Lake Zurich Baseball and Softball Association

I would not add anything new for this age level.  Rather I would just work on execution.  Again, I would be concerned with absenteeism, but back talk is less of a problem at this age level because the attitude cases have generally dropped out of baseball by this age.  Sixteen to eighteen year olds are more interested in playing the game then tormenting adults.

The above curriculum lists are not meant to be comprehensive.  But they are almost complete.  Most coaches would want to add a thing or two and subtract a thing or two depending upon what they want to emphasize.  But it is important you recognize what is possible at each level.

The typical coach spends far too much time hitting infield, taking batting practice, and critcizing his players' mechanics.  Remember to ask yourself how much are the players learning?

Talk is not enough.

Most coaches will say they taught most of the things on this list.  But if you video taped all their practices and games you would almost certainly find that their way of coaching most of the skills was simply to say, "(Pitcher) You should have covered first on that play," after the play was over.

That does not get the job done.  Most skills require explanation, demonstration, and at least a few repetitions by the players.  There is hardly anything that they will get just from your verbal statement of it.  That, in turn, means you cannot waste most of your practice hitting infield and batting.

Position clinics (optional half hour after practice), not team pratice, are the time to teach fine points of playing each position.