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Thread: Coaching youth baseball

  1. #1
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    Coaching youth baseball

    Any other coaches out there? This will be my first year coaching. I'll be coaching Pee Wee League baseball, for my little cousins team. They had a shortage of coaches and asked if I wanted to coach... I was like Heck Yeah! Thought they meant assistant, but I will be the head coach... so I'm a little nervous.

    Any advice? These kids will be pretty young, although I haven't heard what the actual age group is yet, but I think its 6-8.


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  3. #2
    MLB Baseball Razor Shines's Avatar
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    Re: Coaching youth baseball

    I'd focus on their "break up the double play" slides...at that age anyway.
    "I know a lot about the law and various other lawyerings."

    Hitters who avoid outs are the funnest.

  4. #3
    First Time Caller SunDeck's Avatar
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    Re: Coaching youth baseball

    I had Jack Billingham as a dad/coach when I was 7. He taught us to drink our Icees slow to avoid headaches.
    Next Reds manager, second shooter. --Confirmed on Redszone.

  5. #4
    Beer is good!! George Anderson's Avatar
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    Re: Coaching youth baseball

    I just started coaching my five year old sons team. I haven't coached since 1997 so this is like something new. Tonight was our first practice and it was fun!!
    "Boys, I'm one of those umpires that misses 'em every once in a while so if it's close, you'd better hit it." Cal Hubbard

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    Re: Coaching youth baseball

    How did it go? What drills did you do? Is it mostly just teaching them how to play the game or is it specific hitting/pitching/fielding drills?

    Also, do you think they are too little to do soft toss? I know soft toss and hitting off the tee were a big part of improving my hitting (along w/ live pitching).

  7. #6
    Beer is good!! George Anderson's Avatar
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    Re: Coaching youth baseball

    Quote Originally Posted by TeamSelig View Post
    How did it go? What drills did you do? Is it mostly just teaching them how to play the game or is it specific hitting/pitching/fielding drills?

    Also, do you think they are too little to do soft toss? I know soft toss and hitting off the tee were a big part of improving my hitting (along w/ live pitching).
    The best thing i did was take tennis balls, stand about 5-10 feet away from the kids and have them catch the balls barehanded. This focuses on the kids using 2 hands and eye hand coordination. You then can progress to having the kids using mitts and moving back farther.

    We used the hitting tee first practice even though it is not a hitting tee league. I figured they havent swung a bat in month so a tee will help them with swinging fundamentals.

    Bottom line is keep them busy. I am lucky to have two other coaches so we split the kids into groups of 3 and do drills.
    "Boys, I'm one of those umpires that misses 'em every once in a while so if it's close, you'd better hit it." Cal Hubbard

  8. #7
    Member chicoruiz's Avatar
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    Re: Coaching youth baseball

    I'm no expert, but it always seems to me that everyone at that level uses a bat that's way too heavy for them. Maybe they don't make bats that light, but every time I see kids that age, the bat is swinging them...
    "In baseball, you don't know nothin'"...Yogi Berra

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    Re: Coaching youth baseball

    Quote Originally Posted by chicoruiz View Post
    I'm no expert, but it always seems to me that everyone at that level uses a bat that's way too heavy for them. Maybe they don't make bats that light, but every time I see kids that age, the bat is swinging them...
    Just saw this message... yeah about 3-4 of my kids try this. Switch to the lighter/smaller bat and they go from never hitting the ball to crushing it.


    First game was today... we won 18-3. Very proud of the guys. Had a few mishaps in the last inning... they were getting bored and quit paying attention. Other than that, they played great. We batted through the lineup in all but one inning.

  10. #9
    Member Strikes Out Looking's Avatar
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    Re: Coaching youth baseball

    I am actually planning a coup to take over my sons team next year -- the reason is that the current coach doesn't quite know how to relate to 11 year olds and also doesn't put them into a position to be successful; he however is very good at scaring the boys with threats of having to run laps at practice. And no, he's not George Steinbrenners' ghost.
    Where we gonna go?


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