T-Ball

[Adam]

I'm coaching this season. Not sure how it happened. Wife didn't even want me to do it. No questions.

Maybe some Ts & Ps...

[NJHalo]

Same thing happened to me. I offered to help out, next thin I know I am the manager of the Marlins.

Get a few parents to help as assistant coaches because the kid's attention span at that age is zero, so you need as much help as possible keeping them focused.

 

[Redondo]

I helped coach a T-ball team when my son was young. It was fun and funny. Sometimes they would all run after the ball after it was hit and no one would stay at their position. Also had kids run towards 3rd after they hit so we had to stop them and have them run the right way. Enjoy the time with the kids. Some of the parents can be a pain.

[gotbeer]

What's with all of Adams posts revolving around balls?

[Blarg]

And small children. Lou is probably his assistant coach. 

[AngelsHilo]

If your League has a draft, try to look for the ones that can catch and throw first.  After that, you need to evaluate the kids parents pot luck ability.

[RallyMo]

T ball is the best. 

[AngelsLongBall]

I got voluntold that I'm a coach for Farm this year for LL. Apparently need to get my uniform order for my team that was formed yesterday in by Sunday. Appreciate all inbound t's & p's

[RallyMo]

The mad scrambles to the hit balls, the baserunning excellence and the endless number of tee resets: it's all so magical.

 

[RallyMo]

2 minutes ago, AngelsLongBall said:

I got voluntold that I'm a coach for Farm this year for LL. Apparently need to get my uniform order for my team that was formed yesterday in by Sunday. Appreciate all inbound t's & p's

You're screwed.

No thanks needed.

[RallyMo]

23 minutes ago, Fregosi said:

If your League has a draft, try to look for the ones that can catch and throw first.  After that, you need to evaluate the kids parents pot luck ability.

Yes. Having good players is crucial to both the learning process and one's chances of making the postseason.

[BaseballMom]

My son got an award in T-ball for his gopher patrolling skills.

[NJHalo]

All the kids in our league got trophies. We felt it's the best way to prepare them for real life.

[the dude abides]

3 hours ago, RallyMo said:

The mad scrambles to the hit balls, the baserunning excellence and the endless number of tee resets: it's all so magical.

 

My son did a T-ball summer league a few years ago...

In Houston.

To quote the great philosopher Nikki Sixx, "I've been through hell, and I'm never going back."

 

[Keener]

Teach them the correct direction to run the bases, no dog piles on batted balls, and everything else is gravy.

[NJHalo]

Use the alligator analogy to teach them to field grounders.  Glove hand is the bottom jaw, other arm is the top jaw.

[Adam]

The emails from parents.... shoot me 

[tdawg87]

If you must pat a child on the butt, make sure the dad isn't looking. Also encourage productive outs.

[Blarg]

Dear Parents of Up and Coming Superstar,

First off let me state that the heading is in no way intended for you. Your son has the arm of a noodle, the legs of turtle, the agility of a rock and the brains of his parents.

Awards and Trophies. Your son will not be getting any participation ribbons, you earn trophies by excellence not just showing up and seeing how long of a booger you can pull out of your snot nose.

Pizza Parties. I'm not feeding the children like Sally Struthers. You pay, you get Pizza, otherwise your brat goes home hungry.

Drinks and Snacks. See Pizza Parties for rules.

Uniforms. Yeah, that old t-shirt that doesn't fit him and has juice box stains is not a uniform. He will get a clean shirt with some dubious team name like the Iguanas or Armadillos along with an ill fitting hat for his mongoloid head. Use tape so it doesn't fall off. We are not paying MLB so your son gets to wear Red Sox gear.

Practice times. Are you nuts? These are five year olds that can barely put on their Velcro shoes and you expect me to leave work early to watch them run into each other for two hours and another extra hour when you show up late because you lost track of time with the girls at Starbucks, filling your pie hole with vending machine food and adult chocolate shakes that you call coffee.

Game Time. It starts without your brat and ends without your brat if you aren't on time. We will have a printed schedule, follow it. If you are late picking up Junior I'm sure the guy with the van that says Free Candy will drop him off at the house. It may not be your house.

Batting Cages. I will see to it every child gets his chance in a cage and a bat may be involved.

Let's all have a great year and hopefully it ends soon and without any of the kids going to the hospital or me going to jail.

Coach Adam

 

[HaloMilliVanilli]

Definitely get parents involved.  I would separate the kids into smaller groups (fielding grounders that I'd toss, not hit; learning to catch with milk jugs/hacky sacks; hitting off T's, one with baseballs and one with a slightly deflated basketball which builds up confidence and forces them to swing hard; someone tossing wiffle balls at them underhand) and then have them rotate every 5-10 minutes.  I would cut the bottoms off of a handful of plastic milk jugs and toss golf-ball sized wiffle balls at them and have them try to catch them.  Also, tossing hacky sacks at them.  Having a few of those velcro paddles with the fuzzy tennis balls is another cool thing to throw in the mix.  Easier to catch with bare hands or jug/paddle and helps with the hand-eye coordination.  Little kids really enjoy things and learn well if things seem like games and are in small doses.    Challenge them to run somewhere and run the bases as quickly as possible.  Parents love you running the energy out of their kids. 

[HaloMilliVanilli]

Be careful and alert when having the kids play catch with baseballs.  This is the activity where kids are most likely to get hurt (that and walking behind someone who is swinging a bat because neither are paying attention).  I would ramp up to this with the milk jugs, hacky sacks and velcro paddle catching.  Be prepared that once little Chase, Biff or Chandler take one in the face that his parents may be none too happy and want to know why you let that happen.

[Tank]

make sure you polish up on your 'turn the page" and "tip the cap" acknowledgements when dissecting the game with the parents.

also, and this is really important, make sure the run on contact play is ALWAYS on with less than two outs. always. the score or inning is never important in determining this.

and always make sure you're first in line to the post-game buffet.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

11 hours ago, Redondo said:

I helped coach a T-ball team when my son was young. It was fun and funny. Sometimes they would all run after the ball after it was hit and no one would stay at their position. Also had kids run towards 3rd after they hit so we had to stop them and have them run the right way. Enjoy the time with the kids. Some of the parents can be a pain.

Some of the parents will bitch because their kid isn't playing enough, is obviously a star, etc. One thing I hated about going to games when my stepchildren were playing was the parents who treated every game like it was a national title game.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

31 minutes ago, Tank said:

make sure you polish up on your 'turn the page" and "tip the cap" acknowledgements when dissecting the game with the parents.

also, and this is really important, make sure the run on contact play is ALWAYS on with less than two outs. always. the score or inning is never important in determining this.

and always make sure you're first in line to the post-game buffet.

And claim #14 before your players have begun choosing uniform numbers.

[tdawg87]

Wear a wifebeater to every game.