Baseball is still one of the most popular sports in America, with millions of kids taking up the chance to catch balls and hit home runs every year. And the best part is, the younger they start, the better chance they have at becoming good, especially with the right coaching. 

Baseball requires a lot of different skills: hand-eye coordination, endurance, speed, and the ability to recognize different situations and play as a team. Each one of these skills can be taught and honed by coaches who understand the game and how to impart that knowledge to kids of all ages. Here are a few tips on teaching kids how to play baseball and not only learn to be good at it but learn to love it as so many people who’ve played them have.

Starting Young

Kids as young as four or five can now start to learn the basics of baseball, usually through t-ball leagues that provide a fun, safe atmosphere for kids to play.

T-ball teaches kids the very basics of baseball. They hit a ball that is placed on a tee in front of them, and they can usually take as many swings as they can until they hit the ball. Of course, some kids learn faster than others, but this simple setup is a great way to introduce your kids to the sport to see if they enjoy it.

Kids in t-ball leagues also learn how to field the ball and run the bases, so they start to understand the basic rules of the game. Above all else, however, is the important point that your kids have fun doing it. This is not the time to go purchase all of the top of the line equipment and the best baseball gloves, as you may see that they don’t like the game at all, or they just aren’t very interested. If that is the case you can pull them from the league and see if there’s a different sport they take to. If they love it, there are many levels from then on that they can get better at.

Show Encouragement

Kids want their parents to watch them play and tell them that they are doing a great job, so make sure you encourage your kids whenever you can. Even after they make a mistake, encouragement can keep their confidence up and make them want to perform better.

You can also show encouragement by talking to them about the game when you are at home or just playing catch with them for a while to help them improve their skills. It really doesn’t take much to show your kids that you want them to have fun and to be successful. And always make sure to cheer them on from the stands when they do something good!

Practice

A good coach understands the importance of practice: those are the times where they can get with kids one-on-one and show them how to do things correctly. There are tons of different techniques that coaches need to go over in practice, so having a session once or twice a week is necessary if you want your kids to learn. 

One of the most important lessons is in fielding the ball, and with a simple practice bat (like this one from The Baseball Diamond), you can hit grounders and fly balls to the kids all over the field so they know how to catch and throw the ball to the correct spots. Kids can also use a bat like that to hit balls themselves, helping with their hand-eye coordination and giving them confidence for when they play a game.

Continue Teaching as They Get Older

Because kids can start playing baseball at such a young age, there’s plenty of room for them to grow into the sport as they get older. After t-ball leagues, there are youth leagues that will take them all the way to high school, where they can play for their school or for a recreational league. At this point, it might be worth getting them a couple of custom baseball jerseys if they’ve joined a team. Joining a team shows they’re serious about playing, so they need the right uniform to do it in. After that, there’s the possibility of college ball and, from there, who knows how far they can go?

At each level, there are different things that your kids need to learn. Not only will they need to improve on all of their athletic techniques, they will eventually need to learn how to be good winners and losers. This is an important thing for coaches to teach, just as important as the physical skills. There’s a lot to learn in baseball, and a good coach can help them through it all. 

Baseball is a great sport to teach children to play.

Jeff Wise is Dad to three boys who are aged 3, 7 and 9. He loves to get the boys outside playing sports or making dens down by the river and writes about parenting in his articles.