The “business model” of the major youth baseball national organizations is “ALL-STARS”. It is the main carrot that these national entities use to attract families. Unfortunately, the collateral damage from All-Stars is what turns many families away. We take a big long look into what it would take to shift from a national umbrella organization and just play as a local independent youth baseball operation. You could be a local league or a travel ball tournament team you should listen in and see if this might be a better fit for your baseball families to look into.

We have so many opportunities to communicate and interact with our players, parents, umpires and opponents. It is really good to have your coaching style, approach and philosophy on solid footing so we are able to handle the ups and downs of the baseball season. We continue through our 100 point checklist here and we end with a call to action for decoupling from your National Organization and starting your own local league free from dictatorship and the business model of major baseball organizations. https://www.coachandplaybaseball.com/

Wow, youth baseball coaches have a huge task list to cover in order to do their jobs effectively and leave a quality legacy. We continue with our coaches checklist and touch on several important bullet points on our 100-point checklist. Listen in and hear what vital topics we discuss on this one as we try and speak to coaches of all levels and experience. www.coachandplaybaseball.com

Each youth baseball coach must work out their own style, philosophy and approach. We go over several topics in youth baseball coaching to ponder and chat about. Some you may be on the right track with and some of this might be new, beneficial material that you can use to coach your kids better. This is part one: 1-20 of my 100 point baseball coaches checklist. www.coachandplaybaseball.com

Youth baseball age kids are truly not athletically equipped yet to perform the necessary baseball skills at a high level to be able to play baseball like MLB, college and High School ballplayers. Yet the ‘Big-people’ will not let go of forcing our kids to play “Real Baseball” rules despite the USABaseball/MLB American Development Model’s allowing us to take the off-ramp. We will be interviewing the ‘Real Baseball’ crowd to see why they are so convinced that ill-equipped kids must play “Real Baseball” or nothing else. Coachandplaybaseball.com

Does anyone conduct on-field baseball practice any more? Well if you are fortunate to have regularly scheduled on-field youth baseball practice here are some ideas for you listen to and see if they can benefit your teams. Most of them I use every practice and prior to ballgames.

Get your notepad and pencil and jot down some of these drill ideas and try them out at your next on-field baseball practices. Coachandplaybaseball.com

Youth baseball has a big  problem by using “Real Baseball” rules with almost zero modifications or adaptations. Ever heard of “Sandlot” baseball? Well we are taking a look at starting with “Sandlot” style baseball and find some middle ground with “Real Baseball” rules and procedures. How do we make youth baseball act and mimic more benefits and features of ‘Sandlot” baseball? coachandplaybaseball.com

If you know the truth then are you ready to take a stand? Hear about the main purpose for youth baseball and here’s a hint. It is not to please the ‘big-people’. If it doesn’t benefit the kids then we will not be doing that. The Berlin Wall stood over 40 years and through the leadership of Ronald Reagan the wall came down in two months. We can take a stand for our kids and we can do it quickly. coachandplaybaseball.com

Youth baseball games brings a huge amount of entertainment to the adults. We talk about why adults are so infatuated about watching their kids play baseball. Yet have little or no appetite to make sure the kids practice baseball skills. It’s like they have no concern for them about playing the game well or playing a long time---they just want to go to the ballgames every Tuesday and Thursday night. Coach and Play Baseball.com

How much “player development” actually is going on in youth baseball? Is youth baseball more about entertaining the “Big-people” or giving kids vitally important reps to build and develop baseball skills? Listen in and decide if you think we are just dressing up in our baseball uniforms or actually ‘playing” baseball. Let’s see if there are improvements to our youth baseball systems that we can implement immediately. Coachandplaybaseball.com