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Little league Coaching

Scrap22

Scrap22

Grandaddy 2022!!!
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I have been an assistant little league coach for the past five years. I played ball into college but have acccpted the role of manager this year. Quite scary actually because of my work schedule. However, I will do whatever my son's league needs. Any tips or advice iwould be much apprecaited .

Specifically looking for drills, input in any way.

thanks in advance!
 
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What age?

The fact that you played at a higher level should really help. I think the biggest thing isn't so much wondering about drills, but working on fundamentals and running a well-organized practice. Too many coaches are throwing BP to one kid at a time while the rest shag balls or hitting pop flies/grounders to one kid at a time. Get some help, break into groups, and find a way to keep the kids engaged at all times. Make sure they all get meaningful reps with the bat, glove, and (if they pitch) throwing live pitches each practice.
 
I never coached baseball (or played for that matter) but I did coach youth basketball and helped coach soccer a few times. I agree with @Hawk fundamentals are the most important thing. I wasn’t really concerned with winning, but making sure everyone was learning skills they would need if they wanted to keep playing the sport. You should know way more of that stuff than the average little league coach. Keep it fun and light as well. Also during games again winning isn’t ans important so make sure everyone gets playing time and even the best players learn how to sit the bench without whining. They won’t always be the best and growth spurts can often turn a kid who doesn’t look very promising into a star.
 
I coached LL and managed years ago when my son played. Really miss it. LL in my opinion is the sweet spot because the kids are old enough to understand and will actually listen to you. The 13-15 age group is a lot tougher. I tried to stay positive and encourage each kid. One thing we did was pick three teams and scrimmage. If you had twelve kids 4 up at bat for 3 outs and the other 8 in the field. Just keep rotating the 3 teams thru being up at bat. Good for establishing camaraderie. I would pick the teams to make it even and would also pitch so they are seeing good pitches to keep things moving LOL!
 
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I’m basically going to reiterate what @Hawk said. Keep the kids busy & engaged but make it meaningful. When I coached we had 12 kids and I had 2 asst coaches. We would break into 3 groups. 1 in cage, 1 doing infield, 1 doing outfield and rotate. We would usually end practice w/ a scrimmage type game so kids see live pitching and my pitchers all got work in. Each base hit was a point for hitting team and each made out was a point for defensive team. I was lucky enough to have older sons come and fill in outfield so u could do 6 on 6.

I also always had volunteer forms on me for the parents who would complain. When they started I would simply hand them one of those.
 
One other thing. Be ready for the parents! I had one father who complained about his kids playing time so i told him he would lead off the next game. Guess what happended? Kid shows up late in the 3rd inning! Cant make it up
 
I was an assistant coach as well for 4 years, I never managed (thankfully!). Just keep the kids busy during practice, lots of small group work, and lots of fundamentals. Reiterate that when they are on the field, they listen to the COACHES, not their parents. I'm getting flashbacks just typing that sentence out LOL
 
Have fun.
 
fundamentals and mechanics. Any drill you can do to focus on those things. So many times little leaguers have never been taught the correct way to throw a ball, or even something as simple as grip a bat correctly. Like others have said, enough help that you can break up into lots of smaller groups so that all kids are always working. Don't need a group of kids in right field picking dandelions
 
What age little league are you talking?

my son is 7 going on 8. What ive learned at this age is you have to keep the kids busy bc the attention span is not there! Definitely keep friends/classmates away from each other if possible bc they wont focus. If you have assistant coaches then utilize them as much as possible. Have a game plan before practice instead of just winging it at this age

I played minor leagues and started off coaching 12u, then 13u, then 14u. Its tough at the beginning bc what seems like common sense to you isnt going to be so simple for the kids. 75% of my sons 6/7 year old team last year didnt even know positions. When you tell a 6 y/o "remember if a ground ball is hit to you, there is a force out at 2nd." They dont know what that means


getting back to your question (depending on age) you have to keep the kids busy as much as possible. They will seize any down time to goof off or even sit down
 
Hawk said:
What age?

The fact that you played at a higher level should really help. I think the biggest thing isn't so much wondering about drills, but working on fundamentals and running a well-organized practice. Too many coaches are throwing BP to one kid at a time while the rest shag balls or hitting pop flies/grounders to one kid at a time. Get some help, break into groups, and find a way to keep the kids engaged at all times. Make sure they all get meaningful reps with the bat, glove, and (if they pitch) throwing live pitches each practice.
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7-9. Love this thanks. I kind of have an idea of how I want to organize and thats what Im trying to avoid is chaos. When assisting the past few years, every coach did it differently and I am just trying to map this out. I really want to to a good job. thanks again.
 
I am shocked you passed the background check.
 
Scrap22 said:
7-9. Love this thanks. I kind of have an idea of how I want to organize and thats what Im trying to avoid is chaos. When assisting the past few years, every coach did it differently and I am just trying to map this out. I really want to to a good job. thanks again.
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My daughter's team runs a fantastic practice. They start every one exactly the same - on their knees, opposite their partner working on glove work (glove working through the ball for grounders in the middle, backhands, and forehands). Then it's up on their feet for throwing mechanics. Then full throws. From there, they break into groups.

Another thing that makes a huge difference is a pitching machine. So much time wasted by bad BP pitchers.
 
Try and get as many parents to help and divide them into smaller groups as you can. Kids are going to mess around and have fun. Smaller groups of them leads to less distractions.

I’m also a big fan of high fives and making sure it’s fun. Seems silly but based on feedback from my daughter her team enjoys that.
 
Congrats - sounds like you have been around it as an assistant, but what a great experience. I have coached both basketball, and 8+ years of little league and travel baseball. As asked, age will help us better dial it in - but a focus on fundamentals and keeping the kids moving (breaking into groups - i.e. infield ground balls, outfield fly balls, cages / tee work / soft toss). Good to also put some time in game situations, i.e take your infield and have the others run bases. Can do a lot of teaching and provide real scenarios in 30 minutes. Finally - was a hit no matter the age - we used to end the practice with a base race (we had 2 captains pick teams, half start at second and half at home and run all 4 bases as a relay - was always something the team looked forward to and we used that to help motivate to keep energy and effort high throughout practice).
 
See this thread: https://www.thehackersparadise.com/...he-youth-sports-coaching-thread.80127/page-28

At all ages, beware the parents.

At that age, 1) measure your success by how many kids come back to play again next year; 2) understand their attention span is 1 minute for every year of age. In other words, you will be lucky to get through a 10 minute drill before stuff starts up.

I am currently coaching pretty high level club with girls who are 16-17; I have been at this for maybe 10 years. Send me your email by PM and I'll share a ton of info with you about drills and practice plans. One big tip is this - do the same things the same ways over and over and over. Knowledge (from the players) about what is coming and how to do it maximizes efficiency by reducing time coaches need to explain the drill. Example, warmups:
1. Static stretches
2. Dynamic stretches
3. IF Every Day Drills (EDD's) - basically the glove work that was alluded to above
4. OF EDDs
5. Catch

Getting the boys to self lead just this would be a massive win. At first this will take a chunk of your practice schedule but in not too long they'll be doing it faster and faster. That skill of self managing then becomes a foundation going forward.

Heck, I might just do that, then have established IF fundamentals, OF fundamentals, base running drills and hitting (and for hitting I always have like 4 or 5 stations goings - 2 hitters at home plate (you'll need a screen across HP), 2 hitters working off tees, a bunting station, etc.). That is your 1 practice plan. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
 
I did this for a few years as my 3 sons aged thru. I won't offer up any drills. I'll offer up a piece of advise. Every kid wants to pitch. Have a day where you ask all to participate in a drill to see if they might be able to pitch. One by one as they throw a few pitches you have a chat with them as to their ability and what they need to work on. The kids are very understanding and will appreciate the opportunity.
 
jfrigo1003 said:
What age little league are you talking?

my son is 7 going on 8. What ive learned at this age is you have to keep the kids busy bc the attention span is not there! Definitely keep friends/classmates away from each other if possible bc they wont focus. If you have assistant coaches then utilize them as much as possible. Have a game plan before practice instead of just winging it at this age

I played minor leagues and started off coaching 12u, then 13u, then 14u. Its tough at the beginning bc what seems like common sense to you isnt going to be so simple for the kids. 75% of my sons 6/7 year old team last year didnt even know positions. When you tell a 6 y/o "remember if a ground ball is hit to you, there is a force out at 2nd." They dont know what that means


getting back to your question (depending on age) you have to keep the kids busy as much as possible. They will seize any down time to goof off or even sit down
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Yes it’s 7-9 year olds. Thanks for all of this. And thanks to everyone for the tips. Really helpful stuff
 
Scrap22 said:
I have been an assistant little league coach for the past five years. I played ball into college but have acccpted the role of manager this year. Quite scary actually because of my work schedule. However, I will do whatever my son's league needs. Any tips or advice iwould be much apprecaited .

Specifically looking for drills, input in any way.

thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I coached Girls Fast Pich Softball. (my Daughters teams) for a few years. When their leagues were over, we'd put togethers a Girls Traveling team of All Stars. The girls were pretty successful in their tournaments.

I had a catcher who was great catching our pitchers, and was fearless protecting home plate as needed. Her big problem was locating, and catching foul balls.

I made up a drill for her to use in her off time using a rolled up pair of socks. With out looking, I had her throw the ball up in the air, locate the the falling ball while turning around in a circle, and catch the sock ball with her other hand. She went to college and walked on as their catcher, gaining a scholarship.

Our second baseman was a total vacuum cleaner on defense. She was light years ahead of everyone else on defense. Problem was she couldn't hit to save here soul.

I broke the swing down into various parts, and had her practice those parts individually. When she got one part down pat, I gave her the next part to work on. Eventually I had her put all the parts together to make a smoothe swing. She became one our best hitters.

Another thing I stressed was we were a team. We'd win, and lose as a team. That I alone was always responsible for all our losses. That they as a team, were responsible for all their wins. It was our 9 players against their 9 players. I challenged our players at each of their positions to beat the opposing player at the same position. That if we won 5, or 6 of those positions during each game, we would be successful.

Our league had a rule that during the offseason, our pitchers couldn't practice pitching. That being the case, I started a horse shoe throwing league that was open to any league player who was interested. Didn't matter if they pitched or not.

As with any youth sport, the biggest problem I had with our girls was not the girls themselves. It was their parents. That's whole nother issue.
 
Hawk said:
What age?

The fact that you played at a higher level should really help. I think the biggest thing isn't so much wondering about drills, but working on fundamentals and running a well-organized practice. Too many coaches are throwing BP to one kid at a time while the rest shag balls or hitting pop flies/grounders to one kid at a time. Get some help, break into groups, and find a way to keep the kids engaged at all times. Make sure they all get meaningful reps with the bat, glove, and (if they pitch) throwing live pitches each practice.
Click to expand...

Love it.
 
Can't help you with baseball drills but I coached a lot of youth teams in other sports back in the day and the parents are worse than the kids. I would send an email to all of the parents before the season explaining what is expected of the kids-and the parents, and depending on the competitiveness of the league - playing time. Helps to manage expectations.
 
First off, have fun....

Definitely recruit parents to help you, nothing worse than having 12-15 parents staring at their phones while you're herding their children and not willing to help run drills. It's not daycare and they need to be willing to help if they can. Keep them all moving, i.e. have multiple stations to rotate them through (i.e. hitting off a tee, grounders, pop ups, etc.), so you have less kids standing around, and this is definitely where recruiting parents comes into play. The last thing you want is bored 7-9 year old's picking daisies.

Be prepared to have parents that think little Johnny is going to the pros and should be shortstop, rotate kids, especially at 7-9 through all the positions and don't focus on winning, at this age they are still learning the game.

Did I mention to try and have fun? ;)
 
Scrap22 said:
Yes it’s 7-9 year olds. Thanks for all of this. And thanks to everyone for the tips. Really helpful stuff
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Congrats, have fun, safety first. I remember those days called 'magnet ball', wherever the ball was going there were several players chasing it.
 
Coached juniors , in both Auskick and junior football ( AFL)
The rules l had were 3

1/ Have fun for them primarily
( it’s the one chance for them
To love the game instead of hating it for a lifetime because of experiences

2/ Make friends with your team
Mates who wear the same jumper as you

3/ And no sheep footy ( that was about playing your position not following the ball around the field.



Speak in language they understand , and jargon . If you speak like an adult the message is lost …


Have fun too , you’ll get surprised , l
Had kids I coached played at adult level at same club and say hello to me , as do their parents ….
 
Did it for 7 years including 6 on the board of directors for the league. Was a labor of love. Best piece of advice I can give you is don't lose sight of keeping it fun for them. 99.9999999% of them will never play beyond high school but the will all have fond memories of all of it if it's fun. Do not focus on winning. Many coaches do and take it too seriously
 
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