I will soon know if I was hired as a High School JV baseball coach.  As everyone knows on this site I'm a long time baseball fan and played all through High School but I've never coached anything.  Does anyone here/ any coaches have any recommendations? Any drills or conditioning exercises you can recommend?

I coached little league. Managing the dads is half the battle. Good luck.

Yea I don't remember that many dads in High School. Hopefully there aren't many dads at JV games.

scadder21 wrote: I will soon know if I was hired as a High School JV baseball coach.  As everyone knows on this site I'm a long time baseball fan and played all through High School but I've never coached anything.  Does anyone here/ any coaches have any recommendations? Any drills or conditioning exercises you can recommend?

I have a number of instructional books and tapes that are were very helpful to me when coaching my son's select teams.  The tapes may be old, but the game is the same!  Give me a mailing address and I will send you the books and tapes.  I was always hoping to pass them along to a young coach interested in teaching baseball the right way!

Thanks

What does any of this have to do with the St. Louis Cardinals?

Really? Can't ask for some advice on a baseball board that probably includes many coaching and former players. I would think that I have bought enough goodwill from this place having been a paying member for 3 plus years.

I didn't say you couldn't. There's another board for that. Chill out.

I figured that most of the baseball guys don't visit that side of the board.

Getting back to the topic at hand... someone, either here or on another forum, last year posted a copy of the letter that Matheny wrote to parents when he was coaching Little League.  Maybe someone can find that because my recollection is that a lot of what he said to those parents could be applicable for your upcoming situation as well.

Jmodene1 wrote: Getting back to the topic at hand... someone, either here or on another forum, last year posted a copy of the letter that Matheny wrote to parents when he was coaching Little League.  Maybe someone can find that because my recollection is that a lot of what he said to those parents could be applicable for your upcoming situation as well.

Thanks :)

I've been a JV baseball coach/asst high school baseball coach for 10 years. Try to keep it fun and focus on the fundamentals. At the beginning assume they know nothing and build on that even though most do know a lot. Even pro pitchers do PFP in spring training. When it comes to parents and their concerns its always best to just listen to what they say, but do what you feel needs to be done. Parents feel better when they get to express their concerns and the coach listens. Try to never argue, but just say we agree to disagree and go on.

I agree about the fun. Also since young people develop at a different rate I think it is wise to not cut too many players. Keep a managable number but the last guy you cut could be the best player when he or she develops.

One of my sons baseball coaches did a neat thing in a lot of practices. He had 12 players. Divided them into 4 player teams. He pitched, two teams in the field and one team at bat until they made three outs. Then switch. And they switched positions a lot too so the kids got to play positions they wanted to play. The kids loved it. He was a good coach but I will always believe that process was one of the things that helped the team win the championship game 46-7.

In my opinion a mistake a lot of coaches I have watched is that they don't do enough batting practice. They get involved with endless infield drills and to a lesser extent baserunning drills and run out of time to get any hitting practice. If you have batting cages that will help but someone needs to monitor technique at all times.

Another thing I often see is that there is a lot of standing around watching one person field a ball. It is helpful to have several things going on at once so everyone is fairly consantly engaged. One of the best softball coaches my granddaughter had actually had infield drills where he was using two balls being hit by two different coaches. In other words he had two infield drills going on at the same time. If there is too much standing around they become bored and block out your teaching points and even tune you out. If you have help do a lot of small group work.

As for parents it is best to avoid to much exposure to them. I made the mistake when I was coaching high school basketball of sitting with parents during the JV game. I soon learned that they will hustle the heck out of you trying to promote thier kids playing time. And parents you are not sitting by are sure you are going to play favorites. I soon learned to go sit with the football coaches.

Good luck on getting the job and in coaching if you get it. Hopefully, I have given you a thing or two to think about.

That is a fantastic idea. I was thinking of something similar.  I thought back to my HS baseball days and while we got TONS of swings off of tee's, soft toss, in the cages, it never truly mimic'ed a game situation where the pitcher was trying to get you out.

My idea is to create situations in practice where they get as much actual "game" time as possible.  Something like a full team in the field, runners behind home plate and someone taking soft toss.  That way the defense has to react naturally as if it's a real game and it allows people get run the bases.  It breeds a thinking player because it mimics a game in a practice setting.

Wow 5129 is in rare form here (maybe i should say "rear form"). Come to think of it that attitude is not rare at all. Anyhow good luck Scadder. Remember many of these kids will remember their JV days forever. I know i do.

cardinalnationhouston wrote: Wow 5129 is in rare form here (maybe i should say "rear form"). Come to think of it that attitude is not rare at all. Anyhow good luck Scadder. Remember many of these kids will remember their JV days forever. I know i do.

Wow CNH I didn't realize I was the one in the wrong for wanting fellow posters to follow the rules, but then again based on how delusional you are I'd expect you to have a completely off base opinion on the matter.

You each got in your shots. Time to move on.

SKS- I've been wondering if you received my email with my address yet?

I'm sure your cool instructional stuff is in the mail, Scadder.

It's probably good that I'm not a coach because the last thing I'd be looking for would be gimmicks for the little tikes enjoyment. Listen to me, Scadder.....treat them all like dogs!...and you'll bring home that trophy.