Baseball has the potential to be one of the greatest team sports for a son or daughter to play or it can be just another life lesson in extreme patience! The person largely in control of exactly where the experience lands on the spectrum is the man or woman with the clip board, the coach. The coach's first goal must be to make the game fun for the ALL of the kids on the team, and to teach them the skills they will need to move to the next level. Secondly, you must find a way to keep peace with the parents, listening to any feedback they have on their child's performance. That, I believe, is the key to success as a baseball coach in any division. The wins and losses will depend on how interested the coach keeps the kids in baseball and how many skills that the coach can get them to replicate successfully during the game.
A good relationship with the parents starts with consideration of the amount of time and effort it takes parents to get children ready, homework completed, cleats purchased, and the rest of the daily tasks completed. By the time they flying into the Little League parking lot, they just want to know it is not a waste of time, and that there son or daughter will get something out of the experience. As the coach, that is your number one priority, give the children and the parents their money's worth. The children are all there for different reasons, and it is important to find their motivations to give them a good experience.
I have found the reasons children have for signing up to play baseball in the first place are varied. The key to making each child's season a special one is to find out the motivations behind the decision to play. Some have been swinging a Louisville Slugger at baseballs since they were two, and signing up to play baseball was just a formality. There is no question in these boys or girls mind that they want to play baseball. They usually will not need any motivation to practice and will find all of baseball exciting. Baseball tends to be a slow sport at times, and these type kids play right through those spots. These kids are easy, and because of that, they usually get most of the coach's attention. Use their focus to your advantage and push them into more advanced skills.
Another type is the child that has seen other kids playing baseball, and they start to get an itch to explore it. It is obviously best if these kids come into T-ball first because the instruction is very basic for young kids that are new to the sport. If this is not the case and the player's first years are in the farm, minor, or major divisions it can still work. A coach constantly needs to feed new players information, catching them up to the group. My father used to say "A chain is only as good as its weakest link" and it is the same with a baseball team. You will be amazed how often a child that is struggling with hitting will be at the plate with the bases loaded towards the end of the season! If you have improved those players they can come through in the clutch. If your way of working with a child is not moving them along, try different methods. I have had children that did not like instruction, they liked practice. Some just need you to explain things to them.
One of the most common mistakes in coaching is that he or she will address one child at a time while the practice around them grinds to a boring halt. If the kids are not being active playing baseball, the parents will start to lose the motivation to bring their children to practice and games. The focus levels are different at every age, and the practice must mirror the amount of instruction they can take. The way I grade my own practices; at any given time, how many players are standing around disengaged from the game. Once the focus has left the field, it is very difficult to get it back.
T-ball is the first level of little league baseball. This is when four and five year old children learn to play baseball. The basics start here, and the level of focus each child has is very small. I have heard the coaching t-ball is like "herding kittens". I completely agree with that statement and I will suggest this; keep the pace of play high! Once you have lost a four year old, they are gone. They will spend the rest of practice and possibly the next game digging in the dirt, or playing in the grass. The basic skills that a T-ball player needs to move to the next level are throwing accurately at short distances (10' - 15'), catching easy throws (catching with out moving feet), proper ground ball form, basics of a swing. This last item is tough with the children hitting off of a tee. Try to have your players swing level even though they are going to want to swing up, because every t-ball player knows, fly balls are the coolest!
The Farm division is usually is played on a larger field than t-ball, and the rules are expanded for some pitching and live hitting. Rules will vary league to league, but the basics are still the same. The focus level seems to raise quite a bit from the 4-5 year olds. Focus is needed at this age because some of the skills that are needed to make the next level, minors, are hitting off of live pitching, and throwing at longer distances. Hitting off of live pitching can be very disconcerting for a 6 - 7 year old. The tendency of farm baseball is to be a bit wild. The kids have grown and can throw the ball much harder at this age, but their accuracy is still suspect!
Minor division is the last step before Major division and I will discuss them together because the rules don't change much between these two leagues. These ages are when coaching gets much more technical. I would suggest that beginner coaches jump in between t-ball and farm but this isn't usually the case. Because the children have great focus during these years, it is much easier to explain an error in form, or getting on them about hustle. The basics still remain, make each kid have fun, and teach them what the need to know to move on to higher Junior or senior divisions. Some of the main areas children in these age brackets need are base running, catcher/pitcher form, situational hitting, situational defense, and hitting form.
The instruction must always be positive. Your goal is to make each player better than when they were put on the team. Try to get the children into as many positions as possible in the lower divisions because as the competition becomes more fierce at each level, so does the competition for the best positions. Every child wants to be a pitcher or the catcher. Infield is much more fun than outfield. Keep motivations high as you move kids through these positions. Remember, most kids have parents that want to see them play, and they have paid good money to have you coach them. Try to take make each child have a great year in their own way, and you will become a parent favorite and a great baseball coach.