How to Run a High School Baseball Team
Baseball is a high-profile sport at the high school level. It gets covered in the local newspaper and attracts spectators to the bleachers. In 2008-09, there were 15,699 high school baseball teams, making it the third-most popular sport behind basketball and outdoor track and field, according to a survey by the National Federation of State High School Associations. A high school head coach’s role, though, extends to beyond just coaching. He often has to run the team, much like a general manager does.
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Instructions
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Select the team. A coach needs to hold tryouts and evaluate the personnel. This can lead to difficult decisions about who to keep. A coach must decide if it’s better to let a promising freshman or sophomore remain on the varsity roster despite getting limited playing time, or if he should go to the junior-varsity for more playing time.
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Hire a staff. A head coach can’t do it alone. He has to find assistant coaches to help conduct drills, throw batting practice and coach first base and third base. It’s ideal if he can get coaches with expertise in certain areas such as a pitching coach and a hitting coach. Student mangers help with behind the scenes stuff such as filling the water jug and bringing the equipment to the field. Additionally, the coach needs to find a student or parent willing to keep the scorebook during games.
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Design the practices. A team usually has around two hours after school. The coach must account for every second from batting practice to how long water breaks last to how many sprints they run at the end of practice. The coach also needs to tailor the practice to focus on specific things the team needs to work on such as extra fielding practice if they're making a lot of errors.
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Create a game strategy. The coach must decide if his team will play a small ball style of utilizing hit and runs and bunts to move the runner over, or if his team is full of power hitters that will swing away. He must also make adjustments during the game, such as when to bring in a relief pitcher or use a pinch hitter.
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Check on the academic status of players. High school athletes must remain academically eligible by getting certain grades--usually a C average. The coach needs to monitor his team throughout the school year.
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Tips & Warnings
A coach must plan an offseason workout for his team. This includes a weightlifting and running routine for players to follow.
Ask former players who graduated if they want to help out coaching the team. Usually, players like to give back to the program.
Coach third base during games. Besides manning a crucial role, it helps a coach out if he’s short on assistants.
A coach isn’t a player’s friend. He sometimes has to make tough decisions on who to start. He has to do what’s best for the team and can’t worry about hurting someone's feelings if he doesn't play.
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Resources
- Photo Credit baseball image by Lucian Muset from Fotolia.com
