Coaching A Ball Next Year

[mvd1267 0]

Hi, I have coached my son who is 7 1/2 now the past 2 years in T ball and had a blast. Next year he is moving to "A" ball and will be 8 playing with 8-9 year olds and I have been selected to be a coach of his team. I know the fundamentals of the game quite well and it gets more competitive/serious with boys pitching and playing the 3 outs vs "everyone hits the ball" and the simple rules that are in T-Ball. A few questions, how often should practices be conducted in A ball. Is the goal to play all the kids or is it typical to let the "better" kids play the infield, pitch, bat in the tops spots etc. My son out of 11 kids in T-ball was probably the 3rd best, he lacks in speed, however has a very accurate arm and wants to pitch. His hitting was good and I intend to work with him alot between now and the start of the next season. Also, the question when other parents complain about their kids not playing enough, I have little tolerance for parents becoming involved, since this is all volunteers and we never have enough volunteers, the typical response is "well, next year maybe you should consider becoming a coach of your son and then you can run the show" and that seems to shut obnoxious parents up

[Doug 0]

I am not sure exactly what A ball is, but I know 7 and 8 year olds and at this age everyone should be given opportunities. Sounds to me like it's all about you and your son as you have already prepared yourself to blowoff those "Problem parents" who have the guts to ask you why it's all about your son.

You should do your son and the league a favor and stay on the sidelines.

Doug

[mvd1267 0]

I am not sure exactly what A ball is, but I know 7 and 8 year olds and at this age everyone should be given opportunities. Sounds to me like it's all about you and your son as you have already prepared yourself to blowoff those "Problem parents" who have the guts to ask you why it's all about your son.

You should do your son and the league a favor and stay on the sidelines.

Doug

Well Doug,

I have coached my son and his team has won the championship 2 of the last 3 years. I even for your convenience attached a photo of him the night he received the trophy at the baseball banquet. I guess you were wrong but I do know why your not on the sidelines.

Oh, and no parent asked me why it's all about my son as that was not the intention and never was. I have been around baseball as an umpire, a parent and now a coach. There has never been a season when at least one (usually more) parents complain about the coaching, about the umpiring, about playing time, etc. My response has been and always will be "if you can do a better job here you go" You know the funny thing........not one person has ever taking me up on that offer? I wonder why. Stick to the sidelines yourself pal.

[Charlie 2]

mvd1267,

Pretty defensive there. Sounds like a younger me. I can tell you in my early years of coaching I did hear a lot of grumbling from various parents in regards to playing time and opportunities at certain positions and if I am being honest I had the same attitude as you - if you think you can do better, find another team and do it.

What I finally realized as the years passed was that it really was about me. I put winning over the kids and it was a mistake. I still believe there is nothing wrong with winning, but not at the sake of the kids. Especially, when we are working with the younger ones. It needs to be about development and that includes all of the players.

I can honestly say over the last 7-10 years I have not had any parents coming to me to complain about playing time or opportunities and I still have successful teams. We may not always win the CHAMPIONSHIP for whatever that is worth but we have won it and it really didn't have a deeper impact on the kids than not winning it.

Charlie

[derekd 0]

Nice, posting a pic of the kid with the trophy, 2 out of 3 championships. lol.

With that aside, I'm assuming that it's a free sub league, meaning you can sub in and out as you please. You'll never want to have a kid sitting in consecutive innings.

For hitting, the batting order will probably be the roster so that is pretty easy. I would go with a good batting order but mix up who is the last batter from game to game. Kids know what being the last batter means. You also put some pressure on the weaker batters to perform when they're slotted at the top or middle of the lineup.

Defensively, I'd break up your season into two halves. The first half, you totally mix up the defense, playing kids where they necessarily wouldn't play. In the 2nd half, you start to lock down the positions a little. If a kid is an infielder, he needs to be there. When your playoff comes, you set up the best defense, order, etc.

Pitching, give all of your players the chance to learn how do it. In the first half, anyone can pitch. The 2nd half, narrow it down a little. And so on. If you're up or down big, put someone in there that could use some time without the pressure of holding the game.

These things work very well because you keep a lot of people happy. You may find a diamond in the rough at a position you may not have thought he could play. The kids aren't burned out. If you need someone to play somewhere during your playoffs, you know what kind of versatility you have.

I could go on and on. I've been there, done that. Another thing, if you don't TRULY know the fundamentals of pitching, don't try to teach it. It's isn't hard to get someone experienced to come out and show and/or the team some stuff.

[wild man 2]

Well derekd gives some real sound advice. he has to have been there to say what he did. I will also give this advice. Come up with some drills for practice that are team oriented real fun and involve every one. Tug o war is good on days before games it has nothing to do with baseball and takes the pressure off of them. it is good to end the practice with. Also little compititions with partners is good. Say a race around the bases. Take two kids one fast one slow, they grab onto a bat and run oround the bases for time and cant drop the bat. Stuff like this helps with team unity.

[Coach Larry 0]

Hi Mvd,

I wanted to put my two cents in:

If you put the focus on winning, then you are starting out on the wrong foot. Too many coaches stress winning as the primary goal. The primary goal should be teaching the kids to give their best effort and have fun. Even in competitive leagues, you will end up winning more games and returning more kids if you teach them baseball with an emphasis on effort and fun.

My recommendations on your questions are as follows:

Practices: 2-3 per week. I schedule 1-2 mandatory practices each week and then have an extra practice each week. Too many times, kids have life outside of baseball and if you only go with 1 practice per week you will be limiting valuable practice time and player development time. I ran mine about 120 minutes with a game and water break every half hour. I would set up 3 stations per 30 minutes and rotate the players through. If you keep them all involved and having fun, they will ask for longer practices. If they are all standing around and bored, then you need to re work your practice agenda.

Player Positions: Start out the season asking the kids what position they would like to play. Then help develop them at that position throughout the season. Also give them a chance to play a position you think they might be better suited for. Most kids want to play Short and Pitcher. But a lot of them should be playing 2B. Use their desire to play a position as incentive to practice at home and other times besides practice. For safety reasons you may not be able to put players at some positions, like 1B. Parents will understand.

Pitching: Practice pitching, every, every every every practice. Parents are great to help out as your practice catchers.

Catching: Practice catching and blocking balls, every practice.

Baserunning: Practice baserunning every practice. These are three overlooked and critical skills at this age.

If you set out your expectations in a parent letter, then you will minimize complaints. I send out a letter at the beginning of the season stating that playing time is not only based on skill, but practices made, effort given and parent help. The more parents you have helping the smoother your practices and seasons should go. Also, you need to decide and inform that parents in your letter or at your parent meeting if you are running a more competitive team. Let them know what to expect and if what criteria you are using to choose starting players and positions. When they know what to expect, they will be a lot less likely to complain.

As Derek said, there is plenty more, but this should give you a good start!

Have a great season!

[expertbbtips 0]

Hi, I have coached my son who is 7 1/2 now the past 2 years in T ball and had a blast. Next year he is moving to "A" ball and will be 8 playing with 8-9 year olds and I have been selected to be a coach of his team. I know the fundamentals of the game quite well and it gets more competitive/serious with boys pitching and playing the 3 outs vs "everyone hits the ball" and the simple rules that are in T-Ball. A few questions, how often should practices be conducted in A ball. Is the goal to play all the kids or is it typical to let the "better" kids play the infield, pitch, bat in the tops spots etc. My son out of 11 kids in T-ball was probably the 3rd best, he lacks in speed, however has a very accurate arm and wants to pitch. His hitting was good and I intend to work with him alot between now and the start of the next season. Also, the question when other parents complain about their kids not playing enough, I have little tolerance for parents becoming involved, since this is all volunteers and we never have enough volunteers, the typical response is "well, next year maybe you should consider becoming a coach of your son and then you can run the show" and that seems to shut obnoxious parents up

Coach Larry -

Please check out our website at www.expert-baseball-tips.com. Free baseball tips from a championship coach's experience and perspective offering creative insight to helping others learn the game of baseball.

[TonyGeo 0]

Hi, I have coached my son who is 7 1/2 now the past 2 years in T ball and had a blast. Next year he is moving to "A" ball and will be 8 playing with 8-9 year olds and I have been selected to be a coach of his team. I know the fundamentals of the game quite well and it gets more competitive/serious with boys pitching and playing the 3 outs vs "everyone hits the ball" and the simple rules that are in T-Ball. A few questions, how often should practices be conducted in A ball. Is the goal to play all the kids or is it typical to let the "better" kids play the infield, pitch, bat in the tops spots etc. My son out of 11 kids in T-ball was probably the 3rd best, he lacks in speed, however has a very accurate arm and wants to pitch. His hitting was good and I intend to work with him alot between now and the start of the next season. Also, the question when other parents complain about their kids not playing enough, I have little tolerance for parents becoming involved, since this is all volunteers and we never have enough volunteers, the typical response is "well, next year maybe you should consider becoming a coach of your son and then you can run the show" and that seems to shut obnoxious parents up

My 2 cents:

I have coached youth baseball for almost 10 years and youth basketball for 7 years ages 8-15.I have had the oppurtunity to talk with high school and even a few college coaches in our area and they all say the same thing..kids need to have fun and enjoy the game while learning the game at youth levels.If you make it too much like a job for them..the high school and college coaches will never see these kids at their level,and there is a shortage of baseball players at the high school level.Winning is fun and losing stinks,but it should not come down to the only reason for coaching.I have coached my own kids and am now coaching teams that I have no kids on,and what worked for me coaching my kids was that I treated him/her like the other 12 kids on the team...No special treatment..

Parents are another issue in its own.I have a parent/player meeting twice a year..At the beginning we discuss what the objectives are and what my playing time rules are.We also discuss practice is a must,as well as being on time.And parents acting accordingly during games.I have always had the belief if a kid comes out to play a sport for a team I coach,and shows up for practice I will play them in every game.It is better than having them at home on the couch,or worse yet hanging out on the streets getting into trouble.Also,you never know when that kid you set at the end of your bench will have to play in a big spot..so set him/her up for sucess not failure.What if that kid turns out to be Michael Jordan?Would you want to be the coach who cut him?

[SportNut 0]

This is a good question and many parent / coaches struggle with it, including myself when my kids were at that age (6 to 12 yr olds).

I think it is important to realize that the parent / coaches child will develop more in a season than probably any other player on the team. Why? Because they are always the first one to the field, the last one to leave, and are at every practice. Therefore, they will get more bp reps and more fielding reps in practices than any other player. Their skill improvement will just naturally happen throughout the season because of the amount of time they are at the field.

I think it is important for every youth coach to realize is that only one or two on any under-12 team will play high school baseball. Kids just drop the sport for some other activity or naturally leave because they cannot master the necessary baseball skills. The challenge is: you don't know who the 1 or 2 kids will be because their interest change quickly and they physically mature at different ages. Small kids at 8 can become powerfull hitters at 15. Weak arm, poor mechanic throwers can catch the baseball bug and put the time in to develop their arm strength and mechanics.

My advice would be to make it fun for all players and focus on the fundamentals. Hopefully, you will be one of the rare and lucky coaches that will have 3 players from your team playing varisty high school baseball.

Interestly, I did a lot of what Coach Larry recommends. I have two 120 min mandatory practices and one 120 min "optional" practice per week. In each practice we worked on both fielding and hitting. Occasionally, during the second half of the season, I would run a 6-on-6 scrimmage where I divided up the team and parents helped play field positions. I found this was a nice break from the practice routine.

After the first 3 or 4 practice at the begining of the season, I would ask the parents to come over to the team huddle and I would give my play time speech. My playtime rules were: if your son/daughter comes prepared to practice (ie., brings their glove) and give me 110% effort then he will play at least half the game. I would then ask every parent if they understood what was required to "earn" playtime and if they would support my playtime rule. I would watch to make sure every parent agreed. If not, I would have an offline discussion with them to address any of their concerns.

I stuck by this rule. If a player was disruptive or lazy, the first time I would quietly tell him his attitutude could effect his play time. The second practice he was disruptive, I would call the parents, explain the situation, and invite them to participate in the next several practice as a volunteer. This way they saw the situation first hand, had an opportunity to address it with their child, and, if neccessary, completely understood why their child was getting reduced play time.

My batting line changed a little every game, but it was put together this way:

- top couple of batters were the fastest runners with high on base percentage

- middle of the line up was the power hitters

- bottom of the order was filled in with the rest of the players

I would identify one or two infield positions that each player could play and I would practice them in that position. Every player practiced in the outfield. This fielding rotation happened every practice.

During the game, I would rotate every position every 1 and 2 innings, except pitcher and catcher. If a pitcher was throwing strikes then we let him pitch a little longer. For catcher, I could never find more than two kids who could block the ball on any team so I would let them stay in that spot for a few extra innings.

During the game, every player would play at least one inning in the infield and one inning in the outfield. In the first and third or fourth game of the season, my child was the first one to sit out (I told my son this was going to happen so he was prepared). I did this to reinforce my playtime commitment to the parents. What I found was that parents stopped counting player innings when I did this and I stopped having to deal with the "behind the scenes snide comments" that can destory the team chemistry.

Hope this helps

Brian

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