Posted by: Scott B (baseball@integritycorp.com) on Mon Jun 10 17:12:08 2002

I wasn't a baseball player when I started coaching youth sports either. I took the "Manager" job because no one else wanted it, and it was either become a coach, or my kid wouldn't be playing baseball. I coached, and stopped and listened every time I saw another coach instructing a kids. I asked questions. I asked stupid questions. I learned a lot, my kids and I had the opportunity to win a city championship, and I watched every one of those 8-12 yo old kids go on to be on All-Star teams within 2 years.

My point: Don't be intimidated. Don't let anyone else steal the coaching time you can have with your kid (and his buddies). You won't get the opportunity again. In a few years it'll be too late.

Why am I telling you this? Because you're asking for a "silver bullet" instruction that will turn your son into a hitter. It doesn't exist. Perhaps 1 out of 15 or twenty kids I coach that has a fundamentals problem with pitching or hitting, can be "fixed" with one or two sessions. It takes consistent, enlightened coaching, and lots and lots of repetitions.

I started working with my kids about 1994. The first few seasons I let others ("the experts") coach my kids. I helped out, learned little by little, until I had to manage a team about four years later. In 1994, the Web was in it's infancy. "On-line" resources were nearly non-existent. There were few practical books on coaching baseball. Today, there is no excuse. You can learn all you need to know to help your son (and his team) learn to hit, throw, pitch, run bases, and perform all the other facets of winning baseball. YOU can learn to be a good third base coach, too. You can learn to track batting averages, set up a batting line-up. There is nothing stopping you, and you'll never regret the time you spend doing this work for you kids.

Regarding resources, this site had outstanding information on hitting. The premise is NOT that you can turn your son into a little Barry Bonds. The premise is that a better swing produces both better contact with the ball, and better batspeed, and the two of those make better hitters.

You can also check out mikeepsteinhitting.com and setpro.com.. Check out Amazon for books on defensive baseball. Of course, Jack's tape is excellent too. Epstein's tapes helped my kids. But read the material first, understand what the theory concerning "rotational" hitting is all about. You can teach your son "linear" hitting (which is what 95% of youth coaches, and probably your son's coach will be teaching), but he won't reach his power potential now, and when he's 13-15 yrs old, unless he REALLY is a pro prospect, his productive hitting days may be over. I've seen it in player after player, at 12-13 yrs old, when the pitching velocity and mix picks up, that hitting ability drops to near zero. That's why I started looking up the information rotational hitting.

Good luck... Scott