Baseball Fundamentals: "Ready Position" for Beginners

"Ready Position" is what used to be called posture when we were growing up - it's the way you hold your body to show the world you're poised and ready for what's coming. But, as a baseball fundamental, "ready position" is anything but standing up straight!!

This is why "Ready Position" is so important: it is, perhaps, the only position that every ballplayer will assume in every game. And, except for pitchers and catchers, on every play. "Ready Position" is, in fact, so fundamental to baseball at this level that it ought to be practiced on every pitch of every practice - including batting practice, when taken as a team.

Players should drop into "ready position" at the peak of every wind-up, as the pitcher's glove and throwing hand come above his/her head. As a coach, call out "Ready Position" with every pitch you throw for the first week or so of practice. If you can, learn to balance on one leg mid wind-up, stop, and turn to inspect your fielders. Here's what you should see:

• Feet shoulder width or slightly wider apart
• Players' weight slightly forward on their toes
• "Soft Bend" in the knees - about 30-45% - enough to force the rump to stick out a bit.
• Hips-n-Rump forced out backward, as if reaching for a chair that you can't see.
• Back is strong and straight, leaning forward at the waist so that the
• Shoulders are squarely above, or slightly in front of, the knees.
• Glove hand is mid-torso and in front of the belt buckle ("Back to Middle" is an oft' heard phrase!) and held steady just at, or above, the knees
• Throwing hand is poised next to the glove, ready to catch-n-cover a hit ball
• Head is up, eyes on the batter.

This moment, the "Ready Position" inspection, is a perfect time to make minor corrections - always to two or three players (you'll have plenty to work with, believe me!). It is also a perfect time to heap praise on the performance and progress of your kids. Make the moment count! Build, in your ballplayers' minds and hearts, the feeling that being in ready position is good fundamental baseball. Reinforce is over and over again, until it is a reflex - literally, second nature - to your players.

"Ready Position" prepares the ballplayer to see and react to any situation that may come with the next pitch, including any hit ball. Safety is paramount. And the "Ready Position" will set a youngster's body and mind on every pitch!

Baseball Fundamentals: Communication: Coach-to-Coach

Team work starts long before you get to the ballfield. Your "coaching staff" will likely be fellow fathers and mothers. Always brimming with eagerness to pitch in, they will only sometimes come equipped with a sound knowledge of the game. Not to worry: at this level expertise comes quickly, and authority is a given. Know your practice plan, provide each of your assistants with direction and a role, and turn 'em lose.

It's quite possible that some of your coaches are as unsure about their performance as your players are of theirs. Take the time to teach, reassure, and (when necessary) correct them. This last, correction, should always be done quietly and supportively and face to face - away from the players.

We are, ourselves, a team. We, the grown-ups, are for two hours per practice a team of teachers and nurturers. Our surface task is teaching fundamental baseball skills. But we're also always teaching basic coping skills, willingness to risk failure, capacity to handle success graciously, persistance, compassion for one another, and - above all - the genuine value of every kid who's wearing the glove (or forgot it... again...).

There are more specifics that go with fundamental coach-to-coach communication, and I will address them. But the foundation is the same as the first principle you teach your players: we're all in this together.

Remember always: the kids are both our point and our purpose. And, if you have to choose, the order of importance is always this: kids first, baseball second. It's Little League baseball. Baseball is the third word.

Am I not cut-throat enough to generate winners? Gang, I lived by this ethic for the seven years that I coached - teaching baseball fundamentals to kids who were the children of my friends and neighbors, who were friends to my own sons. In that time, we had seven championships - and seven teams worth of 13 or 14 happy kids, eager to get to the ballfield. Our practice attendance was almost 100% throughout that time span. One year we even claimed a State Championship. And, lemme tell ya: we had a blast doing it!

Baseball Fundamentals: Communication with Families

There is no way to overestimate the importance of the word: Communication. With Parents. Between coaches. With your ballplayers. Among the kids on the diamond. With your batter during an at bat. Between innings - every inning is it's own mini-lab in baseball fundamentals!

Coach, the best way to get (and keep) the allegiance of your parents is to keep them in the loop.

Publish a hard copy of the season's practice and game schedule as soon as you can. Nothing instills pride in a player, or calm in a parent, like having that schedule on the refrigerator door or bulletin board at home. Like any of us, it is fundamentally comforting to know what's coming and when.

Include an e-mail address if you have one. Generate a list of contact numbers that includes the phone and/or e-mail of your families. Make it easy for them to be in touch with one another. Set up a phone tree amongst your parents. The great likelihood is that you'll have two or three willing and eager moms or dads to help with this. And it is almost certain that you'll have one or more ballplayers in need of rides on a regular basis.

Early in the pre-season, identify assistant coaches. These will be dads and/or moms who, like you, share a love of the kids and a willingness to learn the game well enough to teach it. Identify who's able to commit to every (or nearly every) game, and willing to be a Scorekeeper.

Set yourself up early with plenty of support. Win that support by making life as easy as possible for your parents! It's all a part of making the Little League Baseball experience as successful as possible for their kids - your ballplayers-in-the-making!

Baseball Fundamentals: First Practice

The most important aspect of the first day of practice is INCLUSION. Every kid, on every play... it starts now, coach. And it isn't easy.

You'll likely have kids with a variety of skills and abilities. Every one of them comes to the first day of practice with their eyes, ears, and hearts wide open. They'll hang on your every word as absolute truth, whether it's about the game of baseball or your belief in them as players.

For two hours or so per day, their young spirits have been entrusted into your care. Tend to them, body and spirit, from the first - and your season will be a success, no matter the win and loss record!

On any 12 player team, you're likely to have:

1. A couple who love the game, but lack in baseball skills just yet (or, candidly, possibly ever).
2. A couple whose parents want them there, whether they want to or not.
3. A couple who are good, but nowhere near as good as they deem themselves to be.
4. A couple smack dab in the middle of the pack.
5. A couple who are naturally gifted athletes, used to being the leaders and in the spotlight.

Your first mission is to make a TEAM out of this varied bunch of youngsters. Every one of them will go home with memories of what it meant to go to the ballfield that day. Your job, coach, is to help them form fond memories of their baseball experience, to help them want more. Your first, and best, tool is the example you set early in the season. Learn each name. Look into each set of eyes. Welcome each ballplayer with the expectation that they'll be contributing.

It starts in the dugout with a declaration: we're all in this together.

It continues with an important lesson: no ballplayer ever makes an error on purpose.

So as we grow together, each member of this team needs to (please) remember to come to one another's aid. Quickly - reclaim the good rather than lamenting the bad.

Inspire and reassure 'em, coach. Declare your belief in 'em. Help 'em shake it off. Contribute to their being ready to make the best play they can on the next pitch. And their teammates will do the same.

Baseball Fundamentals: Kids First

"Play Ball!" It's Little League baseball season 2009.

Coaches, parents, ball players of America: congratulations!! You are a part of "America's Passtime"... baseball.

The smell of leather baseball gloves sopped in softening oil, the "ping" of a ball jumping off an aluminum bat, the thrill of chasing down an impossible fly ball... all this and so much more is right around the corner. This blog exists to share my own experience, strength, and hope for a rich and successful Little League Baseball experience for every ballplayer out there: boy, girl, brand new, or "seasoned vet".

First thought to coaches and parents alike: it's a game, gang. The Little League version of this magnificent game was created for our kids, not our kids for the game! Our role is to teach them the fundamentals and let them play. All else in this blog is built on that thought. I will address as many of those baseball fundamentals as I can think of... or that you ask about.

My name is Rahn Fleming. I'm a 50 year old father of two terrific sons, ages 14 and 15 1/2, each of whom spent the last 10 springs learning and developing the fundamentals of baseball - pitching, catching, hitting, and fielding - with me as their coach and ardent cheerleader. I love my sons, and I love the game. I've created this blog to share, in my opinion, how that joy can best be conveyed!

My own athletic history includes a lifetime of baseball, football, and wrestling - into high school and college and beyond. I have been a Little League and Babe Ruth baseball coach for the decade that my sons have played. I am currently a football and wrestling coach at our local high school.