Coaching Little League...

1951WheatiesPremium

I just had my first practice and it went great! I have been coaching literally since my playing days but I was mostly a hoops guy. Baseball? I love it and know it but don’t have the drills at my finger tips.

Fire away with any advice or suggestions you may have.

Tabe

Some of the basic things:

• make sure everybody is always doing something at all times - multiple groups, whatever
• nothing fancy - repetition is what matters at that age
• when rotating between stations and activities, RUN. When entering and leaving the field, RUN.
• HAVE FUN.

perkdog

My best friend is an AD at a pretty big high school and one of the biggest problems he is faced with is parents. I would like to think it’s probably not going to be an issue with little leaguers but you never know. I have been to my girlfriends 8 year olds games and I will say it takes a lot of patience but I’m sure it will be rewarding getting the kids out there and seeing them learn the game and having fun. Safety and good sportsmanship is two things I see the coaches all in on and it’s good to see that. I think the hardest thing I see is getting the kids to put their knee down behind the glove fielding ground balls, and keeping them focused.

sparky64

Good for you. Those kids are lucky to have you.

One piece of advice.
Do not have pre conceived notions about any kid.
You know some will be hyped and buoyed up ahead of time.
They seem to get the advantages of more playing time, better positions, higher in the batting order....

BUT there will a kid or two that most will overlook and they will have talent that needs to be cultivated and drawn out of them.
They'll be quieter, passive and off to the side.
Hopefully you can spot their potential and bring it out.
You'll have to go slower than you'd like with them,

Go too fast and throw them into the fire and they'll walk away.

Work with them and slowly build their confidence and you'll have a kid who I guarantee will work hard for you and reward you as a coach.

Coinstartled

Make sure that there is a Dairy Queen nearby.

stevek

My Dad coached little league for one year with me on the team. Very enjoyable for him, but one year is all he wanted to do it for. Only because it was going to be my final season playing little league.

You will definitely, no question about it, get pressure from the parents. May as well just expect it, and deal with it accordingly.

If you have one of your kids on the team, the kid will get pressure as well. I know this from experience. One of my good friends on the team, who was really not a good baseball player, was pressuring me all the time for my Dad to play him. Others did that as well, pressured me to talk to my Dad to play them.

But my good friend was the only one who I went to my Dad and asked him to play my friend more. Initially my Dad said to me that only the best players should play, that it's not fair to sit better players so that my friend could play. But whenever he could, in the later innings, he would put my friend in the game and he'd get one or two at bats. Every player knew what was going on, but none of players on the team ever said anything to me about it. They liked my Dad, so they took it all in stride.

We only won two games for the season, both wins I pitched. Threw a two hit shutout which was my shining moment in little league.

Justacommeman

Fundamentals and for goodness sakes teach them to bunt.

m

orioles93

The toughest part is the parents. They ruin everything. Good luck .