The Youth Sports Coaching Thread

10 year old team won 13-0 in soccer today. Big break through in the top division. My girl had 3 goals which was a proud papa moment. Team wasn't a great team but they were in the top flight and was great for the girls confidence going forward.
 
Had my first practice as coach today of the soccer team 4-5yr old's. Whew this is going to be fun.
 
I've got a slight grumble with our league. They gave my team 3 practices next weekend (Fri, Sat, Mon), 3 more the last 2 weeks of April then nothing the last 5 weeks of the season. They lectured us about this being developmental, but how are we supposed to teach kids to play the game with no practices? I'm giving thought to having voluntary 1 hour pitching practices on Sundays. I'm not excited by it and doubt parents will be either, but I don't know how else to teach kids to pitch.
 
Bring a bunch of bats, gloves and baseballs and show them what a real American game is

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In supposedly competitive basketball I had a couple of parents get mad because their sons supposedly didn't play enough.

In supposedly developmental / non-competitive softball I have a parent who's concerned that her daughter isn't getting enough time at certain spots. Oh well, at least this parent was willing to reach out to me during the season with her concerns, not wait to the end and just complain. I appreciate that.

This one isn't a big deal, the juxtaposition of the two struck me as mildly amusing.
 
My son had a practice for tee ball on Tuesday. I helped out with some of the drills and I'm kicking myself for not being a coach. Man it was so much fun. It was crazy seeing kids that didn't know how to throw, show them and seeing the smile when they threw the ball.
 
My son had a practice for tee ball on Tuesday. I helped out with some of the drills and I'm kicking myself for not being a coach. Man it was so much fun. It was crazy seeing kids that didn't know how to throw, show them and seeing the smile when they threw the ball.
That's the best part!
 
Another adventure with the PreK girls soccer.

My oldest daughter's team won 1-0 on a penalty kick and my daughter stopped two goal attempts late to preserve the win. I don't have a good offensive striker/forward up front so we have to play a counter attack style game to try and manufacture scoring opportunities
 
Interesting day of Soccer yesterday. It's like bunch of swarming bumblebee's. So much fun though and so many breakdowns. One girl couldn't catch my daughter so picked up the ball and threw it at her. Guess the game of soccer tag is not a good idea.
 
I'm looking for help from any baseball or softball coaches out there. I've got one girl who continuously moves her front foot toward third-base, drop her back shoulder to create a big upper cut swing and misses the ball. I've tried explaining to her where her front foot needs to move, I've put a bat behind her feet to prevent her from stepping out and I've drawn a line in the dirt to encourage her to step in the right direction. None of it seems to be working. Anyone have tips or drills they can suggest to address this?


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I'm looking for help from any baseball or softball coaches out there. I've got one girl who continuously moves her front foot toward third-base, drop her back shoulder to create a big upper cut swing and misses the ball. I've tried explaining to her where her front foot needs to move, I've put a bat behind her feet to prevent her from stepping out and I've drawn a line in the dirt to encourage her to step in the right direction. None of it seems to be working. Anyone have tips or drills they can suggest to address this?


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Not sure what age group you're working with, but if she is young (7-10) try having her hit off a tee in practice without moving her front foot at all. The tee should help with the upper cut as she'll pop everything up or hit the tee itself and not the ball.

If older, have her try to stand a little farther from the plate (so she doesn't get hit) and hit towards right field. This should cause her to take a step towards 1st base with her from foot and it's very hard to come underneath the ball moving in that direction.
 
Had my real first WTF moment with a ref this weekend with my U10 girls soccer team. Score was 1-1 and player from the other team had a break towards the goal. My defender got back in time along with our goalie and the other teams player, meeting all at once. Other team player goes crashing and into our goalie but our goalie got the ball and covered. Ref called a arm penalty on our defender which is hardly ever called unless the arm or elbow goes up and into the face area. Penalty kick. We lost 2-1. The ref and I had a little conversation after the game was over.

On a good note it was my daughter who scored our 1.
 
Man that is a horrible call made by that ref.
 
Ah, life as a youth sports coach...the question I asked about the kid stepping out demonstrates that I was thinking about and working on ways to try to help a kid that's struggling. Same kid no-shows to practice last night.
 
Ah, life as a youth sports coach...the question I asked about the kid stepping out demonstrates that I was thinking about and working on ways to try to help a kid that's struggling. Same kid no-shows to practice last night.

I was thinking up a drill that might help but it would appear that may not be necessary. If the kid decides that the game isn't for her and is no longer participating that's one thing. If she comes and goes as she pleases (and her parents allow it) that would drive me crazy too.
 
I was thinking up a drill that might help but it would appear that may not be necessary. If the kid decides that the game isn't for her and is no longer participating that's one thing. If she comes and goes as she pleases (and her parents allow it) that would drive me crazy too.
Her mom's on me about getting her daughter more time at pitcher (8 and 9 year old player pitch), so I am pretty sure they are into it. It was just an odd coincidence that the day I asked for help was followed by her no-showing.
 
The Youth Sports Coaching Thread

What I did with my daughter over the winter was to put a volleyball (or some other kind of inflatable ball) on a tee and have her use the knob of the bat to hit the ball off the tee into the net. She'll likely balk at first because the ball will need to be fairly close to the her for her to make contact. It's also a good time to show her how rotating her hips lets her hands come through the zone.
Her mom will probably have to drill her at home also since it's an entirely different move from the Willie Mays Hayes swing she's doing now. I assume she works pitching at home?


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The Youth Sports Coaching Thread

Wed and Thur are a glorious 2 day break from sports coaching and parenting.

My team continues to lose but it's okay. I'm taking an extremely developmental approach to the season and pretty much expected this. On the other hand, this approach is paying big dividends in other ways. A couple of girls who had never played any sport before have really come on strong, showing signs of being real athletes/players. Other girls are learning how to play properly, if not always executing plays. It's really rewarding seeing the advancement.
 
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Well looks like I'm not coaching this season. My sons new team already has 3 established (and great) coaches, so I'm back to being a spectator.

I think that might actually be good for my son, to not have me right there. Last night with me not in the dugout he went 2 for 2 with a walk in his first time seeing faster pitching. Hitting has long been his weak spot and if he can swing decently as a 10yo going up against 11s and 12s he's going to get a lot more playing time.


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T-ball coaching for me again this year. Using all the great advice from last year that tequila4kapp gave me. We've only had 2 practices due to crappy weather and an April snow storm, but things are running smoothly so far. Ages are most 4-5 year olds, with the occasional 6 year old that has never played before or just needs to develop more skills before moving up to the next age group. I have 1 5 year old that didn't play last year, but he has an arm like you wouldn't believe. He also crushes the ball and almost drilled the kids that were fielding in our last practice. His mother tells me that he only practiced with his dad in their back yard for a few days before our first practice. Not sure what to do about this kid. He probably has the skills to move up and I really don't want someone to get hurt trying to catch a rocket he hits, but if he's never played before, he might need the fundamentals from t-ball.
 
I am glad all that info is still useful!

I was the recipient of a kid on my AA from an A team that sounds a lot like the boy you mentioned. My kid's parents spoke to the league about it, as he felt she was too advanced and that her advancement created a safety issue. Maybe a similar discussion with the league would be helpful; they can decide what is best for all parties involved.
 
Even though I've treated the softball season as extremely developmental and haven't mentioned win or loss once this season, they screamed like school girls about winning last night. I have to admit that it felt good to win one.
 
A kid on my team sent me a text tonight saying I am the best coach ever. That made me very happy.
 
Our softball season is over. It was a great group of girls and parents, which made it a lot of fun. I had 3 or 4 girls who had never played before and a couple of them in particular really turned into players. That was very rewarding. Spending the time with my daughter was great. I really needed a positive experience like this after the nightmare that was coaching my son's basketball team.
 
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