Youth Baseball Coaches

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Comment by Mike Greene on January 23, 2012 at 9:16pm

Kip, thanks I am very proud of our guys. It is actually now become a challege for our guys to try and better the previous teams' hitting performances. They grade each other on bunts, sacrafices, average and OB%. It is a hoot to listen to these guys ragging on each other (in fun) as they are working. During games they are all serious, but our practices are a trip.

One of the nice things about coaching is that no two coaches do the same things the same way. Each of us does what we have realized success with until we see and try something better. I have learned a ton over the past 23 years of coaching. Thank goodness I am a quick learner! LOL 

Comment by Dave Holt on January 23, 2012 at 9:07pm

One Hour Workout:

For live BP you can get a great workout in in 30 min. Use my 3-Team format. One group hits live with coach pitcher, one shags and one works out on the side on any number of possibilities (tee, toss, cage, pepper, basehit bunting, pickle, whiffle ball, tennis balls, pitchers on the side, last man standing drill, goalie drill). Rotate every 9 minutes with one minute to transition. 

Shaggers play point game: 100 for a fly, 50 for a one hopper, 25 for a grounder (they get their defense in here). You must have a bucket guy behind second base to put the batted balls in. Bp pitcher has to keep the flow. Players get in and out of the cage because the clock is ticking. 2bunts, hit and run, get em over, first round opposite field. Last round basehits and you stay up and Im the judge. 

Runners run the bases after hitting. Hit and run to 2B. stay on 2b working on reactions with ball in front and behind you. At 3B working on contact play with infield in and one out. Fungo hitter can hit grounders between pitches too if you have any. 

Finish the last half hour with a coach pitch 3-team game. One group bats for 9 minutes and rotate. The other two groups team up to play defense. Pretty darn good workout in one hour. Add 10-15 for warmups. Add my 15 minute rapid fire fungo drill and you have an hour and a half of big time practice that kids like.

And no coaches yelling and putting down the kids.

Comment by charlie e davis on January 23, 2012 at 11:15am

@ Don Ervin & Mike Green.. excellent comments and break downs. i love them and agree . i have played and coached baseball,fastpitch & slow pitch softball for 30 years and some /most dont coach to the age or level of the players they have and expect young kids to already know what to do,like i said i have been involved for 30 years and i still learn something new from them and pass on to them all the time.i have also notice coaches being more rude and unsportsmanlike actions towards other coaches and officials,which really upsets me because they kids also pick up and learn from the coaches actions as well as their comments. most coaches should go back and learn the elthics of coaching and also should be required to take refresher courses on coaching and sportsmanship every year and be required to have a certain score to be allowed to coach. also coaches need to remember until they(players) start getting paid it is just a game of fun,and even then its still just a game and as humans we all make mistakes and will always make mistakes,so move on and learn from it. Thanks for letting me join in on conversation 

Comment by Kip Gross on January 23, 2012 at 2:12am

Ted,

it all depends on how much time you have I guess. We practice most of the time for about an hour when we do it this way because almost everything is being worked on at once, then a specialty drill and then we're out. If I need to work with players individually it comes before regular practice and sometimes after. 

Mike,

that's great you lead your district in hitting most of the time, that really is an accomplishment. 150 swings a day is a ton to say the least, we usually take 2 bunts, a hit and run, get em over, get em in and then 8 swings and for every bunt and fundamental they do good they get and extra for the 2nd round where they get 8 more hacks. Then they get 8 more in the final normal round. Then for the final round they get to swing until they make an out and I'm the judge. Phantom fielders are All-Stars. BTW, the 1st round, I want them all hitting EVERYTHING to the opposite field. 

Comment by Mike Greene on January 22, 2012 at 11:03pm

Kip, I know coaches that swear by live hitting on the field. We have not done it more than twice a season. We hit tee work, soft toss, tire work and cage work 5 days a week. I starting focusing several years ago on wasted time during our practice and hitting live was the biggest waste we had. Our guys will get about 150 cuts per practice done and hitting live just hasn't worked for us. As long as it works for you that is great. For us, we have led our school district 6 of the past 7 years in hitting, so our plan is working for us. Good luck this season.

 

Comment by Ted Browne on January 22, 2012 at 11:00pm

@ Kip  Agreed, but if you only have limited practice time, drills/stations are probably more efficient for the younger ones, with live hitting being a "treat" for the kids, correct?

Comment by Kip Gross on January 22, 2012 at 10:44pm

Mike,

we hit on the field live almost every practice. But, nobody is standing around. Everyone takes their normal positions and between every pitch the coaches hit ground balls and fly balls to the players. And they get to field live off the bats as well. We work on double plays, throwing to 1st base, playing in. The hitter, after  his turn, runs the bases and works on leads, secondary leads and stealing. We've been doing this with players as young as 8. It does take a couple of good coaches or parents to help out but it works great. 

Comment by Mike Greene on January 22, 2012 at 9:16pm

If a coach can't be positive at the youth level, they are not coaches. Young people are like sponges. They want to learn and they want to be challenged. If a coach will teach, they will learn and do their best to do what the coach is asking. As a long time youth coach I am willing to admit that I was not this smart when I started and unfortunately my own sons paid the price before I learned.
After I realized how little was getting through with stupid comments like "throw strikes, stop the ball, run faster, etc." I did finally realize what coaching is all about. I praise players in front of their teammates and if we have to discuss poor performance or problems, we do it away from the team.

We focus our practices on drill work whether it is hitting in the cages, bullpen sessions, base running, etc. We do take time at every practice to work on specific things like pickles both defensively and offensively, simulated defensive situations with base runners, etc. One thing we seldom do is ever hit "live" on the field. It is a complete waste of time for players that are not hitting. If we do hit "live" we take about 5 guys and spread them out across the field with no one at 1B and throw to a bucket player behind 2B. This is done while others are hitting in the cages or throwing BPs. There are far too many youth coaches that spend the entire practice time with kids hitting on the field. During games they wonder why the kids can't play defense or run bases.

Comment by Ted Browne on July 10, 2011 at 4:51pm

Great insights, Don!

Comment by Don Ervin on July 10, 2011 at 12:22pm

Hey guy's,great comments.

Patrick what you do during practice sessions is very productive to the players if and when there are practice sessions, here in Springfield, Mo. from the college summer on down through the youth leagues practice sessions are virtually extinct, A youth coach took my number for some help early on, so far due to game play and no practice I have yet to receive a call from him, these all play and no practice attitudes are simply ruining the progress of each individual player, parents are adding to this lack of interest of each players progress by going along with this selfish attitude of their so called coaches.

Kip your comments on coaches negativism towards players during game play etc. is very true, these types of so called coaches should not be tolerated by parents and /or league officials, I was viewing a 14 and under basketball tournament recently and some of the so called coaches never spoke anything but negativism during every game their players were involved in,  I became so disgusted with their derogatory mouths toward the kids that I left the auditorium when they played.

Some players are so much being down on themselves that compliments do not effect them, In our adult league one player who also coaches has yet to do more than top a dribbler,[No hits or even foul tips, total strike outs,] I complimented him after he topped a dribbler and got on base, after his negative comment I told him that his contact was much better than striking out.

You say that baseball is harder than it looks and you are correct but I find that so many parents,coaches and players sometimes make the game harder than it really is.

What I observe and have learned is that Very few baseball people coaches in particular are simply not teachers of game fundamentals and individual player skills, where it stands out like a sore thumb is in the scientific proof that tells us that in pitching and hitting in particular when taught and used properly,[hip/shoulder separation executed in proper sequence at the proper time] operates in a sequenced/chain reactive action during it's movements from start to finish, To be capable of teaching this process one must follow the scientific research proof, get out of their comfort zone box, throw the conventional ways to the side and learn what scientific study is proving.

People are way too overly impressed when they learn that someone has played professional baseball etc. they simply do not realize that does not automatically qualify them as a teacher, what qualifies one to be a teacher is the years of research and study especially from excellent teachers, My books and my mind are always open to learning what I can from the very best teachers I can find.

Teaching is a two way street, there are way too many people coaches or otherwise out there who can tell a player what they are doing wrong but  on the other hand cannot explain and show them how to make the necessary positive adjustments.

I have also been involved with hockey, both roller and ice and as Patrick says their no tolerance rules are very effective, Hockey probably has more problems  from time to time with coaches than players.

Again, great comments mail them out to those so called coaches who you notice that throw all of the negativism out to their players.

Don Ervin

kom_ervin@yahoo.com

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