Teach your kid baseball.
Practical help for the parents of young baseball players.
( How to play baseball for kids. )
TeachYourKidBaseball.com
"Encouragement is the basis of all teaching."
Updated: July 1, 2009
***** TABLE OF CONTENTS: *****
Introduction.
Why play organized sports?
Why play a team sport?
Why play baseball?
It's not like the Major Leagues.
How youth baseball leagues are organized.
It's not a democracy.
The manager.
The natural athlete.
The "Klutz."
The chubby kid and the short kid.
The "sharp" kid and the "slow" kid.
The "Lefty."
Handicapped baseball players.
The ballplayer who can hit.
Training the batter.
Training the pitcher.
Training the catcher.
Training the fielders.
Stealing bases.
Running the bases.
For the single parent.
For former athletes.
Correcting your own child.
The browbeaten ballplayer.
Weeding out weak players.
When the umpire is a kid, too.
For overly competitive leagues.
Winning and losing.
Scholarships.
Summary of safety tips:
* Never slide head first into home.
* Don't have more than one ball in play during fielding practice.
* Always call for a fly ball: "I've got it!" and respond: "Take it Billy!"
* Catchers: keep your free hand in a fist, with the thumb tucked in.
* You can get badly "beaned" in a run-down, so keep the helmet on when running the bases.
* Leave the field immediately when there is lightning around.
( In 2009, two Virginia kids were killed on the field by lightning shortly after the game was called off.)
Introduction.
This article was prepared by an experienced
manager of kids' youth league baseball teams, who prefers to remain anonymous.
Most of the information
that is presented here about how to play baseball for kids will be self-evident,
although the reader may not have thought of it before.
The rest is easily verified. If your kids' team manager disagrees
with something that appears here, do it your team manager's way.
Why play organized sports?
CONTINUE ==>
Copyright 2008 by THE HERNDON COMPANY.
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does not constitute their endorsement or recommendation by
THE HERNDON COMPANY. Neither the author nor
THE HERNDON COMPANY are responsible for,
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********************************
****************************************************
Summary of site content (unedited):
This article was prepared by an experienced
manager of kids league baseball teams, who prefers to remain anonymous.
Most of the information
that is presented here about how to play baseball for kids will be self-evident,
although the reader may not have thought of it before.
The rest is easily verified. If your team's manager disagrees
with something that appears here, do it your team manager's way.
Many of us grew up playing sports informally.
A group of kids would get together in an empty lot and choose up sides.
Someone would bring a baseball bat, Someone would bring a baseball, a tennis ball,
or a rubber ball. ( City kids played with a broomstick and
very lively pink rubber ball called a "spalding." **) There were no umpires.
Disputes were resolved in a variety of ways: by majority rule, by
the biggest kids, by the loudest or most persuasive kids, or by the most popular kids.
Occasionally there were scuffles. Occasionally someone would take his baseball bat
and go home, ending the game. Important lessons were learned about
basic politics, practical psychology, and human interactions.
kids don't get that in organized sports.
**"Albert J. "Big Al" Spalding played baseball in the mid 1800's, right after the end of the civil war.
He is widely regarded the first truly great pitcher in baseball. and later became a
successful businessman, creating the first sports equipment empire. It exists to this day.
He was instrumental in making major league baseball
grow from a hobby to a business.
Organized sports teach kids different lessons:
* Reliability: The importance of kids showing up on time, every time, not just for games
but for every practice too;
* Preparedness: The importance of kids showing up ready to play: bringing your baseball cap
and baseball glove, and maybe your favorite baseball bat;
* Appearance: The importance of kids showing up with their shoes tied,
your shirt-tail tucked in, and your baseball uniform on properly;
* Organization: What it is like to be part of a hierarchical organization
with coaches, managers, system managers, league officials;
and unfortunately,
* Politics: That life is not always fair,
that the better player doesn't always get selected,
that decisions are sometimes biased or influenced,
that rules are sometimes bent or ignored.
In short, ORGANIZED SPORTS PREPARE kids TO WORK IN THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD.
This is a good thing.
* Forming groups. In the 7 to 12 year old age range, kids naturally begin to organize.
They like to form cliques, clubs, and "secret" societies.
If we are not careful, these can turn into gangs.
Organized team sports like baseball provide a healthy outlet for this natural tendency.
Baseball teams provide the desired identity and feeling of belonging:
"What team are you on?"
"The Dodgers"
This is bolstered greatly by the caps, uniforms, and clear purpose: to beat the other teams.
Most sports are either individual sports,
( like boxing, wrestling, track, swimming, golf, and tennis )
or team sports (like football, basketball, and soccer.)
In individual sports, you succeed or fail entirely by your own efforts.
If you win, it's your very own accomplishment.
If you lose, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Individual sports build self reliance and individual responsibility.
In team sports, you can only succeed through the combined
efforts of your teammates.
If your team wins, everyone shares in the glory.
If you lose, everyone shares the blame.
Team sports build selflessness, cooperation, and teamwork.
( There is no "I" in "team." )
Which type of sport is best for your kids? They both are.
It is good to instill both sets of values. This prepares your kids to be
both an individualist ( an author, a businessman, a trial lawyer, a dentist, or a physician) or a team player
(a corporate executive, a member of the armed forces, or a government official.)
At different times in their lives, your kids may have
to play either one of these roles. It is good to get them ready for both.
The best sports for your kids are the ones
for which they have some natural talent, or the ones they just simply
enjoy. kids have enough hassles in their lives.
Sports shouldn't be another hassle.
It is best to expose your kids to many different sports and hobbies,
and leave them free to choose what they like. If you try to force
a particular sport (even baseball) down their throats, you may later
regret it.
Having said that, baseball is unique in several ways.
Baseball is both an individual sport and a team sport.
When a batter steps up to the plate,
baseball becomes the quintessential individual sport.
All eyes are on the batter, and all the batter's teammates can do is cheer
the batter on.
As soon as the batter hits the ball, baseball becomes a team sport.
The opposing team must suddenly react,
cooperating in a sophisticated, complex
manner to keep the batter from getting to first base,
while also keeping any other base runners from advancing.
Sudden, split-second decisions must be made, and the whole baseball team must
think and act as a single entity.
Baseball builds both individual responsibility and teamwork.
Hitting a baseball is a valuable skill to learn. It also is one
of the most difficult, complicated feats of all sports.
As will be seen below, baseball also builds powers of concentration,
poise, self-confidence, and a positive mental attitude.
You may argue that kids get very little exercise in baseball.
It is true that most of the baseball game's time is spent either sitting in the dugout,
or standing around the field waiting for something to happen.
kids get a lot more exercise during baseball practice sessions,
which in some baseball leagues are held nearly every day.
Still, if you really want to build stamina for health reasons,
try basketball or swimming. For more information
about how to play baseball for kids,
read on.
Most of us know quite a bit about baseball:
professional, Major League baseball, that is. Little League baseball
and other kids baseball
leagues are significantly different. The rules are different.
The fielding techniques are different.
Ultimately, the goals are different.
You might say that little league baseball is a different game entirely.
It is baseball for kids.
For example: many kids baseball leagues have kids Participation Rule.
It states that every player that shows up for a game must take the field at least every other inning.
No player, no matter how inept, can be left
to sit in the dugout for any two straight innings. He must take the field for a full inning, at least every other inning.
A manager that fails to do this forfeits the game.
(Try enforcing that in the Majors!)
Major League Baseball is a business.
It's ultimate goal is to make money for the owners.
Little League Baseball is an educational undertaking.
It's goal is to instill good character traits in the baseball kids.
In Little League baseball, the welfare of the kids is (or should be) paramount.
In Major League baseball, the baseball kids are well-paid but replaceable commodities.
They are bought, sold, traded, and discarded with no
thought about their feelings or welfare.
This is as it should be. It's a business.
Little League baseball kids are kids.
Their sense of who they are, and their sense of self-worth,
are still evolving.
Their hopes are easily raised.
Their boundless enthusiasm is easily aroused.
Their fragile self-esteem is easily crushed.
Major League baseball kids are mature adults.
Major League baseball kids are in it for the money.
They know what the deal is, and they accept it.
Major League baseball kids have huge, indestructible confidence
and impressive, unshakable determination.
kids baseball copyright 2008 by the herndon company.
As you watch or help out in little league or other kids' baseball games,
you may wonder why the baseball team's manager makes some of the decisions
that he does. Remember, it's not the Pro's. It is a different game entirely.
Little League baseball kids cannot be treated
like Professional baseball kids.
Many kids baseball leagues are organized roughly
along the same lines as the Major Leagues.
The kids baseball teams will be organized into "Systems" each of which has one or more levels
of "farm teams" (younger kids.)
The "Yankees" system, for example,
may be composed of the single-A (youngest) Yankees team, the double-a Yankees team,
possibly even a triple-A Yankees team
and the "Majors" Yankees team, composed of the best
(and usually the oldest) kids in the system.
Each system has a system manager, who also
usually manages the Majors team, and who
selects the managers of the single-A, double-A, and triple-A
teams in his system. kids may be moved up to a higher team, or sent down to a lower one
( all within the same system), at any time. kids can also be traded between systems.
kids and baseball copyright 2008 by the herndon company.
On tryout day, new kids are selected by the managers and assigned to one of the teams in the system.
kids may be traded, but not "fired." kids can ask to be traded to another team,
but these requests are usually denied, with no appeal system.
On each team, the manager selects a few volunteer
coaches to help him out. "Selects" is a relative term. Most managers will gratefully
accept any help they can get.
Each team has a "team mother" that takes care of administrative matters.
The kids baseball league officials select the system managers, and manage the league. It is a
lot of work and responsibility for no pay.
By necessity, most kids' baseball leagues have to be run like benevolent oligarchies.
A small group of very experienced volunteers sets the rules,
and there is little room for appeals. This is necessary
to keep the League from falling into discord and bickering.
There are plenty of kids that want to play baseball, but never enough
adult volunteers to be coaches or managers.
Your kids baseball team's manager is a volunteer. In the excitement of the baseball season,
it is easy to forget that the manager of your kids baseball team does not actually work for you.
For no pay, the baseball team's manager has voluntarily taken on a demanding
task that will take up a lot of his time and energy. The manager may have had
quite a bit of experience managing and coaching little league baseball teams,
and even some formal training, but he is still
not a professional coach. Unless he is independently wealthy
(and some little league baseball managers are)
your baseball team's manager has a job to go to, a boss to answer to,
a mortage to pay, and a family to support. He cannot devote 100% of his time
to your kids baseball team. Also, he is human and he will make mistakes.
Former little league kids in their 20's with no kids
make some of the best Little League managers. They are young enough to remember what it is like to play on a little league baseball team,
mature enough to lead the team, and have no incentive to play favorites.
If your kids gets a manager like that, thank your lucky stars.
Their teams win a lot of baseball games and have a lot of fun doing it, too.
A good baseball manager will read a few books about the
psychology of the age group of the kids on his team.
Besides helping you win, it makes you a better parent.
Please resist the temptation to give your baseball team's manager unsolicited advice, specially
when the baseball team is losing. Even though you may
have entrusted your kids
to this person, remember that you are essentially a spectator.
In making decisions, the baseball team's manager
must consider many factors. You cannot possibly be aware
of some of them.
Also, it is easy to forget that there are big differences between professional baseball games
and baseball for kids. As baseball fans we all think we know a lot about the game.
Unfortunately, what works in professional baseball, and even in high school or college baseball,
does not necessarily work with young kids. In many ways, baseball for kids are a completely
different game. kids parents often forget this during a heated baseball game.
Do offer to help with practices,
or by bringing snacks, driving kids to games, keeping score at the games, etc.
About one person out of a hundred is blessed with a natural athletic ability
that far surpasses that of the average person. A well-trained baseball manager
can spot natural athletes instantly, by the way they throw a ball or the way
they run with the speed, power, and fluid grace of an animal. No amount of practice
will make you into a natural athlete. You either have it or you don't.
Most of us don't.
Natural athletes will usually get selected for a baseball team first,
even if they have never played baseball before,
and even if they can't read, tell time, or speak English.
None of this matters, because a natural
athlete can learn to excel at almost any sport in a fraction of the time it
takes the rest of us barely master it.
Don't get upset if the baseball team's manager selects some scruffy
kids from the wrong side of the tracks ahead of your respectful,
well-trained boy or girl. The scruffy kids may have been blessed with a natural talent for
sports. Remember, Babe Ruth was a juvenile delinquent.
( He learned to play baseball in a Catholic reform school.)
Unless you and your spouse are natural athletes, the chances are
that your kids will have average athletic ability. With hard work and perseverance,
they can excel, have a lot of fun, and learn valuable
lessons that will serve them well in later life. However, they will never
be able to accomplish in sports
what a natural athlete does with seemingly effortless ease.
Natural athletes have an immense advantage in sports.
Major League Baseball teams are made up almost exclusively
of natural athletes, and most athletic scholarships are gobbled up
by the "naturals."
Set your expectations accordingly.
Don't be upset if your kids, despite a lot of hard work,
only turn out to be average kids. Don't hassle them over it.
Just as very few people are natural athletes,
very, very few are hopelessly uncoordinated.
kids that have poor coordination can usually be helped by lots of
catching and fielding practice, trips to the neighborhood batting cages,
and by exercises like skipping rope.
(Yes, SKIPPING ROPE.
Skipping rope is a very effective way to build coordination. Boxers do it.
If you are having trouble with your tennis serve or your golf swing,
try skipping a little rope every day. You'll be glad you logged onto this web site!)
With a lot of patience, hard work and encouragement,
the typical "Klutz" can become an average baseball player. The key word is "encouragement,"
specially avoiding discouragement.
Uncoordinated kids can quickly become the butt of jokes and cruel remarks by
other members of their baseball team.
A good baseball team manager will put a stop to that.
kids have fragile egos, and it doesn't take much
humiliation to make kids quit baseball, and possibly all sports.
If the first kids who makes fun of the Klutz ends up running laps,
the wisecracks will stop forever after the first practice.
A good manager will then assign a coach (NOT a Klutz's parent)
to work with the Klutzy kids separately, to patiently build up
their confidence and coordination.
Unfortunately, some managers will actually participate in the humiliation.
Why? to drive the Klutz off the baseball team as quickly as possible.
Remember that Little League Baseball managers are volunteers.
We owe them a lot. Without them there would be no Little League.
They are not professional Physical Education teachers, and they are not social workers.
They are only human. They want to win baseball games because they get a
substantial amount of grief (from the kids parents) when they lose.
They know from long experience that their baseball team's chances of winning are much better
with a small elite baseball team, than with a larger
baseball team with a few kids that can't catch or throw very well,
and that strike out every time they get up to bat.
They do what they think it takes to win. (See "Weeding out the weak kids" below.)
If this happens to your kids, get him into another sport as soon as possible.
Don't try to fix him yourself. Don't get in the manager's face or go running to the League Officials.
They will not fire the manager and they will not let you change teams.
You won't win that battle.
Baseball takes an unusual amount of coordination.
Other sports - like running or swimming - rely more on strength and stamina.
If your kids are a bit klutzy, try one of those.
Even if your kids are not a perfect physical
specimen, don't be afraid to have your young baseball player
try out for a baseball team. Baseball is very forgiving in that sense.
A chubby baseball player with a good eye can become an awesome power hitter, and the most valuable player on the team,
Babe Ruth was chubby.
A short baseball player can become an opposing pitcher's worst nightmare. Why? because his strike zone is so small.
Your short baseball player might become the one player that can be counted to get " walked " to first base every time he gets up to bat.
Your young baseball player could help win games without hardly ever swinging a bat.
If your kids are very intelligent, then
second base, shortstop or catcher may be the position for your kids .
Moe Berg, a catcher for the New York Yankees, had a genius level IQ.
He spoke several languages fluently, including German and Japanese.
In 1943, during World War II, he retired from baseball and joined
the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) which later became the CIA.
He was world famous as a baseball player but was actually one
the bravest and most effective spies ever served the United States.
He risked his life many times, and was never caught by the enemy.
After the war, he was offered a commission in the United States Army.
He turned it down, preferring to remain known only as a baseball player.
Moe Berg was a true hero. Casey Stengel once said of Moe: "He speaks five languages but he can't hit in any of them."
If your kids are considered "slow" in school, he or she may actually
be quite intelligent, but in a way that is not measured by standardized tests.
Albert Einstein was considered "slow" in grammar school.
Managers love to train so-called "slow" kids, with good arms, as pitchers:
the most prestigious position on a baseball team.
So-called "slow" kids tend to worry less, so they don't get rattled
easily. When the pressure is on, they just hang in there and
keep throwing strikes. This is otherwise known as "poise."
As for choosing the best pitch for each opposing batter, pitchers
don't have to worry about that. That's what the catcher does.
A left-handed pitcher or a left-handed batter can be
an extremely valuable asset to any kids baseball team. They confuse the opponents.
Tall "lefty's" also make very good first basemen. This is because they can reach for a ball with their left foot
on the bag, putting the batter out, and save a step on the
throw to second base or third base
for the double play. Split seconds count in baseball.
Still, training left-handed kids to throw,
catch, bat, pitch, and field a ball can be a very awkward thing indeed.
Unless you yourself are left-handed, it can seem almost impossible
to show the lefty how to execute the moves properly.
Some left handed kids end up quitting in frustration,
because no one was able to show them how to do anything right.
These young kids blame themselves and go away thinking that it is a curse
to be born left-handed.
This is a shame, because it is actually very easy to train a Lefty,
if you know how.
One very effective way to train the "Lefty" is this:
Stand in front of the kids, facing him, and say:
"Make believe you are looking in the mirror."
Now demonstrate the moves slowly in your normal,
right-handed manner.
The Lefty will execute the "mirror image " of your moves.
This works.
Baseball is one of the safest sports, but don't set your kids up to fail or get injured.
If your kids has very poor eyesight or poor depth perception,
baseball might actually be dangerous.
If your young kids can't see well
enough to duck out of the way of a wild pitch or a line drive, he could get hurt.
Try track, swimming, wrestling, or any of the sports that use a large, slow-moving ball: soccer, basketball, or volleyball.
If your kids has a hearing loss and wears a hearing aid,
he or she should have no problem playing baseball.
If your kids are totally deaf, he or she should still be able to play baseball.
It would help the coaches if the deaf kids were trained as an "oralist" (lip-reader)
There have been one-armed baseball kids and even one-armed pitchers.
During World War II some played in the major leagues.
Hitting a baseball is one of the most difficult
feats in all sports. A good hitter is of immense value to a baseball team,
even if he can't catch, can't throw, and is a slow runner.
The young batter does not necessarily have to be
a "power hitter" that knocks the ball out of the park, either.
A reliable batter that can be counted on to make it to first base
can be even more valuable than the occasional home run king.
A good book on this subject is "The Art of Hitting .300" by Charley Lau
and Alfred Glossbrenner (ISBN: 0525482199, Plume 1986).
Read the section on "The Absolutes of Good Hitting."
In general, you will average about three naturally good hitters per team.
If kids are hitting well, just leave them alone. Let them hit their own way,
Don't try to "re-manufacture"
them according to any predetermined rules, even ones you read here.
Hitting a baseball takes good eyesight, good eye-hand coordination, practice,
and quite a bit of poise and self-confidence.
If a batter doesn't think he can hit, he will strike out.
If a batter is intimidated ( afraid of being "beaned" ) by the pitcher, he will strike out.
If a batter is anxious or worried, he will strike out.
Specifically, if your young baseball player is afraid that you will yell
at him for striking out, he will almost certainly strike out. Give your young batter
positive reinforcement only.
The best way to help your young baseball player to hit better is through
patient encouragement, with no pressure.
Pressure causes anxiety, and anxiety is the enemy of all hitting.
Training a batter is not trivial.
It is easy to build bad habits, and hard to break them.
To be an effective batting coach, you first have to get rid of your own anxiety.
("Oh my gosh, what if my kids never learns to do this? He'll be a failure!!")
It is much easier to avoid thinking like that if you are not coaching your own kids.
A good Little League Baseball manager (who is lucky enough to get plenty of help)
will really try to avoid having kids parents coach their own kids
during team practices.
Young baseball kids tend to listen more to adults who are not their kids parents.
A good rule is "You coach my kids, I'll coach your kids."
Next, you need to foster concentration.
You do not do this by saying "Hey!! CONCENTRATE, dammit!"
This creates anxiety, the enemy of all hitting.
Pick a quiet, secluded spot away from all distractions,
( specially including friends, teammates and siblings.)
First, make sure that your young batter has a batting helmet.
Make sure that the batting helmet fits comfortably. Let your young baseball player try on several of them.
Batting helmets protect batters and help them worry less about being "beaned."
A batting helmet thus reduces anxiety, which as you may recall is the enemy of hitting.
Now you will need a baseball bat, and not just any baseball bat.
You will need a baseball bat that fits your young batter.
Don't just run out to the sporting goods store and buy the first baseball bat that
the salesman suggests. Baseball bats are very personal things, like shoes.
Baseball bats have to fit comfortably. You won't know if a baseball bat is right until you've tried it for a while.
The baseball team will have a wide selection of baseball bats. The baseball team's manager
will have some suggestions. Let your young batter try several baseball bats,
and change his or her mind as often as he or she wants to. This can be very frustrating for a parent,
much less so if the batter that you are coaching is not your own kids.
Next, give your young batter a piece of chewing gum.
Chewing gum helps you relax and concentrate when you are doing repetitive tasks.
(Try it the next time you are painting windows or driving at night.)
Now, you may object that chewing gum is bad for your teeth.
Health food stores carry sugar-fee and aspartame-free gum that
actually cleans your teeth.
Warm up. Let your young batter warm up by swinging the bat easily about 10
or 20 times.
This avoids pulled muscles and injuries.
Stance and swing. The batting stance and swing cannot be described adequately in a book or a web site.
You will need an experienced batting coach, but here are some tips.
BATTING TIP #1: THIS IS NOT THE MAJOR LEAGUES. Your young batter will naturally try to emulate
the stances and swings of the professional baseball kids that he sees on television.
This will not work for young baseball kids. Have your young baseball player stand comfortably
well within the batter's box.
The batter's feet should be about shoulder width apart OR LESS,
not touching any of the lines. Too wide a stance tends to slow a batter's reflexes.
The batter's hands should be at shoulder level, holding the bat vertically.
A good batter will "show the numbers" to the pitcher. That is, stand so that the numbers
on the back of his uniform are visible to the pitcher. This is a good stance.
Some batters try to get into a severe crouch, thinking that this will
make their strike zone smaller and increase their chances of getting
"walked" (a base on balls.) Don't do it.
A stance like that makes it hard for the batter to swing the bat properly.
Pitchers know this, and they have ways of taking advantage of it.
While waiting for the ball, have the batters keep moving a little.
Instead of standing perfectly still, tell your batters to
bounce around and swing the bat.
It helps the batters react more quickly.
(Staying in motion can also help you while you are waiting to return a tennis serve.)
As the ball comes in, the batter waits until he sees the ball, then
takes a short gliding step toward the
pitcher with his left foot (if batting right-handed) leaving his other foot
solidly planted, knee straight. Teach your batters to "stay closed up"
(don't start swinging) as they do this. Tell your batters " Make sure you see
the ball before you stride."
A good exercise is to occasionally throw your batter a "dry" pitch:
go through the pitching motion but hold onto the ball to see if the batter
strides before seeing the ball.
Keeping his eye on the ball all the way in, the batter swings the bat with a
quick, explosive motion of his wrists, AND FOLLOWS THROUGH, letting the bat swing comfortably around his body.
Some kids are so happy and eager to hit
that they will swing at anything, attempting to dig a ball
out of the dirt, or swinging at a pitch that comes in above their heads.
They have seen this work in the major leagues.
Explain gently that these are not the major leagues, that these antics don't work
for young kids,
and that they will cause you to be known as a "sucker" who will swing at anything.
Pitchers love that.
If a batter is swinging late, have the batter move back towards the catcher.
If the batter is still swinging late, his hands may be creeping forward
(from the shoulder towards the chest area.) Have the batter move his
or her hands back, as if cocking the hammer on a gun.
Some batters used to swing late because their hands had been "stung" by the vibration
of a wooden bat hitting the ball. This happens very rarely now,
because of the widespread use of metal bats and batting gloves.
Problem batters. Some batters have problems because they swing their heads as the ball comes in.
Teach them to hold their heads steady.
Another bad habit is swinging in an upward motion instead of horizontally.
kids like to do this because it looks like a good way to hit a homer.
They have seen the professionals do it.
At this age level, swinging upward only results in a fly ball
which is easily caught for the out.
If your batters are still having problems, have them choke up on the bat,
as if they had two strikes on. There is no shame in doing this.
Some major league baseball kids do it.
If the batter is swinging too soon, have the batter step forward towards the pitcher.
Start with slow, easy pitches to build confidence, then
very gradually increase the speed.
Pitching machines are great for this, but they intimidate
young first time batters. Work into them gradually.
Even with batting helmets, some new batters are naturally afraid of being "beaned" (hit by a pitched ball.)
Do NOT say "Aw, come on, it won't hurt you."
This will undermine your credibility. Getting "beaned" hurts.
A good way to eliminate the fear of being hit by a pitched ball,
is train your batter to get out of the way.
You can do this by throwing tennis balls at your kids .
When a batter gets confident that he can get out of the way, the fear of being hit will
subside.
A good habit is to step out of the batter's box and take a few practice swings after every
foul ball or strike.
With two strikes on, have the batter "choke up" on the bat.
Finally, if your batter is hitting well, don't
increase the speed too much. Train your batters to hit at the speeds
that they will actually experience during the games.
If you don't do this, your over-trained batter will tend to swing early and strike out.
Don't overwork your young batters. Keep the practice sessions to about 20 pitches,
It's better to leave them wanting more than to exhaust them.
Remember, this is a game. It's supposed to be fun.
The bucket of Balls. In batting practice, it is good to have a bucket of baseballs
at hand instead of just one or two. It makes things go more quickly.
Sporting goods stores now sell cheap baseballs by the bucketful.
If you can't find or afford this, walk around the local baseball
fields after practices are over.
You will usually find one or two scruffy but useable baseballs
lying around. You can build up quite a collection in a few days.
Skipping rope. Even well coordinated kids
can all benefit from skipping rope daily.
Prize-fighters do it. It improves coordination and helps
young kids improve their batting.
If you can't get to the batting cages, a good exercise is this:
{for a right-handed batter)
stand to the right of the player, lobbing tennis balls
across and about 6 inches in front of his front foot.
To save time, get a bucket of tennis balls (dead ones are OK)
and have the batter hit towards the backstop, or into
a soccer goal or a golf practice net. This exercise is great fun.
kids love it.
If you can't do that, have your kids swing the bat hard about 100 times.
Video cameras can be very useful for spotting subtle batting mistakes. If a batter is having trouble,
recording you baseball player with a video camera and playing it back in slow motion
can fix some problems almost instantly. A video camera can also help
you improve your golf swing or your tennis serve.
Stickball. To make good batters even better, some managers have
them swing at golf balls with a broomstick.
This is only for older kids who are already excellent batters.
Encouragement. It has been said that encouragement is the basis of all learning.
When your young baseball player does strike out, don't say anything like:
"Hey! I TOLD YOU not to swing like that!"
Some kids parents do this, and it is counterproductive.
Instead, say something like:
"Good try, champ. Better luck next time. "
Remember that we are not playing for money.
It's just a game, and it is supposed to be fun.
Let your batter know that it is OK to strike out.
One of the all time leaders in number of strike outs
was none other than BABE RUTH.
Medical students are taught
an ancient motto that says "First of all, do no harm." (Hippocrates.)
This is a good way to start any discussion about training pitchers.
It is easy to destroy a young pitcher's self-confidence, or
to injure a young pitcher's arm, sometimes permanently.
Just as with hitters, a few kids will just be naturally good at pitching.
If you are lucky enough to get one or two of those, leave them alone.
Let them pitch their own way, as long as they don't hurt their arms.
Don't try to re-train them according to conventional wisdom
that you may read here or elsewhere.
Every young kids wants to pitch. It is the most glamorous job on the baseball team.
As a pitcher, you stand all alone on the mound, with all eyes on
you. Nothing happens until the pitcher throws the ball.
In the younger age levels, some managers will
try to teach some pitching skills to every single player on the baseball team.
This is because the leagues usually have rules saying
that kids may not pitch
for at least two days after pitching in a game.
It is easy to run out of pitchers on a weekend. A prudent manager will
have a lot of back-up pitchers in reserve.
Plus, kids love pitching practice.
The pitching movements are too complicated to describe in a book or a web site,
even with photos.
The first goal is to build a little familiarity and confidence.
Let your young pitcher stand on the mound and pitch a few balls to you.
It is best to do this in a relatively private setting, not in front of
his teammates, siblings or kids parents.
The next goal is accuracy. Make a few home plates out of
heavy cardboard or masonite. Paint them white. Make a target
showing the strike zone out of cardboard, paper, or plywood.
Give your kids a bucket of about 20 baseballs and let have your
kids let fly. Do not let your kids
throw more than about 20 pitches per practice session.
Some managers will disagree with this, but it is
better to be safe than sorry. It is easy to hurt a young pitcher's arm.
Once your pitcher is getting more than half of the pitches in the strike zone,
you can begin to work on speed. Stick to overhand fastballs at first,
maybe later work in some change-ups.
A change-up is thrown exactly
like a fastball, only without snapping the wrist at the very end.
This reduces the ball's speed considerably. To the batter, it looks like a fastball is
about to be released, but the ball comes in slowly instead. It throws your timing off.
Stay away from fancy pitches like curveballs, knuckleballs, sliders, etc.
even though most new pitchers will dearly want to try them immediately.
They can and will hurt their arms that way. Don't let them do it.
When they sneak some in anyway, ( and they will )
make them run a few laps around the field.
Once your pitcher has developed acceptable speed and accuracy,
It is time to develop some poise. Have your pitcher take the mound, and pitch to your catcher
while you call the strikes and balls. When your pitcher gets comfortable
and is getting more than half of the balls in the strike zone, bring in some batters.
After your pitchers are comfortable throwing against real batters,
teach them that umpires will make mistakes, and will occasionally call
a perfectly good strike a "ball."
Teach them to shake that off, and not to start arguing with the umpire
or acting up on the mound. This is part of building poise.
Even good pitchers can freeze up when the pressure is on.
Part of building poise is to teach your pitchers to
just concentrate on putting the ball where the catcher asks, every single
time, regardless of the score, or of the count, or of who is watching in the stands.
Teach your pitchers to forget about all that stuff. Let the manager worry about it.
During practice, have your pitcher imagine
that it is the first pitch of the game with no score yet.
Have the teammates be quiet.
Have your pitcher throw a few balls that way.
Now have the pitcher imagine that
it's the bottom of the ninth**, with a tied score,
bases loaded, and a full count.
Have the teammates scream, whistle, and yell.
Have your pitcher throw a few balls that way.
(** Actually, most kids league games last only 6 or 7 innings.)
When your pitcher throws the same way under both conditions,
you will have built some serious poise.
You will also have imparted a valuable character trait that will serve
your young pitcher well throughout his or her
life: how not to "choke" under pressure.
There is one more poise building trick that is good to do if you have time:
During practice, have teammates or siblings clown around and yell at the pitcher from
the dugout and from the stands. In particular, have them
try to make the pitcher laugh.
Your young pitcher will "crack up" laughing at first, but will
eventually become bored by, and inured to, all the distractions.
Your pitcher is now ready.
In general, it is best to have your new pitchers start off by
pitching only one or two innings against weak teams,
in pre-season, practice games.
This builds confidence.
The temperature-sensitive pitchers: Some kids will pitch well on cold days, and
will veritably "wilt" on hot days. Others will be totally inept
on cold days but will come into their own on hot days.
Keep this in mind and adjust your pitching roster according
to the weather. This also builds confidence.
After your pitchers have developed some skill, poise, and experience,
it is time to teach them to hit the corners of the strike zone, sticking to fastballs and change-ups.
In a competitive league, it will be tempting to overwork your better pitchers.
If you do this, you may win a few more games at the cost of ruining a young pitcher's arm forever.
Don't pressure your kids to be a catcher.
If you are a coach or a manager, don't
assign anyone to be a catcher.
Catchers should be selected from volunteers only.
At first, it is easy to get volunteers. All you have to do is ask
"Who wants to play catcher?" and practically everyone will say "me!"
kids like to put on the gear and try something new. The newness wears off
very quickly, though. The catcher has
a hot, sweaty,
job that comes with a lot of bumps and bruises. Catchers
wear a lot of protective gear because they get hit by wild pitches
or by flung bats (illegally) and run down by runners trying to score.
On the other hand, a good catcher can always find a spot on a baseball team.
Good catchers are hard to find. Managers appreciate them.
Catchers don't get much glory, but
they have the most important job on the baseball team.
Besides catching all the "heat" that the pitcher is able to throw at him,
the catcher must keep the pitcher calmed down, know the opposing batters and their weaknesses,
keep runners from scoring, catch pop-ups,
keep wild pitches from getting past him, keep base runners from stealing,
and be ready at any time to make the long throw to second base,
all starting from a crouching position. There is always something happening.
A catcher never gets bored.
The catcher is the field captain of the baseball team.
This is because the catcher is the only player that faces all the other kids, and the only one that
the only player that has a commanding view of the whole baseball field.
The catcher can see what is going on in the field better than the fans, better than the managers,
and better than anyone except possibly the home plate umpire.
In baseball, catchers have more complicated and important jobs
than do the goalies in soccer and hockey. Pick robust, rugged,
intelligent and reliable kids who really want this difficult
but important job.
Make sure that the catcher's equipment fits properly. Many kids are so anxious to
try on all this new gear, that they will put it on any old way and run out on the field.
It is the manager's job to protect the kids, and part of that is making sure
that the catcher's gear fits. This takes time. Most managers assign
this job to a knowledgeable coach.
Most leagues have a rule that every catcher, kids included, must wear
an athletic supporter and a protective cup. Most kids parents will buy these for their
own kids. If there are not enough to go around, some teams have the kids wear them
on the outside, over the uniform's pants. It looks a little strange,
but it works. It also makes it easy for the catcher to remove the stuff
when it's his or her turn to bat. The cup interferes with base running.
Catchers have a lot of things to remember. They can be overwhelming,
even for the smartest kids. The best way to train a catcher is to
to start with the stance. Repeat it until it becomes automatic.
Add one thing. Repeat it until it becomes automatic too.
Then go onto the next thing. Training catchers takes individual attention.
It is best to hold special practice sessions, just for catchers.
This eats up time, but it's worth it.
Good catchers are worth their weight in gold.
Here are the basics:
a) Stand flat-footed.
b) keep your elbows outside of your knees.
c) Keep your arms slightly extended.
d) Don't stick your hand all the way into your mitt. Keep it loose.
e) Keep your head well above your mitt, so you can see everything.
f) Make a loose fist with your bare hand, tuck your thumb in.
g) When you have to throw, come out low and aim for the waist instead of the chest.
h) How to stop a steal: (for right handers:)
come out a little higher;
take a short step with your right foot;
take a longer step toward the base with your left foot;
jab the ball instead of winding up and throwing it, it's faster.
i) "Dirt" balls: When a pitcher throws the ball short (in the dirt):
Keep your head down, protecting your throat;
drop to your knees;
block the ball first, then worry about catching it;
reach for the ball.
j) Wild pitches: Most wild pitches will go to your right.
Your mitt will be on your left hand (for righties.)
You will want to reach across and backhand the ball, don't do that.
Instead:
Step to the right with your right foot;
glide your left foot after it;
block the ball with your knees.
Do the mirror image on wild throws to your left.
k) Pop-ups: As the catcher, you don't have to call "I've got it!"
like the fielders do. There are no fielders around to bump into you.
Catch the ball above your head.
Field bunts that go up the third base line with your back towards first base;
field bunts that go up the first base line with your back towards third base;
sweep the ball up, using your mitt like a dustpan;
step, and throw to the first baseman.
l) Throws to home: Do not block the runner's path to home plate until
you have the ball in your hand. Besides being illegal, it is dangerous
because the runner might crash into you while you are still looking
the other way for the ball.
SAFETY TIP: When training fielders, many coaches will be sorely tempted
to keep two or more baseballs in play
at the same time on the practice field;
(one going to the infielders and one to the outfielders, for example.)
It speeds things up and makes for less boredom and waiting around.
DO NOT DO THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Baseball is a pretty safe sport, largely
because it is easy for most kids to see a baseball that is about
to hit them, and either catch it or get out of the way.
When two or more baseballs are flying around,
this becomes much more difficult.
It becomes much more likely that kids will get hit
in the back of the head (concussion),
or full in the face (broken nose, broken teeth,)
with a thrown or batted baseball.
"Even a fool can learn from his own mistakes.
A wise man learns from the mistakes of others" - Chinese proverb.
In general, young fielders will immediately want to
show off by fielding baseballs the way the have seen it done on television.
Incredibly, many athletic, well-meaning kids parents actually encourage
this. Don't do it. The fact is that young kids
are nowhere close to having the skills needed to catch a fly ball one handed
(or back-handed,) RELIABLY. Sure, they can
do it once in a while in your back yard or in practice, but to win baseball games,
the fielders must be able to catch those fly balls and stop those
hot grounders nearly 100% of the time.
To do this, the manager will teach your young kids
to catch even the easiest pop flies by:
First: hustling to get right under the ball, and
Second: Using both hands to catch the ball, the bare hand backing up the gloved hand.
This may not look particularly spectacular, but it works reliably.
In a close game, it sure looks a lot better than a dropped ball.
SAFETY TIP #2: When a fly ball is hit to the outfield, two or more kids
may go after it at the same time, and collide.
To avoid this, train your fielders to wait until the ball has peaked,
then call for the ball:
"I've got it!"
and to respond: "Take it, Billy!"
and to do this THREE TIMES.
This good habit reduces fielding errors, wins games, and prevents injuries.
Fielding a ground ball takes a similarly conservative approach.
The manager will teach your young fielder to get square in front of the
oncoming ball; then get down on the left knee (for a right-handed fielder)
forming a "V" with his left shin and his right foot; this traps the ball;
put the glove in the center of the "V" to catch the ball; then
use the bare hand protect his face ( and catch the ball ) in case
the grounder takes a bad hop.
Train your baseball kids to watch the ball go all the way into the glove,
and to keep on watching it until they are holding the ball firmly
in both hands.
Make sure that your baseball kids do not look away prematurely,
regardless of how hectic things get during the game. This is important. It prevents bobbled balls and fielding error.
It also prevents injuries.
This is not at all the way they do it in the major leagues.
It's a different game.
Stealing bases is great fun.
Where else can kids get to act like a complete little rascal,
in front of his kids parents and everybody, and not only get away with it
but get cheered on and rewarded to boot! For kids, successfully
stealing a base is truly one of the finer things in life.
Some managers take much of the joy out of base stealing
by setting up complicated rules and signals in vain attempts
to control when their kids will and will not try to steal.
This author disagrees with that approach because we are not dealing with adult baseball kids.
We are dealing with kids: enthusiastic, emotional, energetic, happy,
and somewhat crazy kids. kids can be led, encouraged, and influenced,
but it's hard to control them. When it comes to base-stealing,
it's impossible.
That is why this author advocates a very simple base-stealing policy:
1) Be sure to tag up on foul balls.
2) If you think you can make it, go for it.
3) Never get thrown out standing up.
( Slide, even if there is only a 1% chance of making it.)
The runners will succeed more often than not, it drives
the opposing pitchers crazy, and it is huge fun.
In business management, this is known
as building a "bias towards action."
(You can spend a lot of money to learn that.)
A manager has to keep track of many things during a baseball
game. It is easy to miss a good opportunity to give the "steal" signal.
This stifles initiative. kids have good instincts. They read body language
better than we adults do. This is why quite often the base runner is
actually the best judge of when and when not to "go for it."
Base-stealing is a controversial subject. Many managers will disagree
with this author. Do it your manager's way.
Running to first base: When you get a hit, even if it's a high fly ball,
don't stop to "admire your work."
Run to first as fast as you can. This makes the fielders rush,
make mistakes, and sometimes bobble or even throw the ball away.
If the first baseman is running towards you after the ball, slide.
Otherwise, run
right through first base without slowing down.
Step on the bag with your left foot as you go by.
Make sure that the umpire and everyone else can clearly see that you
really did step on the bag. Otherwise someone might think
that you never did touch first, tag you out, and start an argument.
We're not here to argue. We're here to play baseball.
If you intend to stop at first base, make a clear and unmistakeable turn to the right,
(away from second base) so that the umpire can tell that you intended to stop there.
Otherwise you can be tagged out while your foot is off the base.
If you want to go on to second base, make sure to step on first base
with your left foot as you go by. Turn towards second base when you get about 3 feet beyond first.
This is so that:
a) You don't collide with the first baseman by accident;
b) It makes it harder for the first baseman to tag you as you round first.
Running to other bases:
a)Stay aware of where the ball is.
b)Be sure to tag up on foul balls. Cross over on the first step.
c)Never get thrown out standing up. Slide, even if there is only a 1% chance of making it
d)Never slide head first into home. You can break your neck that way.
Single kids parents who have to work for a living
may not have time to help out at the practices, help their young
kids at home, or even to attend some of the games.
Don't worry. Your kids can still play baseball. If you can do only one thing,
make sure that your kids attends every practice.
This is actually more important than attending the games. A manager would
much rather have kids that attends all the practices but misses
some games, than kids who doesn't come to practice but shows up
at every game (usually to strike out.)
The chances are that your kids has an average amount of athletic
ability, being neither a natural athlete nor a hopeless "Klutz."
If so, the average manager will be able to train your kids
to an average level of skill, even without your help.
Average kids whose kids parents help out and attend every practice
and every game may have some advantages, but your kids
will still get to play baseball, have a good time,
and learn some good character traits that will serve your kids
well in life.
Some of the most well-meaning but unintentionally destructive
kids parents are former high school or college
baseball kids who never quite fulfilled their athletic aspirations.
If they try to re-live their athletic dreams through their kids,
it can ruin the experience and make them hate baseball forever.
Sometimes, in practice or in the dugout,
young kids will start to horse around or get out of line.
They may need to be corrected ( "Hey! cut that out!" ) or made to run laps.
If your own kids needs to be corrected, ask someone else to do it.
It is particularly embarrassing to a young player
when his parent corrects him in front of his teammates.
It is also demoralizing. It turns what
should be a lot of fun into a "hassle."
For some reason, when the coach yells at you, it's not as bad.
Some kids parents with hectic, high-pressure jobs
come home frazzled with little patience left for their kids.
They will tend to yell at their kids more than most, and this shows up
on the baseball field. kids that does OK in practice but
always "chokes" during the games is probably overly anxious not to disappoint
his kids parents. kids that fakes a stomach ache before many games, asking to be excused,
definitely has a problem. A good manager will discreetly
take the kids parents aside and (very diplomatically) suggest that they keep a low profile during the games.
A harassed, overworked manager will just excuse the kids and think nothing more of it.
It is easier to win games with a small
roster of average, well-trained kids than with a large roster
that includes a few weak ones. Since no player can be "fired"
for poor performance, some managers
will deliberately discourage the weaker kids,
hoping that they will quit the team. This destroys
confidence, morale, and self-esteem. It goes against the
purpose of kids sports, but it happens.
If this happens to your kids, get your kids out of there,
and into another league or another sport, immediately.
In many kids leagues, the umpires are paid,
14 to 16 year old, former kids. As fans of professional baseball,
we are used to jeering and yelling insults at the umpires.
Along with beer and hot dogs, it's
traditionally part of the fun of attending a baseball game.
This is wholly inappropriate in kids league game.
It can get you ejected from the park or
cause your kids team to forfeit the game.
The umpires are kids too, and you wouldn't want anyone
to treat your kids like that.
If the competition gets really cut-throat, or if your kids team
is losing badly (e.g. 0 and 10,) or if your team manager is just getting desperate,
here are two strategies that will help you win some games.
Although they are perfectly legal, strategies like these should generally be avoided.
They detract from the purpose of the game, which is to just let the kids
go out and have fun
and learn some good character traits. These strategies don't really do that,
but here they are:
It turns out that many younger kids tend to hit very consistently. Player #9
may hit mostly fly balls to left field; player #5 may hit mostly grounders to second
base, etc. A very motivated manager (with lots of spare time) will watch two or three of an opposing team's games,
and take notes of where each player is likely to hit. When playing against
that team, he will position his fielders accordingly. This does not work
with older kids, and certainly not in the major leagues.
If your league has kids participation rule, some managers may
conveniently "forget" about it,
and leave their weaker kids sitting on the bench for two or more consecutive innings (or for the whole game.)
If you see this happening, assign two or more kids parents to
independently keep track of which opposing kids
play in each inning. Notify the umpire if the rule has been clearly violated.
This makes sure that every player gets to play,
but it will result in forfeited games and long-term hard feelings.
See "Winning and losing" below.
kids can have a lot of fun on a baseball team.
Practice can be a lot of fun, playing is fun, sitting around in
the dugout cracking jokes with your buddies is fun, getting all
sweaty and dirty is fun, going out for pizza after the game (in uniform)
is fun, and of course winning is fun.
Losing is no fun.
For this reason, some leagues go to extremes over winning and losing.
The first extreme is exemplified by Vince Lombardi's famous quote:
"Winning isn't everything. Its the ONLY thing."
This is fine for professional athletes, but not for kids. It creates an ultra-high pressure atmosphere
where managers will do almost anything to win.
This makes baseball a hassle for the kids that play it.
At the other extreme, everyone tries to tell the kids
that the score doesn't matter as long as they "had fun."
kids are hard to fool.
They are very perceptive. They know when
you're trying to put something over on them.
They know who won, they know who lost, and losing is no fun.
When they show up in school the next day, the first thing they ask each other
is "Did you win?"
Trying to pretend that winning doesn't matter undermines your credibility.
It tells your kids that it's OK not to try too hard,
as long as you go through the motions.
I once witnessed a good baseball game in a clean, safe,
blue-collar section of a northeastern industrial city.
The kids and the umpires
(older kids) took the field and began to play. The two "opposing" managers
broke out a grill and started making hot dogs together.
Someone was keeping score. Someone brought the beer.
At least one kids hit a homer. Everybody on both sides cheered.
No one got injured or upset. When the beer and the hot dogs ran out,
everyone went home.
With college costs soaring, some kids parents can't help thinking
"Hey, maybe my kids could win a baseball scholarship."
This type of thinking puts undue pressure on the kids at
a very early age. Instead of a way to have fun,
baseball takes on many aspects of a competitive, sometmes
cut-throat, business. Unless your kids are is one of the very, very few
natural-born athletes,
it is unrealistic to plan on winning a baseball scholarship.
If your son or daughter happens to be a "natural,"
and does go on to win an athletic scholarship, take a tip
from a manager that has seen a lot:
If your natural athlete
plans to major in a difficult field, SUCH AS ENGINEERING,
Have your kids plan, right from the start, to take the
lightest course load allowable. This will give
your young athlete the time to keep up with his
or her studies, to complete all the lab experiments,
and to do the required projects, while still attending
all of the team's practices and all of the
team's games (some of which will be on the road.)
This usually means that it will take your kids five years to graduate.
So be it. The alternative is to flunk out and lose the scholarship too.
Don't think that it can't happen to your kids. It can and does happen to smart,
motivated kids who also happen to be natural athletes.
Some universities are aware of this, and they take steps to preclude it.
They have rules saying that certain science or engineering students
who are on athletic scholarships must automatically be "five year men."
Other institutions are too busy or too stupid to care. Don't let your
smart, athletic kids fall through the cracks.