So You Volunteered To Coach Baseball (willing or not!), Now What?
Let me start this by saying I know that at the youth level it is extremely difficult to run a practice, especially at the rec. leagues. Field space, time and equipment all are major factors on how the practice can be run. I’ve been there, I’ve felt your pain, and I hope to pass along some of the things I have learned over the past decade of coaching to help facilitate a practice that can be efficient. Whether I am running a practice for 4 year olds or 15 years olds I always come with a pre-planned (yes typed out) practice and follow the same general flow, it makes my life easier and helps get the most “bang for your buck” so to speak in the time and space allowed.
First off, always make sure you set a precedent for the players arriving on time to practice. I understand this is up to the parents but make sure they know how important it is for players to arrive a few minutes before the scheduled time to get cleats on and be ready at the scheduled start time. Once that is established it makes it feel as the practice starts as a full cohesive team as opposed to a chaotic mess. Be specific in the warm up movements and hold your players accountable to not just going through the motions. Once the team gets into a routine it’s incredible to see leaders step up and run these skills at the start of all practices and games. This is done at the older levels but giving kids responsibility at the 6-8 age range makes them feel a sense of pride on the field. It will also help kids want to be a leader on the team and encourage them to step into that role.
As they move into catch play, make sure they are aware how crucial this time is to prepare them for the upcoming practice or game. I have seen many teams warm up lazily and then really struggle to make good throws in the game because they did not prepare themselves with game like throws during practice/warm up. Have a throwing routine that eventually lengthens them out (long toss) and then brings them in close for quick hands to simulate game situations. Last of the “warm up”, run them through some glove work to put their bodies in a controlled situation to make quality moves. These can include barehand picks that lead into glove work picks (forehand/backhand).
After the warm up there can be so many options but make sure as the season develops you’re trying to build on basic skills (I’ve included a couple examples) and introduce more difficult movements and concepts. Try to address issues seen in the previous week’s games and put your players in the situations they are struggling with. It’s also important to run game situations during practice, but I would encourage facilitating reps inside of the scrimmage environment so there’s less standing around. Introduce baserunners to help catchers get work and have pitchers hold runners if age appropriate. Have a second coach hitting fungo (ground balls, pop flys etc) in between live at bats to players not directly involved in the play. Standing around in a practice sometimes cannot be avoided but try to make sure you’re using your time wisely on the field. If you’re fortunate enough to have multiple assistant coaches utilize them to separate into smaller groups (stations) to make sure individual work is done for positions. This may look like a tee or soft/front toss station while another station is doing fielding work. When taking batting practice link up a hitter and a baserunner and run situational hitting scenarios with a defense. This allows multiple skills to be addressed all within a BP session. I have seen many practices where one player is hitting and 11 kids are “Shagging”. This is usually only work for the one person hitting. Even when instruction is to “play it live” defensively it usually leads to most kids standing around and not getting the work they need.
I know that many of you are running great practices and are giving all that you have to your teams and I want you to know that the kids and parents appreciate you. Volunteer coaches are a vital part of youth sports! With a well thought out and organized practice the players will get a ton of good reps and when they’re busy in a practice there will be less issues with distraction and lack of focus. I hope this helps you and thanks for putting in the hard work for your players!
-Coach Josh
