Four of the best coaching tips at any level is to always do the following:
1.MAKE OUT A PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Organize your practice into sessions or time periods. Start on time and finish on time. Stick to these times. Have your times down to exact minutes or half minutes and detailed to utilize ever minute of your practice. Have the attitude that "PRACTICE TIME IS EXTREMELY VALUABLE" ! It is not to wasted! Plan your practices and have your coaching meetings before practice. Never huddle or use practice time to have discussions. Have a meeting after or before practice for that purpose. Pass out practice schedules to your assistant coaches. Post your Practice Schedule on the fence or wall of the dugout. Let players know what is going on and that you have a "Practice Plan". You may want one of your assitance to be the "Timer".
2. MAKE OUT A PRACTICE SCHEDULE EACH DAY
Make sure to document or write down each drill covered each day. Keep these practice schedules in a book as your "practice log". You can go back to see if you have adequately covered all fundamentals or if you need to put more time into a particular aspect of your game or practice. ALSO, keep a log of how many pitches pitchers throw in practice and when they threw. You will also want to make notes on each day's schedule regarding strong points, weak points or any behavior exhibited by a player that you want a record of. You may also want to set "TEAM DAILY PRACTICE GOALS" such as...."Every player will take 300 practice swings today!", "Our middle infielders will turn 50 double plays today!" "Every outfielder will field 50 balls today!". These are just examples.
3. TAKE NOTES DURING EVERY PRACTICE and GAME
It is important to keep track of certain results or affects of player and team performance. I recommend keeping a small notepad in your pocket. If you see something that you wish to discuss, praise or correct later, WRITE IT DOWN WHEN IT HAPPENS or AS SOON AS YOU CAN! If you do not take the time to take notes, you may forget and never cover the "event" in your "Post-PRACTICE" or "POST-GAME" conference with the team and your coaches. BE POSITIVE or USE Constructive Verbal Tactics...Don't just "Harp on the Negative"..."Write Down as Much To Praise as You Do to Correct"..TRY TO KEEP A BALANCE between "How Much YOU CORRECT" and "HOW MUCH YOU PRAISE". Remember what you say has "LONGTERM EFFECTS" on the players and the team! Don't say something and later regret it. Writing things down will often give you a chance to consider just how you should approach the situation.
4. LOOK FOR DETAILS!
Do not overlook the little things or the basics! Players expect to be disciplined, coached and corrected. If you observe something that is done wrong or incorrectly and do not point it out, players will often develop the attitude of "WELL, COACH DOES NOT CARE, WHY SHOULD I?" ALWAYS EXPECT PERFECTION from yourself, team and every person in your program! You must realize that you will not always get it and that is part of coaching! But always have the attitude that "WE WANT TO DO THINGS CORRECTLY!". WE WANT TO ACT, LOOK, PLAY AND BEHAVE LIKE A TEAM SHOULD! I want to remind you of one important point in closing. 95 PERCENT of the time, "YOU WILL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU EXPECT TO GET FROM YOUR PLAYERS". Have high expectations! Set your goals high! Expect to work and expect to win! Winning can best be defined as "REACHING YOUR HIGHEST POTENTIAL AS A TEAM!"
