Practice vs scrimmage

I think most volunteer coaches are just as willing to be told how to run their teams as HS coaches.

Of course a balance of practice and games is the best for the kid's development but many travel teams just aren't able to get the kids together for practices as easily as they are for scrimmages.

Ideally, the scrimmage would be as much of a practice as a game with time being taken out for instruction on the spot.

I think you should go ahead and have a voice in running the team as long as you are willing to let them have a voice in running your HS team.

Seriously speaking some tactful suggestions from a HS coach who doesn't insist on them shouldn't be a big issue. I wouldn't recommend getting all worked up about this one instance though. It was probably just a chance to get in a scrimmage that they wouldn't have otherwise.

My concerns deal more with repititions and pitching, this is kid pitch, than the actual scrimmage. How many ground balls does a SS or 2B get in a game. Maybe 3 or 4? How many do they get during a well run practice, 50+? How many AB's do you get during a game, 3 or 4? How many do they get during a well run practice, 50+?

Also, how many pitchers are you using? They will play 4 games in 5 days.

I've been coaching for 8 years and I've never had a parent come to me and say "why don't you try" such and such drill. If they did I would listen but it never happens.

I do have a lot of players that have played travel ball but I find myself teaching them more how to play the game than I thought I would too. I know most parent volunteers are just that, volunteers, but I do wish they would teach more about baseball than "hit the ball" or "catch the ball".

3sons, I remember I started to coach my son when he was on a 10U team. My first year, I made tons of mistakes. I still cringe thinking back to having the team in the field while I pitched to one kid doing batting practice. Then repeat 11 more times. Point is, I learned from my mistakes and got better at running practices as I got more experience. If your coach is new, hopefully he will learn from this year.

Personally, I liked one scrimmage to start the year to gauge where we were, but once games started, we would use practice to try to correct our mistakes.

3baseballsons:

This is a common theme for travel ball teams. The kids play too much and practice too little. While a scrimmage may provide some time for teaching it not the same as practice where you can make a correction and work it over and over again. Games also provide teachable moments if you take careful notes and have time to work on things at practice. Many travel organizations, not all are "roll the ball out" type coaches. They may not have expertise or interest to develop players so they tend to recruit and replace them based on what is happening in games.

On the other had I think CADad makes a good point that you may have to step lightly regarding this topic. You may get some leeway that others would not due to your position as a HS coach.

I was in the fortunate position of pairing with a HS coach to prepare a team of club ball kids for HS. 11 kids from the team played at the HS and 9 of them are now playing college ball.

How about trying this, suggest to the Coach that the 10 year olds may get a kick out of working with your "Big Shot" HS players. Bring a Pitcher a Catcher and IF and an OF and run a simple version of one of your practices with your HS kids acting as assistants at their positions. Have your players wear their school uniforms etc.

I did something similar with a friend of mine. He was Coaching a 9 year old "All Star" team and had never really coached at a level where winning the game actually mattered. His practices were unorganized, boring and really didn't teach the kids much. I suggested bringing my son and some of my former players, who are now on the HS team and ran a practice as "Guest Coaches" the 9 year olds looked at the HS players like they were the NY Yankees. I think one little boy actually asked for their autographs.
The end result was ALL the kids had a great time, I think the HS kids had more fun, and the young Coaches picked up some ideas on how to run a practice. After that my son continued to go to their practices to help out because he had so much fun working with the kids.

I'm going to take the liberty of some assumptions - may be way off base for your situation...

First, I agree with 3rdgen in that you likely get some leeway as a HS coach.

Most coaches of young youth (10-14u) travel are largely interested in improving player skill level with HS play being one of the primary "down the road" targets. Thus, they would welcome input from a respected HS coach. If this team is in your area and some of the boys will likely attend your HS, this makes your input even more desirable.

With that said, a possible icebreaker angle (hopefully true?)...
"Coach, I really appreciate what you are doing to help with the development of baseball skills of the boys in our community. That can only help the local HS baseball program(s)down the road. If you ever want to compare notes so that they are hearing a consistent message as they move up in age, I'd be glad to spend an evening with you."

If he accepts, you can include the importance of reps in your meeting. If not, you know he has no interest in outside input and I'm sure you can at least get your boy all the reps he needs otherwise and he can continue enjoying the experience.

cabbagedad: Are you a professional diplomat??! Great answer. Tread lightly here.

Could the reason to scrimmage be so you don't have to plan a practice. He has come to my practices at the HS and was very complimentary on what we were doing and even said he would like to implement some of our drills into his practice. He's a really good guy so I don't want to step on his toes. I think the best thing for me to do is not say anything and just keep coaching my son up.

I do appreciate all of the comments, and though I don't agree with some, I do welcome them. It's always good to see someone else's perspective.

Would rather see more practice as you get more reps than a game scrimmage. I always thought doing a scimmage all the time was a bit lazy as you don't have to bother preparing for a practice.

I really liked SpeedsDad's idea of using your HS kids to show the team how a practice should be run.

To the point of practice planning, I think of my my practice plan as modular. Some parts or building blocks stay the same but offer variety like our warm-up. Some portions can change a lot depending on what we need to work on. This allows me to teach everything the kids are going to need over the course of the season while getting extra work on issues that come up in games.

Two things that I just don't see used anywhere enough in youth practices are double infield and what I call big league BP, (tee, BP, baserunning, ground ball fungos, live outfield and shag bag).

quote:

Originally posted by slotty:
cabbagedad: Are you a professional diplomat??!

Only in my household. Even there, the boss has threatened to fire me on more than one occasion.

In 7th grade it was obvious my son's baseball coach didn't know the game well. When picking my son up after practice I introduced myself to the coach, gave him a brief rundown of my baseball background, offered to answer any questions regarding coaching and left. The next day my son had the coach's cell phone number. First he asked if I would be an assistant pending school approval. I politely declined. He wanted to know what drills the team should be doing in practice. I dropped off a package at school on how to run different practices.

Introduce yourself and offer any help he might want without standing there waiting for a response.

I also think Speedsdad suggestion is a great one too! What better way to teach out HS students the idea of community service and giving back for all they have been taught. It will be a very satisfying experience for all involved.

My son hooked up and helped coach a fall 9 year old team several years back with basic pitching mechanics (they are now 13 years old) He continues to help still, when he can. They all stop him in town when they see him to this day.