There’s nothing better than a helpful tip if you’re a new coach just getting started with your little league baseball team. Remembering to get everyone’s contact info and the team’s custom baseball uniforms in on time probably takes the cake when you first get going, but once the first practice arrives mission #1 is always going to be figuring out how you can better your squad.

For the real “go getter” coach, that means hunting down a bunch of little league baseball drills that are either fun, helpful or both. Some drills can be a waste of time and it’s good to knock them out early so you know not to go back to them later on, but others you can stick in your back pocket to use over and over. We’ve picked up a few little league baseball drills that are always good for honing the basic fundamentals and can continue to help players improve:

Base Running – Down Angle Drill

This drill is all about mastering base running, angles and timing. It also is run in a way that it maximizes time in practice so every player can get an appropriate amount of reps in. You start out with your team split up into three groups – one at first base, one at second and one at third. Have a pitcher (probably a coach) at the mound, tossing a versatile set of balls (strikes, dirt balls, etc) to a catcher and have each base runner take their turn, and depending on what the ball is, they can practice on when/how they should depart the specific base, whether they need to stay put and/or check back before running. This drill obviously is great from just a beginning perspective, as it teaches the fundamentals of base running and how to react to various pitchers and how the ball is hit. As you become more advanced, this can greatly help your team’s offense and put added pressure on opposing defenses, as your squad will gain a mental edge with improved knowledge on what to do with several types of pitches.

Batting Practice – Hitting the Fastball

No matter how advanced a hitter gets, they always can use work on identifying, reacting and actually connecting on fastball pitchers. Usually the younger your team is, the less intense the pitching is in all regards, but the biggest thing separating a good pitcher and a good offense is the speed of the pitcher. Power hitters are few and far between at the lower levels, but there are always some tough arms you’ll run into that can throw it hard and fast, but won’t necessarily work the plate. That puts a bigger emphasis early on to get used to some speed on the ball and as the players grow and improve, they’ll be more and more used to fast pitcher and will be able to focus on other flaws at the plate.

One of the big things people overlook is how you actually hold the bat. Just like with a basketball shot, if a hitter has bat position and stance that works, you really don’t want to mess with it too much. However, especially when starting out, it’s more than okay to incorporate some of the basic fundamentals. For grip, always be sure to not hold the bat too tightly or all the way in the palm of your hands. There is always the fear that without a tight grip the bat could go flying, but holding it more on the finger tips makes it easier to swing more fluidly and puts less pressure on your shoulders. The next issue is the actual stance, as you simply want to roll with the traditional “feet out just past your shoulders”. This doesn’t always have to be precise but it should be comfortable and the hitter should be balanced. That way no matter what the pitch is, you’ll always be completely ready to swing freely.

The other huge aspect when taking on the fastball is establishing contact correctly. Anyone can swing and hope they hit the ball, but aiming underneath the ball usually leads to a flat out miss or a bad pop up that results in an easy out. It’s best to hit near the top of the ball, giving you the best chance to establish contact and actually put the ball in play. The more defined your stance and the more fluid your swing, the better the chance of adding proper placement and distance to the contact.

Pitching Practice – The Bullseye Drill

This is all about accuracy and placement, and the two can work together to help your pitchers work on their stance, release motion and fluidity. That should go without saying, but no matter what they set up and delivery is, this will help improve their game and overall accuracy. The basic concept is to create a “bullseye” or obvious target for the pitcher to go after and increasingly make it smaller and smaller. You can keep track of the success by scoring the pitcher at each level and also test placement by moving the bullseye to different areas. The idea here is not just to get good at putting the ball in one spot, but to really challenge pitcher’s placement and accuracy consistency.

There are countless drills for every facet of little league baseball, but these three are key drills that can definitely help you improve three of the most important aspects of the game. Have your own little league baseball drills to share? Tell us about them in the comments below!

Little league baseball normally doesn’t look or feel like a dangerous sport, but there are actually a lot of ways kids can get nicked up in the sport, despite it being of the non-contact variety. The two most positions that lead to injury the most can be pitcher and catcher, as pitchers focus most of their movement on a restricted wind up and then often hurl a ball as hard and fast as they can. That leads to elbow, hand, arm and shoulder issues for a variety of reasons. The same is the case for catchers, but constantly being in a kneeling position can put added pressure on the feet, ankles, hips and of course the knees.

We’ve touched on pitching a bit already, but the catcher position is often ignored when talking about precautions and how to deal with it. Let’s go over a few tips so if your kid ends up playing the position you know how to deal with it from day one:

Get Comfortable

In every sense of the word, you want the person playing catcher to be as comfortable as possible. It starts with the equipment and baseball uniform you’re wearing and ends with your actual stance behind home plate. You should have full range of motion, should be able to see clearly through the mask, have the functionality to get up easily and obviously throw the ball across the infield when necessary. Make sure you’re not restricted by equipment and then once in your stance, be sure to be in a position that is both required to perform the catcher position and also comfortable enough so you’re not putting unnecessary pressure on your legs or back. Beyond that, you’ll also want to have the ability to get in and out of this position fluidly and borderline effortlessly. This isn’t always perfected right away, and how you ease into it can be very different depending on the player.

Practice Makes Perfect

Like anything else, the way you set into your position, how quickly you change out of your gear, what you actual stance is, etc all takes practice. You should ease into the position by practicing everything that goes along with being a catcher on the field by yourself, long before you ever engage in any kind of scrimmage or actual game. Just like you threw hundreds or even thousands of baseballs before you got on the team, you want to feel good about your new position before testing it out in live action. That’s always going to be where you make your biggest improvements in the long run, but you still want to enter that first game play scenario in a comfortable spot. Regardless, working on any minor flaws in regards to what goes into being a catcher is what practice is for, so be sure to hone your strengths but always make some time to try to improve something you struggle with. That could be fielding a pop up, running down a base runner and the list goes on.

Fielding

While practice does make perfect, you first need to nail down the fundamentals across the board. One of the first things you’re going to want to perfect is playing the ball in a number of ways, as you will have wild pitches that require you to explode out of your stance, you will have fast balls that seem impossible to catch and you will have grounders coming at or in between your knees. It’s crucial to know the exact way to respond to these balls, because as you practice the right way, you will be fine tuning your muscle memory. Once the live game comes, those specific situations will be responded to by the catcher with the correct movements and you will have a higher success rate as you proceed.

Plate Work

A step away from fielding would be anything that a catcher needs to know or do when at the plate. When base runners come barreling down the line from third base, you need to be zoned in and ready to catch an incoming ball and get them out. Sometimes that can mean physical contact if they try to steamroll you to hit home plate. Practicing a good form to establish a wall and hold your ground is very key in order to not be overtaken at the plate. In addition, knowing where to be for said scenario and various other infield plays is crucial, as the catcher is the protector of home base and needs to make sure they know exactly what is going on and are where they need to be.

One last thing the coach and parents can do is be rather selective with their catcher(s). It takes a special player to excel at catcher, even though some at first glance may see it as an easy position. It is anything but, as you need constant focus in order to protect the plate and make plays with your arm. The catcher position can take a toll on the lower body and can also get into run-ins with base runners, so a stronger kid with a strong lower body that can perfect the stance and also can field the ball would be a good choice to man the position.

For coaches, another good tip is to rotate catches when you can. Just like with pitchers and how you want to protect them from themselves due to wearing the arm out, it can be very much the same with catchers. Catchers can tire down too, and to maximize their ability to defend at a high level, using multiple catchers can be quite beneficial.

Got some helpful catcher tips of your own? Let us hear them in the comments below!

If you’re just getting started on your first ever season as a head coach of a little league baseball team or just are looking to brush up for the new year, there are always things you can focus on to better yourself as a leader of your team. It can range from the basics to drills, to baseball uniforms, to common practices and so much more. To gear up for another run of little league baseball, let’s take a look at some really basic, yet very helpful coaching tips.

Knowledge is Power

You never can know everything, but when you’re taking over a little league baseball team, you need to know quite a few things. Number one, you should have a pretty good handle on baseball. You know the rules, you have an idea how to manage a team and you know strategy. That will help you keep your team in line, command respect and actually be productive on the field. Other things to know are all of your league rules and requirements, player strengths and weaknesses and how to communicate in general.

To be an effective coach and leader, you need to be able to hand down knowledge of the game and what to do in various situations. This applies to life situations, practices and of course games.

Get Help

No matter how smart you think you are – and especially if you think you’re not – you want help to run a little league baseball team. Parents, friends or fellow coaches will do, so long as you’re not the only guy running practices and coaching the team. You took the head job and that’s on you, but to maximize the potential of each player and the team as a whole, getting extra help is always a good idea. You could bring in people specifically for pitching, hitting, base running, and the list goes on. This isn’t a Major League Baseball team, but whatever help you can get that isn’t misguided and can actually be used, you should take it. You still get last say in everything the team does, but the more help you can get, the better off you and your team will be.

Safety First

We don’t list it here first, but this is an age old little league baseball tip that is really simply a must. Whether you’re in practice or in a game, the number one objective is always to enter and exit with everyone healthy and in as good as spirits as possible. Players who are playing hurt should be monitored at all times and whenever you can help it, players with even remotely serious injuries would just rest during practice (or go through a light individual practice) and likely also sit out of games. During the game, baseball can be aggressive just like any other sport, with balls possibly hitting players, players running, diving and sliding, and so on. On top of taking every precaution to being ready for any potential injury (first aide kit, etc), you should also understand the league protocal when it comes to injuries and relay that to your fellow coaches, players and parents.

Winning Isn’t Everything

While winning is the main goal of games, it’s best to go in knowing that this isn’t MLB and winning really isn’t everything. Players and teams collectively are rewarded when they win, but you need to be sure to keep spirits high even when you’re not performing well. The real goal is to coach up each individual player and have the respective players come together to form a well knit team. Your job is successful if you can do that, even aside from a win-loss record.

Once you have that thought down, how you handle defeat is also quite key. Remember, these are young kids looking for role models, for an example, for any kind of direction on how to approach and react to the game. Pouting and complaining is uncalled for, especially when it can involve blaming umpires, individual players or anything of the sort. Teach your players to be humble and to credit the other team with a win fully, and to use a loss as an opportunity to address weaknesses in practice.

Keep it Fun

It’s baseball! This is still a fun sport that should be able to be enjoyed, no matter how individuals fare or if the team wins or loses. You obviously don’t want to teach a full acceptance of losing to the point where the kids don’t care about losing or even given up prematurely, but you should try to balance a desire to win with just enjoying the game. Keep the dugout light and fun, while also trying to keep the players focused on individual assignments, cheering their teammates on and staying involved in the game even when they’re not in it. Celebrating wins and carving out time during practices for fun drills also can help to remind everyone that while the goal is to win, little league baseball is also about having fun.

There are more little league baseball tops to break down and specific things we can go over, but these five tips can go a long way in getting you set out in the right direction in your first season at the helm. In summary, do your research so you know the sport, the league and your own players. Make sure you have the appropriate help and that you’re not putting too much on yourself. Make sure every player is safe, prepared and dedicated, but do your best to also make sure everyone knows that a loss doesn’t mean the end of the world and that through it all, this is still a fun game meant to be enjoyed!