Hey Guys,
I was able to watch a few 11u baseball games over the past weekend and just can't help but writing about how youth coaches are doing it wrong. My guess is that if you are coaching a youth team you aren't losing games due to bunt coverages, first and third situations, or pickoff plays that weren't run correctly. I had to spend 15 minutes of my day listening to a coach tell his team how they are losing games because they can't execute these things. You're wrong! You lose games because your kids can't catch a fly ball or a ground ball and because your team won't swing the bat. That goes for all youth baseball coaches. The problem isn't your 11 year old kid not performing high level things, its the fact that their fundamentals are poor.
When running a practice for young kids you need to do tons of reps of ground balls, fly balls, hitting, and base running. Start your practice off with teaching them to properly warm up. Make sure they are hitting each other in the chest with their throws. Make it a game. Kids attention spans are short. Then go to short hops where the kids are on their knees. After that move to ground balls, and then to fly balls. Hit last. Make sure the kids understand that to hit you have to get the outs in the field. Also, in regards to the hitting approach, just let the kids swing. This isn't major league baseball. They don't need to be bunting and doing hit and runs and all of that upper level stuff. Just let them hit and let them develop a love for the game.
Those are my two cents about youth baseball. If you disagree and are one of the parents that thinks your kid is a high school baseball player when he's 11, I'd love to hear what your philosophy is on it. Later tonight there will be a posted model practice schedule for youth baseball players (12 and under). At thirteen coaches can start working in more upper level things into the games.
Until Next Time!
Completely agree, great post.
ReplyDeleteNothing is more frustrating than watching kids who can't perform the fundamentals. When I was a kid playing ball (a long time ago), I remember spending countless practices just working on fielding and situational drills (man on 1st & 3rd, one out, what do you do if the ball is hit to you and if it's not hit to you).
I see way too many kids today that have no situational awareness which leads to too many extra runs. First you need to be able to field the ball, then know what to do with it.
The fact that a lot of the kids today don't play pickup games at home means they are only working on skills when at practice (sadly). We need to spend more time on those fundamentals, catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball, because in the end, that's what all good players do well.