you’re giving him and kind of wonder like, ‘Man, it doesn’t look like he has bought in. Maybe he doesn’t feel comfortable disagreeing.” – Jason Bell (27:06) “If this player feels like he needs more work in this area and we aren’t getting it to him, I’m so glad that he feels comfortable in saying that.” – Jason Bell (35:49) “Showing where you can add value and creativity is great. But, use the creativity to like actually develop somebody’s skills and not being creative for the sake of being creative.” – Jason Bell (38:23) “Communication is key. And being able to communicate with players of all sorts of backgrounds.” – Jason Bell (38:41) Resources Mentioned: Ahead of the Curve Podcast Twitter: @AOTC_podcast Jason Bell: Linkedin Twitter