When people think about a little league baseball coach, there’s a good chance they have a picture in their heads of a father, maybe a little frazzled, maybe too tough or too easy on his own son.

The dad might be a great person and coach. However, the age difference between him and the players, and the fact that his son is part of the peer group, often make it hard for him to become a real mentor to his players, especially in just a couple months.

Sidewinders assistant coaches Nathan Bower, left, and Kyle Brown watch their team take on the Rivercats on Friday at Holcom. Bower and Brown, along with the other two Sidewinders coaches, are are in the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at KU.

But scattered throughout the Lawrence little leagues are several coaches in their 20s who, for their own reasons, devote their time and energy to helping boys develop their baseball and life skills.

The result is often a different type of bond between the players and coaches, where the coach plays the role of friend and role model.

“I just wanted to instill something in them that I’d learned playing baseball” said Matt Larkin, the 26-year-old coach of the Astros in the Parks and Recreation league Jhawk Baseball league.

The Lawrence native was feeling the need for something different in his life and he’d always loved kids and baseball, so coaching was a natural fit.

He said he’s lucky to receive the hours off from his job in sales at Kief’s Audio and Video to be able to devote a big chunk of his time to the Astros players, most of whom are ages 12 and 13.

This summer has been filled with special moments for Larkin.

A catcher in his playing days, Larkin remembers the time he spent an extra half-hour with his catcher, who was having some trouble with his stance behind the plate and was looking for help.

“Put on all your gear and plan on your legs hurting,” Larkin told the player.

The session worked. The next game, the player’s form was completely improved.

“When I saw him standing on his toes, that made me feel so good,” Larkin said.

Working with kids also has humorous moments.

In the first practice, Larkin asked his players how long they’d been playing baseball. Twenty minutes was the response from one youngster.

This summer has been a serious refresher course for Larkin in the trends and slang of a younger generation.

“The kids keep me fresh,” he said. “They don’t know what was hot when I was 12 years old, and I don’t know what’s hot now.”

One of his players taught him how to “explode,” a way of shaking hands.

Larkin was happy to discover how appreciative the team parents were of what he was doing with their children.

“I love the openness with the parents,” he said. “There’s always going to be one or two people who are difficult, but, for the most part, I’ve loved it.”

Brian Segerbrecht is another Lawrence native and head coach of the Sidewinders in the Houk League for 13- and 14-year-old players.

“I always enjoyed it more when it was a younger guy coaching me than a parent,” Segerbrecht said.

Segerbrecht decided to use his experience in a postive way.

A former Houk League player himself, Segerbrecht started coaching last year with Josh Van Zandt, one of his brothers in the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity at KU.

This year, the 20-year-olds recruited two more fraternity brothers to share the Sidewinders’ coaching duties: Kyle Brown, 22, and Nathan Bower, 20.

They said the closeness in age to their players creates a different type of atmosphere in the clubhouse.

“A lot of times at this age, kids come in with a negative attitude,” Segerbrecht said. “To watch them become close as a team means as lot.”

The Sidewinders’ coaches have developed a unique rapport. Sometimes they have to keep each other in check when one of them gets too serious.

“We have a few signs we give each other to say that’s not appropriate,” Bower said.

“I think, at points, we’ve all been too competitive,” added Brown. “But once you look at the other three you kind of calm down.”

With the Sidewinders, coaching is truly a group effort as each has a distinct style. They agreed that Bower has a unique ability to communicate with the players.

“Nate’s a pretty good bridge between us and the kids,” Brown said. “He’s kind of like a translator sometimes.”

The Sidewinders coaches have made a big impact on their kids.

But the kids have made an impact on their coaches as well.

Their friends have learned that hanging out with them on game days means endless little league baseball talk, and the Sidewinders have become well-known by many local college students.

Like most of the young Lawrence coaches, the fraternity brothers have an intense approach to teaching their players baseball and life skills that they will carry with them through their lives.

Sometimes it even gets a little too intense.

“My girlfriend gets kind of annoyed because I talk about it all the time,” Van Zandt said.