Things to Remember - Coaching

[Gags]

Do your best to avoid negative words. Can't, won't, shouldn't, doesnt, never, etc. And don't ask them why they did something wrong. It's easier said than done.

So saying "why didn't you hit the cutoff, we never throw it home from the outfield, that doesn't work, you can't be doing that, maybe I shouldn't have you play centerfield because you can't follow directions", it not conducive for improvement at 10u or any level for that matter. Try to speak positively and instruct with patience.

And please remove "gotta" from your (and your ACs) vocabulary.

b/c usually this is used in the form of "you gotta [catch that ball/make that throw/etc.]" Not as bad as "just throw strikes", but I still see it as a Capt. Obvious kind of statement to which there's no good answer/reply - "You're right coach, I should have caught that, I wasn't really trying", "yes coach, I have no excuse for not making a perfect throw every time", etc.

 

[Dabears17]

Not an "in-game" situation but rather, after the game keep your after-game comments to the team 5 minutes or less. Even in HS, I had a designated player set a timer and when it went off, I was done. Some coaches think that they are going to change things in that talk that would take hours of practice time to change. In that "talk" start and end with positive comments.

Love this! It was after I stopped coaching, but my version of this would be if the coaches needed to talk for than 5 minutes after the game, they should dismiss the players and keep talking amongst themselves as long as they needed to!

 

[CoachCeetar]

Love this! It was after I stopped coaching, but my version of this would be if the coaches needed to talk for than 5 minutes after the game, they should dismiss the players and keep talking amongst themselves as long as they needed to!

This is a good idea anyway, get on the same page about what's working and what's not. Some coaches might be watching different parts of the game and have different insight on things to work on at next practice, or to bring up pregame. Things like "girls aren't leading enough off second" that maybe only the third base coach noticed. Or "Don't put player A and player B next to each other because they talk too much"

 

[daywalkerdad]

Not an "in-game" situation but rather, after the game keep your after-game comments to the team 5 minutes or less. Even in HS, I had a designated player set a timer and when it went off, I was done. Some coaches think that they are going to change things in that talk that would take hours of practice time to change. In that "talk" start and end with positive comments.

Every parent will like this post.

 

[daywalkerdad]

You can't "want it" more than the kids. Even the seemingly dedicated ones don't have an adult level of want.

No parents in the dugout.

Kids do not leave the dugout either. This is the one thing my DD 10u coach did I appreciate the most.

 

[daywalkerdad]

10u will be drastically different but I feel every coach should see this chart and try to understand it. There is also a companion that shows odds of scoring. Getting great at stuff that only works at 10u (maybe 12u) only prepares for 10u.

It is pretty simple,
Get every out that is given.
Do not give the other team outs.

 

[CaledoniaDad]

Any advice on in-game coaching with 10u? Anything anyone keeps up with? Any mental reminders for a coach? Rules to keep in mind? Do’s and don’ts? Strategies to stay ahead?

I coach 10U, and I can tell you this age needs to work on focus more than anything. Half of the time they will cross their legs or pretend they are a pitcher. It is rare to have a full team of fully focused players. Generally the most focused will be your pitcher, catcher, and 1B. Your biggest thing to remember is they will do better if they feel better. You are their source of encouragement and focus, and they will play off of how you act.

I give the girls one to three defensive goals before the game. For example, I say "Make accurate throws to first base every time. The outfield throws to second base before the runner gets there." My batting goal is almost always the same - if it looks good, swing at it. My girls have gone from watching a strikeout pitch a lot to getting out on batted balls more than anything. I will always applaud the bat going around, even if it is a strikeout. I absolutely hate it when coaches teach their kids to not swing.

For pitchers, I give them their targets for the game. We use a number system so I call out numbers and then we review at the next practice how many times they hit their target. I don't make it about how many balls or strikes or strikeouts for this age group. I just have them work on location, as the other stats will follow if they can put the ball where I want it.

I never yell, I encourage them and keep them focused. If they make a mistake, I brush it off (I don't show any emotion that would look like disgust or anguish - they will absolutely fold if they see this) and give them clear and easy directions for the next play. Their biggest fear is often the parent watching them, and I have found if I can keep their minds on the game rather than their parents they do better. In between innings I only give them one or two things to work on. I treat the time between innings like the rest between rounds of two heavyweight fighters - they know what to do, remind them to do it.
At the end of the game, we review how we did on our goals for the game and set the next game's goals. Generally takes 3-5 minutes. I don't focus on the score at all, win or lose, simply because it doesn't matter at this age. The process goals are much more important to their overall success in the game, not how they did at 10U for one game.

Hope this helps.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

10u will be drastically different but I feel every coach should see this chart and try to understand it. There is also a companion that shows odds of scoring. Getting great at stuff that only works at 10u (maybe 12u) only prepares for 10u.

It is pretty simple,
Get every out that is given.
Do not give the other team outs.

What becomes apparent after you stare at the charts long enough is how little you get out of bunting and stealing. If you can not get "out" doing those things and get your opponents "out" doing those things you have a real (slight) edge. To me this is coaching, it's all in the margins.

Now you can argue that never stealing and never bunting is not wise and I would agree. You have to come up with the scenarios where it's the least painful. There is also some value in the actual threat of bunting and stealing whether you do it or not.

When you watch other coaches you can use this to judge if they actually know what they are doing. It's amazing how many college coaches aren't informed on the maths.

 

[daywalkerdad]

What becomes apparent after you stare at the charts long enough is how little you get out of bunting and stealing. If you can not get "out" doing those things and get your opponents "out" doing those things you have a real (slight) edge. To me this is coaching, it's all in the margins.

Now you can argue that never stealing and never bunting is not wise and I would agree. You have to come up with the scenarios where it's the least painful. There is also some value in the actual threat of bunting and stealing whether you do it or not.

When you watch other coaches you can use this to judge if they actually know what they are doing. It's amazing how many college coaches aren't informed on the maths.

I agree. One thing that makes it interesting is we do not know how much bunting and stealing etc. has gone into the charts. The run expectancy of runners on first no out is influenced by how much they steel now.
Another is how many times do you reach base bunting. If the batter bunts with a runner on first how many times do they reach base making 1st and 2nd.
The value of the base also changes by quality of pitcher, and batters due up. If you are facing a top pitcher and your 8-9 hitters are due up, is drastically different than weak pitcher with 3-4 due up.
In my opinion it does not say never steel or bunt. It says on average they can be counterproductive.
My main takes are:
Outs are valuable.
Coaches beware of strategy, many times doing nothing is the best strategy.

 

[CoachCeetar]

The rough math on this based on the chart is three successful steals of second replaces the value of one caught stealing at second, so you have to be better than that.

One RoE/H bunt that gets you 1b/2b replaces the lost value from three regular bunting the runner over to second. What's the bunt for a hit percentage in softball? I feel like it'd be higher because closer bases, but the fielders are closer too. Maybe it's actually harder because the spot where no fielder can quite reach in time is smaller?


There's obviously some ancillary value in having the defense think you're going to bunt, fielders might play a step or two in which might give you a single to the OF on what would otherwise be a lineup, but I suspect it's negligible. (MLB tried restricting shifting/positioning infielders and BABIP didn't really even change)

What is almost always a bad idea in baseball, the IBB, seems like it might be less so in softball. Top OBP in D2 softball was .638 and there 40 players above .500. Only Barry Bonds has done that (4 times) in MLB this century. So in baseball the batter you walked is more likely to have made an out if you pitched to him, but not so in softball. Seems like there might be more value, especially with outs already, to walking someone. In fact, I bet there's a sweet spot in the middle ages where it's much better to do so. If your opponent is batting their whole roster at levels where that's still a thing, you probably want to walk that strong mid-order batter.