After years of watching, reporting on, and photographing pro baseball, Kevin T. Czerwinski and Beth Balbierz began coaching Little League in their respective home towns. In Knack Coaching Youth Baseball, this expert team combine real-life know-how about how to deal with kids with the best lessons they've learned from the pros, creating a reliable, usable, and winning instruction book for youth baseball coaches -- and for parents who want some ideas for giving their kids a few pointers in the backyard.

Knack Coaching Youth Baseball presents basic and advanced information about coaching this popular youth sport for kids aged five to fourteen.

You have volunteered to coach a youth baseball team, but are you ready? How will you teach the fundamental skills, run effective practices, and harness the energy of your young team? Fear not: Coaching Youth Baseball the Right Way has the answers. Youth baseball coach Ed DeVries shares his experiences and provides advice you can rely on from the first practice to the final game. From establishing realistic goals, to practice plans, to drills, strategies, coaching tips, how to make it fun - it's all here. Develop your kid's fielding, catching, throwing, pitching, and hitting skills with Coaching Youth Baseball the Right Way's age specific (ages 4-12) practice plans and drills that young players can actually use. Coaching Youth Baseball the Right Way has everything you need to successfully coach T-ball or any age division of youth baseball through age 15.

Coaching Youth Baseball, Fourth Edition, stresses fun, safety, and effective instruction, helping you create an environment that promotes learning, encourages a love of the game, and motivates your athletes to come out year after year. Numerous coaching books present the skills and drills of baseball. But here’s a book that teaches you how to convey these skills to your athletes in an engaging and positive manner. Coaching Youth Baseball’s focus on teaching offensive and defensive skills through gamelike drills sets it apart from the current lineup of baseball coaching books. Sporting a reorganized format geared for sequential learning and quick reference, the fourth edition features a line-up of 11 new drills and 40 age-specific coaching tips that are sure to jump-start your planning and practices. The expertise of Coach Tom O’Connell and essential coaching skills—communicating with parents and officials, motivating players, and preparing for games and practices—make this book a must-read as you prepare to meet the challenges and enjoy the rewards of coaching young athletes.

Congratulations on your commitment to coach youth baseball. If you’re new to coaching, you’ll find Coaching Youth Baseball invaluable in making your first season a success. If you have previous coaching experience, you’re sure to discover tips and strategies that will help you improve on last year. Coaching Youth Baseball will help you manage your team with confidence. This age-specific and field-tested coaching guide will prepare you to handle your responsibilities and establish proper priorities as a coach; communicate with players, officials, other coaches, and parents; teach baseball skills and strategies using a combination of more than 30 drills and 40 coaching tips; minimize the risk of injury, establish a safe playing environment, and administer basic first aid; plan and conduct efficient practices; manage your team on game day; and keep it all fun. Written for coaches of players ages 18 and under, this book is a valuable component of the Coaching Youth Baseball the Babe Ruth League Way online course, the official certification course of Babe Ruth League, the premier amateur baseball program in the world. With this book, you will create and nurture an athlete-centered environment that promotes player development, enjoyment, motivation, safety, and sportsmanship—an environment that inspires players to perform at their best and come out for the team year after year.

This book was written expressly for you who are coaching children in basetball. We stress how to teach children this complex game and to have fun doing it. The book covers all facets of the game from the most basic "how to" throw, catch, run and bat to game strategies and tactics. When coaching children it should be a fun experience for everyone, for you, for the parents, and most important of all, for the children. As a coach, we cover the teaching attitude and methods. We always keep in mind that these are children, and the game is for the kids and not for the adults. Winning isn't everything, but learning to play well and wanting to win is. We have taken the children from first grade through the eighth grade and bro-ken them into four categories. In each category we discuss the players needs and abilities, what they are capable of in both the physical and emotion sense, and their limitations. We have also defined the coach's role, the parent's role and the player's role.