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

Spikes up when sliding home.

Better grow a goatee and invest in a pair of Costa del Mar sunglasses at the minimum,or you won't fit in.

Whatever you do, you must install a no doubles alignment with two outs. If you don't do anything else, make sure these 4 year olds know how to play no doubles. I cannot stress enough how important this is.

Serious answer:

First and foremost, DON’T YELL AT THEM!
Keep it fun. Get on their level when talking to them. Do simple drills. Get them fielding ground balls, throwing the ball back to you. Use tennis balls to get them to turn the glove over on pop flies. Run the base pads every practice. Concentrate on their swing using this:

LINK

I taught coach pitch to 4-6yr olds. By then end of the season we had a pop fly caught and we had a runner thrown out at first. The successes are in increments. If you can get them throwing the ball back to you with decent accuracy, that’s a win. If you can get them to properly field a ground ball, that’s a win.

Drills needs to be short. Get other dads to help. Have 15 kids? 3 lines of 5 or 5 lines of 3 fielding ground balls. Break them up so that some kids are running base pads, while others are fielding ground balls, while others are practicing pop ups with a tennis ball, while one is working on hitting with the ball on a stick. If you are organized, butterfly chasing will be at a minimum and the kids will have more fun and get more out of it.

CSB: My first baseman eventually started at tackle for Michigan, go figure...

As a t-ball coach, none of these kids are going to be any good. All of them just want a uniform and to run around with their friends.

You need to have as many assistants as possible, break the kids up in little groups for practice and run stations.

My stations generally are a tee station where they hit, a station where they learn to run the bases, a ground ball station, and a throwing station.

At the end of every practice I split them up into two teams and we play baseball.

Never never never punish kids this age for doing anything wrong in a game. And good luck you have the worst parents of any kids age group and sport. You need to have thick skin and be ready to tell an overanxious parent to chill out and let you coach little Johnny.

Most of the kids will have about a 30 second attention span. Don’t stay on the same drill or activity in practice too long or they’ll get bored. Mix things up often and try to make a game out of it to keep them interested and paying attention.

Be prepared for about 7 fielders to all go chasing after the same ball

Use “flat” cones to mark the spot for each player to stand in their respective positions.

This will keep them spread out as you try to eliminate the dog pile for every ground ball.

Go up to the dad decked out in matching under Armour/Nike/Mizuno shite and deliver a fist right to his suckhole. Set expectations from the get go.