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7 Tips For Successfully Coaching Youth Softball

When coaching a youth softball team, the first thing you’ll realize that it’s difficult. In fact, a youth softball team is a lot more difficult to handle than teams with older and more experienced players.

There are a number of reasons for this. First is that young players don’t have enough knowledge and experience yet on how softball works. So you practically have to start from scratch when working with them. Another is that they’re kids, and you know that kids are a little bit more difficult to handle than adults. And finally, you also have to deal with their parents. Putting parents into the mix makes things a lot more challenging.

Yes, it’s a challenge to handle a youth softball team, but it’s something you can do with the right attitude and skills. Successfully coach your youth softball team with these 7 tips I have for you.

1. 1. Learn as much as you can. Coaching isn’t just about teaching your players how to do things correctly. It’s also your job to learn as much as you can about the game, about handling your players and dealing with them.

You can learn these through books, seminars and other reference materials that will help broaden your understanding of the game and the psychology of handling a team. Invest on these materials because you’ll be needing them if you want to coach your team well.

1. 2. Start with the basics. When you’re teaching new concepts to your players, keep things as simple as possible. I mentioned earlier that young players don’t have the prior knowledge yet of how softball works, so don’t expect them to understand softball jargon and other complex concepts the first day they step on the practice field.

What you should do instead is begin with general concepts about the game. From hitting to throwing the ball, keep your instructions clear and simple. They’ll understand you a lot easier that way.

1. 3. Keep things fun. Kids love playing games. And what’s more, they learn things much easier when they’re having fun. So instead of putting them through grueling drills and practices, design fun drills that they will enjoy instead.

When they’re having fun doing the drills, they won’t perceive these drills as work, making them more open to learning new concepts. And an open mind is what you need from your players because they’ll be able to absorb more instructions from you with that.

1. 4. Start them early on safety and sportsmanship. The kids that you’re handling are looking for role models, just like any kid would. That said, you’re in the position of setting for them good examples on how to become a good softball player beyond merely learning the skills.

So constantly remind them how to play safely on the field. Show them how each safety gear works, teach them to eat right and drink water or sports drinks regularly.

And teach them sportsmanship as well. Show them that losing isn’t the end of the world. Show them how to accept defeat graciously. These things that you teach them will come a long way, even after their softball career’s over.

1. Understand how kids develop. It could be tempting to boot out a player from your team if he/she plays poorly. Things like this happen in real life in regular youth softball teams, but try to avoid it happening in your team as much as you can.

Remember that you’re dealing with kids, and some kids don’t develop their skills as quickly as the others. So give them the chance to learn more from the game, and decide only when they have matured enough.

1. Be patient. These kids barely know anything about how softball works. And so, teaching them concepts they don’t seem to understand can be frustrating at times. But that’s a part of the challenge.

Be patient with them even if it’s frustrating. Hang in there because the longer you stay with them, the more they learn from you. And you’ll be surprised at the end of the season how much they’ve grown in terms of playing the game and their understanding of it.

1. Keep parents on your good side. Parents of your players will come in tons of varieties. Most are generally friendly, although others can be a pain to deal with.

What you should do instead is try making friends with them. Build relationships with these parents. Listen to them if they have suggestions on how you can get more wins for your team, but also remind them who runs the show. Otherwise, other parents might try to take too much control of the team, which can be detrimental to your team’s overall success.

We’re of course just at the tip of the iceberg here. It takes a lot more to successfully coach a youth softball team. It takes experience, the knowledge, and the willingness to learn from your peers and your players to get you there.

But the ones I’ve listed above provides you with the basic tools that will guide you throughout your coaching career. It’s tough, but don’t forget to enjoy the ride and keep on learning.

About the Author

Marc Dagenais, MHK, CSCS, is a Softball Peak Performance Coach that helps softball players and teams hit with more power, run faster, throw harder, become mentally tougher and be more dominant on the softball field.

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I work at an apartment complex and this old man.....?

came in who always talks to me, he's 70 and complaning about how he's getting old and i told him he could still live another 20 years and he said he wouldn't want to and he feels sorry for us (youth) because when we get older everything is going to be so much harder than it is now......what is he talking about? He made it sound like the world is coming to an end.

Older people often look back at their youth and remember the good things without fully recalling the bad things.

In this man's youth, life was much simpler and he is recalling that buying a home and getting an education were easier than they are now. because he is eledrly he worries that the good things in life may be forgotten in the fast paced and complex world of today.

It's something older people have always worried about, and there is no need to dismiss it. You can learn a lot from him, if you want to.

But one thing you can't learn is your own youthful optimism.

You have the power to make the future world a better place, every generation of young people does.

If you talk to this old guy, and ask what his concerns are, you can think about how you and your generation can avoid falling into the traps he forsees.

You don't have to make his worries yours, but you can educate yourself about how the world works.

Elderly people often do forget the bad things about their own time, because the good times were so good. We all love memories of our youth! But the world keeps changing and young people are the ones who have to deal with that.

Good luck and best wishes

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 at 4:36 pm and is filed under anti-aging skin care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.