RBI Austin Mission + Culture
If you’ve been around RBI Austin for any length of time, you know that we love the games of baseball and softball, but there is so much more to our programs than that, and it starts our volunteers.
MISSION
RBI Austin’s mission is to engage and develop inner-city Austin youth athletically, academically, and spiritually, empowering them to lead the transformation of their communities.
We are committed to the development of the whole child. Along with physical development, personal and spiritual growth are critical to the development and transformation of young leaders. If our programs only focused on developing better ball players, we’d be missing the mark.
So, how does this play out? How do you help lead and cultivate a culture where our RBI Austin kids develop and ultimately feel empowered to transform their communities?
Below are three key elements to RBI Austin’s culture.
ONE: Pursue your players.
When a player doesn’t have a ride, find someone on the team to give them a ride or give them a ride yourself. When a player no shows and you can’t get a hold of them, go knock on the family’s door! Yes, go knock on their door. Do everything you can to create an environment where that kid can be a part of your team. That’s how we do it at RBI Austin. We believe pursuing our RBI kids like this not only sets RBI Austin apart from almost any other league around, but it also reflects Jesus Christ’s love and pursuit for each one of us.
TWO: Invite parents to have a stake in your team.
For RBI Austin to achieve its mission, it is necessary for parents to be highly involved in our teams. In the past seven years, RBI Austin has grown from 1 team to over 80 teams. Parent involvement has been essential to this growth. Invite parents on your team to become coaches, team moms, and scorekeepers. If they don’t know how to do one of these roles, then teach them. Not all parents will accept your offer, but some will!
THREE: Balance excellence and fun.
We want excellence. We also want fun. We want to compete to win. But we want to recognize we’re here for a much higher purpose. As RBI coaches, we come to practice and games well-prepared to lead our teams with well-thought-out practice plans, lineups, and game strategies. As RBI coaches, we also come to the field seeking to make that time the most fun part of the day for our RBI kids. With excellent coaching and fun coaching, we inspire our RBI kids to live out who God has created them to be, and we keep our kids coming back year after year.
We focus on building a culture of community through baseball, softball, mentoring, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We come alongside kids and families. We are FOR their development, growth, and transformation — both on the ball field and off.