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Written from the perspective of working with the youngest players, "Off The Tee" gives first-time and experienced coaches alike a true picture of what to expect during the course of your TeeBall season.

You'll also find lots of helpful hints for preparing your young players for moving up to the next level of coach or machine pitch. "Off The Tee" offers great advice for TeeBall parents, practce tips, fun games to offer your players, and much, much more.

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QUICK COACHING TIP:

Serve 'em a sandwich!

Sandwich your instruction with a compliment on both sides of the instruction. Always make sure that when giving instruction, offer genuine praise for the task done well. Whatever skill your players execute properly deserves praise on its own merit.

Here's an excerpt from a recent issue of :

Planning now will help you prepare for an exciting Spring TeeBall season!

Building a good team out of a group of individuals is going to involve effective practice. On the field, you have to be a teacher as well as a coach. Teach them what they need to know, show them what you taught them, practice the things you taught them over and over, then be prepared to do it all over again.

With TeeBall, even more so than with more advanced players, repetition is the key. Practicing during the off-season will make for a more enjoyable experience during the season. Practice, by definition, presumes repetition. Repetition is the key to successful game preparation. Repetition can soon turn into monotony with players (particularly TeeBall players), unless you:

(1) PLAN every aspect of every practice right down to the minute,

(2) Keep your practices MOVING to eliminate standing around, and

(3) Make a GAME out of as many things as you can.

Remember that players will not perform effectively in games unless they have practiced that way. Practice base running, or you will find your players have no clue what you expect them to do while running the bases during a game. Teach them what to do with the ball when they catch it, or they will be unable to respond properly during the game. Attention to the basics is essential. Conversely, your expectations must be realistic consistent with the skill level of the player.

Knowing What To Expect Makes All the Difference

Most coaches who have coached before will tell you that if they had only had some sort of guidelines when they first started coaching, they would have made a lot more progress more quickly with their teams.

TeeBall-To-A-Tee can help you become a “SUPER COACH” with the TeeBall Coaching Handbook.
The Handbook gives you important information you need in easy-to-use format to help you plan your pre-season practices, organize your parent/coach network, deal with problematic issues, and much more!
While some coaching books are long-winded flights of theory, the TeeBall Coaching Handbook is direct and to-the-point information geared to get you up to speed and coaching your team quickly. Full of tips, clear explanations, targeted how-to information, and helpful forms, the TeeBall Coaching Handbook is something designed so that you can easily take it to every game and practice!
Get more information or order the TeeBall Coaching Handbook for just $14.95 NOW.

Practicing Indoors In Winter Keeps Young Players Interested and Helps Improve Basic Skills

Seasons usually begin before Spring officially starts and practices begin while there is plenty of cold weather left. By practicing indoors during the off-season, you can help your young player improve his/her skills and keep their interest in the game fresh. Offer lots of encouragement and notice incremental improvements and you will see positive results now and in the coming season.

The following drill can be done inside in a basement or gym either alone or with supervision. We recommend at least 10-15 reps each session.

Fielding FUN-damental Drill. A player can never spend too much time mastering fielding skills. This simple drill allows them to work on the most fundamental of skills inside. The parent or coach simply rolls the ball directly to the player from a distance of about ten feet. Emphasize the player fielding the ball correctly (body in front of ball, butt down, hands out in front, glove hand BELOW the ball (on the ground), other hand covers the ball, player stands up smoothly with ball. Player throws ball back to parent or coach (see drill #25 in the "Practice In A Pocket" booklet for correct throwing technique). Reward the player with lots of praise for every ball fielded correctly.

The above drill is just one of the more than 30 drills tailored specifically for the TeeBall player included in the Practice In A Pocket© booklet. Easy to use, and easy to take anywhere (it REALLY DOES fit in your pocket!), the Practice In A Pocket© system makes it easy to teach your players basic fundamental skills in a fun, organized way. Get more information or order Practice In A Pocket© here.

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Want to help a youngster who's afraid of the ball learn to catch pop flies with confidence?

Take your player to an open field with a helmet and face guard, several tennis balls, and a racquet.

Demonstrate (by bouncing the tennis ball off the youngster's helmet) it CAN'T hurt and explain that you are going to hit him/her some fly balls and you want him/her to get into position to catch the balls. Obviously you will need to take a few moments to show the player how to align himself under the ball, where to hold his hands, the proper angle to hold the glove, how to use both hands to catch the ball and cover it properly, etc.

Once the youngster is comfortable with what to do, proceed to hit soft (and catchable) fly balls heaping on shouts of encouragement for good effort and catches. Once the youngster has mastered your easiest lobs, make them move laterally and back and forth. Upon mastering the tennis balls, move to a soft tee ball, and eventually remove the helmet and let the player catch them with just his cap on. Before you know it, your youngster will be comfortable catching fly balls and derive a lot of satisfaction in playing the field.

TIPS LIKE THESE AND MANY MORE ARE FEATURED IN EACH ISSUE OF "OFF THE TEE".

You'll also find lots of helpful hints in determining when it's right for your child to play TeeBall, conditioning and safety tips for young players, tips for off-season training and much, much more!

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