Grant Cowan, MBSA coach and vice commissioner, shares how to coach your rec league team like a select-level coach in part 1 of this two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week (40:50) about how to manage your kids and coaching staff when losing in a blowout. In this 47-minute episode, you'll learn: how travel ball can do it right (12:06) what problems rec coaches have when leading their teams (15:19) how to program your pre-practice routine (19:13) when to schedule your pre-pra...
Aug 01, 2024•47 min•Ep. 168
Rob Tong shares his top seven tips for 2024 that he learned from 2023. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to teach kids situational awareness. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!
Feb 01, 2024•27 min•Ep. 167
Joey Greany, assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, finishes up his tour de force on youth baseball strength training with a conversation about nutrition and answering listener questions in part 2 of this two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week (24:29) about whether rec kids should be allowed to use both USSSA bats and USA Baseball bats. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTune...
Aug 04, 2023•31 min•Ep. 166
Speed (and strength and agility) is not just an asset in football and soccer. Youth baseball athletes can greatly benefit from this type of training and Joey Greany, the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Tampa Bay Rays, explains why and how in part 1 of this two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about about how to handle a team with no catchers. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes...
Jun 23, 2023•44 min•Ep. 165
Host Rob Tong looks back on the spring and fall seasons for his three teams in 2022 and whittled down seven lessons that he thinks might be helpful to you for 2023 and beyond. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about about why not teach a level swing if it produces higher batting averages. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!
Jan 27, 2023•33 min•Ep. 164
While the majority of 1B coaches in youth baseball tend to be spectators rather than coaches, 3B coaches in youth baseball also tend to not fulfill their responsibilities well and/or not know all their responsibilities. Toby Gardenhire, manager of the St. Paul Saints, is back to break it all down for us again in Part 2 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about what age is appropriate for kids to focus on 1-3 positions. Please let us (and others) know how you feel a...
Nov 23, 2022•33 min•Ep. 163
What exactly does a first base coach do in youth baseball? A LOT, actually. Toby Gardenhire, manager of the St. Paul Saints, breaks it all down for us in Part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about whether players can be first base coaches. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!
Oct 11, 2022•34 min•Ep. 162
Test your knowledge of more commonly misunderstood baseball rules with Brandon Jackson, former umpire at the D1/DII/DIII level. Coaches should know these rules before going out to argue with the umpires. This is Part 4 of a four-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about what his hitting philosophy is and how to train it. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Aug 31, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 161
Test your knowledge of fair vs foul, batter's box rules, granting time, the infield fly rule, batted balls hitting objects, how to make appeals and the legality of stealing signs, as well as whether common arguments are myths or truths. Brandon Jackson, former umpire at the D1/D2/D3 level, is back to explain these commonly misunderstood rules coaches should know before going out to argue with the umpires. This is Part 3 of a four-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about wh...
Jul 21, 2022•58 min•Ep. 160
Test your knowledge of the rules as Brandon Jackson, former umpire at the collegiate D1/D2/D3 levels, explains more rules every coach should know before arguing with the umpires in Part 2 of a four-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to handle players who don't hustle on the base paths. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Apr 27, 2022•51 min•Ep. 159
Admit it. You think you know the rules as much as the umpires do. I'll bet you don't. Brandon Jackson, former umpire at the D1/DII/DIII level, explains some rules coaches ought to know before going out to argue with the umpires. This is Part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to control young teams in the dugout. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 158
David Klein explains the details of how the game of Speedball works and what its unique rules are in Part 2 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob (and Austin Wasserman) answer the Question of the Week about whether jump ropes are beneficial to 8U players. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!
Mar 15, 2022•37 min•Ep. 157
We as coaches work hard to revolutionize youth baseball practices so that it's no longer long, slow and boring. But is there a way to make games less slow and boring? David Klein is back (again) to share his idea for fast-paced youth baseball games where everyone gets lots of reps and no one sits the bench in Part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to manage rotation of a lot of kids in and out of games. Please let us (and others) know how you feel abo...
Feb 25, 2022•44 min•Ep. 156
If a kid came up to you and asked you to help him with his pitching, would you know how to help him? Jim Brower of Brower Baseball shares his tips on how to analyze and help your youth pitchers in Part 2 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about a clear plan of where to start with beginner to intermediate middle schoolers. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Feb 16, 2022•44 min•Ep. 155
Jim Brower of Brower Baseball explains why he values training accuracy over training max velocity, plus more of his philosophy on training youth pitchers and how to get started in Part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus, Rob answers the Question of the Week about practice plan help for head coaches who don't have any helpers. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Feb 01, 2022•42 min•Ep. 154
Reflecting back on the past year is a productive way to see what went well and what could have been better. Consider doing that with your own team to get your own specific lessons learned! In the meantime, Rob shares seven lessons that he learned this past year that may help you for the upcoming year. Plus, Rob answers the Question of the Week about whether to strictly train your kid to hit against the travel tryout pitching machine speed for the upcoming tryout or let the kid hit faster speeds....
Jan 25, 2022•30 min•Ep. 153
Is stealing more bases as simple as telling your kids, "Be aggressive! They can't throw you out!" As kids move up the ranks, defenses CAN throw you out. Then what? Tyler Gillum of South Mountain Community College and the Savannah Bananas tells you what—and how—in part 2 of our two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week (38:11) about when your kid should play up. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Jan 14, 2022•40 min•Ep. 152
Can advanced baserunning be taught to youth players? Tyler Gillum from South Mountain Community College and the Savannah Bananas says yes, and explains how to teach advanced baserunning to your kids in part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about whether establishing concrete rules of thumb would be better than trusting your gut when it comes time to pull a pitcher out of an inning. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an hon...
Dec 17, 2021•47 min•Ep. 151
Teaching entry-level players is arguably the toughest job as a baseball coach. Hitting a baseball is hard enough for adults, much less teaching it to uncoordinated kids. Same goes for pitching/throwing. And then the many rules in the game. How do you help grow beginner players? Justin Sherman from justintimebaseball.com shares his tips in part 2 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week (23:41) about how to handle playing time for disinterested players. Please let us (an...
Dec 01, 2021•35 min•Ep. 150
What do you do for entry-level players, be they tee-ballers or 10U? Justin Sherman from justintimebaseball.com shares his techniques for helping the kids who need the most help. This is part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about whether 18-20 players is too big for a varsity team. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Nov 17, 2021•41 min•Ep. 149
Finishing our discussion of catcher attack angle from the previous episode, Jay Weaver from catchingcamp.com also jumps into one-knee stances for youth catchers as well as simple methods for youth catchers to call pitches and pickoffs. This is part 2 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about considerations for doing warmups and what age to start. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Oct 29, 2021•35 min•Ep. 148
What is catcher attack angle when receiving? Why is it useful and how do I teach it to my youth catchers? Jay Weaver from catchingcamp.com discusses this significant new development in catching in part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to defend against overly aggressive 3B baserunners in 8U. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Oct 18, 2021•48 min•Ep. 147
Perry Hill, the first base coach and infield coach for the Seattle Mariners, breaks down how you can properly train your second basemen (plus the remainder of our chat on first base play). This is part 2 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to help kids new to kid pitch get over the fear of getting hit by pitches. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Sep 24, 2021•47 min•Ep. 146
If catchers wear the "tools of ignorance", then first basemen play the "position of neglect" because many youth coaches don't teach much to their first basemen even though it is a highly important position. Perry Hill, the first base coach and infield coach for the Seattle Mariners, breaks down how you can properly train your first basemen. This is part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to help a kid who's hitting grounders in games but fly balls in p...
Aug 05, 2021•48 min•Ep. 145
What is "drive" in pitching and is it important? Zak Doan, whose clients range from youth pitchers to Gerrit Cole, shares his thoughts on the subject as well as other pitching issues. Part 2 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to help a kid who's hitting grounders in games but fly balls in practices. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Jul 02, 2021•42 min•Ep. 144
How can we help our young athletes to improve their pitching accuracy? Zak Doan, who works with youth pitchers and whose most famous client is Gerrit Cole, shares some helpful pointers to help kids throw the ball with more accuracy. This is part 1 of a two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to get over the feeling of being under-qualified as a youth baseball coach. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rat...
May 21, 2021•54 min•Ep. 143
How can we create more positive experiences in youth baseball? How do we help youth athletes are struggling to succeed in baseball? Deven Morgan, Director of Youth Baseball at Driveline Baseball, shares some ideas to help kids have more positive experiences. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about whether any GameChanger stats can be used to help inspire relevant coaching drills for practices. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review &...
Apr 30, 2021•53 min•Ep. 142
Training youth pitchers is not easy (safe to say that's an understatement). What does Driveline do and recommend? Deven Morgan, the Director of Youth Baseball at Driveline Baseball, shares some tips in part one of this two-part interview. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about how to help a batter who mashes in training but is late to load in games. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Mar 19, 2021•53 min•Ep. 141
2020 may have been a crazy year but there were still youth baseball lessons to be learned. Host Rob Tong looks back on 2020 and distills many things he learned into eight lessons that he shares in this episode. Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week about whether 8U kids should give verbal pre-pitch defensive reminders. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!...
Feb 19, 2021•38 min•Ep. 140
Steve Ferroli says three crucial things are killing youth baseball. Is the sport of youth baseball—and the millions of kids participating in it—in serious danger? Does youth baseball need to be saved? Can it be? This is part two of a two-part interview. Plus Rob (and Deven Morgan, the Director of Youth Baseball at Driveline Baseball) answer the Question of the Week about whether it matters if kids pitch from flat ground instead of raised mounds. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about...
Jan 08, 2021•55 min•Ep. 139
