Coaches & Parents

Coaches

In order to provide your players with a positive and competitive experience here are some things to consider.

Responsibilities as a Coach

Coaching at all levels involves much more than making out the lineup, hitting fungoes, or coaching third base. Coaching involves accepting the tremendous responsibility you face when parents put their children into your care. As a baseball/softball coach, you?ll be called on to do the following:

1. Provide a safe physical environment.
Playing baseball/Softball holds inherent risks, but as a coach you?re responsible for regularly inspecting the fields and equipment used for practice and competition.

2. Communicate in a positive way.
As you can already see, you have a lot to communicate. You?ll communicate not only with your players and their parents, but also with the coaching staff, umpires, administrators, and others. Communicate in a way that is positive and that demonstrates that you have the best interests of the players at heart.

3. Teach the fundamental skills of baseball.
When teaching the fundamental skills of baseball/softball, keep in mind that baseball/Softball is a game, and therefore, you want to be sure that your players have fun. We ask that you help all players be the best they can be by creating a fun, yet productive, practice environment. Additionally, to help your players improve their skills, you need to have a sound understanding of offensive and defensive skills.

4. Teach the rules of baseball/Softball.
Introduce the rules of baseball/Softball and incorporate them into individual instruction. Many rules can be taught in practice, including offensive rules (such as the definition of the strike zone, rules related to the baseline, and when sliding is mandatory) as well as defensive rules (such as the force play, the balk rule, and obstruction). You should plan to review the rules any time an opportunity naturally arises in practices.

5. Direct players in competition.
Your responsibilities include determining starting lineups and a substitution plan, relating appropriately to umpires and to opposing coaches and players, and making sound tactical decisions during games. Remember that the focus is not on winning at all costs, but on coaching your kids to compete well, do their best, improve their baseball/Softball skills, and strive to win within the rules.

6. Help your players become fit and value fitness for a lifetime.
We want you to help your players be fit so they can play baseball/Softball safely and successfully. We also want your players to learn to become fit on their own, understand the value of fitness, and enjoy training. Make it fun to get fit for baseball/Softball, and make it fun to play baseball so that they?ll stay fit for a lifetime.

7. Help young people develop character.
Character development includes learning, caring, being honest and respectful, and taking responsibility. These intangible qualities are no less important to teach than the skill of hitting the baseball/softball. We ask you to teach these values to players by demonstrating and encouraging behaviors that express these values at all times. For example, in teaching good team defense, stress to young players the importance of learning their assignments, helping their teammates, playing within the rules, showing respect for their opponents, and understanding that they are responsible for having a role in every play-even though they may not be recognized individually for their efforts.

These are your responsibilities as a coach. Remember that every player is an individual. You must provide a wholesome environment in which every player has the opportunity to learn how to play the game without fear while having fun and enjoying the overall baseball/Softball experience.

Parents

To forward a positive experience for our children we all have a role to play in order to make this happen. Following is an article that may help remind us of how our behavior at our childrens sporting events effect our children and how our actions have significant impact on the experience our children will have this season.

Rules for Parenting: Parent's Behavior at the Ball Field

Jim Smoot

Spring is in the air, and once again children across the country are pulling out their gloves and bats, or strapping on their shin guards, and join a team sport in their town or neighborhood. Some kids have visions of being a sports star. For others, it's a chance to play and compete with their friends. Most, however, do it because it's fun.

Unfortunately, this time of year also brings stories of a dad charging the field because he didn't like the umpires call, or a parent going after a coach for not playing their child. While those kinds of acts don't go on all of the time, just sit on the sidelines of a local baseball, softball, or soccer game, and listen to the parents. The things you hear are appalling. Everything from verbal attacks on the umpire or referee to loud criticisms of the way the children on the field are playing.

It's gotten out of hand, and it needs to stop. It's time to get out our Parenting Handbooks and brush up on our ball field etiquette. As a sometime coach and the parent of two student athletes, I feel somewhat qualified to tell you what is and what isn't acceptable behavior from parents.

It is the coaches job to coach. As a coach of younger children, I felt one of my main jobs was player development. My job was to teach them not only the skills of the game, but good sportsmanship and teamwork. It would have been much easier for me to put my strongest players on the field and leave them. That wouldn't have been fair to the weaker players on the team. They wouldn't have the opportunity to learn how to use their skill in gameplay. I have discovered through the years that weaker players get better when given a chance to develop, and many times surpass the better players. Many times I would work on things during the game that were aimed more at learning and developing the players than it was at winning that particular game.

The problem occurs when parent who are not aware of what I am working on, begin to coach their children to do something that was different from what I told them to do. I would tell the child to play their position a certain way, and dad is on the sideline telling the child to play it a different way. Who do you think the child is going to listen to, me or their father? That's right, dad wins. So all of the time in practice and the work on developing a certain skill are wasted. You're their parent, so when you question the coaches decisions or abilities in front of your child, it weakens the coaches ability to coach. The parents behavior sets the tone for how the child will react.

You also shouldn't argue with or yell insults at the umpire or referee. If it was a bad call, the coach is the one to question the call. I have never seen an umpire reverse a call because of a parent. I have, however, seen the calls become more one sided because the parents made the umpire angry. In the end, not only do you set a bad example for your children, you hurt their ability to compete in that game. I also have noticed that children who get heavily penalized in games have parents who spend a lot of time yelling at the referee. Where do you think the kids learn their behavior? By watching their parent's behavior.

The bottom line is, as a parent your main responsibility is to model good sportsmanship to your children. Encourage them to keep trying. Support their coach, even if you don't understand the strategy. There are no scouts in the stands waiting to offer you child a million dollar contract. Their play on the field will not help you recapture your youth. At the end of the day, it's a game, and it's supposed to be fun. Let them play. Let them have fun. Let them be kids.