Have a Day is a documentary about youth baseball, but the game is only the beginning.

Through candid interviews with young players and the coaches guiding them, the film explores the culture that develops when adults choose to invest their time, patience and belief in kids. Practices, games, failures, celebrations and quiet moments between coaches and players reveal lessons that extend far beyond the baseball field.

The phrase “Have a Day” begins as something the team says to one another, but gradually becomes something larger — an attitude built around staying positive, keeping your head up and moving forward when things don’t go your way.

As the coaches explain what they hope to teach, the players reveal in their own words how much of that message has already reached them.

Have a Day is ultimately a film about mentorship, childhood and the lasting influence of the people who choose to show up.

FROM THE DIRECTOR:

When I began filming this group of young baseball players, I thought I was documenting a season. The more time I spent around the team, the less interested I became in scores, trophies and individual performances.

What stayed with me were the moments between the plays.

A coach kneeling beside a player after a mistake. A kid being reminded to keep his head up. Players learning how to encourage one another. Coaches giving their evenings, weekends and patience to children who may not fully understand the impact of those relationships until years from now.

“Have a Day” was something said around the team, but as I worked on the film, I began to understand it as something much bigger than a baseball phrase. It represented the mindset these coaches were trying to instill: stay positive, respond to adversity, enjoy the moment and keep moving forward.

That became the film I wanted to make.

I chose to interview both the coaches and the children because I didn’t want the adults simply telling the audience what they hoped they were teaching. I wanted to hear whether those lessons were actually reaching the kids. Some of the simplest answers from the youngest players became the most meaningful moments in the film.

Youth sports are often measured by wins, losses and development on the field. Have a Day is about a different kind of development — and about the coaches who quietly (kind of) help make it possible.

— Nick Shembeda