re: Need advice - coaching a 9-10 Y.O. baseball team

9-10 is kid pitch, right? Get 3 kids that can throw accurate and teach them to throw over the plate (not at the glove but in the zone). Get them throwing as hard as they can while doing it. You want kids to throw strikes but it's good for them to learn how to throw hard strikes eventually.

Start everyone on 3rd and see who can make the throw to first...keep 1 or 2 kids there and move everyone to short...do the same thing at 2nd and see who can catch balls consistently at 1st. You're going to need to determine your IF ASAP. Once you do, get your OF catching flys and most importantly keeping everything in front...then work on cutoff stuff.

For hitting, get them all on the fence to start, give them 3 pitches to hit and then get quickly to the end of the line. Do that a few times, then go a couple of times where they only get 1 pitch per turn. Get them watching the ball. This also prevents a lot of standing around when they only have 3 / 1 pitches to hit. One BIG thing that kids need to do it loading up. A lot of times they want to start their swing as the ball crosses the plate...they are going to be late every time. Have them try to make contact before the ball gets to them, and make sure they are loaded up so they just have to come forward. I tell mine to load up when the pitcher has the ball above his head coming forward.

Also, at this age you can still win / lose games on base running. Teach them through the bag (at first)...make a turn, and go 2. They need to know to pick up their third base coach when rounding first.

Most teams are already together so you are essentially taking on the leftovers. You'll likely have a last place team so focus on building the kids' confidence and make big deals out of base hits and runs scored. If I were you, I would try to focus on being the best base running team in the league and going from there. It's probably overlooked the most but it will keep you in games and even win some for you. Good luck.