“My parents always told me that you have to know where you come from, you have to know your roots. And if you don’t know your roots it’s harder to understand who you really are,” said Harmen Sidhu.
Sidhu joined LMC last semester, becoming the school’s first Indian head coach, advancing from his most recent position as associate head coach at DVC.
Coming from Indian culture, he said that he didn’t have anyone to look up to as a baseball player, so he had to figure things out on his own. However, this motivated him to work even harder and made him want to become a coach.
Sidhu was introduced to baseball when his parents, who immigrated to the US from India and did not know much about the sport, decided to put him in Little League when he was five years old.
This kickstarted his baseball career which led him to play throughout high school and college. He was eventually drafted to play for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2013.
When transitioning into his coaching career at Holy Names University in 2019, Sidhu began to understand that not every baseball player has the same ambitions of wanting to play professionally.
“The biggest adjustment going from player to coach was you have to learn that the way you played baseball mentally as a player is different than the players that you’re coaching,” he said.
Having been a student-athlete in colleges like Diablo Valley College, Oregon State, and Sonoma State University, he sees himself in his players and understands the position they are in.
Being able to relate to his players has helped him build trust with one another. Sidhu also builds trust by, “Caring about their well-being and making sure they’re being taken care of whether it’s athletically, academically, or both.” He added that understanding where each player comes from helps him be a better coach.
His knowledge as a kinesiology teacher has also helped him guide students. He said he is able to provide them with information about the transferring process and set an example with the path that he took in college.
Sidhu credits his parents as being his biggest role models because of all they did for him growing up adding, “My parents worked all day and my dad would still take time out of his day to take me to the park.” They played tennis and basketball, which he said helped him become more athletic.
While he has played various sports throughout his life, pitching made him gravitate toward baseball adding it made him feel like he was controlling the game.
“When I was on the mound I would look at the batter and just think ‘it’s me versus you. There’s nobody else in the way.’ Every single time somebody came up I would have that mindset,” Sidhu said. “You have to be strategic on how you do it, and you have to identify what they can and cannot do. All these things are going through your brain before you can even throw the ball.”
The pressure of pitching filled him with adrenaline, making him enjoy the challenge and fueling his competitiveness. While he says it’s important to be competitive, there have been times when it led him to overwork himself.
“There were times where I was pitching where I probably shouldn’t have been,” Sidhu said. “But I was so competitive that I didn’t want to lose.”
Struggles also arose in his baseball career due to his “undersized” build. He looked up to players like Tim Lincecum and Pedro Martinez who were similar to him.
Sidhu got his master’s degree in exercise and biomechanics when he graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Southwest. He said that he has always been interested in biomechanics and wanted to pursue it because it could be helpful with sports. Just like his work ethic as a player, he gave his all when working towards his degree.
“Whenever I try to do something, I do it 100 percent.”
