We as coaches work hard to revolutionize youth baseball practices so that it's no longer long, slow and boring. Think one coach pitching, one kid hitting, and everyone else picking weeds in the field. But is there a way to make games less slow and boring? David Klein is back (again) to share his idea for fast-paced youth baseball games where everyone gets lots of reps and no one sits the bench in Part 1 of a two-part interview.
Plus Rob answers the Question of the Week (34:14) about how to manage rotation of a lot of kids in and out of games.
In this 44-minute episode, you'll learn:
- David's travelball experience (2:58)
- why David is down on travelball (3:56)
- the flaws in the pro-travelball argument to play better competition (7:11)
- whether development happens more in practices vs games (8:04)
- how Speedball was born (11:38)
- whether Speedball was intended to replace Little League, travelball and rec leagues (15:56)
- why regular youth baseball is "long, slow & boring" (21:10)
- an intro to Speedball and how it differs from regular youth baseball (23:15)
- how the catcher works in Speedball (26:02)
- a brief overview of Speedball's unique rules (27:29)
- what the Countdown rule is (29:17)
- how coach pitch and kid pitch works in Speedball (29:35)
- how Speedball teams and practices are managed (30:49)
Sponsor
Driveline Baseball
Driveline Plus is a growing library of everything baseball player development. Members get how-to videos on youth training, discounts on products and inside access to Driveline trainers. Listeners of today's episode get $25 off their first year of Driveline Plus. Tune in to the episode to get the code, just for YBE listeners.
Resources and links mentioned in this episode
- Driveline Plus
- Free programs from Driveline
- YBE 17: Baseball Tricks of the Trade with David Klein
- YBE 129: The Importance of Unplugging with David Klein
- YBE 130: Helping Your Team Bond with David Klein
- YBE 138: Improving on The Science Of Hitting with Steve Ferroli
- YBE 139: 3 Things Killing Youth Baseball (and How to Fix Them) with Steve Ferroli
- YBE 150: Growing Entry-Level Players with Justin Sherman
- Sample defensive lineup
Want MORE Edgy Info?
Never miss an article! Enter your info to get more practical, actionable youth baseball coaching info like this.
Are you a new coach? I have a free 15-day email course just for you, where I walk you through coaching a team for an entire season over the course of 3 weeks.