I was fortunate to have played baseball in college, so it goes I had a lot of coaches from LL through HS.

First of all, I loved to play...I played and enjoyed other sports but I really loved playing baseball. SO much so that I started working as an umpire when I was 14...I umped 12 and below games on weekends for $5 bucks a game. An absolute kings ransom in those days.

In my experience in umpiring at least 50 to 60 junior minor league games (in those days 7, 8 and 9), being a fairly detached observed of the players, my impression was they wanted two things: the ball hit to them and to bat.

I still played in an over forty league until this year because of schedule. I am, however, in search of an over 50 league for next year. I pitch so the fact that my bat has become languid and bittersweet matters not.

Second of all, I had great LL parents: they would drop me off and come back for the last few innings, cheer for everyone and never, ever gave the coach(es), umpires, other parents or players a word of advice or criticism. Ever. And believe me, as a player and umpire I saw it all from other parents.

Third. While the kids know who the better players are, they are acutely aware of who the d-bag parents, coaches and other players are. As Milt said, there is a bigger picture to manage in your position as a coach, more than just the lessons of winning or losing is being learned by your team.

So, lastly, I think you are well on your way not being one of those d-bag coaches...for which you are to be congratulated for.

i 'coach' my son's t-ball team (i know, not NEARLY the same experience!) and my feeling is let them all play. at 7 it's about fun. if you have a future star in there somewhere he's going to shine whether or not you win the tournament.

this coaching thing has been a rewarding experience thus far but i doubt i'll be doing it when little league rolls around. don't think i'd have patience for hyper competetive parents.

I am planning on coaching next season which would be 8 year old coach pitch. I'm not sure I would still want to be head coach for 9 year old kid pitch after that. Maybe I'll demote myself to assistant coach then...parents can start to get pretty uptight starting at that age.

my son (almost 6) LOVES the game and every day i look forward to him wanting to play catch and take pitches when i get home from work. he can't wait to get in Little League so he can slide. good fun!

My son is 7 and playing on a machine/coach pitched team. He played T-ball 2 seasons ago. He still stands straight legged and somewhat distracted. Most kids don't have a clue where the play is when they finally get the ball picked up. They get help from the coaches covering the field who are always telling them where and why the play should be - they just get excited when they field the ball and forget.

Seahawk's experience helps me understand what is in these boys thoughts. They do like to bat and have the ball hit to them. Only the best kids can catch a fly reliably or catch a thrown ball. Throwing during games is usually a bit chaotic - they are excited! At this age they aren't really working as a team. Individual skills are the most important. Watching a game wondering why they don't anticipate plays, think of strategy etc. can be frustrating. Until you remember that this is all about a fun way of gaining experience.

I don't think kids play playground baseball at school lunch and recess much. I know my kid doesn't. He goes to the same grade school I did (in the 70's) and we always played work-up during the spring in 4-8th grade. They don't do that anymore. Dodgeball maybe.

A neighbor is coaching a team that we wanted my son on - College player etc. He has several practices a week on top of the games - thinks that the kids love it. Has them do 5 pushups if they miss a grounder during practice. That might help my son bend his knees more! My son got assigned to a different team. His coach this year is a special ed teacher and is a good fit for the team and my son. His coach declared his goal this year was "To have fun and have each boy want to play again next year" A fine attitude.

As far as deciding how competitive to coach - sounds like you have a good mix of respecting the boys and pleasing the parents which is the unfortunate reality. Most complaints I hear are about coaches that are too competitive and leave the same 1st baseman and pitcher assigned the whole game. Ruins it for both teams. On the opposite end is the coach that wants the outs not to count so the kids can run the bases - that is T-ball all over again.

Performance-based rewards are a thing of the past. Let 'em catch butterflies in the outfield. Who needs a trophy as a reward.
We're ALL winners!

7-year olds are fun to coach (hated the 'rents, though).

Fun, fair, and balanced! The kids want to have fun! When you get to the title game, then I might play a little more strategy and keep the kids in their better position, but each child would get to play!!! I like to see everyone out there for more than 1/2 the game each!

Have to throw in a gratuitous pic...

Here we have the famous Nathan at the plate, getting ready to rip one into the gap.

In the background we have yours truly.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1273182169.jpg

He needs to get that right shoulder up or he's just going to pop out. ;-)

The one thing I don't like about coach pitch is it encourages an uppercut swing. The ball is coming in at an arc, not straight at them. Nathan has a small uppercut but not near as bad as some other kids I have seen. If you want to drive the ball you almost have to uppercut it a little at this level.

I wish they would let us just use pitching machines that throw it level at them.

But yes, we are working on the shoulder :) .

Last game he hit it well, 4/4 with 3 doubles and a single. All hard hit balls.

Nah, I'm not a proud dad at all, lol.

At least he has his hands up. I see a LOT of kids at that age with their hands down around their belly button.

You're doing great with him! Keep it up!

Edit: In the frozen tundra of Minnesota we don't even start games till next week. :)

More likely that it just turns him off competitive sports. I think guys like this have no business "coaching" young kids. They are feeding their own ego and trying to have their own "second chance." Same with a lot of parents.

Before people start making assumptions, I was a fairly successful athlete. Our little league went from age 8-12, my first year I made minors and started in the infield (though we lost most of our games - hmm, a connection?), made majors when I was 10 was an all-start age 11 and 12. Like Paul, I loved the game so much that I umpired farm games when I was 12 and 13 and did some assistant coaching. Later in life I also played on tournament softball teams and won plenty. Also played on some miserable teams and lost plenty.

Thankfully though, my dad (who was better than I was - had a minor league contract offered to him after he got back from WW2) did some coaching when I was a kid but never emphasized winning. For him it was about showing up and honoring the game. No matter what sport you were doing. That didn't mean he wasn't fiercely competitive (he was/is), or that I didn't end up that way. But it is a different mindset. The competition is with yourself, and doing better than you did yesterday. And trying to make your teammates better. The final score doesn't mean much after you walk off the field. How hard you tried and the quality of your sportsmanship carries on forever.

When I was a kid we played baseball (during spring/summer) every single day. On our own accord. Sure, we had little league games, but when we didn't have practice or a game we were in the street playing 3 flies up or $5 or pickle or over the line. We were relentless. Not because we were desperate to "win" anything. We just loved to play.

That is what I think is missing from youth sports these days. Everything is programmed and structured. Do I think everyone should get a trophy? No. Do I think everyone should play? Absolutely, especially when they are young. As said above, kids know who is good and who sucks. And soon enough the lousy ones will have zero opportunity to participate. The least we can do is give them some love of the game so they'll stay engaged on some level.

Baseball is about far more than the score. I think that has been lost though...

here my two cents on this with two of my own experiences as a kid

my first few years in LL were coach pitch and i have no recolection how we did at the time.

but at the same time in the winter i was involved in very competative hockey. my first year at 6 was a complete washout.
but when i was 7 i was the team goalie. we got into the finals at the end of the season because of my goal keeping...had the most saves for the top two teams. we played the final game in Market Square Arena or what ever they called the downtown Indianapolis arena back then when the WHL Racers were the big team in town. to this day that was my proudest memory of youth sports. so in some cases it does matter to try to win. my dad is still proud of it too 36yrs later, he brings it up almost every time a hockey game comes on TV.

with the coach pitch i dont think winning is the goal so keep things as they are. seems to be working at this point so the top team should qualify for the trophies they deserve. but keep in mind teaching kids it is ok to win can never start to soon. sports are a confidence builder and winning fairly is the best way to build up strong young men.

nostatic,
Sorry to edit your post, but these are two points that need repeating.

When I coached, it was exactly how Nathans_Dad is doing it now, albeit with far fewer wins. We focused on fundamentals, learning the game, and having fun. IIRC, we never had a winning season in the five years that I was "in the game" but had a very high rate of players coming back for the next season, and had a good number of parents call in the preseason to request that their kids be on our team for the next year.

The best, however, was when the 10 year old all-stars were announced the last year I coached 9-10 year-olds. Fully half of the team were kids that we had previously coached. Needless to say, we were proud. :D


Nathans_Dad,
WRT to coach pitching and the kids having a resulting uppercut, I found that pitching from the knees allowed you to throw the ball at a trajectory more in line with the kids. The only drawback I found was that you couldn't get out of the way of the ball as quickly. (For some reason, though, the kids thought it was hilarious to nail their coach with a line drive, so that's what they tried to do, every at bat. :D )

Great pic, BTW, and good luck in the tourney. :)