New coach, advice please

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Jun 24, 2010
465
0
Mississippi
I am a coach who has adhered to the advice delineated here. I never yelled, put down, or mistreated a girl. The girls on the team seemed to follow my lead and had a universally positive attitude whatever the score. It was fun to practice and play with this team. Not that it matters, but without yelling or screaming, etc. we won a lot of games! And had fun doing it. If you coach this way you can avoid a lot of problems those more "intense" coaches have.

I've always admired those coaches who just sit back and calmly go about their business with a good team. It just looks so dang cool. :cool:
 
Oct 22, 2009
1,781
0
I've always admired those coaches who just sit back and calmly go about their business with a good team. It just looks so dang cool. :cool:
My DD had a severe injury which kept her out of softball for close to a year. Her team disbanded in her absence, and when she was ready to play again, 18u, I let her choose the team. She chose a team that had a reputation of little coach involvement. During practice, the coaches were there, working skills, plays, etc, but come game time, they sometimes were not even there. The girls made the line up, and played great ball. They show up for the later games in the tournament.
I was talking to a scout once who was always at our games, she said she admired how much the girls worked together without the coaches.
I agreed the coachless games were always fun to watch.
 

sluggers

Super Moderator
Staff member
May 26, 2008
7,132
113
Dallas, Texas
My comments to the OP:

1) You are over-dramatizing the affects of the prior coaches. If you look at exactly how much time they spent with the kids, I think you'll find that the time was miniscule. I doubt that any damage was done. (I'm not condoning the prior coach's actions. But, get real. )

2) The stuff aboiut "constant praise" for the kids is crap. The kids are not idiots. If you go around and say constantly, "Great job!" they are going to learn pretty quickly that you don't what you are talking about.

3) The key is to always teach. Always teach. Criticim or praise, without being tied to a specific action, is a waste of time. If a ball goes between a fielders legs, the correct way to handle it is: "Remember how you did it in practice. Butt down, glove down."

4) The kids don't want or need unconditional praise. They can get all they need over at grandma's house. This idea that the way to blunt the disappointment of striking out by saying "Nice try!" is stupid. No, you shouldn't berate the kids. But, on the other hand, you don't have to be everyone's favorite aunt.

5) What they really want is to play better softball. You have to know what you are doing. You have to (1) know how to teach and (2) know what to teach.

If you teach a kid how to hit and field and be a success on the ball field, the kids will love you. On the other hand, if you don't teach the kids how to hit and field, they will not want to be on the team.

The kids are "graded" three or four times a game. They know it. You know it. Their parents know it. Don't pretend otherwise.

Again, there is no need to berate the kids or overemphasize the negative.
 

JJS

Jan 9, 2015
276
0
I like to sandwich my criticism between a couple positive statements. For instance:

"Sally, great job of getting your feet moving. I'm really happy with that quick first step, but we also have to keep our glove down. Let's start low and work high if needed. With that foot work, and your strong arm we will get most girls out if we just tighten up our fielding mechanics a little." Great effort. Take another grounder...

BTW, this is not just softball or sports related. Works great in management, customer service or numerous other parts of life in general.
 
Oct 22, 2009
1,781
0
I like to sandwich my criticism between a couple positive statements. For instance:

"Sally, great job of getting your feet moving. I'm really happy with that quick first step, but we also have to keep our glove down. Let's start low and work high if needed. With that foot work, and your strong arm we will get most girls out if we just tighten up our fielding mechanics a little." Great effort. Take another grounder...

BTW, this is not just softball or sports related. Works great in management, customer service or numerous other parts of life in general.

I went to a coaches clinic that taught this, and one of my senior pitchers keeps reminding me that I always forget the bread at the other end because I start out with the "this looks great but......" and leave it with the criticism.
So with her I take great pains in making sarcastic endings; You're screwball looks great, let's work on not leaning over so far to keep the release a little closer, my your hair looks good today.:p
 
Oct 19, 2009
1,827
0
I have not read the other post so I may cover some of the other suggestions already made.

Some of the things I did when I coached.

Go to any coaching clinics you can find to learn the game, so you can teach the game.
Make practices lively and fun for all, no standing around.
Have some of the parents to help during practice, can't do it all by yourself.
Teach not criticize.
Practice should have the kids compete against each other, make games out of different drills, then they learn without realizing it.
Games should be a learning experience, focus on learning not so much on winning.
Show the kids you are interested in them, they can tell a phony when they see one.
Remember a season is like marathon not a sprint race.

:cool:
 
Jun 7, 2013
984
0
I have not read the other post so I may cover some of the other suggestions already made.

Some of the things I did when I coached.

Go to any coaching clinics you can find to learn the game, so you can teach the game.
Make practices lively and fun for all, no standing around.
Have some of the parents to help during practice, can't do it all by yourself.
Teach not criticize.
Practice should have the kids compete against each other, make games out of different drills, then they learn without realizing it.
Games should be a learning experience, focus on learning not so much on winning.
Show the kids you are interested in them, they can tell a phony when they see one.
Remember a season is like marathon not a sprint race.

:cool:

This sounds like a winning formula!
 

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