9 Lessons Learned in My First Season Coaching Youth Baseball
By: Zac Campbell
Tags: Youth Sports, Coaching, Baseball, Fitness, Little League

Photo by Mike Bowman on Unsplash

My first season of coaching youth baseball came to an end a few weeks ago. I volunteered as an assistant coach for a local little league team with 13–15-year-olds on the roster. My goal was to get my feet wet as I look into future coaching opportunities.

I’m not a father, so I had to go out during tryouts and convince one of the managers to help them for the upcoming season. A few of the managers were dads, and you could tell they had their system in place for what they set out to accomplish. They wouldn’t come out with it, but they weren’t interested in some random guy off the street cramping their coaching style (see observation #1).

I attempted to explain my background and experience as a personal trainer, but the managers didn’t care to hear my sales pitch. One by one, they passed me off to the next guy, hoping I’d leave them alone. The last manager, someone closer to my age (30), wasn’t a dad. This guy had been volunteering as a coach out there for years. He asked about my availability and listened to what I had to offer. We agreed to take on the team he drafted together, and that was it. Below are just a few of the lessons I learned throughout the season.

#1 Politics are still alive and well

The season was between a handful of teams. I wasn’t apart of the draft process; however, with any little league draft, the goal is for teams to have a sense of balance in terms of potential talent. Sadly the draft fell well short of providing balance. One of the managers decided to hold players he knew from tryouts and added them to his team before practices took place as free agents. It was a backdoor move that netted that particular team some older, experienced players. You hear about coaches with the wrong intentions; this was a real-life example for me. Seeing a grown adult take advantage of a system to assemble a stacked little league team was comical and frustrating at the same time.

#2 Travel Ball has impacted Little League

I don’t mean to paint with a broad brush with this observation, but the community I live in is baseball crazy. In general, youth sports are a big hit here, and I played at this little league complex myself. I would argue that the Travel ball wasn’t mainstream then, and my little league was thriving. Fast forward to 2020, coming back to coach at this same organization is an entirely different vibe now. The league struggled to get volunteers, communicate with parents, and ensure teams showed up to scheduled games. Maybe other cities continue to run stable little league organizations to this day. However, I saw a fantastic one lose its steam right before my eyes.

It won’t take you long to stumble upon an ad on social media for travel team tryouts. People want the best for their kids and are willing to throw money at anything hoping that little Johnny will jump on the fast track to development. Again, I’m not against travel teams. There are some trustworthy organizations doing good work by putting the player’s development ahead of weekend rings. I only point out that the money and the majority of those kids aren’t coming out for traditional little league seasons at the end of the day.

We had a few kids on the team this season that participated in travel ball. I had asked parents why they doubled up, and they pointed to the uncertainty of COVID. It is undoubtedly foreign times with all the lockdowns and closures. Parents were worried their kids would lose out on reps if a travel team had a tournament cancel on them. There was a sense of frustration when the kids who played travel ball didn’t show up to practice (and games) for our team because their travel team took preference. That put the manager in a tough spot to make lineups. Some teams even had to borrow players from others to avoid forfeits.

#3 A 6:30 PM practice start time was actually code for a 6:45 PM arrival

As a personal trainer, I will never underestimate the value of a thoughtful warmup. Your body craves movement and enjoys a sense of fluidity. When the team manager posted practice schedules, I made it a point to show up at least 20 minutes before and lead the team through warmups. But hardly anyone showed up before the posted time, ever. Instead, I found that most kids would roll up a few minutes after the official start time and rarely wanted anything to do with warming up before they threw. It was wild, but I had to sit back and understand who I was dealing with (see point #6).

#4 Training the mental side of the game is non-existent for youth players

Suppose you’ve never jumped down the rabbit hole of #hittingtwitter, then you’re in for a real treat. Everyone across the world is arguing about what the right swing is, and everyone is an expert. But when it comes to the mental side, you have to dig deeper to get any substance. With social media’s love for mechanics, I wasn’t surprised when I saw the same focus at my team’s practices and games.

I would overhear some of the dad’s at practice talk to the players in the batting cage. “Focus on this, focus on that, try this, but don’t do that..” It was a cluster. These poor kids came up to the plate during games with a laundry list of things to attend to while in the batter’s box — it was a recipe for failure and frustration for them, every time. I directed my efforts to keep their heads up and clear their minds any moment I got one on one time with them.

#5 Kids have some pretty wild mentalities these days

As a kid, I was a smartass at times. Thankfully, I too had coaches that were willing to keep it real with me. So, I had to pay it forward quite a few times this season.

We had a kid run slowly from home to first during our first practice. I went over and asked if he’d like advice on running mechanics so he could shave some time off and beat out ground balls. He responded with, “It’s ok, coach. I’m really just a power hitter. That’s what I’m known for out here.” No joke, he was looking off into the sunset behind me when he said that. It was like he was daydreaming about home runs while spitting out that sentence to me.

Another case was when an older player stole third base without the sign given to him during a close game. The pitch he stole on wasn’t a passed ball or in the dirt at that, and the batter at the plate was left-handed in a count that favored a fastball considering the pitcher’s past tendencies. As the third base coach, I asked him why he ran without the sign given to him. His response, “I just felt like it. And coach, I ran pretty hard right there, so I’m not going to take the lead here for a few pitches so I can regain my breath.”

I took pride in how I handled these two interactions mentioned above. My responses were sincere and respectable to the players with a focus on growth, but you better believe the little voice in my head was saying, “Wow.”

#6 Not everyone wants to be the next MLB star

I was in the outfield with a kid during practice, out of earshot from the others, when a fly ball approached him. He stumbled backward and missed the ball, so naturally, I went into coach mode and offered advice on turning his hips. He cut me off and said, “Coach, I’m only out here because my dad wanted me to do this.” His message was loud and clear. It broke my heart, but it was him being honest, and I can’t knock him for that.

It took me a few practices, but I honed in on which players wanted to be there and saved my insight for them while making sure that the kids who didn’t want to be there had fun. This lack of desire isn’t a problem in the higher levels of baseball, but I’d argue that figuring out each player’s passion is an important skill to learn if you want to impact youth baseball.

#7 Kids are seeing pros doing something on Social Media and forgo the context before trying

I hate to sound like captain obvious here, but young Gen Z kids have a severely limited attention span. Couple that with a coach or pro player pushing a magic device or drill to fix your baseball skills on social media, and you have a recipe for expected, instant gratification.

We had a kid who would bring a weighted ball to practice, forgo any warmup, and start launching the thing to another player with a cold arm. I don’t have anything against weighted balls; in fact, I use them in my throwing routines. And I’d argue they’re not magical; after all, a standard baseball is weighted as well. But when I asked the kid why he chooses to use the heavier ball and what he hopes to accomplish with it, he said, “It’s for my arm’s health. I saw them (MLB players) using it in the bullpen before they took the field. If it works for them, it will work for me.”

These kids don’t see the pre-game warmups, the extensive work behind the scenes to get to that particular weighted ball. Instead, they only see the four-second clip of activity and think, “I have to do that now; that’s what’s expected.”

You’re not going to head to the gym and think, “Hey, I’ve never performed a weighted squat in my life, but I’m going to knock out a few sets of 400 lb squats today anyway.” Instead, you work your way up to that weight by perfecting the movement and gaining an understanding of your body. This kid wanted to emulate the pro players but didn’t understand the context. He was also the kid that complained about his arm hurting all season.

#8 Umpires don’t get paid enough

Whether they are volunteers or not, these guys and gals put up with too much from parents in the stands, wild coaches, and even kids arguing balls and strikes. I witnessed a parent attack an ump in the parking lot for a missed call. Is it the end of the world when little Johnny gets thrown out trying to steal second? I say no, but go to the nearest youth game coming up in your area; you will have plenty of opportunities to see some outbursts yourself. I commend those who take time out of their schedule to ump games, kudos!

#9 What truly matters

The season presented countless moments that I’ll cherish throughout the remainder of my coaching career. I met some incredible parents and built relationships with just about all my athletes. I watched a few kids who never played the game take their throwing motions from humorous to functional over a short period and witnessed the joy they gained from doing so. I offered advice, accumulated knowledge, and observed a group of young men come together to achieve a common goal each night on the field. But the most meaningful takeaway for me:

Just like how each throw or swing the athlete attempts can allow for improvement or regression, each interaction between the coach and athlete can profoundly impact their growth on and off the field. The human, the young kid in front of you, will always come before the athlete they aspire to be. As a coach, your athlete is showing vulnerability by asking for your help. Recognize that this is an honor and lead with humility.