The Youth Sports Coaching Thread

tequila4kapp

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Several of us coach. Let's have a place where we can share experiences, ask questions, celebrate our successes and help each other. All sports are welcome.

So what sport are you coaching? Boys or girls? Age?
 
This year I am the JV baseball coach, I normally just help out with the program but this year they needed a coach full time so I am making my schedule work to help out. One thing that I am having my players do is to write me a paragraph after every game telling me what they did that was good and what was bad. The purpose is to make them think about how they are playing the game and for us to look back as the season goes to see are they making the same mistakes or are they improving.
 
This year I am the JV baseball coach, I normally just help out with the program but this year they needed a coach full time so I am making my schedule work to help out. One thing that I am having my players do is to write me a paragraph after every game telling me what they did that was good and what was bad. The purpose is to make them think about how they are playing the game and for us to look back as the season goes to see are they making the same mistakes or are they improving.
How do you feel about taking the head job? Excited? Nervous? What are your goals for the boys?
 
I am currently coaching the 5th grade boys B (ie, less skilled) team. My goals with them were to get them to realize they are good enough to compete by themselves, to eliminate some of the stigma of being the B team and to get them to care more.

BTW, I love JMan's characterization - it's going to be fun but there will be expectations.
 
Great idea. I'm nervous just thinking about it. It would be fun though
 
Great idea. I'm nervous just thinking about it. It would be fun though
The first time is the hardest. Then you get your sea legs and it's pretty much down hill from there. Nervousness is normal. But if you've cone this far I say jump in and go for it!
 
I used to coach hockey at a bunch of different ages after I stopped playing, but as my kids started to grow up I had to stop, this summer I'll be helping coaching my daughter's summer golf team. And we'll see as they start in other sports as coaches are needed I may get my back into coaching again. I do miss the competitive side and seeing kids develop and achieve success when they don't think they can.
 
Good thread. Coaching my son's hockey team. (7-8 yr. olds.)
 
How do you feel about taking the head job? Excited? Nervous? What are your goals for the boys?

I am excited to have the job. I have been coaching since my junior year in college when I became a player coach. Here is what I told the parent and players my goals were for JV.

1. I am not focused on winning, but teaching your sons how the game should be played.
2. My job is to make them ready for varsity, if we win games in between that is a plus.
3. We will be learning more than just baseball. We will be learning work ethic and that is something that goes way beyond the baseball field. Out here I will be teaching life lessons that they will be able to recall later down the road.
 
Nice thread,personally sports should mean so much more than winning.Most of these youths will never go on to the next level in sports.So personally the emphasis should be on friendships made/good morals/and team work.Winning would be last on my list
 
Great idea, thanks for getting it started.

I coach varsity and JV ice hockey at the high school level. This is where I went to high school and played ice hockey so it really means a lot to me because I want to see the program grow and improve.
 
Here's something from a little league coaching clinic that I really liked, put on by the state's winningest HS baseball coach. Kids today don't watch sports (but especially baseball) like we did as kids so we have to do more teaching and give them more reps which simulate game conditions. One example was to not do formal warm ups but instead incorporate warm ups into base running drills: divide the team up equally and put them at each base. The coach stands on the pitching mound and simulates pitching to one of the kids. All four kids take an imaginary swing, then run to first. Repeat until each kid has a turn. Then do doubles, triples, HR's, etc. Technique is coached/reinforced as the kids are doing the drill. You kill multiple birds with one stone. This worked great for me last year; I do a corollary thing in basketball. It really works.
 
Here's something from a little league coaching clinic that I really liked, put on by the state's winningest HS baseball coach. Kids today don't watch sports (but especially baseball) like we did as kids so we have to do more teaching and give them more reps which simulate game conditions. One example was to not do formal warm ups but instead incorporate warm ups into base running drills: divide the team up equally and put them at each base. The coach stands on the pitching mound and simulates pitching to one of the kids. All four kids take an imaginary swing, then run to first. Repeat until each kid has a turn. Then do doubles, triples, HR's, etc. Technique is coached/reinforced as the kids are doing the drill. You kill multiple birds with one stone. This worked great for me last year; I do a corollary thing in basketball. It really works.

We did this in college it was called CTBD (crack the bat drill). We did a lot of running to the point we renamed it (condition till blood or Death). At times a I think our coach just like to hear the sound of the bats.
 
Great idea Frank, I could use all the help I can get with these girls teams!

Background, I played tennis in HS and college and got a teaching spot 1 week after graduation in Hawaii for about a year. Came back to the States where I taught for another 3 years before getting into the "real" world.

Been coaching my oldest daughters soccer team (she's 9 almost 10) since they were in kinder. It's just a rec team but they have been together for 5 years now which has been pretty cool to see.

Also picked up the coaching duties last fall for my other daughter's rec soccer team (she's 7 almost 8) when the coach decided he didn't want to do it anymore. She's been on the same team for 2 years with a few "player" issues that had to be dealt with. The team was going to disband last summer because of these issues but I stepped in to coach to help keep them together. It must have worked because I now have all 9 girls returning for the spring and had requests from some parents to see if others could join.

I played soccer in HS but that's where it ended. My daughters attended a Performance Indoor Training camp over the X-mas break where I learned a lot of great drills the Sidekicks and FC Dallas players were running with them. I think my oldest is about ready to make the jump from rec to academy this spring but lots of moving parts in doing this.

Anyways, happy to pitch in when needed and I'm sure I'll have some "WTF" issues/questions for you guys along the way.
 
Great thread!

I spent the last 3 years being an assistant coach on my son's junior league baseball team (ages 7-9). This year he's moving up to little league, so I'm not sure if I'll be coaching yet or not. All depends on who drafts him and what their coaching staff looks like.

One thing I learned over the past few years was that a lot of kids, even at that age, like a firm approach. My first season I was a little wary of disciplining and correcting the players, 2 of the other coaches played ball right through college and I played right through age 12 :) But when you get 11 boys of that age together, you need to be able to switch from friendly and encouraging to firm pretty quickly when it's needed. Last season I really enjoyed coaching and working with the kids, save for one who was a total PITA. I learned quickly that he liked to get under the coaches skin, so when he'd start up, I'd give him direction and then ignore his mouthing because as soon as he realized you weren't going to bite on his bad behavior, he'd back off and do what he was told.
 
It was an interesting day at the old ball park (gym) today, as they say.

We played the best team in the league without our best player and without having the entire team together for even one practice this week. I knew it was an uphill battle.

We lost by 14 but doubled our point total against them vs last game and held them to their season low in points scored. Good improvement, especially given the roster stuff.

Two kids care a bit too much (both coaches' sons) and were either overly mad or crying about the loss. Two other kids couldn't care less about anything. It was a nice teaching opportunity for me and my son - sometimes a hug and encouraging words go a long way.

The other coach was full court 5 man pressing up double digits late in the 4th. He also called timeout with 2 seconds left up 14 to design a play for a kid. I really want to beat these guys next time.
 
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Oh the joys of sending out the email to all the kids parents asking if there is any day of the week they can't practice. Of course, everyone responds with just about every day of the week on there. So I propose to keep it on the same day we had practice last season, Wednesday. One kiddo now has golf practice and she responds wondering why we're going with Wednesday after she told me they couldn't do it. Nevermind all practices were Wednesdays last season.

Sorry honey, someone had to lose and right now it's you. See ya at the games!
 
Oh the joys of sending out the email to all the kids parents asking if there is any day of the week they can't practice. Of course, everyone responds with just about every day of the week on there. So I propose to keep it on the same day we had practice last season, Wednesday. One kiddo now has golf practice and she responds wondering why we're going with Wednesday after she told me they couldn't do it. Nevermind all practices were Wednesdays last season.

Sorry honey, someone had to lose and right now it's you. See ya at the games!
Man, I am so with you on this topic, Nate. I send a weekly reminder about our practice days and times (which NEVER change) and ask parents to let me know if they are going to miss so we can plan. That's just me being overly polite because really my thought is 'you signed up for this so get yourself to the damn practices." But EVERY week I've got one or two kids that no show - maybe one of them sends me an email like 5 minutes before practice starts (which I don't see until practice is over), another couple that show up late every practice, one who never wears his reversible practice jersey, etc. I've recently adopted and modified your "see ya at the games" statement to also include "and playing time may account for who is actually practicing with the team"
 
Man, I am so with you on this topic, Nate. I send a weekly reminder about our practice days and times (which NEVER change) and ask parents to let me know if they are going to miss so we can plan. That's just me being overly polite because really my thought is 'you signed up for this so get yourself to the damn practices." But EVERY week I've got one or two kids that no show - maybe one of them sends me an email like 5 minutes before practice starts (which I don't see until practice is over), another couple that show up late every practice, one who never wears his reversible practice jersey, etc. I've recently adopted and modified your "see ya at the games" statement to also include "and playing time may account for who is actually practicing with the team"

I think they forget we are volunteers and not getting paid for our time.
 
Right on queue, starting PG and C send emails a couple of minutes before practice, the best player was a complete no show and the other starting post player shows up 30 minutes late :)

Aside from that it was one of those nights...two kids crying, one kid hurt, multiple kids arguing with each other, nobody listening. There must have been a full moon, excess sugar and secret caffeine.
 
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Right on queue, starting PG and C send emails a couple of minutes before practice and the other starting post player shows up 30 minutes late :)

Aside from that it was one of those nights...two kids crying, one kid hurt, multiple kids arguing with each other, nobody listening. There must have been a full moon, excess sugar and secret caffeine.

Would have run them the entire practice. Ha!
 
Would have run them the entire practice. Ha!
Oh yeah, there was a lot of running. They'll sleep well tonight.
 
Great thread man.
I had the pleasure of coaching both my sons in middle school and varsity baseball.
Watching the kids grow and become young men, ready for life after the game was over was probably my proudest moments. Now one of my sons is a corpsman in the Navy and the other is a freshman in college on an engineering scholarship.
As a coach you become a father to so many. It isn't for everyone, but if you do it. I think it is a very fulfilling experience that you can't put a price on.
Coach'em up guys and good luck with your teams. Look forward to following along with ya.

Tazz


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using Tapatalk #GoVols
 
Had a JV game tonight and this maybe slightly rant worthy but I will keep it here.

These are high school kids some of whom are really new to the game of hockey which is difficult to learn this late. That being said some of them just seem really happy to say they are on the team get the jersey and jacket that they can wear. They do no work off the ice to improve and then expect to play well when they do get a chance in the games. Just surprises me every time even though it happens every season.

I really feel that part of the issue is that these kids are building resumes for college and want to show they are do well rounded and involved in many activities. The issue I have is that each of the activities take away from each other and the kids winds up being mediocre at all of them. I know I am rambling just needed to vent a little
 
No need to apologize Crest. It is frustrating.
 
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