New Coaching Dad

[High Cheez]

First time poster. Some really great threads/debates here. Very glad I found this place.

I’ve dived into a lot of the threads here, even going back 4-5 years. Something that came up really peaked my interest. Can’t remember the exact topic but the comment had to do with taking advice from coaches with experience as opposed to a dad whose watched some DVDs. I’m one of those dad’s who played in high school and am just now starting to gather information (DVDs, Books, Internet) to help my 5 turning 6 year old learn to play the game. What are some of the basic pitfalls I need to be aware of as a dad in gathering the right information and not being afraid (because of lack of experience coaching baseball) to teach him how to play? This is his first year of coach pitch and he’s doing pretty well with the limited amount of time he’s been playing. I'm one of the assistant coaches and sometimes I feel like I want to practice more than he does. I’ll often say, “Hey, let’s go practice some baseball.” If he doesn’t want to practice I’m fine with it. Thus far I've worked with him on basics - proper defensive position, fielding ground balls properly, catching (the most difficult), how to separate his hands, throw (keeping his elbow up), and follow through, and then some basic hitting off the tee and live pitching. He picks things up very quickly and I've been pleasantly surprised with his progress. I want to keep it fun for him so that he’ll keep wanting to play.

Here’s something specific maybe someone can answer for me. At what age do kids start laying off bad pitches? When is a good time to start teaching this skill and what are some good and not so good methods to teach it?

Thanks for any advice/answers.

[johnlanza]

Thus far I've worked with him on basics - proper defensive position, fielding ground balls properly, catching (the most difficult), how to separate his hands, throw (keeping his elbow up), and follow through, and then some basic hitting off the tee and live pitching.

I want to keep it fun for him so that he’ll keep wanting to play.

He's almost six? Want to keep him interested? Then don't forget the ice cream treat when the "work" is done! Have fun, and welcome to the neighborhood...

[Jake Patterson]

Cheez,
PM me your address and I'll send you some information.
While many of us don't always agree on things, the one thing we all greatly enjoyed was the point at which you are now.
Good Luck!
Jake

[skipper5]

F At what age do kids start laying off bad pitches? When is a good time to start teaching this skill and what are some good and not so good methods to teach it?
.

It's much better to err on the side of free-swinging as opposed to selectivity.

You're coaching 6 yrs olds. Six years from now with the same group, you'll find it's much easier to get a 12yo free-swinger to be more selective than it is to get a tentative window-shopper to swing on time-- with a hard hack.
If they have any aptitude whatsoever for the game, they eventually realize on their own that they have to become more selective.
Also, around 11 or 12, their peers will start to "coach" them to lay off the hard high ones.

[bbrages]

^ agree with above (although I'm not much more experienced than the OP)

Your players will learn faster and play better if they are always ready to "go for it", and not held back by being afraid of making a mistake.

[tg643]

When I started coaching I broke down every lesson in front of a mirror step by step. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss a step. After taking notes I created verbiage I felt little kids could understand.

[pthawaii]

Welcome! I took parts of your quotes to comment on. I, like you, am a DVD dad.

What are some of the basic pitfalls I need to be aware of as a dad in gathering the right information and not being afraid (because of lack of experience coaching baseball) to teach him how to play?

- Not all advice on the forums will fit you and your child, so take most things with a grain of salt.
- You shouldn't be afraid to teach him how to play, as long as you don't insist on any one specific thing (especially if he is pushing back), unless you are insisting that he has fun.

I feel like I want to practice more than he does. I want to keep it fun for him so that he’ll keep wanting to play.

- You're gonna have to fight that urge to practice My son and I alternate, some days he wants to and I'm tired, others I want to and he's found an ant trail to check out. Follow his lead.
- Sounds like you've done a lot of instruction, make sure you are playing a lot of games at the park.
- I got lucky in that he made a friend one season and we go to the park every weekend to play. It always ends in kickball and slurpees from 7-11. He loves baseball, but I'm pretty sure the extra weekend play is in large part due to having a baseball friend, kickball and slurpees.

At what age do kids start laying off bad pitches? When is a good time to start teaching this skill and what are some good and not so good methods to teach it?

My son is 7 and he hasn't learned yet

Good luck and as many have said to me, enjoy the journey.

[dominik]

I think a lot of this DVD information is not that bad.

However I think as a dad you should learn to hit a little yourself. don't experiment with your son but do the experiments yourself before you do the drills with your son.
You don't need to be a high level hitter to be able to teach but I believe you need to have experienced some feelings.

So if you get a DVD (I think with epstein you cannot go wrong but others are OK too) I would recommend to do the drills yourself at least for a couple of weeks before you teach it to your son. I think it is important that a teacher swings a bat himself at least occasionally.

[Thor]

Keep teaching him to swing the bat and not be too selective. As Juan Samuel said, "You don't walk of the island (the Dominican Republic), you hit."

[shake-n-bake]

Maybe just explain the strike zone - from there it's trial and error and explaining again. Being coach pitch he should be seeing mostly strikes, so I'd just encourage him to turn it loose and have some fun. Bring him to some ball games and just let him soak up the whole experience. Lots of good times ahead for you - savor it all as it flies by!

[dominik]

Keep teaching him to swing the bat and not be too selective. As Juan Samuel said, "You don't walk of the island (the Dominican Republic), you hit."

this approach turns potential HOFers into jeff franceour and alfonso soriano. but I agree that they should look for a ball to hit and not for a walk.

[skipper5]

this approach turns potential HOFers into jeff franceour and alfonso soriano. but I agree that they should look for a ball to hit and not for a walk.

dominik,
I always enjoy your posts, but I'm curious, what is your level of experience of coaching youth baseball teams?

[dominik]

dominik,
I always enjoy your posts, but I'm curious, what is your level of experience of coaching youth baseball teams?

none, to date I'm just a player.

I was just smart assing a little since I'm a little bit into sabermetrics. you are probably right that you need to get kids to swing.

[Doctor Joe]

Like Cheez, I'm also a brand new poster - though I have been enjoying browsing around this site for some time - a lot of good posts, good ideas, and seemingly cool dudes on here. One area where I might disagree with a few of you is in regards to "free swinging". My personal experience probably plays a big part in my philosophy - - that it is never to soon to pass on an understanding of the strike zone. MOST (there are rare exceptions) of the best hitters from college to the big leagues have a VERY good understanding of the strike zone. And it is not as simple as it sounds to think a kid can just flip the switch when he's older and become a discriminating hitter. I was brought up with the philosophy of "Swing the bat. Walks suck." I have no doubt this line of thinking lead to the premature ending of my playing career at the tender age of 23. I could not flip that switch. A free swinger will get himself out most of the time. I don't want my son to hate walks. Since he was 4 years old throwing in the backyard I have stressed "If you don't like it, don't swing." And now that he's a little older, I do the same thing, tell him to wait for one he can hit hard - until he has 2 strikes. And while he's not going up there looking for walks (to the contrary), he knows that a walk is nothing to be upset about. There's nothing wrong with walks. And he knows the strike zone. Bottom line, batters who only swing at strikes are going to be better hitters. I don't think it is ever too soon to teach kids the strike zone.

[skipper5]

Like Cheez, I'm also a brand new poster - though I have been enjoying browsing around this site for some time - a lot of good posts, good ideas, and seemingly cool dudes on here. One area where I might disagree with a few of you is in regards to "free swinging". My personal experience probably plays a big part in my philosophy - - that it is never to soon to pass on an understanding of the strike zone. MOST (there are rare exceptions) of the best hitters from college to the big leagues have a VERY good understanding of the strike zone. And it is not as simple as it sounds to think a kid can just flip the switch when he's older and become a discriminating hitter. I was brought up with the philosophy of "Swing the bat. Walks suck." I have no doubt this line of thinking lead to the premature ending of my playing career at the tender age of 23. I could not flip that switch. A free swinger will get himself out most of the time. I don't want my son to hate walks. Since he was 4 years old throwing in the backyard I have stressed "If you don't like it, don't swing." And now that he's a little older, I do the same thing, tell him to wait for one he can hit hard - until he has 2 strikes. And while he's not going up there looking for walks (to the contrary), he knows that a walk is nothing to be upset about. There's nothing wrong with walks. And he knows the strike zone. Bottom line, batters who only swing at strikes are going to be better hitters. I don't think it is ever too soon to teach kids the strike zone.

After you've coached a few 11-12 rec teams, you may notice as I have that with the bottom half of the order the biggest problem is tentativeness/indecision resulting in the fact that many of their hardest hits are line drives that richochet of the fence in front of the oppo dugout.

The fact that you played at a high level until the age of 23 makes you one of the elite.
When coaching elite youngsters, there is less of a downside to introducing the idea of being selective.

The fact that you were told that "walks suck" was unfortunate.