Have fun with it! Come up with fun games to work on youth baseball skills development rather than just running through baseball drills.
Also, keep in mind that youth baseball and youth softball are very difficult sports to play. A Hall of Famer from the Big Leagues gets 3 hits in 10 at-bats. What other sport can be successfully played with a 70% failure ratio???!!!
]]>I don’t have children old enough to play travel ball, so that is a hard question for me to answer.
Looking at as many ball players that I see, however, I would say that the age of 10 is a good age for travel ball. It also depends what you mean by travel ball--there are so many different types of travel teams. Some play year-round, while some play 9 months out of the year.
I have always said this: For a player to become a better athlete you should play different sports to work on different types of agility and body movements that are specific to that sport. For example, basketball requires a lot of jumping, side-to-side agility and endurance that is great for baseball players.
]]>One of the things that I do with players who are afraid of the ball is talk to them and explain that it is part of the game. You are either going to hit the ball or be hit by it. A lot of ballplayers have been hit by the ball, and even though it hurts a little bit, we brush it off and keep playing. One of the very important parts of the game is teaching ballplayers how to get out of the way of the ball properly. To get out of the way of the ball, you turn toward the plate and tuck your arms back, creating a curve to your back. That way the ball will hit the fattier part of your body--the back of the legs, arm, and buttocks. This technique has really helped many players I’ve worked with who were afraid of the ball.
]]>Follow these tips, and you should get years of great use from your glove.
]]>The great thing about this is that you can throw the ball to your right working on backhands, to you left working on forehands and slow rollers that you will need to charge.
You can simulate all types of plays and this will help you with your agility on the field because of the movements you will be making. Have fun with this easy and fun drill.
]]>Always have a plan. You must go to every practice with a well thought-out plan. The players will know right away if you are just trying to wing it. They want structure, and if you can show them that you prepared yourself for the practice, they will know that there is structure. Explain to them what they will be covering and you will see that the practice will go much smoother.
]]>You will learn a lot from just watching and reading the situations on the field and seeing where guys are throwing certain balls when they are in certain situations.
You can also learn a lot from the commentators talking about the game. They will often talk about certain pitchers and mechanics as well as hitters and flaws. They do a very good job of slow motion and they break down the game fairly well. So, yes, you can learn an awful lot from watching games on TV.
]]>I played all of the infield positions in high school and this allowed me to be versatile for my team. I played shortstop, second base and third base in Pro Ball. This helps you to better understand the game because you as a player now know who should be covering the bags where people are going and you never know what position you are going to best at.
Try all positions and have fun. As you get older and are playing competitively you will start to lean to certain positions. The best weapon a coach is a player that can play multiple positions. If, for example, you only know how to play shortstop and the coach already has a very good shortstop, what happens? Bench maybe. But if you can easily slide over to second you then make the lineup. Play multiple positions!
]]>Well, don't worry about it. It is like this with most kids at an early age. The way that i find to teach young players to catch is to have them place their thumbs to the sky and about shoulder height. When you toss the wiffle ball toss it from a close distance so that you have control of your thow and get some air under it so they can see the ball and they will have time to react. Try to have them say "Catch", when the ball hits his or her hands, and this will reinforce them to watch the ball all the way to their hands. Make playing ball fun for the players so if they are really young just use 2 rolled up socks so that the object is light and won't hurt if they get hit, so that you take the fear of getting hurt out of the equation. Make sure that when they catch the ball you clap and get excited for them becasue is what will make them try even harder to catch more. Play and have fun.
]]>"Stop stepping out Johnny", yells coach D. "Step toward the pitcher". This is something you will often hear while at a Little League game. Take a step back and think. Why is Johnny stepping out to begin with? Well, probably because he has been hit before or the pitcher is throwing hard and he is nervous. When hitters step into the batters box there are alot of unknowns: Is the pitcher wild, what if he hits me, is it going to hurt, where is he going to throw it. We have all gone through this and some of us this bothered more than others. I just got in there and hit. So I say. I bet when I was 6 and the players were 8 and 9 I did not have the same attitude either. We think "what is the big deal" it is just a pitcher which is true to us but we aren't standing in the batters box.
As a coach, think about this- OK, I have a player that steps out. Well, telling him to move closer to the plate or stay in there probably doesn't do me any good with that player. What do you do? Here is what works for me. Tell the player to back off the plate until he or she feels comfortable and start there. If the pitcher throws a strike and your hitter thinks it was way outside he will move closer to the plate on his own and eventually he will get close enough on his own time. This really works. Also have practice with wiffle balls and help teach your player how to get out of the way of the ball properly. This will really help his confidence knowing that he or she can get out of the way and it won't hurt as much. Look for my next blog on how to turn away from a pitch thrown at you. Have FUN!
Start your player on his or her knees and toss a wiffle ball to there sides so that way if they miss it or land on it the ball will not hurt. Have them react and dive for the ball. I am telling you they will have so much fun and they'll be hooked, getting further and furher for the ball. ENJOY DIVING!
]]>Players come in all types of shapes and sizes. Some are short and stocky, others are tall and thin. When I am sizing up a player for a bat, I will have them take a bat and hold it all the way to the end of the knob with their strong hand and hold the bat out straight in front of them. They must hold the palm down and keep the bat up for 10 seconds. If they can do this then usually the bat is good for them. But you want the heaviest bat that you can do this drill with.
]]>This is a very good question. I believe that it is not the number of innings a pitcher throws that is important but the pitch count per inning. When the pitch count gets into the 20s and especially the 30s, which is when the strain comes to the arm. If a pitcher is throwing 10-14 pitches an inning he can last 6 innings. But when a pitcher throws 75 pitches in 2 innings he will wear down much faster and be more prone to injury.
After studying this issue the past two seasons, Little League Baseball has implemented a pitch count for 2007 to help protect pitchers arms. Click here to read an article with all the details.
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