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

If you go in with the right attitude and willing to work you can do it. I bet I played less baseball than you and I was able to coach successful teams at this age and the next few years.

Some tips:

1- put the work in before practices to structure them so that each kid gets the maximum reps. As people said above - avoid having the majority of kids standing around while 1or 2 hit or catch at a time.

2- look on the net and ask experienced coaches for drills that maximize the time every kid is catching, throwing and hitting.

3- if you have a draft, bring your (girlfriend's) kid to tell you who can play if you can pull it off. Also, if the director is really short of coaches tell him you'll do it but you expect him to make sure you don't get screwed in the draft.

4- communicate your philosophy and expectations to the parents and kids before the season, preferably in a nice succicintly written handout. Put in there practice time, your goals (mine were to play the best baseball we can, to win as many games as we can and to have as much fun as we can). Put that you are available to talk to anyone at times which are NOT during practices or games, that you Will listen but that there can only be one person making the final decisions about positions, playing time, etc and that for better or worse that is you.

5- if leads/ base running is allowed, teach it and do it until teams can stop it regularly

6- End practices with a running drill. I liked a relay race after splitting the team evenly for speed - 1 team circling the bases clockwise, the other counterclockwise. Send them away tired but happy. If you have a really energetic team start practices with running too.

7- if you have parents that just can't avoid "giving advice". Put them to work throwing BP, hitting fungous, etc.