re: Coaching T-Ball for the first time. Suggestions?

If you see a guy, hanging out by the fence with any combination of the following, avoid like the plague, because you won't ever be as good of a coach as he was!

at the first meeting, make sure all parents are present and inform them of the the one rule of the team that is written in stone: Anyone who complains about or criticizes anything the coach says or does is automatically the new head coach.

Our coach used to yell "Hit the ball, you cod," every time someone was up to bat.

He also would ask the drama teacher to step into the room anytime we were inside for weather, then proceed to demonstrate all the ways in which she was wearing too much makeup.

We had a really fat guy named Doug and whenever Doug tried to run the abrasive action of his man hams caused his shorts to get sucked into his crotch region. Coach thought that was hilarious and made Doug run all the time and would yell shite at him, like "you breaking a sweat, yet, tiny?" Doug had a mustache.

He won a couple of state championships, so there must be something to all of this.

Figure out who your best fielders are and put them at pitcher, first base, and shortstop. Keep the ball in their hands as much as possible.

If you don't have a first baseman that can catch a throw then swallow your pride and have them roll the ball to first until they can catch a throw.

RF is for the kid that plays in the dirt or chases butterflies.

Make sure they know how to run bases.

The rest sort of takes care of itself.