By Coach Joe Hernandez

As we are about to begin the baseball season, it becomes a good time to reflect back to last year and do a little introspection on your coaching style.


As a coach or a parent have you been guilty of sitting on the sidelines and "barking" useless phrases in a negative tone thinking you were doing the kids a world of good?

Too much advice from coaches is hurting the game for our youth. How many times have you been to a game only to hear the coach on third base yell something after every pitch? Some teams have as many coaches as kids in the team, all yelling at the same time. No wonder kids drop out of this game. Who can tolerate this? The sad thing is that you see and hear it in just about every game. You wonder if the coach(es) is really doing it for the kid's benefit or to impress the parents with how much baseball he knows.

I am not talking about the instructional reminders that a coach gives his players on the field regarding plays and strategies (plays and strategies that have been practiced often and with the same combination of players hopefully). I am more concerned with the "chorus" shouting you hear at so many games by multiple coaches and parents. Many times the poor advice being given is contrary to good fundamental baseball and always opposite of what another coach or parent is yelling.

The kids become confused...the result (?)...you see players holding the ball because they are not sure what to do, throwing it away because they heard someone on the sidelines yell throw it to 2nd base and not the coach who yelled throw it to 3rd...or more typical "throw the ball" (where to?)...or "Johnny throw the ball to third base".

That last is a long statement... it needs to be heard before the player can react to it, a bit too much. Better a short "go to 3rd" or "cut 3" by one of his teammates. But you can't expect this if it has not been practiced... and practiced a lot, not just one time!

• Are you one of those parents that tells your son not to listen to the base coach during the game?
• Do you walk around "pretending" to be a coach, but your objective is just to make sure your kid gets played and you are around to tell him what to do?
• Do you "badmouth" other coaches and/or players in front of your son?
• Do you rush to the park with the only interest of making sure your son gets some batting practice and fielding practice first? 
• Are you always making excuses for your son's failure? "Yeah, it was the umpire that called it too high", "the coach is not being fair to you", "it was the other player's fault", "it‚s okay not to hustle, I know you are tired from all that swimming", "it‚s too confusing but that's not your fault", etc.
• Do you find yourself always telling the kids what they did wrong instead of what they did right?
• Do you use the "sandwich" method to give constructive criticism? As a coach do you take an extra 5 minutes after a game to help just one kid?
• How much about hitting, fielding, pitching, and throwing do you really know?
  
• Can you "break-it-down" step by step to teach a kid?
  
• Or are you convinced that because you played little league 25 years ago and know a few "phrases" (which upon introspection you realize you are not quite sure what they mean) that you are qualified to teach and make a positive impact on a young ballplayers life?
  
  And the toughest question of all...
  
• Would you want that kind of coach teaching your son?
  

Most parents are very cooperative with the coaches. They realized that coaches are not perfect but have the best interest of the kids. They know that most of the time their son is going to get a fair shake. They also realize that kids need to learn how to "figure-things-out" for themselves, how to deal with failure as well as success, to respect authority, deal with and cooperate with teammates, be a team player and much more. That is why baseball is such a great game...it is here that kids develop other skills that will become important for them to develop as young responsible adults. Ask yourself: "am I helping my son or am I getting in the way? How can I help him enjoy baseball without making a big deal about everything?


At the next game, observe other parents and/or coaches and see their behavior. Do you approve of what you see? Is this the way you behave?  You would be surprise at what you can learn if you just pay a little more attention...try and see! For instance...

Johnny is at bat and the first pitch is a ball. Coach yells "good eye Johnny" or "that a boy Johnny" or perhaps "way to go Johnny".  Second pitch is a strike. Coach yells "come on Johnny, be aggressive" or "you got to swing!" On the third pitch Johnny swings - after all, this is what the coach just told him what to do. Except it was a bad pitch. Coach yells, "what are you doing Johnny? That was way up there! Why are you swinging at that?"

All the while, in between pitches, the coach is yelling different comments to Johnny. "You are not striding", "keep your hands up", "see the ball, hit the ball", "shift your weight" and on. Then as if it was choreographed, the parents from the stands jump in as a chorus, "hit the ball Johnny", "cream that ball Johnny", "you can hit him Johnny", etc. Then dad walks up to the fence behind home plate and begins telling his boy 47 different suggestions on how he can hit the ball. Everything from "watch your grip", "remember what I taught you" to "show him what you are made of".

Of course, Johnny is expected to stay focus, track the ball, decide that he wants to swing at the pitch, then proceed to do so in a fraction of a second, while he absolves all this screaming and yelling from people that probably were never able to hit a pitched ball themselves.

Then you wonder why Johnny is so nervous, confused, almost unable to function, and certainly unable to hit. Johnny does not know what to do. One moment he is overaggressive and swinging at anything to afraid to swing and back again in an effort to please the coach and his parents.

This scenario is repeated every single day at just about every game you go to. It is almost comical if it were not for the seriousness and damage this does to a young ballplayer. Sad to hear a coach spitting-out all these useless instructions and clichés. Not to mention how loud these coaches get. Bad enough that Johnny has to hear it; he is embarrassed because the whole park has to hear it as well.


Is this not supposed to be a game for the kids to enjoy? Why are so many adults blind to what they are doing? Do you wonder why 75% of our youth dropout of youth sports by the time they are 13 years old?

Do you think Tiger Woods would be where he is if this was the type of coaching that he had received? Do you notice how everyone shuts-up when a golf player is getting ready to hit the ball? Mind you, hitting a moving ball between 50 to 90 plus miles per hour is a lot harder. The level of concentration is just as intense if not more so...so why do you think young Johnny can perform under all this screaming. The successful one just tunes everyone out...so stop wasting everyone's time and let's show some courtesy to our young players.

If you are honest with yourself and really mean well for the kids (and most coaches do) and find yourself in need to "brush-up" then you have some homework to do before the season gets under way. Now is the time to review and get all the information you need to help your kids become better ballplayers ...it is all right here on WebBall.

Coaches prepare yourselves with knowledge and do your teaching at practice, but only coach at the games. Parents next time you feel like yelling do "the wave" instead. Everyone should chill-out and try to keep their mouth closed. Let's return the game to the kids and let them have fun.