Is Youth "Play Time" Too Structured?

Here's an idea for you. What if we held a sports practice and the kids ... just... played?

That merits some careful consideration. What if every now and then coaches just stayed out of the mix altogether? Would that be ... The. Worst. Thing. Ever?

I don't mean to be facetious, but has anyone recently tried letting kids pick two teams and then just letting them play ball for at least one practice a week?

Before you dismiss the thought, isn't the object to teach them to playbaseball (or any other sport)? There's a vast difference between learning to play "practice baseball" and to play "baseball".

Before you try to teach a child how to catch, throw and hit, answer this question. baseball you took two kids, gave them a ball and told them to throw it to each other 10 minutes every day for a week, would they be any worse at playing catch than if you showed them how to do it and had them do drills while you corrected or congratulated them on each throw?

Or consider this ... If you gave two kids a bucket of balls, a bat and a tee and told each one to hit a bucket of balls every day for a week, would they be worse off than if they were shown videos and given "special" attention?

The kids that got the "coach's" help would probably be doing better, but what would that mean to the kids? Do little kids really know they are doing something badly or not unless some adult tells them?

There's plenty of time for kids to "work" at baseball. Don't take away the pure joy a child can get from a great game by ASSUMING every kid is chomping at the bit to play it perfectly. As a coach, you aren't going to turn a beginner into an "All-Star" in one season anyway, so what could it hurt for them to actually play one practice a week without the benefit of the expertise being forced on them? If they ask questions, they should get answers, but let them learn to ask.

Ideally, teeball drills should consist of fun, skill-building games that teach and reinforce the basic skills necessary to play baseball. However, once the basic skills are learned, coaches should primarily baseball in two capacities: 1.) Keep the game (or practice) safe 2.) Help them understand how to apply their skills to the game.

TeeBall is a great sport that teaches very young children the fundamental concepts of baseball. The sport was designed to give children an opportunity to learn the game in a low-pressure, positively reinforced environment. A youngster's teeball season is the perfect time to try an experiment like this - are you willing to give it a try?

Greg A. Marshall is the creator of Teeball-To-A-Tee.com, a unique website offering excellent teaching and coaching tools for coaches and parents of very young baseball enthusiasts. The resources on the website are designed for the parent or prospective youth coach who is overwhelmed at the prospect of starting from scratch. The website and materials offered are full of practical advice to help youth coaches from the very first day of practice. http://www.teeball-to-a-tee.com