Tell me about it. Pretty slow in here. What, is everyone off on vacation or something?
On a completely unrelated topic (and since there really isn't a topic right now anyway) My 4 year old son's first T-ball game is Saturday. There are about 12 or 15 kids on the team, most with little or no baseball experience. I'm trying to walk that fine line of "helping out, but not stepping on the coach's toes." Anyone else have experience with this kind of thing?
I coach 1st grade boys t-ball. I coached Kindergarten last year. I also coach 3rd grade girls softball, and I've coached my daughter every year since Kindergarten as well.
At that age, it is all about having fun and starting to develop some basic skills. The ball is super soft and most of them just want to hit it off the tee. Catching and throwing are taught, but it is all about the hitting for the boys. Everyone bats, everyone scores. The rueles are starting to be explained, but the main goal is for them to have fun and want to come back next year. If the boys do manage to make a leigitimate put-out in the field, it is like a World Series celebration. Of course, the hitter will still be declared safe and nobody is supposed to keep score.
As far as not stepping on toes, I would suggest to the head coach, before the game/practice to let each boy get a few swings of the tee into the fence or backstop. Start getting them used to the correct stance, setup, etc. I do this before every game with my assistant coaches. It takes lie 10 minutes. I try to get them to understand the concept of swinging a bat hard, as opposed to some boys who just stop the bat when it touches the ball, and the ball dribbles 2 feet. That way, when the game starts, they already have had some warmups and come to the plate with an idea of what to do. Of course, a coach is always standing with them next to the tee during the game. It can certainly get frustrating for the boys on both teams when a boy comes to bat and the coach is starting from scratch and the at-bat takes 2 minutes and 10 swings before he makes contact - that is where the warmup comes in. Most every boy on my team will hit the ball on their first swing. THey love it and the parents and other coaches all remark to me how well my boys hit the ball and the boys gain lots of confidence.
Also, as an assistant coach, volunteer to coach first or third (or the bench to make sure the batting order is followed). If you treat it like a real baseball game, while keeping it fun, the boys will start to understand concepts like "running through first", and being "on-deck".
Finally, every boy wants to play first base or bat first every inning. Make sure they rotate otherwise you'll see tears. This year, I print out a batting order and fielding chart for each inning and give it to the assitant coaches. It keeps things fair and balanced and boys accept something they see in writing a lot easier than when they see the coach doing it off the top of his head.
Any other questions, fire away.
ClearScreen
pecos bill is only for residence of Disney world!
. Is it for Florida Resident Passholders only? That's Beverly. I'm super cereal. 
