Starting a 6u coaching this fall

[balbuena1606]

Hi my name is Letty! A little about my self, I love softball been playing since I was 10yrs old. I’ve been assistance coach for 6 season for 6u n 8u.softball. Now , I decided to be a head coach for a 6u team for fall which my daughter will be playing on. Also have my oldest playing 8u. Hope I could get all the advice to be great coach for this small ball players. I’m super excited,nervous,anxious. One of my fears in coaching is not entertaining the girls enough especially this age, I want to make it super fun where they could be like I love softball and want to keep playing but I also want them to learn all fundamentals n get them ready for the next level. Since 6u goes 4yr -7yr old
. Please any advice?

 

[quincy]

At this age you might have as many parents at practice as players. Use them and keep groups of players at a minimum on various stations.

Also keep practices to a reasonable amount of frequency and length, players will tend to get bored relatively quickly. Better players are going to be practicing at home.

 

[CoachCeetar]

They know nothing. You take for granted what you know, they don't know it. what a "tag" is. force plays. the foul line (if it exists) what's it for?

4-7 is a wild range of ages though. That's pre-K through 2nd grade. That's kids that can barely lift a bat with kids that could hit a thrown pitch to the outfield.

4 year olds needs a lot of drills, stations, clinic style stuff. 6-7 year olds need that too, but they also need to be exposed to game-speed stuff, live pitching, someone trying to put them out at first, etc.

What type of rules/situations are you playing with? An actual team against another team in an (approximation) of a real game?

 

[cvsoftball]

This is TBall. So, No scoring, no outs. Everyone gets to first by pitch or tee hits and then every runner advances 1 base at a time except for the last batter who always hits a HR. (; Parents at the corners, 1 with the batter, one with on deck and 1 pitching. Divide defense into 3 groups, 2 infield, 1 outfield and rotate every inning. Again, it's TBall.

 

[balbuena1606]

Yes T-ball .. all this season that I’ve assist this little ball players are so competitive. Learning outs and everything even thought they don’t count outs nor runs.they play it like it’s a real game. I really want to focus on fundamentals with them but make it fun. I’ve seeing this group of age have a lot potential. Besides having fun ,I really want to teach them the game and get them ready for 8u.. They are so small but so amazing how they learn so quick. 8u is little different more competitive we count outs n runs . I don’t want them to be clueless. I want them to have confidence. Am I doing to much? Or am I to excited to teach them all that I got? . Ive been coaching my 8u daughter she went up at a very young age 1st grader playing against 3rd graders, I just want give back to young players.

 

[Rolling Hard]

*When you throw front toss or BP do not throw slow with a lot of arc. It's actually harder to hit.
* Have players (use tennis or waffle balls) play catch with themselves lying on the back. They can do this at home, too.

 

[balbuena1606]

*When you throw front toss or BP do not throw slow with a lot of arc. It's actually harder to hit.
* Have players (use tennis or waffle balls) play catch with themselves lying on the back. They can do this at home, too.

Thank you! Will do .

 

[Rolling Hard]

Once a player can catch without worrying about breaking teeth you will have reached Narvana