Help! the kids . . .

[Newyouthcoach]

looked totally timid today. Tough day for the 8yo's, they were fine until they found out they were winning. Then out came the fat lady. they were up 6 to 5 at the end of the 4th. The next two innings the score became 6 to 14, their favor. All of us coaches agreed that some of the infielders were like "if we don't make a play for the ball, we can't mess up."

My idea for tomorrow is to bring lots and lots of packs of gum. At the start of the game, we coaches are going to give prizes for baserunning, big hits, good plays, etc. What has been your past experience with this? Hopefully, at the end of the game, We will have given every kid some gum for some type of positive effort.

[LAball]

Hey thats a great idea. I think there are some plastic medals to hang around the neck at the dollar store. Stickers might even work. Stick them on your batting helmet.

[TG Coach]

All of us coaches agreed that some of the infielders were like "if we don't make a play for the ball, we can't mess up."

Has a coaching environment created a thought process it's not good to make mistakes? All players make mistakes. Little kids make a lot of them. Tell the kids Brooks Robinson, the greatest fielding third baseman of all time holds the World Series record for most errors in an inning. Tell them the all-time strike out king is Reggie Jackson. He's Mr. October (Mr. Clutch). He's in the Hall of Fame for hitting 500+ homers. The next two on the list the kids might recognize, Sosa and Thome. They both have HOF stats (carefully worded to avoid Sosa debate).

[Newyouthcoach]

Our coaching philosophy is try your best and have fun. We do have two kids that are critical of other players. They drive me batty at times. We have 2 kids that have never played and they are decent kids, but both are very hard on themselves. Us coaches try to make sure we don't work with our own kids during practice or during the games.

Today was a close game, final score 6 to 1. I wouldn't tell them the score and made sure every kid ended up with the gum for something they did well.

[Yankees73]

Rookie coach..

Here's a good one.. I am coaching my daughters softball team..age group 6-9 We did pretty well at our game today and won 11-9. The main problem I have is how to keep the kids more interested during practice and what is the best way to organize it? Last week I broke them into two groups and had outfield and infield drills. We then had a batting practice. Also, alot of them including my daughter is a first year player. Any coaching suggestions are welcomed. I've been a player my whole life but never coached other than my sons tee ball team..Thanks

[LAball]

Make a compitition out of practice.

Use 2 teams for infield grounders, how many can they catch in a row, and also have a good throw to first.

Play catch and slowly spread them apart, first team of 2 to drop the ball is out.

2 teams with 2 long lines, relay the ball down and back.

Batting practice, which team can hit the most, furtherst, most to right or left field.

[azmatsfan]

Here's a good one.. I am coaching my daughters softball team..age group 6-9 We did pretty well at our game today and won 11-9. The main problem I have is how to keep the kids more interested during practice and what is the best way to organize it? Last week I broke them into two groups and had outfield and infield drills. We then had a batting practice. Also, alot of them including my daughter is a first year player. Any coaching suggestions are welcomed. I've been a player my whole life but never coached other than my sons tee ball team..Thanks

Stations. Make sure you have at least 3 parents at the practice that are willing to help. Then each of you can be in charge of one station. If you have 12 girls on the team you can start with 3 or 4 stations, one for hitting, one for ground balls, one for fly balls, for example. This way the girls get more individual attention, and there's less standing around waiting for their turn or for the ball to get hit their way.

Also, I like to always do something fun at the end of practice. On the team I'm coaching now (9/10 baseball) the boys love having a relay race around the bases at the end of practice. This gives them something to work toward. "OK, one more drill, then we'll have a relay race." I don't know if the relay race will work with the girls, but some last activity or game they enjoy to wrap it up.

[Yankees73]

Stations. Make sure you have at least 3 parents at the practice that are willing to help. Then each of you can be in charge of one station. If you have 12 girls on the team you can start with 3 or 4 stations, one for hitting, one for ground balls, one for fly balls, for example. This way the girls get more individual attention, and there's less standing around waiting for their turn or for the ball to get hit their way.

Also, I like to always do something fun at the end of practice. On the team I'm coaching now (9/10 baseball) the boys love having a relay race around the bases at the end of practice. This gives them something to work toward. "OK, one more drill, then we'll have a relay race." I don't know if the relay race will work with the girls, but some last activity or game they enjoy to wrap it up.

Thanks for the tips... greatly appreciated..

[Ursa Major]

When my son attended the UC Berkeley baseball camp in the summer, they used packs of baseball cards as incentives. They served a two-fold purpose: (1) the gave rewards to the kids without rotting their teeth, and (2) they linked the kids' play to that of big leaguers. It never hurts for kids to get a sense that they are a link in a long chain that runs from Alexander Cartwright and George Wright through a century and a half of baseball greats.