Softball and baseball coaching

[NVfishing]

My DD has been blessed with great coaching in softball. I signed her up for fall ball baseball due to time constraints. The baseball coach said he believed that making the game fun was the most important part of coaching. The first thing I heard from all the baseball parents is how the majority of boys have almost quit due to coaching. I was glad to hear what this coach intends because it sounds like a lot of the players are left with a bad experience. Sounds like a lot of yelling.

It's one of those moments when you realize that kids are kids irregardless of gender or game and both genders want the same thing in the sport they play, to have fun!

 

[InsidePitch]

If it's not fun no one will want to continue putting so much time and effort into it. Good luck to your DD.

 

[Eric F]

Especially for rec league teams, the top 2 priorities for young players should be 1) have fun, and 2) become better ballplayers. Every team I've been involved with that makes these the priorities has been a great experience for the kids, and the parents are very pleased, no matter what our win-loss stats are.

 

[quincy]

Yelling in itself is not bad. During games DD gets yelled at a lot, sometimes even by her coach.


DD’s SB coach yells at the players a fair amount, it is a big field and they need to yell to be heard. They don’t yell “You need to make that play!”, they yell things like “You need to backup that base” both before and after it becomes an Issue.

DD likes her coaches a lot.

I see bad coaches in both BB and SB every year. The yellers can be the worst where the batters/fielders are more worried about making a mistake then a play.

Let us know how many she hits over the fence with that little ball!

 

[canyonjoe]

I actually think that having fun is tied with making them better players. It's not a lot of fun for a good player to make a great stop at SS and look up to throw to first and that guys is busy waving to his Grandma. Or playing on a team where the kids never pay attention and you can't get anything done. My son played for 3 coaches 2 years ago who corrected (positively) them for every thing they did wrong. Another year a coach would pull them from the game for one reason. If they weren't ready when the ball was pitched. The next seasons you could tell which kids played for those coaches the previous year. They did a lot of fun things, but it was done in a structured manner so they could learn how to play ball.

 

[dbronstein]

Especially for rec league teams, the top 2 priorities for young players should be 1) have fun, and 2) become better ballplayers. Every team I've been involved with that makes these the priorities has been a great experience for the kids, and the parents are very pleased, no matter what our win-loss stats are.

Unfortunately you get problems when the coaches are focusing on 1 and 2 and there are parents who are more concerned about winning. I co-coached my son's baseball team in the spring (12U rec). Our goal was 1 and 2 - we moved kids around a lot so they could play their favorite positions, we gave 10 kids a chance to pitch, shuffled the order so the same kids weren't stuck at the bottom, etc. After the first game, one dad gave me a 15 minute lecture about how we left a pitcher in too long in the last inning (we had a 5 run lead and took him out after 4 batters). We had one game that we blew a 4 run lead in the last inning with our best pitcher because we had an inexperienced catcher who missed three third strikes. We thought about pulling him but we didn't want to embarrass him. His dad was the one who lectured me and I think he would have wanted us to pull the kid so we'd have a better chance to win.

And after our first playoff game, another dad chewed me out for taking out our best pitcher after 2 innings (there were strict IP limits and we were saving him for the next day). Of course his kid was one of the less experienced players and on a competitive team would have been stuck in the outfield and sitting out half the time. We let him play 2b and 3b and pitched him a few times. But I really think the dad would have preferred to have him play less on a winning team.

The best quote I've heard is that the best indicator of a good youth sports coach is their players want to keep playing the next season. That goes back to having fun and getting better, and that holds for whatever level you are playing.

 

[dbronstein]

Yelling in itself is not bad. During games DD gets yelled at a lot, sometimes even by her coach.


DD’s SB coach yells at the players a fair amount, it is a big field and they need to yell to be heard. They don’t yell “You need to make that play!”, they yell things like “You need to backup that base” both before and after it becomes an Issue.

DD likes her coaches a lot.

I see bad coaches in both BB and SB every year. The yellers can be the worst where the batters/fielders are more worried about making a mistake then a play.

Let us know how many she hits over the fence with that little ball!

Yes, it's all in how the yelling is done. If it's reminding the kids what they need to do, that's usually fine. When it's constant yelling about their mistakes, it's usually a problem. My son had a coach who spent the whole game yelling about every mistake, even when the outcomes were good. For example, there weas one play where our pitcher picked a runner off first and the runner took off for second. The firstbaseman chased him down and tagged him out. The coach immediately laid into him for not throwing the ball so they could run him back to first.

 

[Eric F]

Unfortunately you get problems when the coaches are focusing on 1 and 2 and there are parents who are more concerned about winning. I co-coached my son's baseball team in the spring (12U rec). Our goal was 1 and 2 - we moved kids around a lot so they could play their favorite positions, we gave 10 kids a chance to pitch, shuffled the order so the same kids weren't stuck at the bottom, etc. After the first game, one dad gave me a 15 minute lecture about how we left a pitcher in too long in the last inning (we had a 5 run lead and took him out after 4 batters). We had one game that we blew a 4 run lead in the last inning with our best pitcher because we had an inexperienced catcher who missed three third strikes. We thought about pulling him but we didn't want to embarrass him. His dad was the one who lectured me and I think he would have wanted us to pull the kid so we'd have a better chance to win.

And after our first playoff game, another dad chewed me out for taking out our best pitcher after 2 innings (there were strict IP limits and we were saving him for the next day). Of course his kid was one of the less experienced players and on a competitive team would have been stuck in the outfield and sitting out half the time. We let him play 2b and 3b and pitched him a few times. But I really think the dad would have preferred to have him play less on a winning team.

A response...
"My job, as a coach at this level, is to help the players improve their skills, learn the game, and - most importantly - have fun while they're doing it. After all, it's a game being played by kids. If it's not fun for them, and they aren't getting better, I'm not doing my job very well. Of course, I hope we win more than we lose, but those stats are NOT the most important thing to me. I think Little Suzy is a great kid. I enjoy having her on the team, and I enjoy seeing her become a better player week after week. Making mistakes in game situations is an important part of learning the game, and mistakes happen a lot at this level. I'm fine with that, as long as they gave their best effort. If having Little Suzy on a team that wins lots of games is the most important thing to you, maybe rec ball isn't the best fit for your needs."

The best quote I've heard is that the best indicator of a good youth sports coach is their players want to keep playing the next season. That goes back to having fun and getting better, and that holds for whatever level you are playing.

Yup.

 

[Sweet Lou]

Unfortunately you get problems when the coaches are focusing on 1 and 2 and there are parents who are more concerned about winning. I co-coached my son's baseball team in the spring (12U rec). Our goal was 1 and 2 - we moved kids around a lot so they could play their favorite positions, we gave 10 kids a chance to pitch, shuffled the order so the same kids weren't stuck at the bottom, etc. After the first game, one dad gave me a 15 minute lecture about how we left a pitcher in too long in the last inning (we had a 5 run lead and took him out after 4 batters). We had one game that we blew a 4 run lead in the last inning with our best pitcher because we had an inexperienced catcher who missed three third strikes. We thought about pulling him but we didn't want to embarrass him. His dad was the one who lectured me and I think he would have wanted us to pull the kid so we'd have a better chance to win.

And after our first playoff game, another dad chewed me out for taking out our best pitcher after 2 innings (there were strict IP limits and we were saving him for the next day). Of course his kid was one of the less experienced players and on a competitive team would have been stuck in the outfield and sitting out half the time. We let him play 2b and 3b and pitched him a few times. But I really think the dad would have preferred to have him play less on a winning team.

The best quote I've heard is that the best indicator of a good youth sports coach is their players want to keep playing the next season. That goes back to having fun and getting better, and that holds for whatever level you are playing.

I like what you are doing but in rec it is important to lay out what you are doing for the parents before the season starts.

I run my rec teams very much like you do.

I rarely have a problem with a parent yelling at me for coaching decisions even though I clearly don't have our best fielding/batting lineup in any given inning/game.

But if/when I do, I remind them they are welcome to sign up to manage next year and spend hours putting together lineups, developing practice plans, coming out to the field to work with kids, etc. and they can do what they want with the lineup.

 

[dbronstein]

I like what you are doing but in rec it is important to lay out what you are doing for the parents before the season starts.

I agree, and we were very clear up front with the parents and the kids about how we were going to do things. These parents just wanted to win and nothing we could have said would have changed their minds.

Of course the dad who chewed me out after the playoff game was hiding out in his truck the next day when our ace pitcher threw four great innings and we won.