Little League Coaching Tips

[bobahunter]

I have seen tidbits here and there on the forum about tips for little league coaching but thought I would start a thread. A little back story, I am going into my third year of coaching my son's team and we are leaving behind coach pitch and moving into kid pitch (3rd/4th grade) this spring. I coached in previous district where the high school baseball coach was really involved and went as far as developing a program that he wanted the coaches to follow. I found this helpful being a beginner coach and not knowing much about teaching mechanics, etc. Now we live in a new town that the high school is really hands off and there isn't a structure for development other than some basic drills that are suggested for a practice.

Would any coaches here have any suggestions for online drill programs (paid or free) that have really helped their little league program? I am looking for something like a series of content that could be used at our level now and progress through to the 8th grade levels. I find the drills that explain the reasons for mechanics much more helpful from a coaching standpoint. I like to be able to explain to the kids why we do certain drills and what we are looking to get out of it.

There is a ton of content online, but I would like to get a feel for what other beginner coaches at our grade level use to narrow it down a bit.

 

[MrTPlush]

Quit while there is still a chance. 

[homer]

My buddy coaches his kids team and they are right about the same age as yours. I'll see what he does. He didn't play past little league so I'm kind of curious myself how he coaches.

[RobDeer 45]

Spot on MrTPlush!!!

 

Excellent idea to start a thread on little league coaching.  I've been coaching my two oldest kids the last several years and took the jump to head coaching last year, which included All Stars for the oldest.  I was hesitant because I thought I needed to wait until they got older but it was a lot of fun!  If you have any specific questions, go ahead and shoot, I'd be glad to help the best I can.  This will be a good place to come back to as the season gets going.

 

As for videos to watch, I'd maybe start with the little league YouTube channel.  They have a lot of basic how to videos on there.  I've also found some good content from this page,  but he has a lot of videos.  There is so much online content and beliefs on how to do things that it can get confusing.

https://www.youtube.com/@UltimateBaseballTraining/featured

 

The biggest thing is there are going to be so many different skill levels in little league.  Some kids at the kid pitch level will still not be able to catch a ball well, while others are starting to figure things out and need more detailed instruction.  Last year was my oldest's first year of kid pitch.  My middle son is going from rookie ball, which is machine pitch (they use a tee if they miss the first 3 times and everyone hits every inning, no rules or scoring because everyone scores every inning), to A ball which is machine pitch but they are playing baseball rules.

 

Best of luck with coaching this year!

[bobahunter]

Thanks for the link. This will be a great place to start. 

You are right, these next two years are going to be interesting especially since we have 3rd and 4th grade together. And since this is a community education league we seem to get 1 or 2 kids a year that have never played.  

I did have a pre-season question that is geared toward getting volunteers. What works in your leagues to get parents to volunteer to help coach? Do you have to do league deposits or something in the by-laws about parent participation? I'm just interested in what other leagues do to get those numbers up.

[RobDeer 45]

I would say our league is really well run.  As for coaching, we have volunteer hours that everyone has to do.  You write a big check, maybe $250 per kid, at the beginning of the year.  If you don't complete your volunteer hours they cash the check.  Coaching takes care of the full amount, and for multiple kids.  I think that's smart because the coaches put in a lot of time.  Other things to do are concessions, field prep, they used to have umping on there, volunteering for uniform and equipment distribution, and then of course clerical things.  If you make that check big enough, you'll get plenty of volunteers!

[PlayerHader]

TheHittingVault.com is a great resource. Lots of drills and other resources. I used it when I coached high school softball. There are a ton of free videos and resources out there, but the problem is a lot of different drills and way of teaching things contradict each other. TheHittingVault isn’t free, but it’s comprehensive and consistent. It’s definitely not for everybody.

 

 

My son moves up to 10U this year, and I will be coaching my daughter’s 8U team. After 10 years of coaching high school varsity, I’m both very excited and a little apprehensive to work with these young gals!