Softball Coaching Tips For Beginners , Sunday, July 26, 2009 at 3:16 AM, in

All great coaches, even those just coaching young players, had to start from scratch. So you don't have to worry if you want to become a softball coach. After all, it's not like breathing that's something you're born with.
While it will take a lifetime of learning to hone your softball coaching skills, I have a few tips for you to get you started. Ready? The read on and learn more.
1.       Get your safety certification first. Depending where you live, you might be required by local laws to get a safety certification on coaching first if you want to coach a children's softball team. It usually only lasts 4 hours so there's no reason why you shouldn't take it, aside from the fact that you might be required to be certified first.
2.       Keep the balance within your team. Many things in life are about balance, and softball isn't an exception. Try to keep a balance in everything you do as a softball coach.




Here are a few: give your players enough time to practice and rest; keep things fun as much as possible usually during training but also be serious on other aspects of the game especially during game time; if you have a child playing in your team, strike a balance between the attention you give to him/her and your other players.
3.       Your team's safety should be your concern. Softball isn't just about winning games. You should also take into consideration the safety of your players. Accidents could happen during the game, so you better prepare for it. Have ice ready, first aid kit and other adults to assist you when something wrong happens.
4.       Start practice sessions with warm-ups and stretches. Some players, even coaches, would prefer to get right into business and practice. But you should never ever skip warm-ups and stretches before beginning practice sessions or games. Doing these does several things for you: it helps their muscles relax which in turn helps them perform better and it also prevents injuries due to pulled muscles and the like.
5.       Keep things simple. Simple concepts can be easily understood by your players, especially the younger ones. So try to simplify concepts when you're delivering it to them for the first time. Another effective way of letting your players remember important concepts is by integrating them to your practice sessions. Most players enjoy practice sessions which makes it even easier for them to remember everything that you're telling them.
6.       Know your team's strength and weaknesses. It's simple. Develop your team's weaknesses until it becomes its strength. And your strength? Bank on it and exploit your opponent's weaknesses with it.






While I may not be able to tell you everything you need to know about coaching in this short article, I'm pretty sure these tips would be enough to get you started.
Oh, and if you're nervous about your first softball coaching gig, don't worry. It will eventually pass. You'll start enjoying coaching soon enough, believe me. I've been doing it for 2 decades now and I don't see myself slowing down anytime soon.

Marc Dagenais is a softball peak performance coach that helps softball players and coaches improves their game by sharing with them the tips and strategies used by the world's best softball players and coaches to achieve extraordinary performances. Visit his site and sign-up to get his FREE softball hitting tips!