Coaching Youth Baseball: Recent Episodes
Dave Holt
Dave Holt shares his 19 years in professional baseball player development experience with youth baseball coaches. Discover the baseball coaching methods, processes, and philosophies that will make you stand out in the crowd and be "THAT" difference- maker coach. Dave helps mentor youth baseball coaches and baseball parents in the vitally important areas of player development. You will hear from someone who has inside experience and knowledge on how to use some of the best coaching approaches and teach player development to your ‘flock’ of players. For all baseball coaching levels and experience from T-Ball to High School. And, you might just get an edge on the ways you can help your kids survive the 60/90’ fields and reach the high school baseball funnel.
One of my biggest objectives for bettering youth baseball for the kids is to show coaches how to implement unstructured play, unorganized play, free play and things of this nature. Well don't take it from me…listen to a couple of the biggest names in college baseball coaching talk about the need to provide more opportunities to implement unstructured, disorganized play in youth baseball. You will go away with a new outlook and approach to your youth baseball experience. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
I have known several youth baseball league presidents over the years and they all have shown to be very nice, hardworking, dedicated and the desire to provide a good experience for the kids and families that they work with. Only thing is they are nowhere close to well trained, player development people. In fact, they had little to no baseball coaching experience. Yet they are picked to continue the youth baseball format that they have been handed down.
The league admin are told to just carry on the same format as always regardless if the players are 1) having fun and 2) getting enough reps to increase their baseball and athletic skills. The use of lunatic is not directed at these dedicated people who lead our organizations. Rather "lunatic" is used here more to reference to how idiodic it is to force our kids to play boring games and rarely if ever have on-field baseball practices. The people who think that is the best system we can come up with are lunatics. coachandplaybaseball.com
One of our listeners sent this to me…"Listening to your podcast has really changed my perspective on youth baseball. I coach 11-12 year olds in rec league and in the tournaments. I was "that" coach focused on winning district tournaments. I used to think 12u was the end-all-be-all of baseball. Boy was I wrong. I'm 100% resetting this year to player development. We've had a bunch of practices and I've been using your drills and scrimmage games. Kids love the scrimmages. Our league is also going to run coach-pitch sandlot games on the weekends to give kids more playing time. Thanks, and keep up the good work!" coachandplaybaseball.com
There might be some things you think and believe to be true in youth baseball that might not be. Listen in to hear Dave talk about some of the "myths" that are commonly circulated in the youth baseball arena. I bet most of these "myths" you have heard of and probably directly affect your current situation. Well, here are the seven discussion topics and we wrap up with a solution that you don't want to miss. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Are you tired of slow paced, boring, unproductive ballgames? Want to open your youth baseball world to unlimited player development and player enjoyment? Then you will want to hear the features and benefits of my accelerated High Tempo© baseball development formats. Here we go looking into a completely different way to approach youth baseball. See for yourself if you want to stay same old, same old. Or are you ready to jump start your kids into high octane, action packed games and practices. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Youth baseball parents and coaches are in a vicious cycle of trying to accumulate "status symbol points" watching their kids play ballgames and giving up the status points and allowing the kids to develop more during on-field baseball practices. Listen in as Dave talks about how the 'Big-people' are locked in and obsessed with status points and at some point got to give it up and let kids have more on-field practice opportunities. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
We complete our 100-point youth baseball coaches checklist with this episode. We cover several topics of interest and concern especially digging into how to coach hitters during competition and coaches demeanor during ballgames. In addition, we also discuss the problem of playing too many ballgames and neglecting on-field well organized baseball practice. We say, "Develop, develop, develop, but where is the development"? coachandplaybaseball.com
Our 100-point baseball coaches checklist continues and we hit a bunch of topics that commonly we have to deal with as youth level coaches. We also try to answer a really big question that I cannot get a fair answer to that makes sense to me. Want to know what that question is then tune in and maybe you can help give us an answer. I doubt if you can but let us know your best shot.
The “business model” of the major youth baseball national organizations is “ALL-STARS”. It is the main carrot that these national entities use to attract families. Unfortunately, the collateral damage from All-Stars is what turns many families away. We take a big long look into what it would take to shift from a national umbrella organization and just play as a local independent youth baseball operation. You could be a local league or a travel ball tournament team you should listen in and see if this might be a better fit for your baseball families to look into.
We have so many opportunities to communicate and interact with our players, parents, umpires and opponents. It is really good to have your coaching style, approach and philosophy on solid footing so we are able to handle the ups and downs of the baseball season. We continue through our 100 point checklist here and we end with a call to action for decoupling from your National Organization and starting your own local league free from dictatorship and the business model of major baseball organizations. https://www.coachandplaybaseball.com/
Wow, youth baseball coaches have a huge task list to cover in order to do their jobs effectively and leave a quality legacy. We continue with our coaches checklist and touch on several important bullet points on our 100-point checklist. Listen in and hear what vital topics we discuss on this one as we try and speak to coaches of all levels and experience. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Each youth baseball coach must work out their own style, philosophy and approach. We go over several topics in youth baseball coaching to ponder and chat about. Some you may be on the right track with and some of this might be new, beneficial material that you can use to coach your kids better. This is part one: 1-20 of my 100 point baseball coaches checklist. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Youth baseball age kids are truly not athletically equipped yet to perform the necessary baseball skills at a high level to be able to play baseball like MLB, college and High School ballplayers. Yet the ‘Big-people’ will not let go of forcing our kids to play “Real Baseball” rules despite the USABaseball/MLB American Development Model’s allowing us to take the off-ramp. We will be interviewing the ‘Real Baseball’ crowd to see why they are so convinced that ill-equipped kids must play “Real Baseball” or nothing else. Coachandplaybaseball.com
Does anyone conduct on-field baseball practice any more? Well if you are fortunate to have regularly scheduled on-field youth baseball practice here are some ideas for you listen to and see if they can benefit your teams. Most of them I use every practice and prior to ballgames.
Get your notepad and pencil and jot down some of these drill ideas and try them out at your next on-field baseball practices. Coachandplaybaseball.com
Youth baseball has a big problem by using “Real Baseball” rules with almost zero modifications or adaptations. Ever heard of “Sandlot” baseball? Well we are taking a look at starting with “Sandlot” style baseball and find some middle ground with “Real Baseball” rules and procedures. How do we make youth baseball act and mimic more benefits and features of ‘Sandlot” baseball? coachandplaybaseball.com
If you know the truth then are you ready to take a stand? Hear about the main purpose for youth baseball and here’s a hint. It is not to please the ‘big-people’. If it doesn’t benefit the kids then we will not be doing that. The Berlin Wall stood over 40 years and through the leadership of Ronald Reagan the wall came down in two months. We can take a stand for our kids and we can do it quickly. coachandplaybaseball.com
Youth baseball games brings a huge amount of entertainment to the adults. We talk about why adults are so infatuated about watching their kids play baseball. Yet have little or no appetite to make sure the kids practice baseball skills. It’s like they have no concern for them about playing the game well or playing a long time---they just want to go to the ballgames every Tuesday and Thursday night. Coach and Play Baseball.com
How much “player development” actually is going on in youth baseball? Is youth baseball more about entertaining the “Big-people” or giving kids vitally important reps to build and develop baseball skills? Listen in and decide if you think we are just dressing up in our baseball uniforms or actually ‘playing” baseball. Let’s see if there are improvements to our youth baseball systems that we can implement immediately. Coachandplaybaseball.com
Kids who start playing baseball at age 5 or 6 then reach age 13 & 14 have played 8,9, maybe even 10 years of organized youth baseball. They should be pretty polished by the time they are 13 or 14 right? Not always the case. Too many players are lacking baseball skills. The collateral damages of playing too many games, never practicing on the field and having coaches that are trained to organize player development minded practices are often more the norm than the exception. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
How many on-field baseball practices will a player participate in during their under 12-year-old career? From age 7 to 12 or about 6 seasons how often will kids have an on-field team practice? In addition, how many coaches will be thoroughly trained to conduct these on-field practices which include a large quantity of reps, wide range of throwing skills, sampling of multiple positions, many baserunning opportunities, turning double plays, catching fly balls on the run, numerous times to bat? All while having a blast! www.coachandplaybaseball.com
You all have been to your town carnival or county fair right? It’s exciting and entertaining to go to a town carnival. Youth baseball has a bit of hullabaloo around it that somewhat mimics a carnival. It has an entertainment aspect to it. But the consequences of making kids play games and never practicing on the field leaves players ill-prepared for the 60’-90’ fields. Pro baseball has a rookie level that you may not be aware of that youth baseball should take a long look at and it does not look like a carnival. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
You all have been to your town carnival or county fair right? It’s exciting and entertaining to go to a town carnival. Youth baseball has a bit of hullabaloo around it that somewhat mimics a carnival atmoshere. It has an entertainment aspect to it. But the consequences of carnival entertainment and making kids play games and never practicing on the field leaves players ill-prepared for the 60’-90’ fields. Pro baseball has a rookie level that you may not be aware of that youth baseball should take a long look at and it does not look like a carnival. Coachandplaybaseball.com
When we find something ‘out of order’ like an elevator for example it means it needs some special repairs to get it back functioning correctly. It is broken to some degree and working like it should. Is there any part of youth baseball that we can consider as ‘out of order’?
Well, here is a couple areas that we will discuss and let you decide if there might be cause for an ‘out of order’ sign. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Listen to Dave’s suggestions on how to turn the perfect hitting technique into a full-on culture of hitting on your baseball team. You will hear how the professional baseball coaches communicate hitting methods to their players. You might be surprised to hear some hitting techniques that you have never heard before. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
What are the options for your area ballplayers when they hit the 60’-90’ ballfields at age 13? Has your organization fully prepared them for this age level? We are looking to join in with your local leagues and teams and work with you on our High Tempo© Baseball Development System and close up all the holes in your player development model and increase the kid’s fun-level at the same time. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Have you been brave enough to bring up kid friendly modifations and variations to your local youth baseball leaders and travel ball coaches? Often new ideas are met with laughter and little interest. If they are not laughing at you then maybe it is time to step up your game and get prodding. People only know if we tell them, so it’s time for those laughing at us to get educated. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
If we know the problems and issues then we can analyze the situations and find solid solutions that make the problems somewhat go away. Here we look at our known problems in youth baseball development and match solutions to fix them. Question: Are our youth ballplayers “getting their work in?” Not like they should and probably not even close. How do we fix the problem?….by giving youth baseball coaches easy to use solutions. coachandplaybaseball.com
Someone asked me recently, “Hey Coach Dave, What would you do in youth baseball if your son was 10 years old?” So, here is the six things that I would use to analyze the situation and come up with my answers. What is the best-practice methods and systems to help your kids maneuver through youth baseball from 10 years old and beyond. coachandplaybaseball.com
Youth baseball leagues and travel tournament industry has a for-profit business model. And the models work very well to make money at our kids expense. Do you understand the business model? Once you know their methods then we soon realize the maybe, just maybe we have been duped. Come listen to see how the business model works and if should be a part of it. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Wood working carpenters have a saying, “Measure Twice – Cut Once”. Obviously the take away here is to slow down and carefully calculate your measuring prior to sawing a piece of wood. Careless measuring can cause a bad cut and a wasted piece of wood. We carry this same metaphor into youth baseball here so listen in and see the similar saying we use in youth baseball player development. Carpenters advise applies to baseball too. Coachandplaybaseball.com
Who needs to practice? What do we do during practice? When should we practice? Where can we practice? Why do we need to practice? Finally, how do practice? We are going to put the pedal to the medal this year and promote baseball practice this year. So, buckle up, here we go into all the reasons we need to practice in youth baseball. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
I have been working in baseball my whole life and in youth baseball for the last 25 years or more. I have always been perplexed at the lack of desire in the vast majority of youth baseball coaches in learning how to run better practices. And it just hit me the reason why coaches shy away from learning. It only took me 25 years to figure it out. Come listen and find out. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
There are certain skill sets that are beneficial for players to have in order to survive the game of baseball longer. Listen in and hear what you as coaches can focus on to help prep your players for the long haul.
When you have a bunch of weapons in your arsenal you have lots more opportunities to sustain your baseball careers. Coaches need to know what they need to invest their time in for their players to give them the best return. CoachandPlayBaseball.com
We want to play less games and practice more with our youth baseball teams. But we are not sure how to put High Tempo Baseball to action. We are not sure our facilities will be able to provide enough practice times for our baseball teams. Well, this is the episode to tune in to and take a look at some of the scheduling situations that you might have in your own town or league. How to bring High Tempo Baseball to your own team in your town. CoachandPlaybaseball.com
When we ask the ‘Big People’ how important is baseball player development to you? The response is overwhelmingly something like, “Yes, we are all about player development—definitely our #1 goal for our youth baseball players”. But, when we drill down and look at the body or work all we do is play ballgames. Why? Because youth baseball is largely adult entertainment. CoachandPlayBaseball.com
What would youth baseball look like if every single coach had a coaching guide that teaches them how to be in line with 100% concentration on player development? And, totally in on helping and preparing the most kids to reach the high school baseball funnel? Well, we might just have the tools to help youth coaches implement their practices and game management into a 100% player development friendly system and take the off ramp on the phony baloney systems we are using currently. CoachandPlayBaseball.com
Youth baseball has a system in place whether it is local Rec-Leagues, All-Stars or Tournament Travel Ball on the weekends. These models are etched in stone and not going away. The question is if someone wants to opt out of this system and is there another off-ramp to get off the freeway? Well, listen in this session and see if taking the off ramp is an option for you. Coachandplaybaseball.com
We dive into some areas of your ballclubs season and do some assessment of what went pretty good during the season and maybe some areas that need some attention as we go into our next season.
We look at five areas of importance and give our coaching selves a school yard grade and then we check our GPA. Come and see what your grades are. coachandplaybaseball.com
First, we listen to an audio from HOF’er Chipper Jones on his take on youth baseball. We then look at travel baseball and discuss some topics to see if it is truth or myth. And then we talk about various possible youth baseball options to try to make our youth baseball experience make more sense to coaches, families, and ballplayers.
Listen in to real life stories about the issues youth basebll coaches are experiencing as they deal with the “Big-people” in youth baseball today. Are kids really enjoying all the adult domination and drama? Doubt it. Listen in to hear Dave’s take on the problems and what might be a good way to inch our way out of this and into a system that is much more player friendly and enjoyable.
coachandplaybaseball.com
What happens to kids when they reach the upper levels of high school? Are there Very many if any summer ball team options? Listen in with Dave as he dissects the timeline of kids playing baseball and how baseball starts running out of gas when kids reach 17 & 18.
And then we get into how youth baseball compares on the intensity level in the lower age groups. What we really need is a common sense approach as we get ready to “pick a fight” with traditional youth baseball. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Ever wonder why we constantly play ballgames but rarely if ever have baseball practices? Ya, me too. Let us take a look at why we are so enamored by the ballgames and go to great lengths to play ballgames but blow off opportunities to have team practices. Who is at fault? The ‘Big-people’ (adults) or the kids? You decide after hearing the discussion on baseball entertainment.CoachandPlayBaseball.com
Ever imagined what youth baseball might look like when we focus on everyone else besides the pitchers. What if we tried to develop the other eight players and the hitters and leave the pitchers on the sidelines. Can you visualize the amount of action, at-bats, fielding tries, baserunning turns, increased action all over the field with the pitchers staying out of the games and having machine and/or coach pitch all the time? You would have to be ‘stuck on stupid’ not to realize how much difference this would make. Coachandplaybaseball.com
Hitting is a huge skill to try and master. Coaches must be able to build a culture of hitting on your teams. The ability to hit will increase the players longevity for sure.
The kids that hit the best usually play the longest and have more enjoyment playing ball. Listen in to hear Dave’s conversation on the importance of hitting development.
Where are the baseball “experts’? Where are the player development gurus? Why do we rely on non-baseball people to write the script, set up systems, make the rules, set up the programs and administer youth baseball policies? This is the discussion today when we look into the inter workings of youth baseball systems and realize this was all invented by non-baseball people for the most part.Coach and Play Baseball.com
What is it that slows down the baseball development of our kids? What is it that makes youth baseball so slow paced, lacks action, and dampens the enjoyment level? Well Dave discusses the ‘elephant in the room’ and give us a way to change the way we develop ball players. Coach and Play Baseball.com
Today’s youth baseball world is afflicted with the notion that we have to play ‘Real Baseball’. We have a better system to allow for increased action, more player development reps, more freedom for players to interact and more enjoyment for playing baseball. The ‘Big-people’ are often so ‘stuck on stupid’ they don’t realize what they are missing. At least we have to try this!
Take a listen to this list of current youth baseball status topics and see if you are seeing the same things I am seeing. Asking the question, “Are our kids REALLY receiving the developmental skills needed at this age to become fundamentally sound ball players and gain a high level of enjoyment playing baseball? Lets compare this list of topics and see if we can answer these questions. Coachandplaybaseball.com
Chances are you are a youth baseball parent that has experienced the FOMO. Yes, we all want the best for our kids in youth baseball but we do need to put up some bumper guards to make sure we don’t go off the rails into extreme fear that we might be missing out.
Jump in and listen as Dave goes over some ways to keep from getting overly fearful of some of the ‘myths’ going on around youth baseball. coachandplaybaseball.com
Let us go over and talk about a few ways that the ‘Big-people’ are notorious about stripping the joy from the ballplayers. Yes, the ‘Big-people’ have a lot to say about how much enjoyment we have in youth baseball. Here are 6 ways to help remind us how we can increase the enjoyment level for our kids. Coachandplaybaseball.com
Who will be the first to convert their entire league format to Accelerated Baseball Development? Most of us just follow the herd and keep doing what everyone else does even though we sense that something is not right.
We just will not stick our neck out of the turtle shell and go anywhere. Here are a few options on how to bring the awesome power of Accelerated Baseball to your own teams and stop following the herd. Be a turtle and stick your neck out.
Have you as one of the ‘big-people’ made it known to your kids and players that they are “allowed” to mess up? Yep, players are going to fail from time to time and we expect that. It is very important to talk to your kids about the difficulty of playing baseball well and there will be times of tribulation. As the adults we need to listen to Dave’s approach to give the some “room’ to mess up.
Where does the baseball road end for most youth ballplayers? Well it varies for sure. Dave take’s a look back to his kids that he worked with over the recent years and checks in to see where they are at. How many made it to high school baseball, or college level baseball? The game is very difficult after age 12 so we better make the road enjoyable for as many kids as possible. That’s where Accelerated Baseball Development comes on to the scene.
The template and format for Accelerated Baseball Development is now available for everyone in youth baseball and softball. This action packed, kid-friendly youth baseball practice system and competitive games formats is in a coaching course format for easy consumption for all youth baseball coaches. What is keeping you from implementing this new system in your local ballclubs? Let’s check it out and see what’s in it.
How do we know that we are doing things correctly in our youth baseball systems today? Is there improvements we can make, adjustments to make the game more enjoyable, adaptations to increase player development opportunities? Well, listen in as Dave talks about some new ideas that might just rock the boat and may even turn the boat over. Accelerated Baseball Development is here and you can hear from those that are experiencing it now.
USABaseball in conjunction with MLB have given us plenty of suggestions on how we can turn baseball back to the kids. Along with Aspen Institute’s Project Play and USABaseball, Dave dissects many of the creative ideas to allow youth baseball’s pendulem to swing back toward ‘free-play’ and ‘sandlot’ style, kid-centered, youth baseball organizations. Check out what this ‘sea change’ might look like.
Adult emotion drives almost everything to do with youth baseball. Have the adult emotions helped or hurt player development? Are we operating to cater to the adult’s emotions or are we doing all we can to make it all about the kids? Dave talks about the situation and some ways to throttle back some of the high-octane, parent/adult emotions that drive the sport model.
We know that winning is important to everyone in youth baseball. But, if we don’t win that day do we have anything we can talk about despite the game outcome. We do if you build a culture statement about the other real important elements that represent your team. Dave will throw out some ideas for you to ponder and put together your own personal culture statement for your ballclub. Everyone needs a culture and this statement gives you goals to shoot for it. CoachandPlayBaseball.com
Baseball played in the 12 & under ballfields can be very deceiving especially to the ‘Big-People’. In other words, we should take caution and realize that once we hit the 13 & over 60’ 90’ ballfields it’s going to be game-on. Challenges of enormous size wait lurking for us in middle school years playing baseball. Most turn from the game because it is so difficult to perform as they once could at the smaller dimensions. Listen in to Dave’s warnings about 13 & over baseball.
We follow up again on the recent report from USA Baseball and take a deeper dive into how baseball will be affected. Can you imagine what youth baseball will look like practicing more than playing games? This could really upset the apple cart and change baseball as we know it and for the better for kids too. Listen to see how The “Big-people” are going to make adjustments.
USA Baseball just released a report on the status and groundwork for developing youth baseball players. The report lacks for any real detailed plans, but it does touch on some very pertinent aspects of player development that you should hear about. Listen in to Dave’s breakdown of the report and see where this leads down the road. Reach us at coachandplaybaseball.com
What aspect of playing baseball will give players the most enjoyment? I think that ‘squaring up’ and smacking the ball perfectly on the barrel and having the ball ‘jump’ off the bat is quite rewarding. This is where the “fun-level” meter goes way higher. This is what brings kids back year after year—being able to hit. Learn how to use PRO hitting terms to help foster a hitting environment on your ballclubs.
Baseball knowledge and experience is nice to have as a youth baseball coach. Knowing the in’s and out’s, the x’s and o’s, the techniques of the game and all the technical strategies is a valuable asset to coaching success. But, maybe more important in leaving a positive foot print on kids are some of the character growth potential we have. Here is one of Dave’s coaches in his own words on how he envisions impacting his players over the season.
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One of my baseball coaching student disciples was kind enough to share a letter to his team’s parent with me. Dave goes through the letter with his commentary with examples of best methods and philosophy to help develop your youth ballplayers. Your coaching success increases when you have a strong philosophical foundation to build from and communicate to the players and parents. visit us at www.coachandplaybaseball.com
This is one step we never want to circumvent. We should always make time to get together in some form or another to state our case in front of our youth baseball parents. This sets the stage for the coming season. This gives us a sturdy foundation to work from. When the oceans get rough we have something to steady the ship. Dave goes over some information you might want consider going over with your youth baseball parents.
This podcast episode we go into some of physical areas of the game to focus our player development on. In order to sustain themselves in baseball until high school age players have to excel in various skills to be able to make the high school teams. Here we go into these areas and let players, parents and coaches know exactly what areas to focus on that will give us the edge we need to be successful on the ballfield. Coach and Play Baseball.com
Are we as coaches getting the most out of the field time we have? Are we providing enough baseball plays for our kids to develop? Are we allowing opportunities for our players to really learn the game? Try this accelerated format out in your practices and see kids build the freedom and confidence to play the game at higher levels someday. And have a blast at the same time.
Coach and Play Baseball.com
It is very satisfying to win games. Winning the battles is nice for immediate gratification, but we may be missing the big picture. From age 5-14 years old we want to try to win the war.
That is winning the player development war which takes several years to make happen. Our focus changes drastically when we approach youth baseball with the long view always smack dab in front of our minds. coachandplaybaseball.com
It is very satisfying to win games. Winning the battles is nice for immediate gratification, but we may be missing the big picture. From age 5-14 years old we want to try to win the war.
That is winning the player development war which takes several years to make happen. Our focus changes drastically when we approach youth baseball with the long view always smack dab in front of our minds. coachandplaybaseball.com
Dave does a review of the famous “Matheny Manifesto” written by former MLB player and now manager Mike Matheny. Mike jumped into his own kid’s youth baseball world after he retired from baseball. The “Manifesto” went viral and is now mandatory reading for all adults in youth baseball. Dave dissects part of the highlights and elaborates on why this is such a lifeline to helping parents and coaches look at youth baseball from ‘player development’ eyes. https://www.coachandplaybaseball.com/
My curiosity in youth baseball is often spent on the “Big-People’s” view on how far the train goes before we get to the end of the baseball road. What is your ‘end game’? The data tells us just about all we need to know. Come and listen to my talk on my prediction to how far your child will go in baseball. Statistics tell the story. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
We just finished another MLB baseball draft. Dave takes time to breakdown the data on the first three rounds. How does this data relate to us in youth baseball? Well, come listen in and see some astonishing data. Dave will talk about how this information directly effects on the way and methods we train youth baseball players. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Get the inside scoop on baseball signs. Dave discusses the baseball scene on the topic of baseball signs and how it relates to baseball player development. Baseball signs are a big thing to youth baseball coaches, but it may be overrated. Let’s see and tune in. Check out Dave's personal sign system, too. www.coachandplaybaseball.com
Thankfully we have a lot of Moms and Dads coaching our youth baseball teams. We could not provide youth baseball without the help of parents in the coaching trenches. At the same time we want the parent/kid relationship to stay strong and healthy. It can get real blurry coaching your own kids. Dave goes over some of the issues and some solutions for you try in your baseball coaching toolbox. CoachandPlay Baseball.com
What do most all good hitters do? Dave goes over a short list of tips to help develop your hitters to move up the baseball ladder into the 60’ 90’ high school baseball funnel. See how many of your hitters can check the 5 items off their list. Our jobs as coaches is to help as many kids as possible reach proficiency in all 5 of these hitting tips. Coachandplaybaseball.com
Do you have a catcher? Do you have catching depth? Catching is not for everyone that’s for sure. Most kids don’t want to go anywhere near the catcher’s bag of shin guards and chest protectors. Here is what I like to look for in a catcher. And some kids may need be nudged out of their comfort zone to try catching. Coachandplaybaseball.com
How are you on your infield basic knowledge level? If a hig- level baseball person rolled up on your team would they be impressed? Check out these strategies with your infielders and help take your players to a higher playing level.
I love working with my infielders and helping them polish their ball handling skills and I hope you do too. CoachandPlayBaseball.com
Do you know that your players and parents kind of mirror your coaching style and approach. Yes, your organization is a bit of a reflection of your actions. Now we have to decide on what that looks like. Do we want to be known as the “classiest team” in the league, or do we want to be known as “THAT” Team…you know, THAT one that nobody likes very much. Coachandplaybaseball.com
It’s is time to go back to review some player development topics and strategies to refresh. This is a 10-year journey down the road to high school baseball funnel. You are dared to implement this philosophy and incorporate these topics in your coaching approach. You might even get double or triple dog dared if you don’t watch out. Coachandplaybaseball.com
If you are involved in travel ball, tournament baseball, travel baseball especially for the ages 12 & under you may not be in the best situation to develop ballplayers. Listen to some methods and ideas that are starting to emerge around the country that can better develop baseball players. Small adjustments and tweaks and some imagination can help set up more players for success. Coachandplaybaseball.com
Is youth baseball travel ball the best platform to develop baseball players? Dave takes a deeper dive into the perils of travel baseball and tournament travel ball. The focus is mostly on the ages 12 and lower as we discuss the most damaging segment of travel baseball that entraps even the best of youth coach’s intentions. Coach and Play Baseball.com
Getting your season off on the right foot takes a little preparation and planning. Dave talks about some the main items to take care of as the season approaches. And don't forget the most important thing that cannot be skipped over...tune in to find out how to sell your kid's parents on your player develop systems. Coach and Play Baseball.com
Are you over-pitching your youth baseball pitchers? There is a good chance you are or you have seen other teams go too far with their pitchers. Dave spends some time going over the reasons why we see too much over-pitching of our youth ballplayers today. Get some background and insight to the right Smart Pitching guidelines and get a copy to all the ‘Big-People’ (parents and coaches) today.
One of the ‘5-Tools’ of baseball is labeled “Fielding”. Within the content of fielding is ball-handling. The transition from the time the ball hits the glove to the release of the throw. During this time the ball never really stops. It becomes one fluid motion from the catch to the release. Dave goes over some practice ideas and drills to help your baseball players master the vitally important art and skill of ball-handling.
Want to create a hitting environment on your teams just like professional baseball teams do it? Listen and take notice of the best ways to build a culture of hitting on your youth baseball teams. What is more fun than unleashing your aggressive hitters and dominating the offensive game by outhitting your opponents? Hitters will have a blast and really help your kids swing-it!
We like to help our kids by coaching them during ballgames. Sometimes this might backfire. Especially when kids are batting. Giving too much advice and scolding kids when they chase bad pitches can do some long-term damage to hitters. Listen to Dave and see if you might be over coaching or doing things the right way.
As a youth baseball coach, are you embarrassed to lose games? You are allowed to lose sometimes. In fact, it is healthy and necessary to lose some games. In order to properly develop the most players teams will likely lose a few more games. You are using more pitchers, catchers and shortstops with kids playing multiple positions. And hitters are going to swing the bat aggressively. All good things but raises the risk of losing. Losing is expected or you may be in the wrong league if you win all the time.
Everyone should know the ‘5’ Tools of baseball skills. This is the basis for player evaluation and physical value that players bring to their teams. The Major League teams use the ‘5’ Tools to grade their players and decide on which players to draft and what round. The ‘5’ Tool player can “do it all” as they say. One of our biggest jobs as baseball coaches is to provide plenty of opportunities for our players to build up their ‘5’ Tools. Once kids reach high school their ‘5’ Tool abilities will largely determine if they will be successful in high school baseball.
When we get youth baseball back on the field are things going to be different. What will youth baseball look like? Dave talks about some adjustments that might come out of youth baseball as we look to play ball again. Coach and Play Baseball.com
Ideas for Practicing baseball drills at home. Dave has shared some additional skills and drills that kids can do at home and without a need for much equipment. Listen for pitching and catching drills, pepper hitting for all ages of baseball. In addition, you will get some ideas on some fitness activities that can be done near home or even inside your home without any workout equipment. Make sure it turns into a fun activity using small competitions, tracking points and reps, using a stop watch and things like that to increase the fun-level.
Any time our kids can get some reps in outside of organized practices and games is a bonus. If your kids are motivated ballplayers then Dave is going to give you some ideas on some home baseball drills. Embedded in the drills are ways to make some mini-games out of the drills so kids feel more like it’s just a fun competition instead of the drudgery of doing a drill. You don’t need much special equipment. The biggest thing a parent needs is to set up some time to be available for your kids.
There are many aspects that go into youth baseball player’s player development journey. As baseball coaches and parents we want to follow the best methods and systems that give our players the opportunity to reach high school baseball. Mastering the 60’/90’ fields is very difficult for the large majority of players. If we do follow Dave’s playbook and systems we have a much better chance of helping more kids reach the high school baseball funnel.
One of the top responsibilities we have as youth baseball coaches is to help kids throw better. How do help kids throw better? It just takes an easy plan and some effort to set up a warm-up throwing routine. Want to help kids survive baseball at the 60’/90’ fields and make the high school baseball funnel? Well, Dave Holt helps talk us through a plan of action to maximize our kids throwing arms and ball handling skills. If we neglect our kids throwing development it may end up to an early exit from the game.
What should youth baseball coaches focus on to best develop their ballplayers. How do the best youth baseball coaching methods propel the most kids into the 60’/90’ baseball fields? Dave narrows the to-do list into a checklist for coaches and baseball parents to build a player development system to prepare players for high school baseball. You will get a clear idea what you need to focus on the most during your baseball season.
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Youth baseball should be a positive family endeavor filled with mostly enjoyment and pleasure. Often baseball mom’s and dad’s get off the rails when emotions overlap into player performance. How do we as baseball coaches help our baseball parents keep the game in proper perspective? We have to nurture and communicate to the parents some suggested helpful tips. Here are some informational items to share with your player’s parents to help make the youth baseball journey a positive family activity.
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True youth baseball player development does factor in some losses. Unless you are willing to lose some games here and there you might be a ‘win-at-all-costs’ coach. Now the Big-People’ (adults, parents, grandparents, peers) really, really want to win games.
Oh, they say they want coaches to develop players but, deep down the ‘Big-People’ mostly care about winning. How can you coach youth baseball and avoid falling into the ‘win-at-all-costs’ trap? Check out this episode and see how Dave wants you to handle the situation.
Youth Baseball Coaching and Umpires have been and always will be a necessary element and factor in the game. Youth baseball coaches do not always agree with their judgements or like the way they interpret the rules, but we will always treat umpires with worthy and high respect. Umpires are not our enemy. They are part of the process and we use umpires to build character into our players and parents. It starts with finding out their names. Are you able to treat umpires with respect and disagree with them with respect? Your players and parents will follow your lead.
More important than baseball’s 5-tools is the 6th Tool: the ‘Intangibles’. Great baseball coaches know what is the most important of all their duties. Top baseball coaches use youth baseball as our vehicle to teach more than the game and always look for opportunities to share the 6th tool. Want to impact your players for a lifetime? Come and listen to Dave’s podcast on how to be on the lookout for teaching moments so you can really be a difference maker while coaching baseball.
Youth baseball coach should build a culture of hitting with your kids. Dave has a strong viewpoint about how to look at bunts and walks in the pre-high school player development years. You might want to check this out and make sure you are developing hitters for high school or you might be a ‘ring-chaser’.
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It is estimated that 85% of youth baseball coaches have their own child on their teams. Everyone is familiar of the term ‘Daddy-Ball’. Dave talks about several items that can help coaches successfully maneuver the coach/parent-child/player scenario and avoid the ‘Daddy-Ball’ label. Want to have a healthy relationship while coaching your child? Here arr some ideas to make it work. Dave talks about playing for his own Dad while in college and how he made it work.
Dave Holt explains why adding competition to your baseball practice plans is vitally important for baseball coaches. Many competitive baseball drills are discussed as examples of easy ways and methods to incorporate mini-competitions in your everyday baseball practice planning. Competition in practice starts with catch and throw warm-ups and is embedded in your entire youth baseball practice, including batting practice and ending with the sandlot scrimmage. Want to make baseball fun, enjoyable and exciting…then you want to listen in.
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Dave Holt talks about the benefits and features of playing a “sandlot’ style scrimmage at every practice. Want to build baseball skills and increase the ‘fun-level’ then make sure you incorporate some type of scrimmage in your practices. Using the 3-Team format it is pretty easy to plan and execute an incredibly fun practice scrimmage in under 30 minutes. Listen to some of Dave’s suggestions to increase your player’s fun-level and bring back the sandlot days of baseball.
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How do we as youth baseball coaches provide practice opportunities to help our players build ball handling and throwing skills? Dave Holt’s Rapid Fire Fungo Drill is an excellent drill template to follow and use at any level of baseball. Our kids need to be able to perform the most basic ball handling skills at a pretty high level and at the same time build arm strength to prepare to excel on the 60’/90’ fields. And, this drill is an instantly ramps up the player’s fun-level by embedding mini-competitions. Use this drill to Increase reps, build up arms, improve ball handling skills and provide an action packed, fun practice.
Dave Holt helps baseball coaches understand the real important stuff that coaches should emphasize during ballgames. Are you really a ‘baseball coach’ or are you performing for the parents. Often times much of the game coaching is just a show. Find out how to best serve your players and give them room to do what they do. Games are the player’s “time to shine”. Coaches step aside and release the kids to play the game…just like the pro’s do it.
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Maybe more important than baseball knowledge is being able to ‘manage’ a group of (12) players. Being able to communicate verbally and non-verbally, teach, complement, critique without being critical and establish your rules, procedures and expectations is vitally essential for effective coaching. Having ‘classroom management’ skills can carry a coach a long way to being a good leader and getting the most out of your ballplayers. More on Team Management
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Dave dives deeper into your baseball coaching mind to see what you are thinking about your coaching approach and philosophy. Are you going to be a difference maker and leave a life-long impression with your players? What do you think about winning, hitting approach, playing time. baseball practice, game coaching, teaching the intangibles, communication styles, player development and what is your ‘end-game’ goals. At the end of the day are you going to make a difference.
One the best if not the best baseball practice planning tool is the 3-
Team-it template. Dave explains the way he organizes baseball practice to make coaches look like baseball experts. Your players maximize their time, get plenty of rep, touches, and swings while embedding the drudgery of drills into mini-competitions. No standing around anymore. No boring practices that chase kids to play soccer. Highly energized practices and kids have a ton of fun at the same time. For more baseball info go to: Coach and Play Baseball.com
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Dave Holt explains advises youth baseball coaches to put all their cards on the table and communicate with baseball parents. Parents want to know who they are dropping their kids off with. This is a great time to share with parents about your style, philosophies and approach to coaching youth baseball. As the season ebbs and flows you can always fall back on your style, approach and procedures when issues emerge.
Parent/Baseball Coaches Meeting
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How do you as a baseball coach approach building and developing pitchers?
One of the biggest and vitally important responsibilities of our youth baseball coaches is to develop a large amount of pitchers. Dave talks about the importance of looking at every kid as a pitcher in 12 & under age levels and build an endless supply of pitchers at all levels. Pitching depth is vital to building a quality, sustainable baseball organization.
Dave Holt, from www.coachandplaybaseball.com talks to youth baseball coaches, ballplayers and parents on the value and merits of developing and training baseball players via the shortstop position. All non-lefthanded players workout at shortstop during practice. Dave gives the pros on why the benefits are so high to train all your players at shortstop during baseball practices. Avoid the ‘pigeon-hole’ approach putting your players at 2B, OF only. Expose players to the left side of the infield at shortstop and third base to develop arm strength that helps kids transfer easier to the 60/90’ ballfields. This advice can be a game-changer for developing your players!