Little League practices in our area started yesterday so I think it's a good time to outline some goals for all of you super heroes who have volunteered to coach teams this year.
#1 Goal: Make every single player on your team wants to sign up for baseball next year.
How do you accomplish this?
First, every practice should be fast-paced and fun. Make your groups small. Instead of hitting groundballs to 6 kids and SS and 6 kids and 2nd, get an extra set of hands and hit groundballs to 3 kids at 3rd, 3 kids at SS, 3 kids at 2nd, and 3 kids at 1st. They will all get more reps and being moving the whole time. Try to organize all your skill work like this.
Use your batting cage time for batting practice, not your field time. There's nothing that kills a practice more than having 1 kid hit live at home plate while 10 kids are standing around in the field waiting for their turn.
Second, be super positive and treat every kid with respect. No child wants to be yelled at or shamed/punished for making a mistake. Remember, not every kid on your team will be naturally as passionate about baseball as you are, or as your "best" players are. But your job is to try to make every player feel the way you do about the game! Screaming and visibly showing disappointment and frustration will not motivate them. It will not make them better players. And it definitely won't make them be excited about going to the field for practice or a game. In fact, a negative attitude from the coaching staff won't motivate or excite your best players either. Maintain perspective and remember that you are coaching KIDS who are playing a GAME that they are still learning.
Third, in games, play to win, but understand that winning shouldn't be the only goal. The more pressure your players feel from the coaching staff about winning, the more nervous they'll get, and their performance will suffer. Never forget that the #1 reason why kids play sports is to HAVE FUN. It is not to win championships or make All-Stars or play in high school or go pro someday. There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to win the league title, but remember that you are there for the kids, and the kids are there to have fun!
#2 Goal: Help every player improve.
If you focus all your time and energy at practice on only your most talented players, not only will the kids on your team with less experience or natural ability feel left out, but baseball is a TEAM game and you need ALL your players contributing in order for the team to be successful. Spend time teaching everyone how to pitch. Give the weaker hitters on your team MORE swings in the batting cage. Hit extra groundballs to the kids who are struggling defensively. Not only will the extra practice help them improve and make them feel like a valuable member of the team, but you're going to need everyone on your squad making plays and hitting during the season!
Find "wins" for every player on your team. For the all-star on your Major Division team, that might mean learning how to hit a 2-strike curveball to the opposite field while for the first time player on your Minor Division team that might mean simply making contact off of kid pitching for the first time. No matter what division you're coaching, you'll have a wide range of ability and experience on your team so work hard to make every single player better by the end of the season.
#3 Goal: Teach life lessons. From a purely statistical standpoint, the odds that any player you ever coach makes it to professional baseball are effectively zero so the goal of youth sports should be to teach teamwork, respect, effort, perseverance, and community, not groom future Big Leaguers or chase the phantom college scholarship.
(For those of you who are curious, here's that math. There are approximately 2,000,000 boys born every year in America. The 2021 MLB draft had 20 rounds with, 612 players getting picked. 612/2,000,000 = .0003)
(As far as scholarships go, only 298 schools in America have a D1 baseball program and each program only gets 11 total scholarships. Those are pretty long odds.)
Youth sports has a unique opportunity to teach kids character traits will help them be successful in life, no matter what they choose to do - let's remember what the big picture goals when it comes to raising our kids.
There's a sign I've seen posted at many sports fields designed to help parents and coaches maintain perspective that I really love. It says:
THESE ARE KIDS.
THIS IS GAME.
COACHES ARE VOLUNTEERS.
UMPIRES ARE HUMAN.
THERE ARE NO SCOUTS HERE TODAY AND NO PROFESSIONAL CONTRACTS WILL BE HANDED OUT.
Little Leagues can not run without dedicated parent volunteers like YOU and I know being a coach is huge responsibility, and too often it can be a thankless job. But it's also an enormous opportunity to positively and permanently impact the lives of your players. You got this! And I'm always here to help!
Let's have an amazing 2022 season. PLAY HARD, HAVE FUN!