# Youth Coaching (sports)



## Road Guy (Mar 29, 2011)

anyone here coach baseball or softball??

Well I became the head coach of my daughters 10U Fast Pitch Softball Team this spring, I thought it would be pretty smooth sailing, but damn we are getting our asses handed to us!

Were 1-4 and I think the parents are about to set my car on fire during practice.......

My main problem is the girls dont seem to want to "swing the bat" this is there first year of "kid pitch" so they are taking some getting used to a kid pitching, versus the coach pitching....

I have probably also been "too nice" by giving the girls with less talent the opportunity to play some infield positions, not the full game but I always fealt bad for some girl playing LF every inning of every game... I have had several "suggestions" by the parents that I am rotating the players too much, probably true, I've been giving the girls one infield and one outfield position and rotating them that way, so for example if you play 3B, you also play LF (that way you learn how back ups are supposed to work). Of course these are the parents of the "better" kids who probably dont want them to play outfield.. I try and tell them that some MLB Players make a pretty good salary playing RF!

Were not getting hurt defensivly, its hard to win without base runners! I've done extra hitting practices, hitting machines, etc, and they all seem to go to the plate and watch the ball go bye, then the ump calls strikes,, 3 up 3 down...

very dissapointing!

Any words of wisdom!

Also It doesnt help that I dont have any assistant coaches on my team, I have lots of parents who help out when they are there, but no consistency........


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## wilheldp_PE (Mar 29, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> I have had several "suggestions" by the parents that I am rotating the players too much...
> ...It doesnt help that I dont have any assistant coaches on my team.


Tell them to become a reliable assistant coach or STFU.


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## momech (Mar 29, 2011)

I'm not a head baseball coach, just an assistant, but I'm a head soccer coach for U6. I think there is a lot of value in teaching each kid a "primary" position. My son's t-ball coach last year rotated the kids every single inning. So pretty much nobody had a clue what to do, ever. It's great to try to let them experience different positions at practice in order to find a better fit, but they still should have a primary position. As far as rotating better players to the outfield, so the weak players' parents are happy; I'd only do that when we're winning easily to give the other team mercy. If the parents don't like it, encourage them to take their kid out in the yard and practice with them so they can compete for an infield position. Most parents don't want to make that effort.


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## Road Guy (Mar 29, 2011)

that was sort of what I was doing, I had the best players as a primary position, for 2 innings, and then one inning, they would play their backup position. so no one was playing more than two positions....

I only have 2 pitchers, and when one of them isnt pitching they play 2B or SS... One of my pitchers doesnt ever seem to practice on her own, I tried to encourage her by trying out a lot of other girls for pitching positions last friday practice...

And what is interesting to me, my sons play baseball at a fairly competitive baseball park, and there, maybe its boys, you dont questions what position your kid is playing, and you are told bluntly, look if you want to play XX position you better hit the practice fields every day  due to the competition level, no one questions "the coaches"

But for some reason, maybe because its girls, its overly rampart at the girls park, a friend of mine is the leaugue director so he sends me the parents emails bitching about the playing time and rotation, luckily I dont have any of those yet, more or less "friendly suggestions" from parents as I walk back to the car....

If I do this again I must have assist coaches as the beginning, I have plenty of help for weekend games but not enough during the week games, for some reason I'm the only dad that doesnt travel to Vegas every week or something...


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## MA_PE (Mar 29, 2011)

With your scouting experience, I'm sure you are well aware of dealing with parents that always have something to say but never any time to offer.

I only had boys and helped as an asst coach one year in Little League (that's all I could stand). However, my kids were pretty active in the youth sports programs (baseball, soccer and hockey) and were pretty good, too. You need to tell these parents that THEY need to practice with the girls or at least encourage the girls to practice ont heir own. You can't make stars out of them with an hour a couple of days a week and they're not going to learn it at the games. That being said, don't focus on giving everyone a chance at every position at every game. League rules probably mandate minimum playing time. Make sure everyone gets her minimum time but give some preference to the girls that are really trying and want to play the game. If parents b&amp;^tch tell them that their child needs to want to play to get more time.

First time "kid" pitching can be scary because the pitcher often doesn't have a lot of control. Exposure to it is the only thing that will promote more confidence.

Get a Hit-a-way batting practice tool to help thenm with their swing.

Alternately tell them every game was a tie and "that's ok you tried your best, we'll get the same trophies at the end of the season"


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## momech (Mar 29, 2011)

RG, good point about fathers and their sons vs. mothers and their daughters. Right after I graduated from college my wife took a job as a high school cheerleading coach at a very large school in our area. What a freaking nightmare! For the most part, she had no problems with the girls, but their moms....I'm kinda sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Virtually every night when I got home from work there were 5-10 messages on our answering machine with questions, comments, concerns from moms.

As far as batting practice goes, that's a tough one too. It just takes lots of repetition. More than you can possibly get in 1-2 practices/games per week.


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## Road Guy (Mar 29, 2011)

I actually do private hitting lessons with my boys once a week, I'm sure they have them in your area, basically ex minor league players that teach lessons for $30/ half hour.. I;ve been doing that for years to get my boys to be able to hit better, my daughter does pitching lessons which are not cheap either so I am only doing pitching lessons with her (but we practice on our own a lot) its a major time committment and financial one as well..

The last game they did a little better with the hitting, I had orchestrated some hitting practices with the machine that I think worked ( for the ones that showed up) I know with baseball some kids it took them getting some confidence that once they made contact once they seemed to be able to repeat...


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## ALBin517 (Mar 29, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> anyone here coach baseball or softball??
> 
> Well I became the head coach of my daughters 10U Fast Pitch Softball Team this spring, I thought it would be pretty smooth sailing, but damn we are getting our asses handed to us!
> 
> ...



Be sure to juggle your batting order.

When I got out of little league, I used to coach my little brother's team, along with my stepdad. Our order 1-7 would stay pretty much the same. But we'd juggle the bottom so the same kid was not batting last, two games in a row.

Usually the kid I put dead last would suck but be fairly quick. You don't want a "road block" getting on in front of the top of the order. So I'd usually pull the kid aside and say, "We are going to bat you last. But don't think it's because you stink - we want a fast runner in front of Tommy and Bobby. You get on base and you'll score." Kids like to think they run fast, so it plays to that.

Also, can you set a standard rule on swinging the bat? I remember frequently getting directions for the whole team:

"Jump on the first pitch if it's a strike."

"Do not swing until you get a called strike."

etc

Maybe in your case, you need to have them take a strike (to get comfortable) and then swing at the next pitch, no matter what.


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## DVINNY (Mar 29, 2011)

I am coaching two teams this year.

My 9th year as a Challenger baseball head coach (manager) and also am the head coach (manager) of my son's T-ball team.

Both start this week.

I just had the T-ball "draft" over the weekend. I had ZERO assistant coaches, so I was not able to draft players based on ability, but rather my first 3 picks were players that had Dad's that I knew I could arm twist into helping as an assistant.

My team may not be that great, but I now have help. That's more important.


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## Road Guy (Mar 29, 2011)

your right DV, thats where I screwed up with my draft, I should have taken that into consideration.

I do also like to juggle up the bottom 3 or 4 of the batting order, I am not mean enough to make the same girl bat last every game,. but again, at the baseball park for boys, if you deserve to bat last, you will bat last..


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## Slugger926 (Mar 29, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> anyone here coach baseball or softball??
> 
> Well I became the head coach of my daughters 10U Fast Pitch Softball Team this spring, I thought it would be pretty smooth sailing, but damn we are getting our asses handed to us!
> 
> ...


If they aren't swinging or hitting, focus on that. They need to learn to hit and swing. If they swing and learn to hit now, they will be winning in due time (maybe a year or two) while other teams are striking out from "walk-a-thon" coaching that usually happens in early years when the kids start pitching for themselves.

Get on the kids for not swinging at the third strike. I would rather see the young kids swing at a bad pitch on third strike than strike out watching.

One thing that helps with hitting fast pitch or baseball is get a screen setup between the pitching rubber and home (maybe 15 feet) with a lawn chair and a bucket of balls. It is easy to toss overhand pitches all day long, and works on quick reactions for the hitters.

Also use smaller and smaller whiffle balls when doing tosses from the side, down to hitting golf whiffle balls. We used to use a hoe handle cut off with a knob of tape on the end while hitting golf whiffle balls which really works on eye hand accuracy. When tossing from the side, sit back 45 degree angle in front of the batter and the plate. Toss at the front knee of the batter to simulate an inside pitch to be pulled, back knee for outside pitch to be hit other way, and in between for down the middle pitches. You can toss higher and lower to work on different heights of strikes.

Have the girls work on their power base, and no hitches in the swings. Think of a stick shift vehicle that needs to shift in order. Step forward, first gear. Rotate hips = 2nd gear (belly button taking picture of ball). Third gear = dropping hands to center of body or slot/decision time. 4th gear = releasing swing , contact before back wrist is popped, and popping wrist on contact. On contact, think of hitting nail with hammer. If you break wrist before hitting nail, the wrist goes back and not much power delivered to nail. If you break wrist after initial contact, you really drive the nail. Let the bat do the work.

To prevent hitches or bat going backward which kills valuable time, I like to teach using touch points like having the bat touch the back shoulder, or the helmet for higher styles, or grabbing the center of the shirt for very short swing styles. The power comes from the legs and not where the bat is started. I also like elbows down since having them up is an added motion since you have to drop them down as your swing goes into the "slot".

Another way to prevent hitches or upper cutting is have a cloth put between the upper arm and body. Doing this with the front arm helps stop drastic upper cutting (slight is okay since this is the path of the ball). Using the cloth in the back arm and body helps break the habit of bad hitches in the swing.

So the swing should be 1-step, 2-rotate hips/take picture of ball, 3 -arms dropping to slot, 4- swing and follow through. Doing this out of order is like skipping gears in a stick shift, and you will tell when someone is doing this after thinking about it, and watching good hitters.

Parents of little leagers can be difficult.

Let me know if you need more help. It is harder to get through to young girls (8-10 years old) on the physical stuff of hitting than it is with 5 year old boys.

A guy I taught while I was in college on these principals is now a freelance hitting coach making more $$$ than I am as an engineer.

Also, those that are great young may not be that good later due to losing passion, and the worst kid on the team may be the best college player. I wasn't any good till about age 14, and almost was drafted in college if it weren't for defense which may have been caused by an astigmatism found later in life.


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## DVINNY (Mar 31, 2011)

^^^ Some damn good stuff right there.

thanks

That relates to everyone, my swing was never perfect, and playing softball last year, it was even worse. I sometimes pop the wrist right before or at impact and end up dribbling a ball that is lucky to make it to 3rd base. REAL IMPRESSIVE for a guy that bench presses 540+. Teammates expect me to hit 500 ft, and I pull a number like that more often than not. 

All in fun though. (that's why I competed in powerlifting and bodybuilding vs. baseball)


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## ALBin517 (Mar 31, 2011)

My grandpa had one son (my uncle) and gramps was one of the original overbearing sports parents. He would rip his boy's backside for dropping a pass, throwing to the wrong base or missing a free throw.

It was always cool to strike out SWINGING though.

By the way, my uncle ended up getting a D1 football scholarship.


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## MA_PE (Mar 31, 2011)

ALBin517 said:


> My grandpa had one son (my uncle) and gramps was one of the original overbearing sports parents. He would rip his boy's backside for dropping a pass, throwing to the wrong base or missing a free throw.
> It was always cool to strike out SWINGING though.
> 
> By the way, my uncle ended up getting a D1 football scholarship.


good for your uncle. Often times the brow beating will just turn the kid off sports completely. Like all things..moderation is the key. Just my 0.02


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## Road Guy (Mar 31, 2011)

good info slugger thanks! (you in the Atlanta area any time soon?)

And we are in the first year of kid pitch, our leaugue doesnt do walks at 10U. so what happens is say the girl pitching has 1 strike and gets to 4 balls, then the coach comes in and pitches the delta (2 pitches in this case)

What one of my parents told me is that she hears the other teams coaches say dont swing at any of the kid pitches and then wait on the coach to come lobb you a soft pitch... which IMO is totally wrong, I encourage my team to swing at the kids pitches if they look good and NOT to wait on me to pitch to them, apparantly it does win games at this level though, but I think its piss poor...

the one game we won our pitcher was on fire for that game so she had 5 strike outs,,,

spring break is next week and were going to serioulsy work on hitting and Im hoping my other pitcher isnt going on vacation cause she needs the work as well..


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## csb (Mar 31, 2011)

I like that you're encouraging the kids to play the game correctly and with each other, rather than just trying to win. We had our son in wrestling this year and it was an eye-opener for sure. There's definitely a loser and a winner in a wrestling match and it was hard for my son to go out there and lose. We eventually got him to really see that you give it your all and sometimes there are kids tougher than you, but when you come off the mat you did your best. That's what life is about.


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## willsee (Mar 31, 2011)

csb said:


> I like that you're encouraging the kids to play the game correctly and with each other, rather than just trying to win. We had our son in wrestling this year and it was an eye-opener for sure. There's definitely a loser and a winner in a wrestling match and it was hard for my son to go out there and lose. We eventually got him to really see that you give it your all and sometimes there are kids tougher than you, but when you come off the mat you did your best. That's what life is about.


Probably the best sport I had ever done. I wish I did it for longer though because as a senior in hs wrestling your first time isn't very fun.

I think you really learn alot about yourself wrestling in that you have no one else to point the finger at for winning/losing except the one you see in the mirror.


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## Road Guy (Apr 1, 2011)

our football coach made us all join the wrestling team during the off season, I was pretty terrible at it, but it was defin one of those gut wrenching sports where its not all about size, I was a defensive lineman and would generally get "whipped" by someone much quicker and more determined than me..


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## ALBin517 (Apr 1, 2011)

csb said:


> I like that you're encouraging the kids to play the game correctly and with each other, rather than just trying to win. We had our son in wrestling this year and it was an eye-opener for sure. There's definitely a loser and a winner in a wrestling match and it was hard for my son to go out there and lose. We eventually got him to really see that you give it your all and sometimes there are kids tougher than you, but when you come off the mat you did your best. That's what life is about.



Wrestling is a tough sport to start. Everybody gets their tail kicked the first season.

My brother ended up being a 4-year varsity wrestler. He certainly won more than he lost at the high school level.

But when he first started (he was probably about 8 or 9) the kids who'd been wrestling since kindergarten wooped him pretty good for a year or two.


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## Road Guy (Apr 15, 2011)

well we lost again last night, 8-2!

My pitcher (daughter) has 5 strikeouts in the first 2 innings, I still dont remember how exactly we can only play 3 innings, have 5 strikeouts and still manage to lose so badly..

oh yeah, no one wants to hit the ball!

Well at least it appears my daughter is set for the all star team, but damn losing is sucking so badly right now


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## maryannette (Apr 15, 2011)

It does suck that they don't hit the ball. I don't know what kind of batting practice they are doing, but in our softball experience (especially when they're young) girls can be afraid of the ball coming at them and tend to freeze up. One thing that helped ours sometimes was wiffle ball batting practice. The fear of a wiffle ball hitting you is near zero. Good luck with them. You're doing a good thing.


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## DVINNY (Apr 18, 2011)

We had opening ceremonies yesterday.

My son thought it was great that I had a uniform matching his.


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## Slugger926 (Apr 18, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> good info slugger thanks! (you in the Atlanta area any time soon?)
> And we are in the first year of kid pitch, our leaugue doesnt do walks at 10U. so what happens is say the girl pitching has 1 strike and gets to 4 balls, then the coach comes in and pitches the delta (2 pitches in this case)
> 
> What one of my parents told me is that she hears the other teams coaches say dont swing at any of the kid pitches and then wait on the coach to come lobb you a soft pitch... *which IMO is totally wrong, I encourage my team to swing at the kids pitches if they look good and NOT to wait on me to pitch to them, apparantly it does win games at this level though, but I think its piss poor*...
> ...


Yes, they need to learn to hit the kids. My daughter got her first hit last week off of a kid in 8U. When I played 8U little league, my team lost all but 2 games, but we were learning to hit while the other teams were learning to walk. A few years later, we were hitting and having a blast. By HS, as a class B school, we are kick all of the 6A schools in OK, and won the State Tournament with only 12 guys on our team. (It did help that we played fall, spring and summer starting in the 7th grade with no distractions of football.)

These young kids need to concentrate on learning and having fun. I had to confront my daughter's coach on punishing the kids before they learn anything when my daughter came home twice crying. The coach was meaning well, but didn't ask her if she really knew what she was supposed to do before yelling in her face or having her run poles. That stuff should be reserved for 7th grade and beyond when the kids know what the coach is getting on to them for.

I wish I could make it to Atlanta sometime. My aunt and uncle and one cousin are there in GA.


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## Road Guy (Apr 18, 2011)

I'm not much of a yeller when it comes to my "extra curricular" activities, I figure if it gets me mad to yell at kids then I dont need to be doing it....

I;ve seen some people though that make me emberassed to be on the field at some times though..

Whats interesting so far is that the only girls that are hitting are the ones that dont have much defensive skills, and all the ones that are stud infielders are having a hard time hitting.....


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## Slugger926 (Apr 19, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> I'm not much of a yeller when it comes to my "extra curricular" activities, I figure if it gets me mad to yell at kids then I dont need to be doing it....
> 
> I;ve seen some people though that make me emberassed to be on the field at some times though..
> 
> Whats interesting so far is that the only girls that are hitting are the ones that dont have much defensive skills, and all the ones that are stud infielders are having a hard time hitting.....


It is easy for the most rational person let emotions over ride their brain. I also learned a long time ago while dog training that some of the best trainers teach, and then even whisper their commands without ever raising their voice. Raising the voice will just short circuit the communications to negative emotions for both the coach and the subject (dog, kid, girl, boy). Yelling does not replace discipline either.

One thing that does make the yelling habit easy to get caught up in during outdoor sports is that sometimes it is necessary for communicating across the field. Then the habit carries over when trying to communicate to a kid 2 feet in front of you.

Most of the people that do it will get angry when you confront them because they don't realize the habit they drifted to. Or on the other hand, they don't know any better and that is what they think it takes to coach.

And on the hitting, it is more of a precision skill. The better defensive players are probably stronger and more athletic. So when they try to hit, they are over swinging and breaking down into bad mechanics. The weaker defensive players are probably lagging in strength or applying strength, and more precise with their mechanics which makes it easier to hit the ball. My daughter is the same way right now as one of the best contact hitters but lagging on D.

They have a long way to go before formalizing both D and hitting, and the conditioning that goes with it in HS.


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## Dark Knight (Apr 19, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> well we lost again last night, 8-2!
> My pitcher (daughter) has 5 strikeouts in the first 2 innings, I still dont remember how exactly we can only play 3 innings, have 5 strikeouts and still manage to lose so badly..
> 
> oh yeah, no one wants to hit the ball!
> ...


I think that is called growing pains.


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## ALBin517 (Apr 19, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> I'm not much of a yeller when it comes to my "extra curricular" activities, I figure if it gets me mad to yell at kids then I dont need to be doing it....
> I;ve seen some people though that make me emberassed to be on the field at some times though..
> 
> Whats interesting so far is that the only girls that are hitting are the ones that dont have much defensive skills, and all the ones that are stud infielders are having a hard time hitting.....



The summer I turned 15, my summer job was to umpire for the local little league. I worked tee ball (6 and under), coach pitch (7 and 8) and a little of the 9-10 league.

The worst parents by far were in tee ball. I'd say 90% of the parents complained and they complained about every little thing.

I had to kick a dad out of a tee ball game.


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## Road Guy (Apr 21, 2011)

We won another! 2-6 

The last two games the girls have really come alive hitting, its been amazing watching the difference in a game when you actually put some hits on the board...

I have a deaf girl on the team who has been really struggling, but she even got a tripple last night (an error involved) but its great to see their faces actually happy for a change!

Slugger some of your tips were excellent so many thanks!

6 more games until the "tournament" I just dont want to be the last seed!!!


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## willsee (Apr 21, 2011)

Even if you're the last seed and the girls keep improving sounds like you'll have a good chance to knock off the #1 seed


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## Road Guy (May 10, 2011)

well due to how they cut the schedule at the end of the season we are the last seed  we actually won our last two games, which technically were "next to last" but they had to cut the schedule off to set the trournament brackets last Friday, so those games didnt get factored in....

the 1st seed has a "bye" so were playing the #2 seed tonight..... We had a solid hitting practice last night, if we can not fall apart on defense I hope we have a chance.

Its sad but my goal is just to not lose two in a row and go home, my how our goals change!

any thoughts on how to go into a game with 5 girls who can really hit and 5 who are batting at .150 or less....??


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## ALBin517 (May 10, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> well due to how they cut the schedule at the end of the season we are the last seed  we actually won our last two games, which technically were "next to last" but they had to cut the schedule off to set the trournament brackets last Friday, so those games didnt get factored in....
> the 1st seed has a "bye" so were playing the #2 seed tonight..... We had a solid hitting practice last night, if we can not fall apart on defense I hope we have a chance.
> 
> Its sad but my goal is just to not lose two in a row and go home, my how our goals change!
> ...


Like I touched on before, I would set my top five hitters at 1-5. Then I'd bat the ones who stink and are slow. Then at the end, the ones who stink but are fast... to set the table for the top if they happen to get on.

Or put the biggest hitter that stinks at leadoff and have her truck the first baseman. It will get the superior #2 seed off their game and get rid of one of your worst hitters, win-win.


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## MA_PE (May 10, 2011)

> and have her truck the first baseman


Instructing kids in little league/below HS to "truck" = FAIL

IMHO.

Focus at this level should be on *skills* not the brute tactics used to gain an edge just to win the game.

It's mindsets like this that take the fun out of youth sports. Seen it, done it, got the T-shirt.


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## Road Guy (May 10, 2011)

What about telling the girls who are struggling hitting to NOT try and dodge the wild pitches to take a base?


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## MA_PE (May 10, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> What about telling the girls who are struggling hitting to NOT try and dodge the wild pitches to take a base?


Might work, but good luck at geeting the girls to "take one for the team". 

Make sure they all know to run like hell on a pass ball on the third strike.


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## Supe (May 10, 2011)

MA_PE said:


> > and have her truck the first baseman
> 
> 
> Instructing kids in little league/below HS to "truck" = FAIL
> ...



Says the former first baseman!


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## Road Guy (May 10, 2011)

sadly they dont allow the run on a dropped strike 3 ball at our leaugue... I wish they did because throughout the teams there are not very many sure handed catchers..

the girl i drafted to play catcher who is very good at it, ended up being our 1st baseman so my dreams of lots of throw-outs to 2nd didnt happen, the girl I had hoped to play 1st just couldnt quite do it, although she did it very well at coach pitch, last year at the same position but for some reason couldnt grab them this year..

my 8 year olds team, who has Mike Ditka junior for coach is doing very well, they are only 2 games away from playing for the "big trophy" as the kids call it. We had a 3 hour practice on Sunday (yes Mothers Day) which ended up being a pretty nice day for baseball practice... some of the boys in that park can make throws that I havent seen older girls make all year long...


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## MA_PE (May 10, 2011)

Supe said:


> MA_PE said:
> 
> 
> > > and have her truck the first baseman
> ...


Right, don't teach them how to hit well and run fast when they can get on base by taking out the first baseman.

you should see it youth hockey. As soon as they hit pee wee level and can start body checking, especially at the lesser skilled levels, you develop this whole contingent of kids (and the parents of these kids) that think they're really good at the game because they can knock the opponent on his a$$.

When compared to the kids that are playing at the higher skill levels, the "checkers" often can't skate or stick handle worth a darn. The kids that have the skills will just skate a around them and leave them in the dust.

Of course, as the parents keep supporting the kids participation at $1000+/season the kid hasn't and is not learning the basics and really has no shot at playing at a competitve level at high school age. but he seems like a star when he plays against other kids who got the same "coaching" style.


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## ALBin517 (May 11, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> What about telling the girls who are struggling hitting to NOT try and dodge the wild pitches to take a base?



Teamwork... that's good to see.


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## Road Guy (May 11, 2011)

well we lost a nail bighter 6-5 last night, overtime game... I was literally swetting bulletts..

We were up one run most of the game. I think this game is on me, I let the pitcher go into an inning and didnt take her out soon enough, some times they are good and warmed up by the 3rd inning and sometimes they are not......

I was very glad to see them not make dumb errors and hit the ball though...


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## snickerd3 (May 11, 2011)

Even though it was a loss I think and overtime loss is still a feel good lost. They should feel proud of themselves. Wasn't it against the #2 team?


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## roadwreck (May 11, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> ...I was literally swetting bulletts..


Due to watching the game or the oppressive heat? It was ridiculously hot last night.


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## MA_PE (May 11, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> well we lost a nail bighter 6-5 last night, overtime game... I was literally swetting bulletts..
> We were up one run most of the game. I think this game is on me, I let the pitcher go into an inning and didnt take her out soon enough, some times they are good and warmed up by the 3rd inning and sometimes they are not......
> 
> I was very glad to see them not make dumb errors and hit the ball though...


Sounds like a great showing.


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## Road Guy (May 11, 2011)

yes this was the #2 team, the 1 &amp; 2 teams were both 11-2, so I think they were #2 via a coin toss or something...

we are still alive in the tournament, we play Saturday and if they play like they did last night I think we have a better than average shot...

but whats irritating about rec ball is the game was 6:00. I told parents to be there NLT 5:15 (which I know is hard) but myself and an assistant coach were there @ 4:45 and the other team, the entire team was already there warming up. I had 4 girls there @ 5:45, and the rest showed up just in time for us not to have to forfit, so no batting practice or warm ups for the majority of the players. it gets very very annoying..parents have been sent a semi rude email about it, but I didnt show my frustration over it to the girls.

my sons play at an overly competitive baseball park and kids have been told basically if you cant get there in time to warm up then dont show up...

again I cant tell if its girls vs boys mentality or what....

this has defin. been a learning experience!


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## MA_PE (May 11, 2011)

at that age it's not the kid's fault if they aren't there on time, it's whomever is bringing them. Personally, I always had a hard time leaving work early for these things. Luckily my wife was a stay-at-home mom and she'd get them there on time.

I appreciate that the coaches volunteer their time and are at the field but it's tough to tell your boss "I gotta go get my 10 yo to his baseball game" when something urgent has come up.


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## Road Guy (May 11, 2011)

I should have stated that at my sons park I dont agree with their tactics, their park is extremely overcompetitive..


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## ALBin517 (May 11, 2011)

Road Guy said:


> yes this was the #2 team, the 1 &amp; 2 teams were both 11-2, so I think they were #2 via a coin toss or something...
> we are still alive in the tournament, we play Saturday and if they play like they did last night I think we have a better than average shot...
> 
> but whats irritating about rec ball is the game was 6:00. I told parents to be there NLT 5:15 (which I know is hard) but myself and an assistant coach were there @ 4:45 and the other team, the entire team was already there warming up. I had 4 girls there @ 5:45, and the rest showed up just in time for us not to have to forfit, so no batting practice or warm ups for the majority of the players. it gets very very annoying..parents have been sent a semi rude email about it, but I didnt show my frustration over it to the girls.
> ...


I would go with something like, "I understand some parents can't get your kids here in time for batting practice. And I don't want to hear you b!tching when they lose."


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## MA_PE (May 11, 2011)

Another option is to emphasize to parents that with some cooperation some of the the stay at home moms might be able to pick-up some of the other kids to get them there earlier.


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## momech (Jun 23, 2011)

My son's 0-10 6U baseball team won their first post-season tournament game tonight. Talk about peaking at the right time!


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## DVINNY (Jun 23, 2011)

^^^ SWEET !

I am coaching the T-ball team in a local tournament this weekend, then the SEASON IS OVER !!!!!!!!

I had the last game for my Challenger team last weekend. 

Both teams were fun, but I'm ready for the break. Then, I am coaching a flag football team this fall for 5-7 year olds.


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## Road Guy (Jun 29, 2011)

Well I never updated after the end of the season.

All in all I was very pleased with the progress of the girls, but here is a summary of our last couple of games and the rec tournament..

Our rec tournament, like most, is double elimination. Our first game was on a Saturday morning, we were ranked towards the middle so we were set to play a team we had beaten before and not the 1st ranked team, which I was happy about.. until… only 7 girls showed up for the tournament, and if you don’t have 8 you have to forfeit.. Never got any emails or calls from anyone saying they wouldn’t be there.. It was very disappointing to have to lose that way, worse for the girls that did show up.. 2 of the 4 were the girls who were also signed up for competitive gymnastics, whose parents told me that they had to miss the game (tournament!) due to the end of season gymnastics PARTY (not a meet, or practice, but just a party)…. Geesh I was pissed off, I understand people like to sign there kid up for many activities, but sometimes it just slays me.. If it wasn’t the tournament games I would understand, but I seriously hope these girls or there parents can choose a sport to commit toooooo

So our 2nd game, we played the originally ranked #1 team that had got beaten in their first game, we went into 2 extra innings, the girls played awesome, but we came up towards the bottom of our line up in the 2nd extra inning and just fell short.. But they played so well I was happy to see. That team went on to win it all (through the losers bracket) so at least there was a little something to hang your hat on…

Another rec coach has approached me about getting out of rec ball and starting a travel team in the Fall. I would love nothing more than to get out of rec ball where you don’t have to forfeit a tournament due to attendance.. but my problem is my 2 boys also play baseball, my wife works weekends, and I think it will be almost impossible for them all three to be able to play if I do a travel team for my daughter.

I am really “torn” because my daughter has really progressed with her pitching, for a just turned 10 year old she is throwing about 45 miles / hour, and her new pitching coach is a very polite “ball buster” and makes her work, she has made outstanding progress in just a few weeks…

We actually played some “pick up games” with a travel team that needed a pitcher and I was surprised she did fairly well for coming from rec ball to a travel team that had been playing at a higher level for a whole year.

So I just cant decide what to do. My 8 year old told me that he liked playing baseball as long as I was at the games. I missed about half of his games due to coaching rec softball this year, and I imagine I would miss all of them or most all of them if we do travel ball. I just cant decide what to do, its hectic having 6 games a week with 3 playing rec ball, but that’s at two parks that are 2 miles apart. It also helpful we know a lot of people at both parks so If I have to shuffle between parks I know I have people that can help me if I need to leave a kid at a field…..

Perplexed I am….


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