Expert: John McInnis - 9/14/2006

Question
I have been asked to coach 4 small groups of pre T-ballers.  The groups consists of 10-15 kids ranging from 3-5 years of age.  The class is described as T-ball skills no games are scheduled.  The class runs for 45 mintes for 4 weeks.  I have very little training in T-ball, any suggestions?

Kyle

Answer
Hi Kyle,

that's very young for T-ball.  You have your work cut out for you.

I guess you'll have to carefully work out a plan to gradually introduce T-ball to these children.  Have objectives for each practice, each weekk and a grand objective by the end of the 4 week sessions.

You'll have to make it entertaining and exciting in order to capture their attention.

Whenever you teach a new skill, show them how it's done and give plenty of praise.  

To be honest, I've never coached children that young.  My wife is a grade school teacher and she encourages you to 'take small steps' in teaching them T-ball.  Keep records of each player and refer to this as you go along - more to encourage yourself then them!

You could start by breaking the sport down into it's major components then work out drills for each.  Running, catching, throwing, batting, bases, tagging are the ones I am aware of.

I hope you are not doing this all by yourself.  If so, get assistants!  Parents are usually interested in helping at this age.

Best of luck,

JohnMc