Coaching Little League T-Ball (what to expect)
This Article ( https://www.baseballpositive.com/tee-ball ) gives you a good idea of what you may be in for if you've volunteered for Tee ball.
Some things to highlight;
- It’s not baseball
- Batting is done with the arms
- Running the bases and while on defense, Tee-Ball is just another version of tag
- Kids can’t catch
- Kids will find interests other than baseball during practice (and games)
Accept these points as the realities that they are, and be prepared to deal with them.
Approach the season for what it is, spending time with your child and their friends, watching them run around, laugh while they work to develop skills to catch, throw and hit that little ball, then we can have a great time as coaches.
As adults we are going to the park thinking ‘baseball’, while the kids are going to the park thinking ‘I get to see my friends and run around a lot’. We want to see the activity from a kid’s perspective and teach and manage them within their perspective and recognize that the activities at the park are not always going to look like baseball.
Success in tee-ball is measured in small victories. Teaching kids basic hand-eye coordination. Or how to hold the bat. Or which direction to run after hitting the ball (yes, they might run to third or straight out after the ball).
Your primary purpose as Tee-Ball coaches is to help the kids develop a love of the game and create an environment that leads to them wanting to continue playing the game. We need to get the kids to stick around until age 8-9 (single A). At that time the game begins to resemble ‘baseball’, where you even hear parents exclaim "Wow, that looked like real baseball" in a game when a kid catches a fly ball or throws a runner out at first. Kids who make it to Single-A are likely to continue on with the game to age 12 ...and hopefully beyond...