What Makes Baseball Teams a Target for Hacks?
By Chris Sloan, 0 CommentsYouth baseball coaching is much more difficult in this day and age. Years ago, players did not have so many people in their ear.
In the age of travel baseball, youth baseball coaches must realize that, often, they do not have the last word. A good majority of the modern day baseball playing youth get private instruction, be it for hitting, pitching or both. Whether that is a good thing, or not, is based on how good of instructor the player has and a story for another day. However, parents and coaches have the responsibility of coordinating their child's coaches, so the many common coaching dilemmas may be avoided and the player is the one who benefits.
With that common, outside baseball coaching situation, travel ball coaches are in a difficult spot, as what they coach may differ from the instruction players receive elsewhere. The following scenarios are common in today's youth baseball scene, especially at the travel baseball and high school levels.
Youth baseball coaching is tougher nowadays
Travel team coach tells young player something they are doing wrong at the plate and kid gets mad or confused because player believes their personal coach teaches differently.
Travel team coach tells player something contradictory to player's personal coach, player tells parent, parent approaches coach and tells them to "lay off" their kid, as they have a personal coach.
Maybe the most common and unfortunate situation is when players become so confused, because they are hearing so many apparently different things from multiple sources, including their own parent. These players often are turned off to playing because of that confusion, and rightfully so.
Of course, many other scenarios are possible with this dual coaching situation, and most of them have negative outcomes. The good news is that some of these scenarios are preventable with some coaching and parent coordination.
Youth baseball coaches should:
Parents should realize that:
Finally, parents and coaches have to put the player's feelings first and help them navigated their way through these tough youth baseball coaching situations. Helping kids understand that all coaches are out to help them and that they should at least listen to every coach is important parental advice.
After playing major league baseball, Jack Perconte has taught baseball and softball since 1988 and offered valuable coaching training too. He has helped numerous youth players reach their potential, as well as having helped parents and coaches navigate their way through the challenging world of youth sports. Jack is one of the leading authorities in the areas of youth baseball training and coaching training advice.
All Jack Perconte articles are used with copyright permission.There are 0 comments on "Youth Baseball Coaching is Tough 1st Thing: Coordinate the Coaches"
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