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Coaching Youth Baseball Demands You Prioritize Fun for Players

By Kent Sterling, 05/21/19, 12:00PM PDT

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  • The result of the game should be meaningless to you.  If you are in it for trophies, resign immediately and let another coach take over.

When I asked my old boss how I should grade myself as a youth baseball coach, he said, “That’s easy.  How many kid play next year?  If they all play, you were great.  If none play, you were terrible.”

Best answer ever.

The way to get kids to play the following season is to make baseball fun.

I watched a travel baseball game last night and was not pleased with the coaches for either team.  Both sets of coaches for these 13 year-olds micromanaged play.  As a result, the kids wandered passionless through the game.  One set of coaches were demonstrably negative and critical immediately after plays – as though the kids don’t understand when they screw up.