Youth Baseball and Softball Coaching Essentials

It's that time of year again! With the baseball and softball seasons in full swing (pun intended), there are some things that I wish I knew as a first-time coach. Although I played fastpitch softball for 12 years, nothing fully prepares someone for the responsibility of teaching little tykes the ins and outs of the sport. However, a good place to start is to make sure you have all the equipment you need to ensure your team's success.

Depending on the league you are coaching for, you may be provided with some basic gear such as balls, bats, helmets, and catcher's gear. However, I have found that the gear provided is usually not enough to execute many of the drills that I wanted to teach my players. Many of the items listed below can be found at our Ames location and our newly renovated Loveland East location!

Having your own glove is simply the single most valuable thing you will need to have in your coach's bag. If you do not have one already, we carry many options from Mizuno, Rawlings, and Wilson at JAX.

If you have played the sport before, you may already have a bat of your own. If you do not, I would highly recommend investing in your own bat for demonstrations and hitting grounders and pop-flies, so you aren't using one that belongs to your players. My personal favorite bat that JAX carries is the Demarini Spryte, but a more entry level option that I would also recommend is the Rawlings Ombre 2.

A tee is a crucial piece of equipment you can provide for your players. You can have your players focus on their form and perfect their swing by doing drills with a hitting tee. This is also incredibly beneficial for first-time players who are not yet comfortable with hitting a live ball.

Although having your players hit into the field during hitting drills can be good practice for them, it takes up a lot of time to clean up the balls in between turns. Having a collapsible sock net can allow you to do hitting tee or soft toss drills much more efficiently. Your pitchers can use this net to throw into as well if your catchers are preoccupied with other drills.

Buckets prove to be a very valuable and convenient piece of equipment, whether you are using them to carry balls from one drill to another or even as a seat during game time. You can even find some with a padded lid! Personally, I went with our classic JAX logo buckets, which can be found at any JAX location.

Having the lineup hung up on the dugout fence is essential for allowing your players to see where they are placed during game time. I personally recommend a dry erase lineup clipboard to help you make any quick changes easily.

It is almost guaranteed that someone is going to fall and scrape their knee at some point, so having a basic first aid kit in your coach's bag is a must-have. At JAX, there are countless first aid kit options in our camping section.

Other small things that are helpful to have on hand include bug spray, sunscreen, eye black, hair ties, extra water, and anything else you think your players might need.

When coaching any youth sports team, you are making a large impact on your players' impression of the sport. It may be cliché, but it is important that you focus on making sure they are having fun. Good luck out there!