Lesson #2: The Right Reasons to Coach – Lessons from Coaching Youth Baseball

It is important that every baseball coach starts coaching for the right reasons. There are three primary goals every coach should have: 1) increase every player’s skill set so they are better players by the end of the season; 2) strive to make every player’s time with the team a fun experience; and 3) be fair in both positions played and innings played. If a youth baseball coach can accomplish these three things, the season was a success.

In Lesson #1 I said that it is not the skills a player starts with that are important, it is the skills a player finishes with that really count. It is a coach’s duty to make each player better. I have run into many coaches that use their talented players to win ballgames, but don’t necessarily put effort into improving the skills of any of their players. As an example, if a baseball player has problems getting hits, some coaches will put that player at the end of the line-up and only have them bunt. So, as an alternative to spending the extra practice time trying to make the player a better hitter, the coach will put the player up there only to bunt and hope for a walk. Also, these coaches will often times try to hide the player defensively. In other words, they will try to place the player in a position where they will not have to field a ball. This cheats the players and weakens the sport. This sort of thing harkens back to the old days when coaches assumed players either “had it” or didn’t. Those that didn’t played the minimum and sat on the end of the bench. But with today’s coaching techniques we know that players, given the chance, can improve; they can learn to hit and field, given the proper instruction and the opportunity. And they ought to have that chance.

Many coaches coach for two reasons: 1) for the ability to play their son or daughter for as many innings as they like at the positions they want and 2) to win ballgames. These are the wrong reasons. For some reason, there are many coaches at the youth level that only care about winning ballgames. Why? Maybe because these coaches feel like failures if they lose and, in addition to that, most youth leagues will pick the coach with the best overall record to coach the all-star team for that level of play. So, it comes down to prestige; it is more prestigious to win ballgames than to teach baseball. And it then comes down to wisdom and experience. How big of a deal is it to be the country’s youth baseball coach with the most wins (woo woo!), compared to being a coach who truly looks out for all of his players and their personal development?

So, I am requesting that all coaches buck the system. I had a very simple system. I coached during the regular season with the purpose of teaching baseball. I coached tournament games to win. But, even when I was determined to win, I wanted to allocate fair playing time. Why shouldn’t all the players on a team be able to participate in the challenge of play-off baseball?

I am also asking leagues to buck the system; leagues should make it more prestigious to teach baseball than to win ballgames. I want to win as much as anyone. But there is a right way and a wrong way. Youth level coaches should not have winning as their top priority. Prestige is determined at the group level; leagues determine what is prestigious within their ranks. If youth baseball leagues started recognizing their coaches as teachers, then teaching baseball would become prestigious, and a new trend in youth coaching would begin.

This is the second lesson, of many, contained within the article "Lessons from a Youth Baseball Coach". All of the lessons can be found at Baseball Armory – “The Baseball Blog”. Baseball Armory sponsors Baseball Armory – “The Baseball Blog”. Baseball Armory is an online store that contains quality Akadema softball and baseball gear. Akadema produces high quality softball and baseball equipment, including outfield and infield gloves, catcher’s mitts, metal and wood bats, cleats, turf shoes, batting gloves, sunglasses, apparel, equipment bags, glove care products, and miscellaneous baseball and softball accessories.

Tags: Akadema baseball gear, Akadema equipment, Akadema softball gear, baseball apparel, baseball cleats, baseball sunglasses, baseball turf shoes, batting gloves, catcher’s mitts, infield glove, metal baseball bat, outfield glove, softball turf shoes, wood baseball bat

Sporting Goods

• Coaching Youth Baseball – Lesson #3: Games Should Be Fun – Hone Skills During Practice (Hitting a baseball is recognized by many as the most difficult skill in sports. It’s cruel because even the most accomplished player, falls short most of the time. That’s why it is important to let the kids play and allow the game be fun. In the course of a game there might be an opportunity [...])
• Lessons from a Youth Baseball Coach – Lesson #1: First Steps in Coaching (I was a youth baseball coach for many years. I became a coach because my son started playing the sport late and I found that his first coach did not give him enough playing time to increase his skill set. The way his first coach ran practices, also frustrated me. I found that his skills [...])