New 10u Rec Coach

[lancer360]

I'm coaching a 10u rec team this spring and need some guidance. This will be my first time as head coach. The team is a mix of some experienced players, some players just moving up from 8u, and at least 1 player that has never played before (but is showing some athleticism). We have one starting pitcher, but she is very new, throws under 30 mph and rarely throws a strike. I've got a couple of girls that have volunteered to start learning how to pitch, but unless one of them turns into a miracle fast learner I don't see our chances improving (season ends mid April and then All-Stars starts). Do you have any guidance on strategy? We play twice a week so I'm thinking of keeping the girls at learning just two positions, say position A during the first game and position B during the 2nd game. I know I don't want to limit the girls, but I also don't want to stick them at a different position every inning so that they don't end up being able to do any position well.

I'm also thinking about ignoring the base runners and just concentrate on getting the out at first (unless it is a simple step on the bag play) until the girls can do that reliably. Odds are there are going to be lots of wild pitches anyway so I expect anyone who gets on is going to get around the bases and score anyway. Thoughts?

 

[gator5]

I coached rec league for 5 or 6 years. Trying to think back to what I did at 10u.....

Our league had a rule that each girl had to play x number of innings in the infield. No girl could sit x number of innings a game. No girl could pitch more than x number of innings. Great rules.

My general thoughts,

For new girls, I would usually play catch with them myself the first few practices. If I threw to them, I knew they were not going to be bonked. (I know at 8u I would start with a tennis ball. I have no idea what i did at 10u) Have similar skilled girls throwing together. Don't have the girl with the cannon throw to the girl who can't catch.

IMO, you have no choice but the give them chances to pitch. If a girl wants to try, let her pitch an inning. It really won't hurt. Give them a taste of it. Notice I said one inning and that is only if they actually practiced pitching during the week too. They don't just get to show up and try to pitch.

I know you only have one new player, but I would go over all the basic rules in the first few practices anyhow. We would run the bases so everyone knew which way to run and what the goal was. Know what a strike was and you only get 3. Stuff like that.

At 8u, I let everyone play every position. At 10u, I maybe only had 3-4 girls play first base. Weakest fielder at second base.

I would put my best defense with my best pitcher and hope (cross my fingers) we could actually hold them and get out of the inning without giving up the max runs allowed.

Fun game to end practices.

At rec level, if the the girl came back the next season, I felt I did my job.

What i regret the most: I was too concerned at times with winning and did not work enough on fundamentals, specifically throwing. You don't have to be a baseball guru to teach someone to throw correctly.

 

[lancer360]

Fields were closed due rain the night before for our first practice and only half the team showed up assuming we were going to cancel practice. I was able to find a partially dry area on a nearby soccer field and we did some warm ups, throwing (following High Level Throwing methods), and did some sprinting lessons ending with a game of chicken run. We don't have any rules about playing time or position, but I'm going to share playing time as best I can. Until our two new pitchers can get the basic mechanics down I don't have a choice but to play the one pitcher. Until she learns to throw some strikes or at least something that has a chance of being put in play, we are going to hit the run limit every inning so even thinking about trying to win is out of the question. At least two of the other 4 teams have decent pitchers that can strike out girls.

I've been doing the high level throwing with my DD for 1.5 years now and it shows. I think the parents are onboard with teaching High Level Throwing after watching her throw during practice. Her velocity was significantly higher than anyone else and she isn't the biggest or strongest on the team. My wife said several of the parents commented on it during practice.

Sent from my SM-G975U1 using Tapatalk

 

[bmakj]

have them attempt to make initial play on ball in play, even if you know they have no chance of completing it. have them fail a lot as long as they do it spectacularly (ie going for it, not holding back). this includes throw downs to second, only if runner makes a big mistake will you get an out, but you have to start training them to go for it.

at the plate, for now, tell them the goal is to put ball in play, not necessarily to get on base. otheerwise they will be training to look to get walked.

 

[ArmWhip]

A lot depends on your area. Where I first coached 10U was where everyone got started, no 8U. We had walk limits, for every walk after 3 the coach would come in and pitch to that batter. A lot of pressure on the coaches! Don't stick the same girls in the outfield, even if it costs you games. 10U rec can be boring and it turns girls off, you want everyone to return next year. We also had steal limits, 3 per inning. Always play a girl at 1st who can catch. Your big challenge will be to keep practice interesting. Find drills that keep everyone engaged and keep things moving. Make sure they learn to catch backhand. At this age they want to basket catch everything. We had a drill where they threw to their partners backhand, and we made sure they turned the glove over. They love competition so play little games. We had one where we would partner the girls, on 'go' they would start throwing and count the throws out LOUD. When they reached 10 they would sit down. Avoid the "Standard" 10U rec practice where the coach is pitching to a girl who has trouble making contact while the other players stand around in the field getting bored.

 

[Rick M]

Make underhand catch a part of your warmup routine. After getting loose with the HLT routines (congrats on instituting that early, BTW), have everyone throw underhand to their partner for a few minutes. This will not only help the girls who have expressed an interest in pitching, but may help you identify other potential pitchers as well. Even if all you do is pick out someone who can throw into the strike zone consistently, that's a kid who can go into the circle and keep things moving when the game becomes a walk fest. Perfecting the underhand toss will help your infielders as well, since many of the outs you get at 10U Rec will be from balls that get hit near the base.

Good luck! Before my first year coaching 10U Rec I went to a conference and met Beth Torina. When I told her I was just getting started with a bunch of novice pitchers, her eyes got wide and she put her hand over her heart. "Oh, God bless you!" she said

 

[SiB57]

I coached a team last year that was essentially a first year 10U rec team.

If the kids worked on pitching outside of practice, they got circle time. You'll figure out who actually can pitch pretty early on, but by giving everyone a shot it shuts the parents up when you start giving the girls who have talent more innings later in the season. Parents hate walk fests, too.

You have to find someone who can catch the ball to play 1st. Even if it looks like you're not moving them around much, 1st is too important to have someone who can't catch, you need to be able to make an out here and there.

I had everyone play at least on main infield and one outfield position, but they were pretty fungible. Most girls played everywhere except pitcher/catcher/first base as I needed girls that could get outs and protect themselves at those positions.

I didn't worry about my record, at all. Sure loses aren't fun, but I can't be the only coach out there that had at least one girl ask if we won every single game. Even the ones we got blown out in. She didn't care, she was just there to have fun and she had a good time.

Get the out at first for the 1st baseman, 2nd baseman, and almost always the P. If you can get to the point where your 2nd and/or SS reliably covers 2nd base with a man on 1st, then fine, try to get the out there to the P, SS, and 2nd. If it's a force at third, teach the SS, P, and 3B to get the out there. But if it's like mine was, I was stealing 1st pitch every time and never had a kid thrown out, so there were never force outs at 2nd. Can you steal home? Our league didn't allow stealing home, so if you had some walks, you could still setup forces at 3rd and Home pretty easily, but going home is a much less reliable out than 1st or 3rd because it's harder for the girl who's just learning how to catch the ball normally, catch the ball with all the equipment on.

These kids are young and no one is going to remember if they won on April 5th of 2020. But they'll remember the good times, and learning the game, and if you can instill a sense of fun in them and they have a good time, they'll be more likely to come back next year. In rec, that's the ballgame, getting them learn the game and want to come back. Your pitcher in 10U might not be a pitcher by 14, and whoever is playing shortstop might be a center fielder in 2 years, if either of them are still playing. Get them playing everywhere and develop them as players, the ones that really like it will become very good and the ones that are just having fun, you hope they're still having fun.

In 10U, especially at the lower levels of play, you'd be surprised at how unimportant the SS is. You'll get more outs from every other position so it's a great place to hide a weaker infielder but still get them infield time. Of course, as soon as you do that, you'll get all the balls hit to SS, but that's just part of the game.

Also watch the movie All-Stars (2014)
It's entirely too accurate.

 

[uncdrew]

This helped me greatly in my first 10U rec coaching experience:

Winning 10U Defensive Strategy

A Winning 10U Defensive Strategy starts with evaluating the abilities of your softball players and ends with winning softball games.

www.mysoftballcoach.com

 

[CanOfCorn]

This was at one point my wheelhouse for age group (although mostly baseball). The games are going to be like watching paint dry so real value is going to be your practices. The best thing I can say is keep them simple focus on getting better at a few things than trying to do too much. I would say 3-4 drills per skill.

Base running

• Home to first and break-down
• Home to second (learn to round the bag in a ? shape, touch inside corner)
• Tag up third (which will teach them to hold-then-go on fly balls)*

Throwing

• You are doing HLT. Good!
• Underhand flips (nothing worse than a full throw from 3 ft away after a good fielding play)
• Throw around the bases every practice. If they miss you toss in another ball. Both directions (set a time limit, have a goal)
• OF to Home Toss (set up behind 2B say 100 feet from Home and throw at a screen or bucket. Do every 2-3 practices to increase strength. Eventually this will become long-toss.

Ground Ball

• Coach rolled, ground balls buckets (field at triangle, glove side of belly-button)**
• Force out footwork technique***
• Tag-out (straddle bag) footwork technique***
• Hit ground balls should be SS-to-1B, 3B-to-2B (alternate hits so no one gets hurt)
  • Players start at 3B, SS, 2B, 1B.
  • We had one coach near 1B toss a long ball to CF and the girl would drop in bucket near 2B and head back to 3B.

Fly Ball

• Receiver fly ball drill (player faces coach, she jump turns & does over shoulder catch – both directions)
• Ground ball one knee (ignore the do-or-die for now)
• Pop up with a long throw (stutter step under the ball, catch above head, throw to cut, as opposed to pitcher or worse no one)

Team Drills

• You can hit simple ground balls or have a player hit off a tee for simulated game but you want to work communication and priority (who can call off the other players)
  • Pop-up between players (IE. a ball just over the pitchers head in front of 2B, whose ball is that?)
  • Ground ball between 2B and 1B (let the 2B get it if possible so 1B can get to bag)
  • There are 100s of these
• Cut-offs just should got to SS (or SS/2B), keep the ball in the middle of the field with the better players
• Check your league rules (infield fly, drop third, stealing, etc)
• Fun game is Ultimate Softball.
  • Set up 4 cones line a football field. Two groups of players where object is to get the ball across the opposite end line. They must throw via relay to score, NO running when they have a ball. When they catch they can pivot but can’t walk/run. Defender must be 1 arm length away. When they score, drop the ball for the other team to go back. Can use 1 or 2 balls (I use 2 once they get it). Coaches should play (and parents can jump in). Use gloves.

Hitting:

• I have a different approach to hitting than most plus 1000s of tips on this site.

NOTES:
* Tagging up teaches them not to get doubled off the base (eventually). They need to learn to (if and when to) go back to bag on a fly ball, wait to see the ball hit the glove or grass and go. You can yell "tag" as a coach but resist the urge to yell when to go, they need to learn on their own. The eventual goal is they do all of it automatically without a coach.
** Vary the ball you roll slow roller glove flip, fast one, short-hop etc…better to have coaches control the roll at younger age to plus you can make corrections.
*** Teaching footwork now means not later and prevents collisions and injuries. You don’t want them standing on the bag and I can’t tell you how often it is forgotten.


GAME:

• Send everyone on the base paths, make them learn to take the extra base and if they get out blame coaching. Being smart and aggressive runners is often the difference at the older levels, learn now.
• In the field make the easy out so have if the ball takes them to an out, make it and that may not always be first.

Hope it helps. Keep what you want, toss the rest. I would do almost the same practice over and over because I assure you being good at a few skills is better than master of none.

CoC

 

[CanOfCorn]

Oh my game day pitching advise...pray for rain.