Congratulations! You missed your rec league’s organizational meeting and somehow got volunteered to coach an 8-10 year old team.

Or maybe you were once a player and thought it was important to give back to the game you loved so much growing up so you volunteered yourself. Or you’ve started doing private lessons and were looking to fill up your schedule.

Whatever the situation, you’re now faced with the challenge of trying to help one or more kids who just learned how to tie their shoes a couple of years ago now use a windmill motion to throw a ball 35 feet into a strike zone that feels like it’s the size of a baby’s shoe box, hit said pitch with a bat, throw a ball more than 20 feet and get it in the general vicinity of the target (who is hopefully paying attention), catch a ball thrown at them without running away screaming, and learn all the rules, strategies, and general requirements they need to know to play this complex game. Whew!

As someone who has done this for more years than some of the parents of those kids have probably been alive, I can tell you it can be quite challenging. But it can also be quite rewarding, especially when you see those kids’ eyes light up as they do something they’ve never done before, and hear them asking their parents when the next practice is because they can’t wait to come back.

So with that in mind, here are a few suggestions that can make your path to working with the littles a little easier and more comfortable – for you and for them.

Get used to stooping down or kneeling

There is a scene in the movie Hook where Peter Pan first wakes up to the fact that he is Peter Pan. He looks at Captain Hook and says, “I remember you being a lot bigger.”

To which Hook replies, “To a 10 year old I’m enormous.” Or something like that.

That’s how you look to the littles. Even if you’re considered to be short or even very short in the adult world, you’re still likely to loom tall over most of your players, which can make you seem scary. Double that if you’re male.

Squatting, stooping, or kneeling down can put you at their eye level, making you seem less intimidating and more friendly. It can quickly put your players at ease.

On the other hand, when you squat down don’t be surprised if at least some of your players do it too, thus taking away the purpose of squatting down in the first place. Just enjoy the cuteness overload of it and know that if they are reacting that way they’re already starting to see you as one of them.

Try to understand how they see the world

This goes double if you were a college player in my opinion, because like any human being your perspective of something is most likely to be colored by your most recent experience with it.

The most important takeaway you can have here, and probably from this entire blog post, is that kids are not just short adults. That is true of any kids, but especially the littles.

Some probably still believe in Santa or the Tooth Fairy. They’re barely out of their Paw Patrol phase and may still play with dolls or unicorns or trucks or simple video games, or have rich fantasy lives full of imaginary adventures.

In other words their life experiences are very limited, as are the reasoning skills for most of them. You really need to get out of your own head, with all you have learned over a lifetime, and see things from their perspective.

Assume they know nothing about fastpitch softball or its skills and strategies, not to mention life for the most part, and proceed from there.

Speak in words they understand

You may have a great vocabulary and lots of technical knowledge about softball, human anatomy, movement patterns, etc. Good for you, great job on improving your education!

But if you’re going to work with the littles you need to set all of that aside and speak to them in a way they understand. Use small words and keep explanations short and simple.

Instead of saying “Move on the frontal plane” tell them to go sideways. If you’re instructing them on throwing, call the upper arm the upper arm instead of the humerus. Say “see it in your head” instead of “visualize it.”

The more you talk to them with words or concepts they already understand the faster they’ll learn – and the less frustrated you will get.

Fit the drills to their skills – and size

You may be all excited about teaching your players your favorite hitting drill from high school or college, or a new throwing drill you learned from a college coach at a coach’s clinic. But before you trot it out, take a good look at your players and see if it’s a fit, figuratively and literally.

Here’s an example of NOT doing that. At a facility where I give lessons, the last two weeks I’ve watched the cutest little 8U (I presume) team doing hitting drills where they get down on one or both knees and hit off a tee.

Nothing wrong with that in theory. But in practice the problem is when they are on one or both knees the ball is about nose-high even with the tee all the way down. So all they’re really being taught is to swing at pitches out of the zone.

Making things worse, at times they are doing one-handed drills. Most of those girls can barely hold their bats up with two hands, much less one. And yes, they are choking up on the bat when they’re doing it.

They’d be much better off standing up and learning the basic sequence of how to move first. Then, when they get a little bigger, stronger, and more accomplished, they can work on isolating different parts of the swing.

The same goes for many other parts of the game. Think of it as a pyramid.

Start with the very general as the foundation, then work your way up to more narrow and advanced components as they master the basics. They’ll learn better, and your team will perform better while having more fun.

Exercise – or learn – patience

This is probably the most important skill you can develop as a coach. Not just for the littles; for everyone, but especially for the littles.

Remember their brains are still in the process of forming, and it will be a long time before they’re fully formed. Like their mid-20s.

Also remember that everyone is an individual, so the pace of their development in various areas will be different. Some will be able to do things right away, others will struggle, no matter how hard they try.

Be patient with all of them and meet them where they are. Praise progress, not just success.

When you get frustrated, take a deep breath and maybe try to explain things in a different way. Find something they can relate to and use that to help explain what you want to them. A great coach will have 100 different ways to say the same thing.

You’ll also need patience when it comes to their attention spans. Some littles are really good at paying attention. Others have a circus going on in their heads at all times so it can be a little tougher to keep them on-task.

I’ve had some of those. One in particular I can think of is a girl named Katie, who was a pitching and hitting student.

She was a good athlete, even at that age, but at any given time her brain could turn on a dime and she’d be far away from what we were trying to do, and I’d have to try to corral her back again. Her mom was a teacher, too, so she’d get aggravated when Katie wouldn’t pay attention.

I, on the other hand, chose to find it amusing and would laugh at her flights of fancy, which I think helped build the relationship.

As she got older, her focus got better and she turned out to be a terrific pitcher, the kind that typically didn’t need to throw more than 10-12 pitches to get through an inning. Although she eventually gave up pitching she went on to play high-level travel ball and become a high school varsity starter as a freshman in both softball and basketball. (I had nothing to do with basketball, just pointing it out for accuracy’s sake.)

Again, everyone develops at their own pace, and the weakest or least attentive player today may go on to become the best player on her team down the road. With a little patience you can help get her there.

CAVEAT: The one area where that doesn’t work is the kid who is purposely being disrespectful or disruptive or uncooperative. I have no patience for that. If they clearly don’t want to be there nothing wrong in my opinion with telling them to get on board or get out. It’ll save everyone a lot of heartache.

Be kind

I shouldn’t have to say this but again, based on my extensive experience watching how the littles are treated in games and practices, it needs to be said anyway.

None of your players are purposely trying to walk every hitter, strike out, drop easy pop-ups, boot grounders, forget to tag up, throw the ball into the parking lot, or commit any of the other basic softball sins. That stuff just happens.

When it does, you don’t have to scream at them or berate them or call them names. Instead, help them learn from their mistakes in a kind and respectful way.

Be encouraging. Tell them you believe in them, and that they should believe in themselves.

Give them corrections when and where needed without belittling them (no pun intended). You may have to do that a few times before it really sinks in, but keep doing it.

Years down the road they will remember you fondly, and may even invite you to their wedding! Help them feel good about themselves, even when you’re secretly mad as heck at them, and you’ll not only help them become winners as ballplayers; they’ll become winners as human beings.

Have realistic, age-appropriate expectations

Even though I’ve been doing this a long time I’m still shocked at some of the stories I hear about the expectations coaches can have of their littles.

Pitching is a good example. There are coaches of 8U and 10U teams that insist their pitchers have to “hit their spots” or throw a certain velocity if they want to pitch for the team.

First of all, at those ages “hit your spots” should mean throwing strikes enough of the time to keep the game moving. To expect kids who are just learning how to pitch to throw to an exact spot with precision is simply ludicrous.

Expecting certain velocities is silly too given how much of a size difference there can be as kids develop. To think a pitcher who stands less than 5 feet tall and weighs 70 lbs. will throw as hard as a pitcher who is 5’4″ and weighs 120 lbs. is unrealistic, to say it kindly.

These ages (and I will include 12U in this one as well) are about development and gaining experience, not meeting certain “minimum standards.” That extra small little will grow someday, in her own time, and my actually pass by all the girls who started with greater physical advantages because she wanted it more.

You just never know. Your job as the coach is to encourage and create opportunities for every kid on the team so they develop a love for the sport and go on to become the best they can be. The rest will sort itself out down the road.

The rewards are there

I won’t kid you. Working with the littles isn’t easy; it definitely has its challenges with coordination and attention spans being at the top of the list.

(On the other hand, when they get to be teens with attitudes and petty squabbles you may long for the days when your biggest coaching challenge was getting them to keep their elbows up when they throw.)

Just keep in mind you have the unique opportunity to shape the next generation of fastpitch softball players, and perhaps coaches after that. What you do matters than you may realize.

Thank you for taking on this important challenge. Now go get ’em, coach!