As a coach, you have the opportunity to help and mentor kids as they play their favorite sports. You have the responsibility of nurturing these young chaps physically and mentally. If you have minimal experience as a coach, it might be challenging to perform effectively. As a coach, you play an essential role in determining the future interest of young athletes in playing baseball. These Tips for Coaching Youth Baseball is very important as the kids look up to you.
Youth Baseball Coaching
Professional baseball coaches who have played baseball will testify that playing baseball and coaching the sport is very different. Every spring, first-time coaches join youth baseball programs. Most of the time, coaches are expected to have a background in baseball. When training youth players, you need more than a professional or playing background in baseball. It would be best if you came up with baseball programs to keep the young players engaged throughout the season.
As a new coach, you will find plenty of information from different sources giving you different methodologies and tips to use as you coach baseball. Baseball coaches don’t need certification; hence there is minimal training for baseball coaches. This short article covers the ten tips you can use to keep your young players and have a successful baseball coaching season.
Ten Tips to Use in Youth Baseball Coaching
In our article, we cover Tips for Coaching Youth Baseball which is meant to make the gaming experience most fun and productive. The ten tricks will benefit your young players, parents, and you, creating the best baseball gaming experience.
Come up with a practice plan.
Come up with a practice plan that must be followed by everyone taking part in the sport. Every time you meet with your youth baseball players, you must have a minute to minute schedule of activities. Your practice plan should include the following key sections:
- Days and time of training
- Duration of training
- Players taking part in the practice
- Repetitions of each baseball player
A practice plan saves time and ensures a smooth flow of activities. It’s essential to adjust the practice plan frequently to avoid monotony and boredom among the youth players. The practice plan doesn’t need to be written down; as a coach, it is best to develop a practice plan that best works for you.
Always keep the players moving.
Most young players will find baseball boring since there is a lot of standing. Most of the time, baseball players are standing, either waiting in line or for a play. Even though baseball matches are slow, you can make the practice sessions more lively and busy. The practice plan can effectively help you develop many activities to keep the young players moving. Eliminating downtime and keeping the players busy will keep them focused and engaged in the game. Reduce the time players spend in transition and design drills that involve all the players. While coming up with drills, ensure you can easily monitor and track the players’ movements during the drill.
Skip conditioning
Keeping your players engaged throughout the practice time will be exhausted at the end of the practice. Hence there is no need to include conditioning as part of the practice session. As a coach, you can integrate conditioning into baseball practice. Thus, the players can spend their energy on baseball-specific physical activities instead of random physical exercises.
Limiting the total number of baseball throws
Playing baseball comes with possible injuries. If you are not careful, you will have frequent sore arms and dead arms complaints. The leading cause of arm injuries when practicing is over practicing while in the field. The best baseball programs keep track of the number of baseball throws. While there is still a warm-up and the actual practice session, avoid having your baseball players make too many throws. Come up with a throwing load in your practice plan, and design baseball practice sessions that consider the number of throws.
Throwing BP Underhand
Baseball coaches can also overuse their hands when making throws like baseball players do. You might think it’s motivational to make a high number of throws, but throughout the practice period and season, it can cause serious harm.
Using Various Baseball Equipment
While some baseball coaches might have access to the latest training gear and equipment, not every coach is that lucky. Nevertheless, you can still have a very productive practice session with affordable gear. Your caching baseball toolbox should have the following essential items:
- Small plastic cones are used to mark the drills and show the correct path for grounders and fly batting balls.
- Tennis balls.
- Practice golf balls.
Focusing more on movements and not mechanics
As a youth baseball coach, you should focus on teaching the players the game mechanics and not the movement. While mechanics are more specific, movements are more general and equip the players with skills to fully understand the whole game. Start by teaching the young players the movements of the game before you narrow down to the mechanics, which are more specific.
Coaching all the players
When practicing, it’s essential to give every player equal opportunity. Avoid categorizing your players into “bad” and “good” categories, as this will not only discourage some players but also affect their performance. When coming up with a practice plan, have all your players included; this will create a cohesive team while encouraging performance improvement. It’s recommended that you run the players on drills appropriate to their skills.
Having a proper dress code
Encourage the baseball players to come up dressed appropriately during practice. The most basic dress code for baseball players will include baseball pants, forward ball caps and tucked-in shirts. Encouraging a uniform dress code is essential; remember, one of the main requirements of all baseball players when playing in any league is to have a uniform dress code.
Having a positive attitude
Avoid negative reinforcements and criticisms. Always encourage your players and keep them motivated. Remember, you train and coach young players who have very delicate personalities. Negative words can hurt them and trigger a series of adverse reactions. Try and be the fun coach whom the baseball player’s respect and love, and this is best done by having a positive attitude and mirroring that attitude to your players.
While practice sessions prepare for oncoming games, it’s essential to focus more on having fun instead of winning the games. Your primary role as a coach is to provide an environment for your young baseball players to encourage growth and development off and on the field. With the correct tools and mindset, youth baseball coaching becomes much more accessible and fun for players, coaches, and parents.
Implement our professional tips, and you will have a very productive baseball practice session with your young baseball players.
