Coaching Youth Baseball - So easy a caveman can do it!
Well that's not entirely true...but it's not rocket science either. At each increased level of baseball a higher level of baseball knowledge is required to coach it. For rec-baseball, as long as you're ahead of the kids you're coaching, you're all set! What youth coaching requires first and foremost is the ability to teach a skill to the youths you will be coaching. The most knowledgeable baseball person in the world is useless as a youth baseball coach if he cannot teach those skills to children. That ability to teach requires desire, patience, and a continuing willingness to learn new things yourself. If you possess these skills, you are qualified to be a very good youth baseball coach.Most major youth sports organizations rely on volunteers to not only run the league but, most importantly, to coach the kids. Menifee PONY Baseball is no different in it's reliance on volunteers, and our volunteer coaches really are the backbone of our league. MPB has some very good and experienced coaches, but it's important for everyone to recognize that none of them are professional coaches. This is the same in other PONY leagues and other youth baseball organizations. Professional baseball coaches are off making money coaching baseball for pay, typically to players who got their start in a volunteer-based youth baseball league like MPB.
One major goal of Menifee PONY Baseball is to find the most experienced and qualified head-coaches (managers) it can find for it's teams. Additionally, MPB sets out to do something few other youth baseball leagues do, which is to give it's prospective coaches encouragement and guidance, and give it's current coaches continued training and resources towards becoming what we expect a PONY baseball coach to be.
Coaches in every league of every youth sport are often in short supply. Some potential coaches are just intimidated by their perceived lack of knowledge or skill. On this page you will find information and resources to show you what is really required and expected of an MPB Head-Coach (Manager), which will hopefully help you make your decision: Objectives (minimum and advanced) for each level of play; how to teach those skills; advice on how long and often to run practices; how to recruit and make the most out of your own volunteer assistant coaches; how to run a practice; how to give pre and post-game talks; how to "build up" the players and keep things fun.