My son and his friends have never played organized baseball outside of T-ball. We all signed up to play PONY league in the next town over and the only way to keep them together was for someone to coach them and since my job allows more flexibility, that fell to me. I haven't done anything since playing JV as a freshman in 1995, Basically I'm looking for advice on how to organize a practice to keep 16 9 and 10 year olds engaged and having fun. I have some local folks who are helping out and some local kids (brothers of some of the team) lined up to help at practice some. Any help is appreciated!

Everything Tarpon just said.

I would also highly advise an in and out of the dugout drill. Helmets/bats and hats/gloves. The easier they can get in and out of the dugout and ready for the field or for the plate the better.

Put your lineup on a white board in the same place every time.

Also, make your best player the catcher. Or at least make sure the catcher is competent.

Concentrate only on throwing strikes with the pitchers.

agsalaska said:

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Everything Tarpon just said.

I would also highly advise an in and out of the dugout drill. Helmets/bats and hats/gloves. The easier they can get in and out of the dugout and ready for the field or for the plate the better.

Put your lineup on a white board in the same place every time.

Also, make your best player the catcher. Or at least make sure the catcher is competent.

Concentrate only on throwing strikes with the pitchers.

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These are excellent items too. So many teams are a goat-rope on this with kids not knowing where they're at in the lineup, who's playing where, etc.

Instruct the kids day-1 on picking up guys coming in when innings switch- like if the kid playing first base is hitting or LOB when an inning switches have somebody designated to bring him his hat, glove, and a baseball while taking his helmet, bat, batting gloves, etc.

Similarly, have somebody help the catcher with his gear and make sure the CF has a baseball to throw between innings along with another person designated to throw with whichever corner OF is closest to your dugout- meaning, if you're in the first base dugout CF throws with LF and somebody from the dugout throws with the RF.

Also, when the game is over- nobody leaves the dugout until all the gear is packed up and the catchers have their stuff packed too.

16 kids is ridiculous - i hope that was a typo.


keep the kids active by splitting into lots of stations. when you are doing situation baseball (put the other 7 kids somewhere like the bullpen or batting cage.) 7 kids watching the others figure out what an infield fly is will be challenging.

Currently assisting on our 10u Little League team. I have coached HS ball before, but these kids just stress me out. Many don't listen and don't seem to really want to be there, so feels like babysitting at times.

Is it wrong if I just have them run poles all next practice?

16 to start may be 12 by first game. But you're right if they all stick with it that's a lot. Our high school carries 17. Out 13u carries 13.

Got to set the standard!!

I am one of 4 coaches for my kids 6U coach pitch team. Practice is tough even with 4 coaches. We usually break the kids into 3 or 4 griups for different drills and eventually scrimmage at the end of practice. I was the only coach there over spring break with only 6 kids there for practice. Luckily a couple of dads helped a little. It's tough not having more coaches or dads to help. I'd also recommend grouping some of the better kids together in your drill groups. I hate to say it but mixing the bad ones into a group of good kids can really make the group drills unproductive. Bring them all together at the end of practice for some scrimmage time. Of course your kids are older but you'll still have some that don't pay attention and don't care to be there.

Not a typo unfortunately. Small town and we will travel to play other small towns. Had 32 kids sign up and two coaches so here we sit.

First practice is tonight with opening day on the 5th so I appreciate all the tips!

Hey ain't nothing wrong with it. Just Have fun with them.

How was the first practice?

Also, one thing that went unmentioned and may be nitpicky to some but it really burns me up when kids show up to practice and games dressed all sloppy. I'm a big believer in looking the part of a ballplayer. I'm not talking about all the ridiculous BS "drip" you see on some kids with wrist-bands, arm-sleeves, necklaces/bracelets, and sliding mitts or crap like that.

I'm talking about- show up wearing baseball pants, shirt/jersey tucked in, belt, baseball socks, and ball cap. Respect the game and yourself. Just looking like a ballplayer can actually help kids to lock in mentally and have some confidence.

I fully get that y'all probably don't have team gear yet but once the team has a name and uniforms (especially caps) make it a rule that kids show up to practice in their team cap and a t-shirt that's the same color (ie- if your hats are black have them wear black t-shirts).

It helps the kids feel more like a team too.

100% agree.

First practice was ok. 16 kids and 2 coaches was a lot (too much actually) but I had some 8th grade kids who have played and have brothers on the team help out. Had to cut it short because the league called a coaches meeting after we set practice. I decided to have a bit of a tryout since we didn't have one before the draft and I was picking blind. We just took infield and let the kids who said they wanted to pitch have a go at it. Out of the 16 I'd say I have 5 ball players and a couple more who can help us out but luckily 2-3 kids who look like they can pitch (at least throw something close to strikes). Now I just have to put these kids in the right spot and start actual practice next week.

This is a pretty low income community. Had two kids show up who didn't even have gloves so they borrowed mine. Not all of them have even paid the league their fees yet. Once we get our hats in, I will at a minimum make that a requirement.

One time I had a kid show up who had a glove for the wrong hand.

Actually, his mom didn't even know if he was right or left handed and it was a borrowed glove. After a couple of weeks I figured out that he was actually left handed. Changed the boys life. Haha. These were t-ballers and that kid ended up being one of my best players.

His poor mom was so embarrassed. But single mom with two jobs, two kids, and no dad around and those things can happen. That's why kids have coaches.

He is still around town playing in all the leagues. He should be in 5th grade now. Maybe 4th.

I actually had that too! Kid was trying to throw with the gloved hand.

That's great to hear. I'm telling you, if you just stress fundamentals and playing hard things will fall into place.

One of the great things about sports in general and baseball in particular is how much translates to regular life outside sports. No matter how hard you try, you will fail but what matters is how you failed (did you give it your all?) and how you respond to failure. You will have to work with people who you don't like that much sometimes but you've still got to do it. You have to learn to keep pushing and overcome adversity. And so much of success is just showing up day after day and doing the best you can. Instill those values in the boys and you'll have been a successful coach.

Advice that might seem crazy but works really well at that age.

A huge goal at 10U needs to be making sure none of your kids are afraid of the ball, and that all can competently use the glove to protect themselves. To do this, I use plastic training balls, and I throw them a bit harder then the kids are used to. They get popped in the chest, or arms or head a few times, but these balls don't hurt anything like a baseball would.

Slowly but surely you'll see their confidence grow that they can always get a glove on it. This stops them from always trying to catch the ball to the side, and also gets them to catch the ball with their gloves positioned correctly based on where the ball is coming in at. A 10U team that can throw and catch competently is going to win a lot of games.

I do a similar drill when they are batting to teach them how to turn their bodies and protect their faces and family jewels from wild pitches.

Just wanted to say congrats on keeping kids in the game. Want to know where you and the 10u AAA dad coach will be in 10 years? Both watching ball on TV remembering the good old days of coaching young men.

Have fun. Have them have fun.

10andBOUNCE said:

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Pretty much the same concept, but the goal isn't to hurt the kids, just to help build confidence in using their gloves correctly.