At the beginning of the season, and hopefully as the year progresses you will be conducting practices. The following are some things I have picked up through watching how successful teams practice at this level.
Remember the age level. This is the most important aspect to successful coaching at this level. 4 and 5 year olds will only give you 20 seconds to explain a drill; 6 to 8 year olds might give you a minute, so keep the drills simple. I would also encourage you to have all the kids take a knee around you. Assistant coaches should have their attention directed at you as well so their idle chatter is not distracting to the kids. After explaining the drill have the assistant coaches give a demonstration of the drill so the kids can see how the drill is preformed. The head coach should be explaining the drill as the assistant coaches execute it.
Keep your lines short. We don’t want kids standing around idle; it is not productive and will cause young minds to wander. When possible have a separate drill running in the outfield so as to minimize stand around time.
Don’t let drills run to long. The longest any drill should last is 10 minutes. The optimum time frame is 5 to 7 minutes, but stay in tune to the kids, if they seem energized about a drill let it run longer, if they aren’t getting it, or seem bored by it, move on to something else.
Add on to drills. By starting from a base drill and adding on to it you won’t waste time explaining a new drill
Find games to teach skills. The more creative you can be by turning mundane throwing drills into fun competitive games the more likely the kids will be to learn. Additionally they will be having fun without knowing they are learning new skills
Write out your practice and have a copy for all assistants. By writing out a plan you can run practices more efficiently. It will also help if you have a few back up drills written down in case one you planned on doing doesn’t work out. Your sheet should only be a guideline, not a hard and fast way your practice will run.
I hope each of you have a great season. I truly appreciate your willingness to be involved with this program. I am here to help facilitate, and I truly love teaching kids youth sports. I hope to have several basic drill sheets I can give out if you ask for them. I encourage all of you to talk and share information amongst yourselves, and keep the mood light, no matter what the season brings. Please use this information as a guideline only. Have fun this year and I’ll see you at the diamonds.
Bryan Pfaff
T-ball and Little Coordinator