And remember, it's not going to happen over-night. Stay positive and they will see results and gain confidence in you and themselves.
Good luck!
Good luck!
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.
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'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.
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 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.