Menlo-Atherton Little League
Coaches Resource Page
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Communicating with Parents
3. Practices
4. Games
Objectives/Drills By Division
1. Player Rating Framework
2. TBall Coaches Guide
3. Coach Pitch Coaches Guide
4. Single A Coaches Guide
5. Double AA Coaches Guide
6. AAA Coaches Guide
7. Majors Coaches Guide
8. Fall Ball Guide
Appendix
A. Team Intro Letter Template
B. AAA Coach Job Spec/Expectations
C. A Well Defined Practice Plan
1. Introduction
Your main responsibilities as a baseball coach are to teach the skills and strategies of baseball. Pure and simple. However, your coaching responsibilities go far beyond the playing field, and into an area where you can really impact a young person's life. One of the most important lessons you can offer is your value system, including a strong work ethic and positive behavior. Your expectations regarding these values should be loud and clear from beginning to end. Life lessons are essential in the development of children, learning to win with grace and lose with dignity are very important life lessons but just the tip of the iceberg.
Your players deserve a positive role model who believes in responsible behavior with its intrinsic rewards (and who believes in the intrinsic consequences for irresponsible behavior). They need a mature, adult role model; rather than a middle-aged buddy. As a trusted steward with significant influence for good, please do your part by being the kind of person your players can emulate and follow. Your example in your personal practices can also be a very powerful teaching tool. Together with your player's other role models, we can make a difference!
This coaching tool kit will help to provide you with clear and effective tools and lessons to make you more efficient and allow you to bring about more positive results. Most of this document is geared for T-ball – AA, but will be relevant in many ways to other divisions. It is assumed that AAA coaches have had the basic foundation necessary to make the jump from AA to AAA. However, there is a AAA Coaches Expectations section in Appendix D.
2. Communication with Parents (email & phone)
- Timing –It is critical that you reach out to your parents as soon as possible so they are not wondering what team their son/daughter ended up on. Far too often we get calls and emails from parents saying “I haven’t heard what team Billy is on and all of his friends have already found out their team, did he not get placed, what’s going on?” It is in your best interest to get started on the right foot and contact your parents via email as soon as you get your roster. If you prefer you may call each parent directly, this is more time consuming but much more personal.
- Team Introduction –It is important that you set your expectations with your parents and also set their expectations for what they should expect. We’re all parents and we like to know that the people caring for, watching, coaching or teaching our kids have a clear plan for their growth, development and attitude. See a welcome letter template in the Appendix that can be modified. IMPORTANT: include the team roster on your email so everyone has that from the get go, it helps with carpooling to practice and games.
- Frequency – Emails should generally be sent about once a week. Parents are busy and if you continue to load their inbox the likelihood they will read them decreases. A general policy that has been very successful is to send out an email at the beginning of the week (Sunday night or Monday) that outlines the week ahead. If you have emergencies or need to send another email during the week that is fine, just keep them to a minimum and be thorough.
- Format – When sending emails it is critical to keep your audience engaged. You will be surprised how many parents simply don’t pay attention and miss key elements of communications and conversations. I have seen a lot of emails from coaches, some good, some bad and some like Atlas Shrugged!! Here are some key tips to clear communication that will have your parents doing what you need/require:
- Keep it brief – don’t ramble, make it a short introduction
- Review the good and “needs improvement” items from last week (notice I didn’t say “bad”)
- Highlight items for the coming week (practices, games and what needs to be worked on)
- Use bullet points
- Remind your snack parents that they need to bring snack for said games!!!!
- Snacks/After Game Food - Usually it is best to set the tone and establish the snack rules at the beginning of the season.
- Assign your team parents – make sure early on in the season you assign your team parents and delegate the snack schedule to the team parents. Make sure the team parent(s)/snack coordinator(s) know that you will rely upon them to create the schedule and maintain the program.
- Snacks – It is a general rule of thumb to avoid high sugar snacks, try to have your team subscribe to healthy choices.
- Weekend games – Often weekend games are more of a rush and parents have other plans so it’s best to make the weekend games a light/quick snack so families can get on their way.
- Weekday games – During the week most of the games will start before and end after dinner time for most families. A good idea is to talk about potlucks, pizza or simple stuff like a quick appetizer. A good alternative is also to bring take away items that are more nutritious.
- http://www.teamsnap.com/ - There are many new websites where you can also upload your roster and schedule information if you choose to go that route. Some are free and some are free and have pay upgrades. If you think it would be a good option I recommend exploring it to help keep your team organized and updated.
3. Practices
It is critical that you run an effective practice and know when to mix things up. The key to a successful practice (at any level) is to keep things moving and keep your players engaged. The league strongly recommends that you not run a “group/team” drill because you’ll have a lot of players that are falling asleep due to boredom. It’s much better to break it out into stations and focus on one repeatable skill – repeat – repeat – repeat.
Don’t try to do too much in a practice!!! – try to focus on three or four things to learn for the day. Kids can only take in so much, keep it simple and have them repeat over and over during practice.
- Practice Plans – a good practice plan can save you time and effort and allows your players to get the most instruction possible in the small time frame (no downtime).
- Break it up / Keep it moving – during any practice you should have at least 3 stations and depending on volunteers you can go up to 4 or 5 stations. Keep in mind, the coach/volunteer to player ratio should stay at a minimum so there is more individual attention. See “A Well Defined Practice Plan” in the Appendix.
- Break it up / Keep it moving – during any practice you should have at least 3 stations and depending on volunteers you can go up to 4 or 5 stations. Keep in mind, the coach/volunteer to player ratio should stay at a minimum so there is more individual attention. See “A Well Defined Practice Plan” in the Appendix.
- Keep it simple – Don’t try to explain or talk too much at the stations. Give clear direction, have the players verbally repeat what they are supposed to do then get it started. Make sure each player has multiple opportunities to “run the drill / develop the skill”. The coach's job is to encourage and check for proper mechanics for the drill… muscle memory, we’ve all heard it but this is where it really comes into play!
- Stations & Rotation – Try to keep the stations to about 10 minutes (15 min. max), you need to keep them engaged. Have 3 or 4 players per station. Here is a simple matrix for stations and timing for a 90 practice:
- 3 Stations – 15 mins. per
- 4 Stations – 12 mins. per
- 5 Stations – 10 mins. per
- If you use the above as a starting point you’ll find there is about 5 minutes between stations during rotation (kids move, coach explains, coach demonstrates, then kids get started). You’ll find you may be running out of time at a station, use that as a cue to get going faster for future practices.
- Stations/Drills – See section on Player Objectives & Drills by Division. You can do a quik serach for baseball drills online and get a ton of information to add to your bag. See the Little League Coaches Page for great info and videos.
- Field clean up – After every practice and every game it is your responsibility to make sure the field is prepped for the next group coming in. Drag the field, water the dirt to prevent dust/clay blowing away. Clean up trash and be sure nothing is left behind. Use your parent field crew volunteers to make sure this happens. The better you maintain the field the better (and safer) the experience will be for your players.
4. Games
- Home team dug out – the home team takes the 1B dugout, visiting team takes the 3B dugout. Make sure you organize your dugout properly and get it set up for game time.
- Field Prep – Use your parent field crew volunteers to help you set up the field. Drag the infield, water, rake, fill in holes in the batter’s box and line the field. IMPORTANT: it is much easier to line the field after you have sprayed the base lines. Really wet down the 1st and 3rd baselines before spraying, the paint will stick much better and last for the entire game. There is a frame for building the batter’s box, press it down onto the dirt to leave a “print” for you to spray over. Again, make sure it’s wet before you spray.
- Line ups
- Template – You should have a template that you use (either Excel or other software or web-based system) to create your line up. Make sure that each player has two innings in the infield by the end of the 5th inning.
- Inning requirements/rules (player rotation) – Little League rules state that each player must play two innings in the infield by the end of the 5th inning. This can be a challenge especially if you have more than 12 players on your roster. You need to make some sacrifices to ensure that the lineup is fair and balanced, you cannot put a player at SS for the entire game…. Remember, we are coaches and our job is to develop players at different positions regardless of the players’ and/or parents’ desires. You must rotate your players.
- Exchange lineup cards – Before the start of each game you must exchange lineups with the opposing team. This is a “checks and balances” function to make sure that each team is abiding by the rules. It is also a great function for tracking and scouting of the other team. Scouting/tracking should be encouraged as it allows you to better prepare your team for the opposing team’s tendencies.
- Pre-game warm up – Make sure you team is organized and safely warming up. There are many pre-game exercises that you can go through but the standard are the warm up throws, long toss, ground balls, cut-off lines and finally infield warm up.
- Focus on 3 objectives with your team – before your game starts have a team meeting. Sit them down and explain that there are 3 things you want to see during the game (set the expectation). You can choose anything related to baseball but key items are: good throws, good glove work, good plate mechanics, no overthrows, etc. You choose what you want your team to execute for that day.
- Remind players of 3 objectives – have them repeat it out loud
- Starting the game – Make sure you dugout is organized, players are ready, their gear is where it should be. Have captains and coaches meet at home plate to review rules and shake hands. Most importantly, reminder your players to have fun… that’s why they play baseball!!
- Coaches Game Note: During games always have your catcher ready prior to your team going on defense. At a minimum, have the shin guards on and make sure the chest protector, helmet and glove are ready to go. If you don't have the catcher ready, you are cutting into playing time. Don't be lazy - be prepared!
- Post-game wrap up – gather your team in the outfield or other location and have a discussion with them, be positive (even in defeat) and review the ups and downs of the game.
- What team did well / what they need to improve on – Review your 3 pre-game objectives with the team, repeat them so your team knows what was expected. What did your team do well? What can your team improve on. Don’t say “here’s what we did ‘bad’ today”. Keep it positive and tell them that there is always room for improvement.
- Take the “Need to Improve On” items to next practice – take notes on what the team did poorly and develop your practice plan to attack those issues. We all learn from mistakes, even our kids. When you get to your next practice remind your team about the last game and the things they needed to improve upon, tell them that’s what they’re working on at that practice.
- Snacks / after game food - Establish the snack rules at the beginning of the season.
- Clear the field – it is imperative that you clear the field, dugout and bleachers of any and all trash that is present. Even if the trash wasn’t your team’s doing please make every effort to clean it up so we leave our fields cleaner than when we found them. In the end, we have a very difficult time securing field space and your efforts to clean up will shed a positive light on Menlo Atherton Little League.
Objectives and Drills by Division
The league has documented player skill objectives by division (see the sections that follow segmented TBall through Majors). This is so that all coaches in a given division are similarly focused on developing the right skills for a player to be prepared for the next level. The objectives fall into a set of categories that the player will be evaluated onby his/her coach at the end of the season. A list of drills to assist in teaching the various skills is also provided at a division level.
At the beginning of the season, it is recommended that coaches review the prior division's objectives and drills and use them as a refresher in early practices.
1. Player Rating Framework
The player rating framework identifies player objectives under two major categories:
Maturity and Baseball Skills. It is the league's intent that playing at a given level requires meeting the objectives in both of these categories and that a deficiency in either Maturiy or Basbeall Skills should be consideration for not advancing to a higher level of play.
| Maturity | Baseball Skills | |||||||
| Behavior/ Emotional |
Game Concepts |
Base Running |
Throwing | Fielding | Hitting | Catching | Pitching | |
| Exceeds Objectives |
||||||||
| Meets Objectives |
||||||||
| Needs Improvement |
Drills Game Concepts Drills Game Concepts With masking or painters tape, tape 2 or 3 squares/boxes on the backstop. Then mark throwing lines down on the field. Divide the players into teams. Each player on a team has to get one throw into the box, first team through wins. When a player misses the box they have to field the ball bouncing back and then hand it off to a teammate who also hasn’t hit the box and go to back of line. Can make variations where move from box to box or move back in distance once whole team completes first box. Drills Game Concepts Long toss to buckets – after warm up have them get into a small group and throw from 60-80 feet (vary distance by age, but want a LONG throw) attempting to get the ball in a bucket that is lying on its side. Have a coach volunteer standing behind the bucket to get the balls that go past (or place the bucket against a fence/backstop). Develops arm action and strength (be cautious with younger kids so you don’t overdo the long toss and long toss to buckets, protect their arms). Drills Game Concepts Help players develop the ability to visualize situations and the ways they may need to react based on the situation and how the ball is hit to them. Do this by “quizzing” them during practices without a live ball in play. Players need to be thinking in the field “what if the ball is hit to me?” Throwing Relay Drill: Divide players into two or three teams. Have one team going from Home to LF down 3rd base line. Another from Home to RF down 1B line. And the third going from home to CF through 2B. (Make sure players aren’t on top of each other at Home and won’t get hit by errant throws). The game is a relay race. Have to throw it player by player all the way down the line and back. If miss a ball, have to run and get it and come back to position to throw it. Teaches accurate throws, foot work to receive ball then turn and throw, etc. Fielding Proper technique for fielding groundball: A triangle should be formed between toes of players two feet and the outstretched glove touching the ground in front of the feet. You should field a ground ball out in front of you. Hittiing Catching 6. AAA Coaches Guide Pitching Drills Throwing Long toss – simple catch between players, but for developing arm strength. Have them start close then gradually extend the distance between them. Start to get them to move far apart and have them throw… they can’t short arm a throw if they need to throw it 60 feet (helps with arm mechanics). Make sure they warm up first!! Relay Drill: Divide players into two or three teams. Have one team going from Home to LF down 3rd base line. Another from Home to RF down 1B line. And the third going from home to CF through 2B. (Make sure players aren’t on top of each other at Home and won’t get hit by errant throws). The game is a relay race. Have to throw it player by player all the way down the line and back. If miss a ball, have to run and get it and come back to position to throw it. Coach on cut offs: shoulders being parallel to ball flight, glove side shoulder towards infield, yelling cut/no cut, how to receive ball and then throw, etc. Fielding Star drill (infield) – The start drill is exactly what it says. Have the catcher start by throwing to the SS, SS to 1B, 1B to 3B, 3B to 2B, 2B to Catcher. Have them repeat a number of times or until they can do it without a dropped ball or bad throw. Work in speed as much as possible. Cut offs – Set up players in position (usually best to set up on 3B line if other drills are taking place) and make sure they are in position for cutoff, emphasize distance between, rotation (to the glove side) for the cut off person and good arm mechanics Hittiing Catching Pitching Drill for getting confident throwing strikes. Set up two lines/pitching rubbers in front of the standard distance…one 10 feet closer and the other 5 feet closer. Player has to throw three strikes in a row from the closest pitching rubber, then moves to the next, and finally to the standard distance. If don’t throw three in a row have to start over. Watch pitch counts early in season! Pitching 8. Fall Ball (AAA & Majors) Guide All rules and regulations in the Little League’s “Official Regulations and Playing Rules” will be used during Fall Ball, however, a number of additions/exceptions will be implemented by MA-LL. Full Fall Ball rules will be delivered by the commissioner prior to the season beginning. Below a subset of those additions/exceptions are highlighted to provide further example of the intent and spirit of Fall Ball. Season: Playing Time: Pitchers
2. TBall Coaches Guide
Coach Notes
Player Objectives by End of Season
Behavior/Emotional Maturity
Game Concepts
Base Running
Throwing
Fielding
Hitting
Keep things moving - T-Ball kids have short attention spans!
Base Running
Throwing
Fielding
Hittiing
Coach Notes
Player Objectives by End of Season
Behavior/Emotional Maturity
Game Concepts
Base Running
Throwing
Fielding
Hitting
Catching
Keep things moving - Coach Pitch kids have short attention spans!
Base Running
Throwing
Fielding
Hittiing
Catching
Coach Notes
Player Objectives by End of Season
Behavior/Emotional Maturity
Game Concepts
Base Running
Throwing
Fielding
Hitting
Catching
Keep things moving - Single A kids have short attention spans!
Base Running
Throwing
Fielding
Hittiing
Catching
5. Double AA Coaches Guide
Coach Notes
Player Objectives by End of Season
Behavior/Emotional Maturity
Game Concepts
Base Running
Throwing
Fielding
Hitting
Catching
Keep things moving - Double AA kids have short attention spans!
Coach Notes
Player Objectives by End of Season
Behavior/Emotional Maturity
Game Concepts
Base Running
Throwing
Fielding
Hitting
Catching
Keep things moving - Triple AAA kids have short attention spans!
Coach Notes
Player Objectives by End of Season
Behavior/Emotional Maturity
Game Concepts
Base Running
Throwing
Fielding
Hitting
Catching
Fall Ball is an opportunity for players, managers/coaches, and umpires to gain experience, build skills, and gain confidence. It is often first time exposure to the level of play that is AAA or Majors. Fall Ball is low key and developmental, not competitive in the sense of score and W/L record. There are no playoffs or trophies associated with Fall Ball. Fall Ball is:
Appendix A. Team Intro Letter
Hello All,
Welcome to the 2010 (ENTER DIVISION HERE) Season!!! I am very excited to notify you that your son/daughter is on the (enter team name) in (enter division) this season. I know most of you and look forward to meeting the new families as we get rolling on our season. Coach asst. #1, Coach asst. #2 and I are really going to make this a great learning experience and focus on a lot of baseball development this season.
Many of you may know my style by now but for those who don't, in a nut shell here are my goals for the season:
Have fun
Develop leadership skills
Develop baseball skills
Learn and grow as a person
Enjoy the game
Sportsmanship
Play Aggressively with a positive attitude
Have fun, have fun, have fun!
With that said, the season is obviously getting underway so I would like to express some expectations for us all. Here's a checklist of sorts for you to review so you understand what asst #1, asst. #2 and I expect of our players and families; and a list of what you can expect from us as a coaches.
WHAT WE EXPECT FROM OUR PLAYERS
* to be on time for all practices and games,
* to always do their best,
* to share team duties,
* to be cooperative,
* to respect themselves and others,
* to have a positive mental attitude,
* to always be positive with teammates,
* to accept that they'll make mistakes, but to keep their emotions in check and stay focused,
* to accept that winning or losing graciously with respect is an important part of any sport and life.
WHAT WE EXPECT FROM FAMILY MEMBERS/PARENTS
* to come and cheer all the players on and make them feel important,
* to allow us, the coaches, to run the team,
* to recognize that we coaches will make mistakes, just like the players,
* to set a good example of respect for the players, the coaches, and the umpires by not yelling out negative comments and by being good sports,
* to call me privately if you have a concern, and never question our leadership in front of the players,
* to offer help when needed or when asked
* to accept team assignments willingly.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US
* to be on time for all practices and games,
* to be as fair as practical on playing time,
* to do our best to teach the fundamentals of baseball, fundamentals starts with "fun",
* to be positive and respectful of each individual player,
* to set reasonable expectations for the season, effort is more important than outcome,
* to teach the value of winning and losing graciously and with respect,
* to be open to ideas, suggestions, or help,
* to set a good example of respect for the players, the fans, and the umpires by handling confrontations in a dignified manner.
The last thing we'll be working on is assigning volunteer duties that each family signed up for during the registration process. We will be sending out an email assigning team parents and field crew parents in the near future. Please understand that we need as much help as possible, your efforts and assistance will truly help your child have a better season and learn more about the importance of the game... families can "play" together"!!
We plan to have our first practice on DATE/TIME/LOCATION (include any important details). Please make sure you child is dressed in proper baseball items, baseball pants, cleats, glove and hat (it is also best to get an athletic supporter and protective cup). I look forward to getting together with all of you soon. In the meantime if you have any questions please feel free to contact me at the information listed below.
Coach Mike
ENTER ALL COACHES CONTACT INFO HERE:
Name / email / cell phone
Name / email / cell phone
Name / email / cell phone
Appendix B. AAA Coaches
Job Spec and Expectations - By the time you reach the AAA level it is expected that you know or are familiar with the details of the coaches tool kit and how to properly manage a little league baseball team. However, it is important to note that you will be reviewed and judged by the following:
- Core Competencies:
- Ability to lead and manage team and parents
- Able to communicate with and motivate players
- Able to organize team activities, schedule and communicate them to team/parents
- Able to instill a sense of respect and reverance for the game of baseball
- Possess solid baseball knowledge and teaching ability
- Able to develop full array of skill fundamentals
- Throwing, Catching, Pitching, Base Running, Batting, Bunting
- Able to teach both and plan offensive/defensive strategy
- Line up
- Field positioning
- Base running
- Base runner management (relays/cut-offs/where to throw the ball under all conditions, etc.)
- Pitching (where to throw in the zone and when, types of pitches to throw and when)
- Able to educate players and teach rules of baseball
- Ability to develop and manage practice plans that are beneficial and fun for the kids
- Ability to handle difficult situations
- Coach/Parent/Player negative behavior and attitudes
Appendix C. A Well Defined Practice Plan
Creating and executing a well-defined practice plan willhelp your players improve their skills, will help your team play together more effectively, and will just plain be more fun (not to mention, it'll make you look like a better coach!). Here are some tips on how to accomplish that!
A well-defined practice plan, including goals and objectives, will help you be prepared to deal with a large group of kids. Your plan should preferably be in written form, so that assistant coaches can continue in your absence. Your plan should include the following elements:
- Objectives to be accomplished this practice.
- About four basic activites and the time you'd like to spend on each.
- A list of any required equipment.
- Blank space where you can take notes about what went well, what didn't, and any ideas you have for improvement.
Below is an example of a typical practice. The length of your practice can vary from about an hour for younger players to about two hours for older players. Each practice should consist of the following elements:
- Warm Up - Greatly reduces the risk of injury, and is especially important for developing long-term physical fitness awareness.
- Team Talk - Let your players know what you expect from them, and what you wan tto accomplish in that practice session.
- Skill Development - Focus on skill development drills and exercises. The first half of the time should be spent reviewing and improving skills previously taught. The second half of the time should be spent introducing a new skill. It's good to introduce one new skill (or some variation of a skill already learned) at every practice. First explain the skill and then demonstrate the skill, using proper technique. Then have the players perform the drill with close supervision to ensure they're using the proper technique.
- Water Break - If it's hot, take a 3 to 5 minute water break and cool-down. Use the opportunity to reinforce the skill just practiced. Note: Don't rely on your players to bring their own water. Most will, but one or two may not. Always have some extra water on hand.
- Scrimmage - Modify the scrimmage the ensure the skills you introduced have game-time implications. Here are a few tips to ensure a successful scrimmage:
- Rotate positions so each player has a chance to understand the requirements of each position.
- Use some of the players as coaches and officials, to get better understanding of the rules.
- Play for a set amount of time, not until a scrimmage team reaches a certain score.
- Team Talk - Take the time reinforce what was learned and to start preparing your players mentally for the upcoming game. There are countless ways to conduct a successful practice, and you'll have to find the way that works best for you and your situation. If you keep the pace moving and keep the atmosphere fun, you'll do just fine.
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