Youth Baseball
Youth Baseball Coaching Tips
There are many ways to ensure that your players perform better on the baseball diamond. It is important that baseball coaches are aware of coaching tips that they can impart to their players. You will see that these youth baseball coaching tips will make a difference in the performance of your team and your enjoyment of the season.
Here are a few youth baseball coaching tips that will improve the team’s play:
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Defensive Mentality - One of the premier youth baseball coaching tips concerns itself with your team’s defensive mentality. You must ensure, as a coach, that your team is prepared defensively on what to do with the ball on every pitch to the plate. The best preparation is to instruct your players to ask themselves these questions prior to every pitch when they are out on the field, and the opposing team is up at bat. The question is: “What do I do if I get the ball on the ground, in the air, and on a line.” Your players should also remind themselves about the number of outs, often talking on the field to make sure the team is on the same page. These defensive mentality questions will keep your players more alert and prepared to make the correct play if the ball is hit their way.
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Pitch to the Target - One of the better youth baseball coaching tips concerns pitchers and their focus. One of the keys in pitching is to throw to the catcher’s target. You must instruct your pitchers to key their eyes focused on the catcher’s glove throughout their windup and through the release of the ball. Many pitchers lose eye contact with the catcher’s glove, accounting for their inaccurate pitches. Similarly, a catcher should practice giving the right target for the pitcher and learn how to frame the pitch to help his pitcher be successful. Often catching technique is overlooked and it is wise to prepare a good array of youth baseball catcher’s drills.
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Focus on the Release Point – One of the best youth baseball coaching tips concerns itself with the discipline of hitting. A key to hitting is the ability to pick up the speed and spin of the ball as it leaves the pitcher’s hand. As a coach, you must instruct your hitters to focus on the release point of the pitcher. The focus needs to concentrate on the ball as it comes out of the pitcher’s hand. Batters must not allow themselves to be duped by a fancy windup or other deceptive attempts on the part of the pitcher to hide the ball from the batter until it is released. The later that the ball is picked up by the batter, the less time for the batter to identity the type, speed and location of the pitch as it travels to the plate.
While this is just a quick distillation of basic youth baseball coaching tips focusing on fielding, pitching and hitting, it is surprising how often baseball coaches lose focus of these basics. There are many elaborate baseball drill libraries on the Internet such as those at Weplay. While a coach should select a variety of age-appropriate drills for coaching his team, focusing on these basics and making them fun for the team will often lead to greater success.
About the Author
By Trevor Sumner who works for Weplay.com, a youth baseball community dedicated to providing parents, coaches and athletes the tools and information they need to celebrate the love of the game. Weplay has one of the most comprehensive baseball drill libraries in its active baseball community.
Long Island Pirates Youth Baseball Club
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Play Ball!: Basic Pitching. Authentic Little League baseball guide $1.67 The “Play Ball! Basic Pitching” dvd with Ray Romano and Reggie Smith is an authentic Little League baseball guide that teaches basic pitching techniques, strategies, tips, practice drills, and safety. It’s hosted by Ray Romano from TV’s “Everybody Loves Raymond”. Officially Licensed by MLB… |
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Play Ball!: Basic Hitting $1.59 The “Play Ball! Basic Hitting” dvd with Ray Romano and Reggie Smith is an authentic Little League baseball guide that teaches basic hitting techniques, strategies, tips, practice drills, and safety. It’s hosted by Ray Romano from TV’s “Everybody Loves Raymond”. Officially Licensed by MLB… |
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Play Ball!: Basic Fielding $7.92 The”Play Ball! Basic Fielding” dvd with Ray Romano and Harold Reynolds is an authentic Little League baseball guide that teaches basic fielding techniques, strategies, tips, practice drills, and safety. It’s hosted by Ray Romano from TV’s “Everybody Loves Raymond”. Officially Licensed by MLB… |
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Little League Coaching:Backyard Baseball Drills [VHS] $19.94 From The Youth Sports Club The producers of the best selling videos, “The 59 Minute Baseball Practice” and “48 Championship Basketball Drills”,”Championship Soccer Drills” and “Winning Baseball Strategies” comes our newest video: “Backyard Baseball Drills”. “Backyard Baseball Drills” has taken over two years to complete. This creative video is geared for all parents and kids who love baseball or s… |
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Baseball Instruction:The 59 Minute Baseball Practice [VHS] $9.14 During more than a decade of coaching youth baseball teams, Marty Shupak realized that he kept seeing coaches and teams put hour after hour into practices that became so repetitive that they served only to bore the Little Leaguers forced to endure them. He sought to remedy the problem by devising practice routines that can take less than an hour, and which consist of drills that the kids will not … |
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Little League’s Official How-To-Play Baseball Video [VHS] $4.50 … |
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Phiten Sport Type Bracelet, Clear White $11.03 The Phiten(r) Sport Type titanium bracelet showcases a waterproof silicone rubber construction that’s embedded with concentrated Micro-Titanium spheres. This bracelet has a sturdy, adjustable clasp…. |
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Two Dozen (24pc) Baseball Rubber Duck Party Favors This set of 24 baseball ducks makes great party favors for a youth team. Each duck measures approximately 1-1/2″H x 1-1/2″W x 1-1/2″L. These do not squeak or float upright. They have holes in their mouths for squirting water. Make great party favors or cupcake toppers…. |
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Phiten X30 Power Titanium Magnetic Sleeve Phiten X30 Power Titanium Magnetic Sleeve… |
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Youth Large Weighted Batting Gloves $21.99 Weighted batting gloves increase muscle strength within natural motion of bat swingGloves develop bat speed through increased muscle strengthSportswear features double-strap Velcro fasteners for added support |
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Youth Medium Weighted Batting Gloves $20.99 Weighted batting gloves increase muscle strength within natural motion of bat swingGloves develop bat speed through increased muscle strengthSportswear features double-strap Velcro fasteners for added support |
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Coaching Youth Baseball $13.09 Whether you`re a parent new to coaching or an experienced youth coach, you`ll find the know-how you need to go from planning practices to games in Coaching Youth Baseball. Written by the American Sport Education Program (ASEP) in conjunction with 2007 … |
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Franklin St. Louis Cardinals Complete Tee Ball Set $35.49 This St. Louis Cardinals tee ball set from Franklin is a complete training set for the future pro player. This set includes an official tee ball, a 25-inch tee ball bat, a pair of youth-sized batting gloves, and an embossed wristband. |
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Baffled Parents Guide to Coaching Youth Baseball $14.8 So you thought you were just going to drop him off at practice? This is the third of Ragged Mountain Press`s Baffled Parent`s Series (with Coaching Youth Basketball and Coaching Youth Soccer). Coaching Youth Baseball is written for the unprepared paren… |
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Coaching Youth Baseball the Ripken Way (Paperback) $11.21 Description not available. |
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Youth Baseball Drills (Paperback) $11.19 Description not available. |
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How to Coach Youth Baseball So Every Kid Wins (Paperback) $10.07 Coaching youth baseball is tough. Not only do coaches have to teach kids the fundamental skills of the game, they also have to know how to select a team, how to run efficient practices, and how to deal with parents and umpires. Furthermore, they have t… |
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Franklin Texas Rangers Complete Tee Ball Set $35.49 This Texas Rangers tee ball set from Franklin is a complete training set for the future pro player. This set includes an official tee ball, a 25-inch tee ball bat, a pair of youth-sized batting gloves, and an embossed wristband. |
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Franklin Philadelphia Phillies Complete Tee Ball Set $35.99 This Philadelphia Phillies tee ball set from Franklin is a complete training set for the future pro player. This set includes an official tee ball, a 25-inch tee ball bat, a pair of youth-sized batting gloves, and an embossed wristband. |