First Time Manager: 13/14 Girls

[Ken B]

I'm a first time manager for a Jr.s Little League team. I've helped out for a few years, but this is my first time as mgr. Any suggestions on a book or video series to give me a rough idea of how to make the game fun for the girls while teaching the basics? I plan on chatting with several folks who've managed before, but it would be nice to have a reference manual or set of videos to turn to in a pinch.

Thanks,
Ken

 

[sluggers]

(A) Before you take the advice of anyone, including former managers, understand their background. At best, the people coaching the team played one year of high school baseball. They've learned most of their ideas from watching an occasional pro baseball game. In other words, most of the stuff you hear from hanging around the old ball park is crap.
(B) In my opinion, the Sue Enquist (former UCLA coach and winner of several NCAA championships) are very good. I especially like her basic defensive videos. I would get "Defensive Drills for Every Position".
(C) The kids need a ton of repetitions. You cannot hit enough groundballs and popups to the kids. So, put them in a line at 3B, put someone over at 1B, and hit 20 to 30 minutes of groundballs to them each practice. Figure a way to rotate the kid at 1B.
(D) KEEP THE PARENTS OFF THE FIELD. You are going to have one bozo dad who will want to play SS for you at practice. He will be very helpful and the girls will like him. BUT: the problem is that he still wants to play softball. Every touch that he has of a ball is one less touch your players will have.
(E) Do station work for hitting. They need to be swinging the bat as much as possible. Soft toss, tee work, live pitching, whiffle balls, whatever...find a way to give each girl a 100 swings each practice.
(F) If you have the girls "in position" as you hit a ball to each position, one at a time, then every real softball coach out there will know you are clueless. Your players' time would be better spent watching the 3D version of Avatar.
(G) Plan your practice. The saying "Idle hands are the devil's workshop" is the absolute truth when dealing with teenagers. You keep the kids busy and engaged during a practice, and you won't have one problem. You let them sit around for 5 minutes, and you will have a riot.
(H) Finally: Ask questions here. By and large, the people here are very knowledgeable. While we might disagree, I guarantee that the stupidest softball person on this board is a genius compared to most people coaching rec league softball.

 

[FJRGerry]

"(F) If you have the girls "in position" as you hit a ball to each position, one at a time, then every real softball coach out there will know you are clueless. Your players' time would be better spent watching the 3D version of Avatar."

I agree to a point with the above quote IF the other girls don't know they are involved with every ball put into play. Make sure if practicing this way each player knows her responsibiliy: backing up, covering bases, etc. Better yet add runners so you have true situations to practice.

"The Softball Coaches Bible" from Human Kinetics is an excellent resource for skills covering all positions, although some of it is written for College level coaches in terms of organization.

 

[Coach Tom]

I agree with Sluggers, very good sound advice. Keep things moving at practice with stations / drills. Don't let them go through the motions, if they're doing it wrong, stop and correct it immediately. Practice is the time to make those adjustments because once the games start you need to be more focused on strategy.

 

[Duane]

As Sluggers mentioned planning your practice is a great idea. I even schedule our water breaks. Why? You keep the practice moving and also hit the key points that you've identified as needing work.

 

[SnocatzDad]

One thing I beleive is constant is that they all want to hit . It can be a bear waiting through 13 kids for your next at bat. One way to keep it fair is to use a continuous batting order between games (i.e. who would have batted next at end of game is lead off hitter at next game). Another way to handle it is to have a different girl lead off every game. Playing time for 13 or 14 girls is not something you can keep track of in your head, you'll think you have it under control and some girl will be crying at the end of the weekend because she played 2 innings in 5 games. Plan out your rosters and substitutions in advance of the games in order to be able to review for fairness when you have the luxury of time to do so.

 

[Dave D]

I would agree with everything here, especially the part about pre-setting lineups and defensive alignments. I try to go into every game with a grid by position, then set my defense every inning. It definitely keeps players and parents off my back when they can see when and where they'll be playing throughout the game (and, when necessary, that playing time is equally divided--a necessity when you're handling 13-14 players). It also keeps me from forgetting anyone.

While I would agree that the most efficient way to get groundball/flyball reps is to line everyone up and hit and hit and hit, I think it is also essential, especially with kids new to the game, to put them into positions and give them exposure to the ways in which the ball moves around the infield and outfield. Since kids will be playing multiple positions at this level, they need to see the ball coming at them from the plate at all different positions and making throws from all of these positions to all bases. Having runners on base is a great way to create more "live" situations that will give them a chance to anticipate and react.

In my experience, the hardest thing for novice players is learning what do do when the ball is put into play, whether it comes to them or goes elsewhere in the field. I try to spend as much time as possible creating fluid situations that allow kids to learn to make decisions and learn from the decisions of others. I always spend a lot of time early in the season walking through defensive rotations and coverages, so that just like swinging or picking up a ground ball, it becomes a reflexive reaction.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents, that and try to avoid doing any one activity/drill for more than about 20 min at a time.

 

[ranstl]

All very good points. Organization is key. Repitition is extremely important. I like the "station" approach where I have 2 or 3 differnt skills being practiced (of course I have a coaching staff I trust to teach the skills correctly - this can be an issue at the rec level). For our indoor practices during the winter we have an agility station, a fielding station, and a hitting station. Girls will rotate through each station. About every other week we try to get to the cages - there's no substitute for live hitting.

Once we get outside, we do one skills practice and one game situation practice each week. Skills pracice is more of the stuff we've been practicing all winter. Game situation we apply the skills we've been practicing in a game-like setting. Sometmes I'll let my pitchers pitch to the hitters on these days.

I try to use a miriad of drills to keep it fresh (I have 10U girls). Otherwise they get bored.

 

[Ken B]

Thanks all. Just finished try outs and the draft is tomorrow night. Looks like a wide mix of talent. There's at least two I thought about asking for autographs while they're still free!

I'll check out the Enquist videos and The Softball Coaches Bible. Someone also mentioned USA Softball Instructional Series. Has anyone seen this series? I can use anything.

Thanks again