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The Ultimate Prep Checklist: Skills Every Player Needs for High School Baseball
Guest-coaching my 13U team this weekend was a fantastic experience – one that made me realize how many critical skills go into preparing these young athletes for the next level. High school baseball has its own set of expectations, and the sooner players start building these habits, the smoother their transition will be. Below is a checklist of must-have skills, habits, and mindset shifts that are essential for any player aspiring to make an impact in high school baseball. If you're a coach, parent, or player, use this list to ensure you're covering all the bases (pun intended). ⚾ Bunting – I don’t care what you say or what type of hitter – if you want to play ...
8 Simple Ways to Make Ordinary Youth Practices Extraordinary
🎶 Music must be blasting as kids exit the car We want a multisensory experience. Music gets the good vibes going before practice. Blast music before practice and throughout practice. It just feels better this way. 📖 Use storytelling to teach life lessons Instead of talking about life lessons, teach them through stories. Begin each practice with an intentional new lesson told through some type of true or fictional story. Kids tend to listen m🧵⚾🥎ore to an immersive story than straight teaching. Examples: Resilience: Jackie Robinson Positivity: Big Papi Teamwork: Derek Jeter Hard Work: Cal Ripken Hustle: Pete Rose I'm sure you can find detailed stories on the internet that map to each life lesson. 🌀 Differentiate your warm-up ...
Are we pushing kids too hard?
"My child needs to be pushed. They only have fun playing with better players." This is the most common request we get from parents after the first day in our programs. After a recent request, it got me thinking... Why are so many parents so eager to “push their kids”? This constant urge to “play up” is everywhere—in Little Leagues, Rec Leagues, and Travel Ball—and it’s impacting our kids in ways we might not realize. Pushing kids harder and faster may not be helping them as much as we think. In fact, it might be backfiring. Here’s how… Pushing Kids To Play “Kid Pitch” WAY Too Early In many rec leagues, kids as young as 7 or 8 are ...
Is is time to let others coach my kid?
After coaching other people’s kids for 15 years, I’m finally coaching my own son and his buddies in our Fall SpeedBall League. He’s 6, turning 7 next week, and coaching him has been one of the greatest joys of my life. Watching him experience all his baseball firsts: First day at Legends camp. First win in a real game. First walk-off hit. Even his first game that ended in tears… it pulls at my heartstrings every time! It’s funny. After dealing with so many types of parents over the years, I thought I understood what they went through watching their kids play. But I didn’t, not until now. There’s something about seeing your own kid out there, ...
Positive Reinforcement? Tough Love? Or Both?
Captain Fun here. You know I’m a big believer in positive coaching. It’s at the core of everything we do. But as both a coach AND a parent, I’ve learned something important: Sometimes, you need more than just positivity. The other day, I was coaching kids on how to tag up. They were goofing off, and no matter how much I encouraged them, nothing was working. Finally, I said, “If you leave early or don’t do it right, go touch the foul pole.” Guess what happened? Every single player got it right! It reminded me that we need a tool belt of different parenting and coaching approaches. Sometimes, encouragement works. Other times, a little structure or consequence is needed ...
Is your child playing the “long game”?
I stumbled upon this Kobe Bryant quote, and his take on youth athletic development really caught my attention: “When I’d play, I’d play to my weaknesses… In competition situations, you’re only playing to your strengths. Why? Because you want to win… I would work on the things during those summer games that I was weak at.” Kobe's point is clear: playing more games does not lead to rapid growth. It's like learning math— you dont get better at math by taking more tests alone. You get better by PRACTICING specific math problems in preparation for an upcoming test. Checkout the quote from Kobe! The same applies to youth sports. Playing more games won’t necessarily correlate with ...
