I hear Jennie Finch might have some time on her hands now.



Surely a man of your means could hire her to come over for some private instruction.

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

I was going to post that but could not find a good animated version. A Fred McGIF, if you will.

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1926-1931-1934-1942-1944-1946-1964-1967-1982-2006-2011

Assuming 5-6 year old softball is similar to 5-6 year old baseball, your coaching duties are:

1. Make sure nobody gets hit by bat. Either during swing or when they throw it.
2. Make sure snack/drink parent knows its their day to avoid the disaster of not having them.
3. Make sure to scout the parents so you can draft team based on mom hotness.

You're welcome

Back to Back...to Back...to Back Championships!

I swear if I could get that hat I'd wear it every day.

you take half the team, other coach takes the other half. you put them next to each other with space between them.

you throw them random grounders. they don't know who it's coming to which keeps them interested. it works, trust me. you need them to keep their interest at this age.

don't worry about base running. even though you tell to them to run through first, they all stop on first. don't waste your time with that at this age.

every practice they must practice swinging, dropping the bat, and running to first. if they throw the bat, you stop them and make them do it until they get it right. they will learn very quickly not to throw the bat.

do not practice pop ups or playing catch. all you want to focus on is grounders.

never pitch to one player and have the rest in the field. waste of time and those in the field will be bored big-time.

practice should go no longer than 1 hour.

good luck

The key is to teach the basics at that age.

With clinics I run for 4-9 year olds here is what I do in a 90 minute clinic:

Warmup - have them stretch and run a bit. They don't need it at this age, but it sets the framework for the future when they will need it.

Next, if you can teach them to catch the ball this year, you will have won! Take a tennis ball or whiffle type ball and have them line up and walk the line getting them to catch the ball with two hands. You flip to them at the start. Later on you can create staggered lines and have them toss to one another. The key is starting with barehands - once they get the hang of it, have them try with just one hand and then introduce the glove. They need to gain confidence that they can catch.

Next, get them focused on ready position - explain how it's important because they can shuffle to the ball and that they are ready for the ball when it's hit to them. From here you can do a few things, you can play simon says with shuffle drill. Shuffle left, simon says shuffle right - make it fun. After getting shuffling down, you can move to ground balls. Glove out in front, alligator the ball into the glove. Start with you rolling, eventually hit the ball off the bat to them. At the same time, you have to teach the proper throwing - no throwing like a girl! Get the arm back, ball pointed towards behind them and arm all the way through. That's my biggest regret at the younger age, not teaching that as much because now I am doing it with 7 and 8's.

Hitting is typically the hardest, as long as you can teach them a proper setup and ensure the bat they have isn't too big, this one is all practice. I do many standard drills (I have 4 coaches) - flip drill, hit off tee, quick pitch and standard pitch.

You also need to teach some baserunning fundamentals. Running through first base, how to be ready at the base ready to go to the next base.

Are you teaching pitching? If you are, find an older coach to help out.

Do as much as you can as a game.
If you have any questions, PM me. Hell, if anyone does, PM me.

At the young ages, the biggest thing I see wrong is girls and parents going out to the local dick's or sports authority and buying a pretty bat and the girl can't swing it. Most 6-8 year olds need to have a bat 15 oz or under. Get them to focus on lining themselves up parallel to the plate. I make most of the girls place the bat on their shoulder and raise it up from there - swing through the ball - no elbow up crap. I teach the stride and squish the bug with the back foot but I can see at HS with a girl throwing 60 mph from 40 feet (equivalent of 90 mph in baseball), strides need to be short and swings compact.

Where are you coaching softball?

I was under the impression softball was for a little older age. That's pretty cool.

practice them running second to home, and first to third.

at this age, teach the outfielders to throw the ball to second base every time. teach cut off, second base.

we used to have half line up at second and half at home and have a relay race running around the bases. The kids would use a baseball for the relay.

At that age, run the piss out of them. Their parents will appreciate it.

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I coach in Bloomingdale and work with 7-9 year olds. We have a league locally with several villages - 11 total teams at the 8U level.

You made an out and won?

What kind of games are these?

My team made 13 put outs in a 5 inning game and made 2 total outs when batting and won comfortably.

Maybe I'm not understanding how you 'win' in your league.

So do outs count?

Do they keep score?

When I have children I want them to play in the Alsip Non-Pussification league. They should be keeping score in these games. It teaches math.

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Yeah, my dad used to tell me the actual score even though there was no official score

In our league, every kid stays on base regardless of whether a put out is made so the score is really just Number of kids on team X 3 or 4 depending on how many innings

How are you pitching? Underhand? (This is a serious question)

I'm asking my girls tee ball managers to do the same this year. They have to get used to it. Using a 10" ball?