Collective Coaching Wisdom for Youth Baseball (Hometown Heroes Books) [Paperback]

David Ham (Author)

Book Description

Series: Hometown Heroes Books | Publication Date: April 10, 2008

This unique handbook for coaches captures "word-of-mouth" tips, advice, and ideas from America's most extraordinary community youth coaches. Advice is provided on how to quickly create an atmosphere of pride, fun, excitement, and teamwork while continuing to teach kids the mechanical aspects of baseball and promoting excellence on the field. Lessons learned by coaches are passed along through organized sections of coaches' tips, coaches' favorite drills, and classic anecdotes of the trials and triumphs of leading groups of young players. A "tips & advice" section offers proven strategies for organizing a team, holding preseason parent meetings, conducting fun and effective practices, coaching and motivating players during games, managing parents, working with umpires, and making it all fun.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book covers all the bases for kid coaches...the writing is loose, the topics interesting...the information abundantly resourceful." -- Chicago Parent Magazine

About the Author

David A. Ham has been involved with baseball for 37 years as a player and a coach. He lives in Ellicott City, Maryland. Janice B. Sibley is an instructional writer and baseball parent. She lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 222 pages
• Publisher: Crm Publishers (April 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 097469200X
• ISBN-13: 978-0974692005
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,233,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom Worth Reading, July 1, 2004

By 

P. Plante (Olney, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Collective Coaching Wisdom for Youth Baseball (Hometown Heroes Books) (Paperback)

At my youth baseball team's end of season party, Janice Sibley, whose son Chris was on my team, presented me with a copy of this fine book. I was quite surprised that one of the parents on my team was the co-author of a book on coaching! I was glad she waited until the season was over to let me know, because it would have made me nervous.The first part of the book is about the power of positive coaching. As a youth baseball coach myself, I know that games can sometimes get tense and that negative words and actions from coaches and parents can and do slip out. None of us is perfect, but in the end kids (and adults) respond much better to positive re-enforcement than to negative. The book relies on the experiences of many successful "hometown hero" coaches from across the country, who tell us how they keep the game fun, positive, and low-stress for the kids, the parents, and themselves. The second part of the book contains the favorite drills of the many "hometown hero" coaches. It is not a comprehensive set of drills, just a collection of some standard and some unique drills that you may want to add to your coaching repertoire. I especially liked the one about "water balloon hitting"; it may not teach your kids how to hit, but it will be the drill they (and you) have the most fun with!The last part of the book relates some memorable personal moments from the "hometown hero" coaches. If you're a coach, these stories will touch you because, ultimately, the reward of coaching is in knowing that you have touched the life of a child in some small but positive way.