How to teach the Xs and Os

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Apr 21, 2017
1
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New 10U coach here and I am struggling with how to teach young players the Xs and Os of softball. By this, I mean what to do in the field and on the base paths. Basic things such as knowing not to immediately run on a ball in the air or knowing which base to throw to or the difference between a force out and and when they have to tag the runner. Some girls, get some of the concepts but then you have to factor in how many outs and it gets even more confusing. And don't get me started on infield fly rule!

No matter how much I try to explain these things and run these situations in practice, it just never sinks in. These types of things just do not happen enough in a game for them to easily pickup some of these concepts.

Any suggestions how to get players to understand these concepts?
 
May 6, 2015
2,397
113
never heard of IFR in most 10u, what is a routine fly ball at that level?

really just going to take a lot of repetition. do you have ACs? the more the better, if they are willing to really do what you ask.

If you have enough, spend 30 minutes a practice on situations. 4-5 batters/runners, but a coach is doing the hitting. rest of team in IF (can lose pitcher if not enough girls. start clean, and build on results of each play. If possible, have one AC talk to runners on 1st, one to runners on 2nd and 3rd, one to middle infielders, another to F3, etc. combine who they talk to as needed based on number of coaches, but basically you want offense vs defense, try not to mix what a given coach is working on. to baserunners stress knowing how many outs, "holding" on fly balls with less than two (although at that level great success might come from simply running on anything but blooper to pitcher or F3, most will be dropped), running on contact with 2 outs. switch after 15-20 minutes. do not try to do this combined with BP, waste of time, too much standing.

BIG ISSUE is teaching them on what they think possibly might be foul ball, to treat it as fair until they hear "FOUL BALL" from umpire. many times seen batters/baserunners thrown tagged out because they didn't run because "I thought it was foul ball". Stress they are not even allowed to think or have opinion on fair or foul, only what the umpire thinks/decides counts, and he will NOT call fair ball (unless it is really close like a low line drive over the bag). I really stress that if they hear ball hit bat, they must react like it is hit in fair territory. if they do and it is foul, they simply have to go back to where they were, no penalty.
 
Aug 23, 2016
359
43
My DD's in 8u, and here's how her coaches handle baserunning: the coaches yell cues. So "In the air!" means stay on base. Once they leave the batter's box, they know that they have to listen to the base coaches. Coaches spent a lot of time working with them on listening to the first base coach when they're coming to first, and then picking up the third base coach as they approach second. So the coaches just tell them what to do in any situation.

When the girls are playing defense, before each batter coaches will tell each player where to throw/tag if they get the ball.

What I've seen is that telling the girls just to do what their coaches tell them to do takes some pressure off them. They don't have to worry about what to do next because they just do what the coaches say. And by the end of the season many of the girls start to put it all together - they learn the rules by playing by them.
 
May 6, 2015
2,397
113
My DD's in 8u, and here's how her coaches handle baserunning: the coaches yell cues. So "In the air!" means stay on base. Once they leave the batter's box, they know that they have to listen to the base coaches. Coaches spent a lot of time working with them on listening to the first base coach when they're coming to first, and then picking up the third base coach as they approach second. So the coaches just tell them what to do in any situation.

When the girls are playing defense, before each batter coaches will tell each player where to throw/tag if they get the ball.

What I've seen is that telling the girls just to do what their coaches tell them to do takes some pressure off them. They don't have to worry about what to do next because they just do what the coaches say. And by the end of the season many of the girls start to put it all together - they learn the rules by playing by them.

Agree, stress have them paying attention to coaches. And I also add, if they do what we tell them (without hesitation), if they make an out, it is OUR fault, not theirs. again, helping to take pressure off. and if they do get out listening to you, make certain to tell them and entire team it was YOUR fault. builds trust
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
To me it depends how old they are and how much practice time you have. At 8U,10U I would rather have the girls spend time on catching,throwing, hitting, etc than on situational stuff but that is just me. TBH growing up I learned most of that stuff by watching games and my father explaining various situations but I am not sure how much baseball/softball kids watch nowadays...
 
Jun 27, 2011
5,089
0
North Carolina
My DD's in 8u, and here's how her coaches handle baserunning: the coaches yell cues. So "In the air!" means stay on base. Once they leave the batter's box, they know that they have to listen to the base coaches. Coaches spent a lot of time working with them on listening to the first base coach when they're coming to first, and then picking up the third base coach as they approach second. So the coaches just tell them what to do in any situation.

When the girls are playing defense, before each batter coaches will tell each player where to throw/tag if they get the ball.

What I've seen is that telling the girls just to do what their coaches tell them to do takes some pressure off them. They don't have to worry about what to do next because they just do what the coaches say. And by the end of the season many of the girls start to put it all together - they learn the rules by playing by them.

Agree, stress have them paying attention to coaches. And I also add, if they do what we tell them (without hesitation), if they make an out, it is OUR fault, not theirs. again, helping to take pressure off. and if they do get out listening to you, make certain to tell them and entire team it was YOUR fault. builds trust

My concern here would be that they’re learning to follow directions, but not learning the game and to think for themselves. I haven't coached kids ages 8 and 9 in a while, so maybe these training wheels are initially necessary for that age. I respect what you're seeing. But I would want to wean them from this as quickly as I could. And as far as the coaches taking the blame, that’s noble, but kids don’t learn from our mistakes. They need to make their own to get better, IMHO. Lots of them sometimes.
 

marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
New 10U coach here and I am struggling with how to teach young players the Xs and Os of softball. By this, I mean what to do in the field and on the base paths. Basic things such as knowing not to immediately run on a ball in the air or knowing which base to throw to or the difference between a force out and and when they have to tag the runner. Some girls, get some of the concepts but then you have to factor in how many outs and it gets even more confusing. And don't get me started on infield fly rule!
No matter how much I try to explain these things and run these situations in practice, it just never sinks in. These types of things just do not happe enough in a game for them to easily pickup some of these concepts.
Any suggestions how to get players to understand these concepts?

We teach out younger coaches to spend zero time on this specifically in practice. Spend more time on fundamentals - hitting, catching, throwing, pitching, etc,etc. We suggest they create a list of what is most important - if you get below the #15 item on that list it was a very successful season. Everything below what you work on in practice is to be learned through experience and if you get out in a game, then so be it. And lets face it - it is pointless knowing something situational if you don't have the fundamental skill to execute it (like throwing the ball).

Teach fielding as 3 B's - ball, base, backup. If you do that as a fielder you can play any position to a reasonable level (ball first, cover a base, backup up a possible throw).

How to get more and more experience - more and more in-team scrimmages. If you have 12 you have 3 teams of 4 - (of/if/batting). Batters stay on base even if they get out so you have runners. In younger ages if you don't have enough you can skip an outfield (all hits to the outfield are doubles). Base runners on 1st or 2nd have 2 pitches to steal (and are not out if they are caught stealing but the catcher gets a point) and so on. You can get through a lot of things that might happen that way. Lots of when to run/when not to, batting, fielding, throwing, etc, etc.... Good use of time.

Oh and require them to watch one game of softball or baseball a week as homework.
 
May 6, 2015
2,397
113
absolutely fundamentals/skills are key. I generally only moved on to situational stuff after a couple of games, and never more than 30 minutes, normally more like 20. and I always tried to touch upon situations from games where mistakes happened, and we went through and practiced what should have happened.

as for learning the games themselves, I think at 8u/10u (especially rec), they need to listed to coaches, and they will eventually start to pick it up themselves, especially if they see results. there will also be a few girls who do pick it up quick, who will need less prompting, and start to call out the plays defensively to the entire team as well.

one of the big challenges is getting to understand and buy in to the need to take action on every pitch, even if the ball is never put in play (ie big leads for baserunners, SS moving to cover with runner on 1B, 3B covering when runner on third, etc.). they do not understand why if nothing happens on almost every pitch, they still need to react as if something is.
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
Where this can be struggle at this age is, at least for our Teams, the players did not for the most part have a position. They played all over the place.

The 1 rule we had is if the ball is in play you better be going somewhere on the field, I do not care if it is right place but you better be going somewhere. They seem to figure it out knowing that they have to move and a little coaching.

Baserunning need to listen to coaches.

(IFR is my favorite play at any age. You never know what is going to happen. :))
 
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marriard

Not lost - just no idea where I am
Oct 2, 2011
4,312
113
Florida
absolutely fundamentals/skills are key. I generally only moved on to situational stuff after a couple of games, and never more than 30 minutes, normally more like 20. and I always tried to touch upon situations from games where mistakes happened, and we went through and practiced what should have happened.

Seriously this is a bit of a waste of time in rec because it is very likely the situation (especially weird or rare ones) will not happen again during the season or if it does they will forget it anyway. Better off running the scrimmages and have them run into more and more situations that they have to figure out on the fly. "Little Susie is out because she didn't wait for the flyball to be caught" is all you need to say after it happens. You don't need to do it 50 times in a row to hope it sinks in - that will come up enough in scrimmages that they will see it and also "Little Susie" will remember much easier that she got out that way because it actually happened and there was a consequence to remember (not just a drill). If you need to recreate a scenario, then you can do that - put runners on, hit a fly ball for the fielders, simulate drop 3rd pitch, etc, etc... Do it every few plays to keep it from being repetitive... and so on. It will keep their attention a lot better and it is way more interesting than listening to a coach talk at length about something that happened in the previous game (which they have probably forgotten anyway).
 
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