Coaching pee wee baseball (1 Viewer)

[Plaid Boxer]

Also, at this age if no one 'volunteers' to help at the first practice just look at the nearest parent and tell them 'take these 3 kids to left field and do this drill'. People don't say no to helping a 5 year old.

 

[Bri]

Pitcher is like 90% of your defense. Best fielder goes there.

Everyone will want to play pitcher. If you've got a real good lead, switch that person out to give others a try. Otherwise, you'll regret taking your best player off the mound.

Practice hitting every ball to third. Who cares if they're exaggerated and turned "too much." If the other team "smells it" ...don't change. 90% of 5-6 year olds can't make a play from third to first.

Have base coaches send em every chance they can. No stealing and the kids will wave to their parents and have such a delayed reaction when it's time to run-if they're running to first, keep it that way and send em to second.

Play catch with every single kid. Maybe 10-12 feet away. Parents notice, kids notice, one on one time matters more than you'd expect.

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

If you pitch, it's more about their focus. Many kids that age can't NOT look at a hotdog someone is eating or their buddy in centerfield or their grandma visiting and you'll be amazed how hard it is for them to "keep their eye on the ball" during a game while at practice they're fine. I think it's their development as most kids do this fine at age 7.

I lined em up single file and threw grounders. If they fielded it, they move to back of the line. If they goofed, they're out. Last man standing.

Don't throw a lob or soft rainbow to the kid that can't catch. Somehow the higher ones are even harder for them. It'll hit the kid and you'll see.

Don't throw to first! Have the pitcher run em' down. Even if they get there, the pitcher can catch em' running from third to home a couple batters later.

Don't use a catcher until the other team balks and you have to. (They might not either) The kid will catch like one ball all year and will have zero understanding of staying away from the bat when the batter swings.

Bring a wiffle ball and have parents play kids...a few times. This is better than practice most times. Parents have it very hard in accepting their kid isn't a stud baseball star from day one. They get worked up when a kid runs to third instead of first or cuts across the field running bases. A grounder goes through the kids legs and the parents get embarassed. It'll take your parents a few games to shut down all their expectations and remind themselves these are little guys just learning and they don't know any better. The wiffle ball games speed up this process. (ETA the five year old with new cleats, 40 dollar hat, wrist band, 100 dollar brand new glove....his parent expects he'll be Jeter)

The outfielders are probably your worst players. Either put them on the edge of the infield or super deep. Not at the normal midpoint between the infield and fence. If it gets to the outfield, they are running after it not stopping it with their glove. Starting em' deep speeds this up immensely.

Practice one guy gets the ball in the outfield, others don't tackle him and fight for it....it'll happen if you don't.

Any grounder knocked down is as good as fielding it. They can't all squeeze their glove well or transfer the ball to their throwing hand well and...stop it or knock it down, then pick it up.

Don't throw to any base, but the pitcher....ever.

 

[Pipes]

Some good suggestions here. The best thing to do is make sure you find a couple of parents to help during practice. These are 5 & 6 year olds...the biggest challenge you will have is keeping them focused. Half the kids will be playing in the dirt, looking for frogs...whatever. They won't be paying attention. Small groups is the way to go. If you just put the kids in the field while doing batting practice, after about the 3rd swing and miss you'll have lost half the kids to whatever is running through their minds at the time...it won't be baseball.

 

[Keerock]

Some good suggestions here. The best thing to do is make sure you find a couple of parents to help during practice. These are 5 & 6 year olds...the biggest challenge you will have is keeping them focused. Half the kids will be playing in the dirt, looking for frogs...whatever. They won't be paying attention. Small groups is the way to go. If you just put the kids in the field while doing batting practice, after about the 3rd swing and miss you'll have lost half the kids to whatever is running through their minds at the time...it won't be baseball.

My oldest son was on a co-ed soccer team when he was 4 or 5. Our first foray into kids sports. During the first "game", there was a flurry of action on our goal. Turns out we only had 3 kids defending the other teams 5. Our other two players were at the other end of the field. A boy and a girl. The girl had her hand down the boy's shorts. Hilarity ensued. My son was, unfortunately, not the fortunate dude with the new-found girlfriend.

 

[walnutz]

Some good suggestions here. The best thing to do is make sure you find a couple of parents to help during practice. These are 5 & 6 year olds...the biggest challenge you will have is keeping them focused. Half the kids will be playing in the dirt, looking for frogs...whatever. They won't be paying attention. Small groups is the way to go. If you just put the kids in the field while doing batting practice, after about the 3rd swing and miss you'll have lost half the kids to whatever is running through their minds at the time...it won't be baseball.

My oldest son was on a co-ed soccer team when he was 4 or 5. Our first foray into kids sports. During the first "game", there was a flurry of action on our goal. Turns out we only had 3 kids defending the other teams 5. Our other two players were at the other end of the field. A boy and a girl. The girl had her hand down the boy's shorts. Hilarity ensued. My son was, unfortunately, not the fortunate dude with the new-found girlfriend.

that is too funny.

 

[walnutz]

Pitcher is like 90% of your defense. Best fielder goes there.

Everyone will want to play pitcher. If you've got a real good lead, switch that person out to give others a try. Otherwise, you'll regret taking your best player off the mound.

Practice hitting every ball to third. Who cares if they're exaggerated and turned "too much." If the other team "smells it" ...don't change. 90% of 5-6 year olds can't make a play from third to first.

Have base coaches send em every chance they can. No stealing and the kids will wave to their parents and have such a delayed reaction when it's time to run-if they're running to first, keep it that way and send em to second.

Play catch with every single kid. Maybe 10-12 feet away. Parents notice, kids notice, one on one time matters more than you'd expect.

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

If you pitch, it's more about their focus. Many kids that age can't NOT look at a hotdog someone is eating or their buddy in centerfield or their grandma visiting and you'll be amazed how hard it is for them to "keep their eye on the ball" during a game while at practice they're fine. I think it's their development as most kids do this fine at age 7.

I lined em up single file and threw grounders. If they fielded it, they move to back of the line. If they goofed, they're out. Last man standing.

Don't throw a lob or soft rainbow to the kid that can't catch. Somehow the higher ones are even harder for them. It'll hit the kid and you'll see.

Don't throw to first! Have the pitcher run em' down. Even if they get there, the pitcher can catch em' running from third to home a couple batters later.

Don't use a catcher until the other team balks and you have to. (They might not either) The kid will catch like one ball all year and will have zero understanding of staying away from the bat when the batter swings.

Bring a wiffle ball and have parents play kids...a few times. This is better than practice most times. Parents have it very hard in accepting their kid isn't a stud baseball star from day one. They get worked up when a kid runs to third instead of first or cuts across the field running bases. A grounder goes through the kids legs and the parents get embarassed. It'll take your parents a few games to shut down all their expectations and remind themselves these are little guys just learning and they don't know any better. The wiffle ball games speed up this process. (ETA the five year old with new cleats, 40 dollar hat, wrist band, 100 dollar brand new glove....his parent expects he'll be Jeter)

The outfielders are probably your worst players. Either put them on the edge of the infield or super deep. Not at the normal midpoint between the infield and fence. If it gets to the outfield, they are running after it not stopping it with their glove. Starting em' deep speeds this up immensely.

Practice one guy gets the ball in the outfield, others don't tackle him and fight for it....it'll happen if you don't.

Any grounder knocked down is as good as fielding it. They can't all squeeze their glove well or transfer the ball to their throwing hand well and...stop it or knock it down, then pick it up.

Don't throw to any base, but the pitcher....ever.

If all you are doing is trying to win then by all means do the bolded. You want to get outs but in my opinion you are also trying to instruct the basics of the game. Throwing to first is a basic skill that kids need to learn. Find a kid that can throw - put him on the "mound" or in the circle and find a kid who can catch and put him on first.

Either way.

 

[Keerock]

If you/your league keeps score, standings, or even declares a winner in 5 year old baseball, it's time to quit. At that age, it should be about learning the fundamentals, playing with your friends, and having fun.

That being said... PLEASE don't give them all a trophy/medal at the end of the season. An ice cream cone and a pat on the back is enough.

 

[Pipes]

Pitcher is like 90% of your defense. Best fielder goes there.

Everyone will want to play pitcher. If you've got a real good lead, switch that person out to give others a try. Otherwise, you'll regret taking your best player off the mound.

Practice hitting every ball to third. Who cares if they're exaggerated and turned "too much." If the other team "smells it" ...don't change. 90% of 5-6 year olds can't make a play from third to first.

Have base coaches send em every chance they can. No stealing and the kids will wave to their parents and have such a delayed reaction when it's time to run-if they're running to first, keep it that way and send em to second.

Play catch with every single kid. Maybe 10-12 feet away. Parents notice, kids notice, one on one time matters more than you'd expect.

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

If you pitch, it's more about their focus. Many kids that age can't NOT look at a hotdog someone is eating or their buddy in centerfield or their grandma visiting and you'll be amazed how hard it is for them to "keep their eye on the ball" during a game while at practice they're fine. I think it's their development as most kids do this fine at age 7.

I lined em up single file and threw grounders. If they fielded it, they move to back of the line. If they goofed, they're out. Last man standing.

Don't throw a lob or soft rainbow to the kid that can't catch. Somehow the higher ones are even harder for them. It'll hit the kid and you'll see.

Don't throw to first! Have the pitcher run em' down. Even if they get there, the pitcher can catch em' running from third to home a couple batters later.

Don't use a catcher until the other team balks and you have to. (They might not either) The kid will catch like one ball all year and will have zero understanding of staying away from the bat when the batter swings.

Bring a wiffle ball and have parents play kids...a few times. This is better than practice most times. Parents have it very hard in accepting their kid isn't a stud baseball star from day one. They get worked up when a kid runs to third instead of first or cuts across the field running bases. A grounder goes through the kids legs and the parents get embarassed. It'll take your parents a few games to shut down all their expectations and remind themselves these are little guys just learning and they don't know any better. The wiffle ball games speed up this process. (ETA the five year old with new cleats, 40 dollar hat, wrist band, 100 dollar brand new glove....his parent expects he'll be Jeter)

The outfielders are probably your worst players. Either put them on the edge of the infield or super deep. Not at the normal midpoint between the infield and fence. If it gets to the outfield, they are running after it not stopping it with their glove. Starting em' deep speeds this up immensely.

Practice one guy gets the ball in the outfield, others don't tackle him and fight for it....it'll happen if you don't.

Any grounder knocked down is as good as fielding it. They can't all squeeze their glove well or transfer the ball to their throwing hand well and...stop it or knock it down, then pick it up.

Don't throw to any base, but the pitcher....ever.

If all you are doing is trying to win then by all means do the bolded. You want to get outs but in my opinion you are also trying to instruct the basics of the game. Throwing to first is a basic skill that kids need to learn. Find a kid that can throw - put him on the "mound" or in the circle and find a kid who can catch and put him on first.

Either way.

Yeah there is going to be a ton of missed throws/errors but who cares...they're 5 & 6 years old.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I'm pretty sure score isn't kept at this level. Outs aren't counted either, right?

My tee ball league was bat once through the order (for 3 innings), regardless of outs or runs scored. Even if a miracle happened and a kid was thrown out, s/he still got to stay at the bag.

 

[dino259]

Pitcher is like 90% of your defense. Best fielder goes there.

Everyone will want to play pitcher. If you've got a real good lead, switch that person out to give others a try. Otherwise, you'll regret taking your best player off the mound.

Practice hitting every ball to third. Who cares if they're exaggerated and turned "too much." If the other team "smells it" ...don't change. 90% of 5-6 year olds can't make a play from third to first.

Have base coaches send em every chance they can. No stealing and the kids will wave to their parents and have such a delayed reaction when it's time to run-if they're running to first, keep it that way and send em to second.

Play catch with every single kid. Maybe 10-12 feet away. Parents notice, kids notice, one on one time matters more than you'd expect.

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

If you pitch, it's more about their focus. Many kids that age can't NOT look at a hotdog someone is eating or their buddy in centerfield or their grandma visiting and you'll be amazed how hard it is for them to "keep their eye on the ball" during a game while at practice they're fine. I think it's their development as most kids do this fine at age 7.

I lined em up single file and threw grounders. If they fielded it, they move to back of the line. If they goofed, they're out. Last man standing.

Don't throw a lob or soft rainbow to the kid that can't catch. Somehow the higher ones are even harder for them. It'll hit the kid and you'll see.

Don't throw to first! Have the pitcher run em' down. Even if they get there, the pitcher can catch em' running from third to home a couple batters later.

Don't use a catcher until the other team balks and you have to. (They might not either) The kid will catch like one ball all year and will have zero understanding of staying away from the bat when the batter swings.

Bring a wiffle ball and have parents play kids...a few times. This is better than practice most times. Parents have it very hard in accepting their kid isn't a stud baseball star from day one. They get worked up when a kid runs to third instead of first or cuts across the field running bases. A grounder goes through the kids legs and the parents get embarassed. It'll take your parents a few games to shut down all their expectations and remind themselves these are little guys just learning and they don't know any better. The wiffle ball games speed up this process. (ETA the five year old with new cleats, 40 dollar hat, wrist band, 100 dollar brand new glove....his parent expects he'll be Jeter)

The outfielders are probably your worst players. Either put them on the edge of the infield or super deep. Not at the normal midpoint between the infield and fence. If it gets to the outfield, they are running after it not stopping it with their glove. Starting em' deep speeds this up immensely.

Practice one guy gets the ball in the outfield, others don't tackle him and fight for it....it'll happen if you don't.

Any grounder knocked down is as good as fielding it. They can't all squeeze their glove well or transfer the ball to their throwing hand well and...stop it or knock it down, then pick it up.

Don't throw to any base, but the pitcher....ever.

If all you are doing is trying to win then by all means do the bolded. You want to get outs but in my opinion you are also trying to instruct the basics of the game. Throwing to first is a basic skill that kids need to learn. Find a kid that can throw - put him on the "mound" or in the circle and find a kid who can catch and put him on first.

Either way.

Yeah there is going to be a ton of missed throws/errors but who cares...they're 5 & 6 years old.

Exactly, this is indeed the time to have everyone play everywhere. No score should be keep. A little too competitive for this level.

 

[jagbag]

Tee ball was the only year I didnt coach my son until he started high school this year. What got me on the field was the coach telling my son the wrong way to play the game IMO. He was playing short stop and a runner was on first. The ball was hit to him and he fielded it, turned to throw it to second and the second baseman was playing in the dirt. (I have zero issue with this as kids do this all the time at that age). What I had an issue with was the coach telling my son that "we always throw the ball to first base". Um....no sir, we dont.

Anyways, at this age, repitition is the number one important factor. You should suggest to the parents that they play catch with their kids outside of the normal practice and game times, but you should also assume that most of them wont. You are lucky that the team is so small, so they should see plenty of reps during practices, which I assume will be once a week after games start?

The number two factor IMO is to have the kids stay in their positions. At this age, the best players tend to try to get everyball and it leads to either everone chasing the ball, or the same couple of kids getting all the action. Neither are helpful.

Some people think they need to put only kids that can catch at first base out of fear they might get hurt. Truyth be told, the ball will rarely get to first in the air anyways, so all of the kids can play all of the positions. Of course, there are exceptions, but thats generally the case.

Diagree. At this age the kids have to learn to throw the ball first. At the next level they can start learning the game more. It's development at this age.

 

[Cjw_55106]

So just tell a kid something that isnt true, because he shouldnt be learning ahead of anyone? That makes little sense to me. I might tell a kid, hey, the second baseman doesnt quite know the position yet, just throw it to first. I certainly wouldnt say, we always throw the ball to first base, implying the kid did something wrong.

 

[swirvenirvin]

If you/your league keeps score, standings, or even declares a winner in 5 year old baseball, it's time to quit. At that age, it should be about learning the fundamentals, playing with your friends, and having fun.

That being said... PLEASE don't give them all a trophy/medal at the end of the season. An ice cream cone and a pat on the back is enough.

No score, no out's, only advancing one base at a time, an inning is when all the batters on the team have batted.

 

[Bri]

Pitcher is like 90% of your defense. Best fielder goes there.

Everyone will want to play pitcher. If you've got a real good lead, switch that person out to give others a try. Otherwise, you'll regret taking your best player off the mound.

Practice hitting every ball to third. Who cares if they're exaggerated and turned "too much." If the other team "smells it" ...don't change. 90% of 5-6 year olds can't make a play from third to first.

Have base coaches send em every chance they can. No stealing and the kids will wave to their parents and have such a delayed reaction when it's time to run-if they're running to first, keep it that way and send em to second.

Play catch with every single kid. Maybe 10-12 feet away. Parents notice, kids notice, one on one time matters more than you'd expect.

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

If you pitch, it's more about their focus. Many kids that age can't NOT look at a hotdog someone is eating or their buddy in centerfield or their grandma visiting and you'll be amazed how hard it is for them to "keep their eye on the ball" during a game while at practice they're fine. I think it's their development as most kids do this fine at age 7.

I lined em up single file and threw grounders. If they fielded it, they move to back of the line. If they goofed, they're out. Last man standing.

Don't throw a lob or soft rainbow to the kid that can't catch. Somehow the higher ones are even harder for them. It'll hit the kid and you'll see.

Don't throw to first! Have the pitcher run em' down. Even if they get there, the pitcher can catch em' running from third to home a couple batters later.

Don't use a catcher until the other team balks and you have to. (They might not either) The kid will catch like one ball all year and will have zero understanding of staying away from the bat when the batter swings.

Bring a wiffle ball and have parents play kids...a few times. This is better than practice most times. Parents have it very hard in accepting their kid isn't a stud baseball star from day one. They get worked up when a kid runs to third instead of first or cuts across the field running bases. A grounder goes through the kids legs and the parents get embarassed. It'll take your parents a few games to shut down all their expectations and remind themselves these are little guys just learning and they don't know any better. The wiffle ball games speed up this process. (ETA the five year old with new cleats, 40 dollar hat, wrist band, 100 dollar brand new glove....his parent expects he'll be Jeter)

The outfielders are probably your worst players. Either put them on the edge of the infield or super deep. Not at the normal midpoint between the infield and fence. If it gets to the outfield, they are running after it not stopping it with their glove. Starting em' deep speeds this up immensely.

Practice one guy gets the ball in the outfield, others don't tackle him and fight for it....it'll happen if you don't.

Any grounder knocked down is as good as fielding it. They can't all squeeze their glove well or transfer the ball to their throwing hand well and...stop it or knock it down, then pick it up.

Don't throw to any base, but the pitcher....ever.

If all you are doing is trying to win then by all means do the bolded. You want to get outs but in my opinion you are also trying to instruct the basics of the game. Throwing to first is a basic skill that kids need to learn. Find a kid that can throw - put him on the "mound" or in the circle and find a kid who can catch and put him on first.

Either way.

I don't agree.

The pitcher does have to field the ball and run. That's basics too.

I found it very hard to find a young kid that could focus on the ball, foot on bag, with a player running toward them. I also never saw one on any team we played against that could do it regularly.

Also, not every kid can throw from the mound to first accurately several times in a row. I really didn't want one bit of "I can't do it" in the kids heads and some five year olds are a whole lot smaller than six year olds and have that way about them.

Running a kid down takes some awareness that is a great great skill to get into kids early. Man on third, where do you go? Man on second...

The other kids in the field would yell "running the wrong way" or somesuch as the pitcher ran toward a different base and I got a good coaching point there to discuss. By the end of the year, each kid would play pitcher and it's pretty cool to see the kid that knew nothing at the start of the year, making decisions. Slow chubby kid, girl whose parents make her play etc they aren't fast enough to get em' at first, but they can get em' going home.

It's very difficult to get every kid involved. The game doesn't even necessarily lend to that. You could easily have no hits to the outfield or to third. In baseball, right field gets the least hits but I saw left field as that in tball. Anyhow, you wind up wanting the lesser kids to make a play and get some to them. You can move em' to short for an inning and that inning every hit goes right to the pitcher.

I got a slow fat chubby kid to tag a few kids out going home and I'll tell ya that smile was outstanding. We ran into them getting ice cream later and that kid was still beaming.

I'm not saying my way is the only way. I do understand your sentiment of teaching that part of the game. When you practice and practice and the kids can't make a play over and over, ya gotta do something. My first reaction was to move them closer(1st and pitcher) and just play catch, then I had a kid run by them. Then I moved them back n back til it was normal. After far too much time, I got two of them rolling but this doesn't lend to my getting everyone involved type thinking. The second I put other kids in at pitcher or first, it was back to bad throws and non-catches. Adults and older kids will try and try til they get something right. The little guys throw like four or five bad throws and think "I can't do this, I stink" and I hate that.

Once I learned that not everyone plays catch with their kids at home, I was a little thrown too. Is this their first time having a game of catch? But I expect them to make a play in front of fans?

It's way easier said than done to get each kid to be able to make plays to first.

I went with what they could do and most of all I think that's the coaches job. You gotta be reasonable with only so much practice time and what these lil guys can do and what you want to accomplish. I know other coaches didn't hit one day and I'd hate to be a little kid and not hit at practice.

I think the OP said he had 5-6 practices.

We didn't practice during the season but only a couple times. For the most part, that meant 5-6 hours to get a team ready. It's really not enough time to do all you want. They're gonna mess up. They're going to get out and make bad throws and all that. I just didn't want to feel like I knew it was coming and crush a lil guys spirit as he makes six bad throws in a row.

 

[Al Czervik]

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

Don't do this. Teach the kids to hit line drives, not pop-ups.

 

[stbugs]

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

Don't do this. Teach the kids to hit line drives, not pop-ups.

Agreed. I think I disagreed with a ton of what Bri said. My youngest son is my best player (of his 2 other brothers). He is 7 turning 8 and he caught a fly ball 2 games ago having to range from RC all the way to center and can catch anything, a smashed line drive, diving pop-ups, etc. When he was 5-6, he played first based and could catch well, so maybe I am a little spoiled, but he never learned by me teaching the kids to play poorly. I wanted the kids to play real baseball. Throw to every base and learn how and where to cover bases, even in T-ball or rookie ball (we did coach pitch 5-6). My teams got a lot better as the season went on and when they made great plays, i.e. real baseball plays, it was awesome. I never once told the pitcher to run someone down unless it was a dribbler and they could beat the guy home. Who cares about that, have them throw it to first, they will be better for it. Teaching them to uppercut? How about teaching them how to hit correctly. Again, I'll toot my son's horn because he one of the best players in his age bracket. He had a triple and a homer (legit, not overthrows) this past weekend because he has a great stance and swing. He is an average to small size kid and he can hit it as hard as kids that are bigger than him because of his technique. I coach together with a friend and our teams have won the championships the past two seasons because we coached them up to make the plays, be where they should be, back each other up, swing properly, etc. We expect everyone to do that and we don't teach kids to do things that may work, but aren't going to make them better. At this age, Bri's suggestions just seem wrong and likely will win some games, but won't make the team better and win the playoffs when the rest of the league has improved their play all season.

 

[swirvenirvin]

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

Don't do this. Teach the kids to hit line drives, not pop-ups.

Agreed. I think I disagreed with a ton of what Bri said. My youngest son is my best player (of his 2 other brothers). He is 7 turning 8 and he caught a fly ball 2 games ago having to range from RC all the way to center and can catch anything, a smashed line drive, diving pop-ups, etc. When he was 5-6, he played first based and could catch well, so maybe I am a little spoiled, but he never learned by me teaching the kids to play poorly. I wanted the kids to play real baseball. Throw to every base and learn how and where to cover bases, even in T-ball or rookie ball (we did coach pitch 5-6). My teams got a lot better as the season went on and when they made great plays, i.e. real baseball plays, it was awesome. I never once told the pitcher to run someone down unless it was a dribbler and they could beat the guy home. Who cares about that, have them throw it to first, they will be better for it. Teaching them to uppercut? How about teaching them how to hit correctly. Again, I'll toot my son's horn because he one of the best players in his age bracket. He had a triple and a homer (legit, not overthrows) this past weekend because he has a great stance and swing. He is an average to small size kid and he can hit it as hard as kids that are bigger than him because of his technique. I coach together with a friend and our teams have won the championships the past two seasons because we coached them up to make the plays, be where they should be, back each other up, swing properly, etc. We expect everyone to do that and we don't teach kids to do things that may work, but aren't going to make them better. At this age, Bri's suggestions just seem wrong and likely will win some games, but won't make the team better and win the playoffs when the rest of the league has improved their play all season.

Any other good drills that are fun for the kids at this age?

 

[Deranged Hermit]

Terrible advise to have the kids not to throw to bases. T-ball is instructional, not cut throat. We had a dude do this once and I put my best three players at P, 1B and SS and they put on a clinic that inning. Nine kids went up to bat for them, we recorded seven outs by doing things properly.

Point is, you don't dumb things down, you challenge them to do it right.

 

[stbugs]

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

Don't do this. Teach the kids to hit line drives, not pop-ups.

Agreed. I think I disagreed with a ton of what Bri said. My youngest son is my best player (of his 2 other brothers). He is 7 turning 8 and he caught a fly ball 2 games ago having to range from RC all the way to center and can catch anything, a smashed line drive, diving pop-ups, etc. When he was 5-6, he played first based and could catch well, so maybe I am a little spoiled, but he never learned by me teaching the kids to play poorly. I wanted the kids to play real baseball. Throw to every base and learn how and where to cover bases, even in T-ball or rookie ball (we did coach pitch 5-6). My teams got a lot better as the season went on and when they made great plays, i.e. real baseball plays, it was awesome. I never once told the pitcher to run someone down unless it was a dribbler and they could beat the guy home. Who cares about that, have them throw it to first, they will be better for it. Teaching them to uppercut? How about teaching them how to hit correctly. Again, I'll toot my son's horn because he one of the best players in his age bracket. He had a triple and a homer (legit, not overthrows) this past weekend because he has a great stance and swing. He is an average to small size kid and he can hit it as hard as kids that are bigger than him because of his technique. I coach together with a friend and our teams have won the championships the past two seasons because we coached them up to make the plays, be where they should be, back each other up, swing properly, etc. We expect everyone to do that and we don't teach kids to do things that may work, but aren't going to make them better. At this age, Bri's suggestions just seem wrong and likely will win some games, but won't make the team better and win the playoffs when the rest of the league has improved their play all season.

Any other good drills that are fun for the kids at this age?

Tee work is great for this age. If it is solely T-ball, you can avoid soft toss/coach pitch for now, that might be the next age group. I hope not straight to machine, a little fast to go straight to after T-ball. Our little league is 4-5 T-ball, 5-6 coach pitch and 6-8 machine before going to kid pitch at 9.

Ground balls are also great. For this age, I would work on one line at 2nd base (the position, not the base) throwing to first, one line at short stop throwing to third. Two lines means half the waiting and their arms aren't so great yet. Pop-ups are really only for the kids that can already catch. If you have some kids decent at catching, have them man first and third to groom your first basemen. I had my son and a couple others always play first because they wouldn't get killed and could catch good throws. That way kids learn to throw the ball. Never play a kid who isn't going to look or catch at first, if you have a good thrower, the kid at first will get beaned.

For throwing, we do the knee drill (throwing knee down, not sitting, all the way up) to get them to get their arms back and throw overhand. Also, the throws are softer and thus practices catching. We even did this for my son's 7-8 rec team as there are still kids that age and above who aren't great throwing and catching. For the kids that get it, you can have them stand and throw with each other.

The last thing is getting live hitting, split the team in half and do a scrimmage with parents manning the outfield. Have a parent at 1st/3rd base coaching the runners while you coach the infield on what to do with the ball. At this age, you may not get everyone to do it, but I tell the 2nd/SS guys to make sure they cover the base when the ball is hit on the other side and sometimes during the games they will make outs throwing to second.

The other stuff we do is definitely more advanced, but that's probably what I would do in practice.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

At that age - if you accomplish these things over the course of the season you have done your job.

1. No one dies.

2. They still want to play baseball next year.

3. They know where the outfield is.

4. They have a general idea where 1B, 2B, 3B and home plate are.

5. They can throw a ball in the general direction they want to throw it.

6. They can catch a thrown or batted ball most of the time.

7. When they swing, they do not perform a pirouette and they have a reasonable (not cross handed) grip.

8. When they hit the ball they run toward 1B, not 3B.

Other than that have fun.

I've also noticed the kids always want to rush the ball so you have like 10 kids jumping on each other

Stress that they should let the ball come to them...this is where rotating them around helps

 

[Galileo]

Pitcher is like 90% of your defense. Best fielder goes there.

Everyone will want to play pitcher. If you've got a real good lead, switch that person out to give others a try. Otherwise, you'll regret taking your best player off the mound.

Practice hitting every ball to third. Who cares if they're exaggerated and turned "too much." If the other team "smells it" ...don't change. 90% of 5-6 year olds can't make a play from third to first.

Have base coaches send em every chance they can. No stealing and the kids will wave to their parents and have such a delayed reaction when it's time to run-if they're running to first, keep it that way and send em to second.

Play catch with every single kid. Maybe 10-12 feet away. Parents notice, kids notice, one on one time matters more than you'd expect.

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

If you pitch, it's more about their focus. Many kids that age can't NOT look at a hotdog someone is eating or their buddy in centerfield or their grandma visiting and you'll be amazed how hard it is for them to "keep their eye on the ball" during a game while at practice they're fine. I think it's their development as most kids do this fine at age 7.

I lined em up single file and threw grounders. If they fielded it, they move to back of the line. If they goofed, they're out. Last man standing.

Don't throw a lob or soft rainbow to the kid that can't catch. Somehow the higher ones are even harder for them. It'll hit the kid and you'll see.

Don't throw to first! Have the pitcher run em' down. Even if they get there, the pitcher can catch em' running from third to home a couple batters later.

Don't use a catcher until the other team balks and you have to. (They might not either) The kid will catch like one ball all year and will have zero understanding of staying away from the bat when the batter swings.

Bring a wiffle ball and have parents play kids...a few times. This is better than practice most times. Parents have it very hard in accepting their kid isn't a stud baseball star from day one. They get worked up when a kid runs to third instead of first or cuts across the field running bases. A grounder goes through the kids legs and the parents get embarassed. It'll take your parents a few games to shut down all their expectations and remind themselves these are little guys just learning and they don't know any better. The wiffle ball games speed up this process. (ETA the five year old with new cleats, 40 dollar hat, wrist band, 100 dollar brand new glove....his parent expects he'll be Jeter)

The outfielders are probably your worst players. Either put them on the edge of the infield or super deep. Not at the normal midpoint between the infield and fence. If it gets to the outfield, they are running after it not stopping it with their glove. Starting em' deep speeds this up immensely.

Practice one guy gets the ball in the outfield, others don't tackle him and fight for it....it'll happen if you don't.

Any grounder knocked down is as good as fielding it. They can't all squeeze their glove well or transfer the ball to their throwing hand well and...stop it or knock it down, then pick it up.

Don't throw to any base, but the pitcher....ever.

I hate drills like this...especially for this age group. Why sit anybody out? And why would you want to sit out the kids who clearly need more practice at the skill?

 

[Bri]

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

Don't do this. Teach the kids to hit line drives, not pop-ups.

It does. The cross bar is less than a foot higher than the tee

 

[Bri]

I lined em up single file and threw grounders. If they fielded it, they move to back of the line. If they goofed, they're out. Last man standing.

I hate drills like this...especially for this age group. Why sit anybody out? And why would you want to sit out the kids who clearly need more practice at the skill?

It's brief.

What do you think happens after? We clap for who won, but when the kid goes home?

What happens in a game when you have a very good six year old rocketing a ball toward a tiny 5 year old?

As I said before, I taught them stopping the ball was good enough. They didn't have to cleanly field it.

That drill took maybe 3 minutes first practice. By the end of the season it took 15 minutes.They got wayyy better.

I'm 20 feet away half throwing half rolling the ball toward em'. I'm not firing it, bouncing it, or doing anything too difficult.

How do you deal with a mentally challenged kid or a girl genuinely terrified of the ball? I rolled it gently to them at first, but by the end of the year I didn't have to. Geesh I remember a girl covering her face with both hands and the ball literally stopped at her feet her first day.

Tball is something that has two sides to every story or more than one way to do things. I'm in no way saying my way is the only way. I've seen others do things differently.

Another post about baserunning- have you ever seen a third base coach in tball? They about do jumping jacks to get the kids attention. You can tell me all ya want about how things should be, but until you see a kid stop running to wave to grandma or an outfielder absolutely mesmerized by a dandelion...it's not as easy as you think.

 

[Bri]

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

Don't do this. Teach the kids to hit line drives, not pop-ups.

Agreed. I think I disagreed with a ton of what Bri said. My youngest son is my best player (of his 2 other brothers). He is 7 turning 8 and he caught a fly ball 2 games ago having to range from RC all the way to center and can catch anything, a smashed line drive, diving pop-ups, etc. When he was 5-6, he played first based and could catch well, so maybe I am a little spoiled, but he never learned by me teaching the kids to play poorly. I wanted the kids to play real baseball. Throw to every base and learn how and where to cover bases, even in T-ball or rookie ball (we did coach pitch 5-6). My teams got a lot better as the season went on and when they made great plays, i.e. real baseball plays, it was awesome. I never once told the pitcher to run someone down unless it was a dribbler and they could beat the guy home. Who cares about that, have them throw it to first, they will be better for it. Teaching them to uppercut? How about teaching them how to hit correctly. Again, I'll toot my son's horn because he one of the best players in his age bracket. He had a triple and a homer (legit, not overthrows) this past weekend because he has a great stance and swing. He is an average to small size kid and he can hit it as hard as kids that are bigger than him because of his technique. I coach together with a friend and our teams have won the championships the past two seasons because we coached them up to make the plays, be where they should be, back each other up, swing properly, etc. We expect everyone to do that and we don't teach kids to do things that may work, but aren't going to make them better. At this age, Bri's suggestions just seem wrong and likely will win some games, but won't make the team better and win the playoffs when the rest of the league has improved their play all season.

4 years, 3 championships, lost in the other, 7 losses total.

Our opponent every year in the championship treats the kids like high school players and runs em' when they mess up, barks at them on the field. Both of us had tons of requests to be on our teams and are completely different.

Your son sounds great btw.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

Don't do this. Teach the kids to hit line drives, not pop-ups.

Agreed. I think I disagreed with a ton of what Bri said. My youngest son is my best player (of his 2 other brothers). He is 7 turning 8 and he caught a fly ball 2 games ago having to range from RC all the way to center and can catch anything, a smashed line drive, diving pop-ups, etc. When he was 5-6, he played first based and could catch well, so maybe I am a little spoiled, but he never learned by me teaching the kids to play poorly. I wanted the kids to play real baseball. Throw to every base and learn how and where to cover bases, even in T-ball or rookie ball (we did coach pitch 5-6). My teams got a lot better as the season went on and when they made great plays, i.e. real baseball plays, it was awesome. I never once told the pitcher to run someone down unless it was a dribbler and they could beat the guy home. Who cares about that, have them throw it to first, they will be better for it. Teaching them to uppercut? How about teaching them how to hit correctly. Again, I'll toot my son's horn because he one of the best players in his age bracket. He had a triple and a homer (legit, not overthrows) this past weekend because he has a great stance and swing. He is an average to small size kid and he can hit it as hard as kids that are bigger than him because of his technique. I coach together with a friend and our teams have won the championships the past two seasons because we coached them up to make the plays, be where they should be, back each other up, swing properly, etc. We expect everyone to do that and we don't teach kids to do things that may work, but aren't going to make them better. At this age, Bri's suggestions just seem wrong and likely will win some games, but won't make the team better and win the playoffs when the rest of the league has improved their play all season.

4 years, 3 championships, lost in the other, 7 losses total.

Our opponent every year in the championship treats the kids like high school players and runs em' when they mess up, barks at them on the field. Both of us had tons of requests to be on our teams and are completely different.

Your son sounds great btw.

Tee ball championships?

 

[1-2-many]

X

 

[Cjw_55106]

Go behind home almost to the fence and have the kids face the backstop. Loudly say don't hit it hard and remind them 15000 times. Try and get them to lift the ball off the tee over the vertical bar on the backstop. Most hits are grounders in tball.

Don't do this. Teach the kids to hit line drives, not pop-ups.

Agreed. I think I disagreed with a ton of what Bri said. My youngest son is my best player (of his 2 other brothers). He is 7 turning 8 and he caught a fly ball 2 games ago having to range from RC all the way to center and can catch anything, a smashed line drive, diving pop-ups, etc. When he was 5-6, he played first based and could catch well, so maybe I am a little spoiled, but he never learned by me teaching the kids to play poorly. I wanted the kids to play real baseball. Throw to every base and learn how and where to cover bases, even in T-ball or rookie ball (we did coach pitch 5-6). My teams got a lot better as the season went on and when they made great plays, i.e. real baseball plays, it was awesome. I never once told the pitcher to run someone down unless it was a dribbler and they could beat the guy home. Who cares about that, have them throw it to first, they will be better for it. Teaching them to uppercut? How about teaching them how to hit correctly. Again, I'll toot my son's horn because he one of the best players in his age bracket. He had a triple and a homer (legit, not overthrows) this past weekend because he has a great stance and swing. He is an average to small size kid and he can hit it as hard as kids that are bigger than him because of his technique. I coach together with a friend and our teams have won the championships the past two seasons because we coached them up to make the plays, be where they should be, back each other up, swing properly, etc. We expect everyone to do that and we don't teach kids to do things that may work, but aren't going to make them better. At this age, Bri's suggestions just seem wrong and likely will win some games, but won't make the team better and win the playoffs when the rest of the league has improved their play all season.

4 years, 3 championships, lost in the other, 7 losses total.Our opponent every year in the championship treats the kids like high school players and runs em' when they mess up, barks at them on the field. Both of us had tons of requests to be on our teams and are completely different.

Your son sounds great btw.

Tee ball championships?

3 times in 4 years pal! Probably back to back coach of the year mixed in as well.

 

[-jb-]

I am coaching tee ball this year. Virgin. I went to Big Al's baseball coaching clinic and it was great. He's got a website that you can pay like $30 / season for and its well worth it. Practice plans, drills, tools, etc. All video taped so you can watch it. Of course, the kids in his video are far more compliant than anything I have seen so far but it has still made it easy to plan each week.

Bigalbaseball.com