A young coach asked me if I could help him with his first t-ball practice yesterday. This was his first time ever coaching and I am always happy to help the next generation of coaches and players. A few random thoughts from the practice:
Our rec league lets 4 YO who will be league age 5 on Jan 1 2011 play in the fall season. With the rare exception 4 YO and some of the 5 and 6 YO don't know their left and right. Should have brought wrist bands. A simple direction drill resulted in a mass pile up. Looked more like a game of twister than a softball practice.
Using 12 inch dream seams and my DD's RocketTech for infield practice was not my best idea ever. Before any of you jump all over me for this realize I am just kidding, I would never use the RocketTech with this age group, the Demarini CF4 has much more pop and I used that instead.
Don't ever give a 4 YO a bat until you are absolutely, positively ready for them to swing or just wear a cup, your choice
Employ parent volunteers, keep the kids in groups of 2 to 3 max. Keep stations short and make sure all the kids in the group are doing something. Attention span is about 15 seconds with the age group.
Have some good games to end practice and use them as a reward. I used hit the teddy bear off the bucket from 20 paces and used this game as an incentive throughout practice. Very few problems as the kids really wanted to earn the game. Teddy bear on the other hand was not so happy, took a few good shots to the face.
Our rec league lets 4 YO who will be league age 5 on Jan 1 2011 play in the fall season. With the rare exception 4 YO and some of the 5 and 6 YO don't know their left and right. Should have brought wrist bands. A simple direction drill resulted in a mass pile up. Looked more like a game of twister than a softball practice.
Using 12 inch dream seams and my DD's RocketTech for infield practice was not my best idea ever. Before any of you jump all over me for this realize I am just kidding, I would never use the RocketTech with this age group, the Demarini CF4 has much more pop and I used that instead.
Don't ever give a 4 YO a bat until you are absolutely, positively ready for them to swing or just wear a cup, your choice
Employ parent volunteers, keep the kids in groups of 2 to 3 max. Keep stations short and make sure all the kids in the group are doing something. Attention span is about 15 seconds with the age group.
Have some good games to end practice and use them as a reward. I used hit the teddy bear off the bucket from 20 paces and used this game as an incentive throughout practice. Very few problems as the kids really wanted to earn the game. Teddy bear on the other hand was not so happy, took a few good shots to the face.
