Gearing Up for T-Ball

By Jonathan Berohn

For those of us with kids, we know that summer’s here when we start hearing the general clamor and hubbub for T-ball. We know the heat must have arrived too when we find ourselves addled enough to volunteer to coach. Have no fear, though, because with a little preparation and some timely purchases you can actually take the field with your little charges without being driven to…well…shall we say distraction?

Basic Tips and Drills

If you’ve never coached little kids before, you need to first switch gears to: how do I keep things interesting enough that my 6, 7, and 8 year-olds will not start picking grass and wrestling? Given the attention span of the average 6, 7, and 8 year-old, that can be quite a challenge. Fortunately some experience T-Ball coaches have complied their wisdom for you. At Coaching Tee Ball, for example, you can buy a book that offers fully illustrated T-Ball drills and practice plans.

Equipment

Once you’ve figured out how you want to run your practices, you ought to pick up some extra gear that your local league probably won’t provide. The most important thing you can get is a water cooler. Someone will always forget to bring water, and a 6 year-old without a drink is going to quite annoying. Run down to your local discount store and pick up any cooler—just make sure you have something or you will be paying for it with plenty of whining.

As for actual baseball gear, two items come in quite handy. I would recommend every coach buy a second tee and a pitch back. With 2 tees, you can run additional hitting stations during practice to keep everyone involved and active (make sure you have a coach or parent volunteer supervising every hitter). A pitch back lets you add an additional station where young players can work on both their throwing accuracy and catching.

Spalding, Franklin, Rawlings, and Easton are some of the companies that offer this gear. Spalding, in particular offers a nice batting tee plus pitch back combo that can save you some money. And since this is gear you are providing that’s never a bad bonus.

In addition to these online sources, you can buy this kind of gear at any sporting goods store and many discount stores as well.

Oh—and stock up on your patience and sense of humor while you’re at it. Those are still the best help I’ve found.