Notes

How to Coach T-Ball: Tips from a First-Time Coach

June 5, 2026

This page is for anyone who has (or is thinking about) coaching t-ball! My son is playing in a 4U league and this is his first organized sports experience.

Going into the season, I was excited and nervous. I had never been a head coach and had never actually played t-ball.

After signing up, filling out forms, doing fingerprints, background checks, concussion and other safety videos, I figured there would be some solid structure going into the season.

I would come to learn that there was precious little structure around the league and the team, which for someone who likes to plan, anticipate, and prep, was not easy to adjust to.

I've found that with t-ball, that's ok, and perhaps necessary.

Below, I'll document some of the things I've found that have worked (and those that haven't) as well as products and resources I've found helpful. I hope this will help you, too!

What's been helpful?

A little planning goes a long way

As I observed from successful coaches growing up, being organized is critical to enjoying the experience and making things enjoyable for the kids.

Heading into the season, I spent some time thinking about what I'd like to do, how I'd like to approach things like basic fundamentals, all the way down to how I'll remember everyone's name.

I'm very much indebted to my good friend Drew, a coach with 20 years of experience at the high school level, who has also coached t-ball and other kids sports.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

• Whatever method you choose to communicate to the parents, do so frequently and as early as you can. Be it text, email, or an app, they're even more in the dark than you are and the sooner you can reach out to them and let them know what you know (even if that's not much), the better.
• I created a separate email account for communicating since my primary email address is a mess. This made it easy and quick to find all things t-ball.
• As an avid AI-user, Claude was my friend when it came to organizing and processing information. For example, the league sent a schedule out with all the teams and all the games together in one big list, using numbers to represent the teams. Claude turned that into a separate, clean schedule for just our team with additional helpful information on it. As a kicker, I also turned that schedule into .ics files so I could provide everyone with it and they could add the season's worth of games to their digital calendars with a few touches.

Help is there, especially if you ask for it

With two weeks before the season, there were still three (of 10) teams without a head coach. I was worried that I would be left on the field with a dozen 4-year-olds by myself, trying desperately to control them.

What I found was nearly half the families had a parent who was interested in helping out. I've been lucky enough to have 3–4 amazing parents helping me out at the games and practices. I have no idea what I would do without them. What I've found is most of them really want to coach and help, they just didn't want to be the head coach (understandably).

Also, we did a SignUpGenius for after-game snacks… which the kids have enjoyed. All the games were signed up within a few days of distribution, which has been great.

Practice (if you can)

Our city has teams ranging from 4U t-ball to high school leagues. We have over 1,000 participants and not many baseball fields.

As such, getting practice time, with all the games going on, is difficult but possible. They told us that t-ball canhave a (single) practice before the season starts, but said it really wasn't necessary.

I would say that one practice makes perfect sense, and I agree with having it before the season.

I would disagree that it wasn't necessary.

The first practice was a wonderful way to meet the kids, the parents, and get a feel for how things were going to go.

Spend $25 to make your life infinitely simpler

I spent about $25 on a few items that have been anywhere from helpful to invaluable.

• Bases($10 or so on Walmart.com): for our practice, the city hadn't put down bases yet so there was nothing to go off of. This cheapo set of bases worked beautifully and I can reuse them for our kids at home and in the future.
• Cones ($10 on Amazon): recommended to me and the best thing on this list. Cones work wonders. Kids are drawn to them. Tell the kids to spread out on the field and you get a baseblob of 4-year-olds packed tighter than a pack of penguins. Put down cones, tell the kids to stand on one, and sit back and watch perfect dispersion.
• Athletic tape ($5 on Amazon): an old trick from my football days, writing the kid's name on the athletic tape and then putting it on their shirts or hats works great. It's easily legible. The tape sticks well but doesn't leave residue. The kids are into it. The contrast and size make it easy to read from a distance.
• Sharpies(free — I had them lying around): for the aforementioned athletic tape, as well as writing the kids' numbers on their hats to keep things straight.
• A dedicated container for keeping stuff clean(ish) (again, free because I had it lying around).

Getting on the field

Don't overcomplicate things

I thought I was keeping things basic by focusing on:

• Twisting your hips to hit the ball
• Basics of throwing
• Basics of catching
• High-level overview of the game

I think it was still over-complicated.

I think this is probably still the part I struggle with most, compounded by the fact that the experience, talent, and skill of the team varies pretty widely. Add in the fact that some kids don't give a fig (which is fine!), you have yourself a different ball of wax than coaching competitive, older athletes.

So my suggestion is keep things basic. REALLY basic.

• Rather than starting with hip twists or anything with hitting, focus on the stance: shoulder-width, athletic stance. That's it. Most kids came up to the plate and stood with their feet together at a curious angle to the tee and ball. Starting with feet apart, most kids are going to take a whack at the ball in a fairly reasonable way. Once they're standing in a balanced stance, you can focus on other stuff.
• For throwing, I think what I suggested struck a chord with the kids. At a basic level, standing with your non-throwing arm pointed at your target, feet shoulder-width apart, stepping in the direction you want the ball to go, twisting and following through are some very rudimentary parts of throwing. For a 4-year-old, that's a Ph.D. in baseballogy. We focused on flexing our arms like we were showing off our muscles and turning where you wanted to throw. Everything else, I didn't touch on initially. It went fairly well… not sure if it's the best approach.
• Fielding has been one of the most interesting parts of the game. Catching hasn't really happened for any team in the first few games. The ball is hit on the ground 95% of the time in a dribble or medium-soft manner into the field. There is no catching or fielding. No one throws to a base. Most kids dive on the ball. As such, I would suggest the good old athletic stance and focus on paying attention (safety first) so they're ready to make a play.
• Starting the first practice running around the bases a few times was great. Trying to explain baseball in a few basic sentences to kids was not easy (for me). I'm not sure what I'd do here other than tell the kids we take turns with the other team hitting the ball and standing in the field getting the balls they hit. That and running the bases. A lot.

Research practical tips and keep things simple

Aside from the above, there's a ton of great content out there on YouTube and otherwise targeted at this age. I learned a lot of great stuff watching 4 or 5 videos and just taking the gist of the message and figuring out how I'd like to apply it.

Again, as pointed out above, keep it simple, especially at the start. As the season evolves, I'm aiming to try to level up the goals for the kids but I think that will be based on the individual, as much as anything.

Safety first, fun last

Our team has three rules: be safe, be kind and have fun. The logic there is, lots of kids have lots of fun doing things that aren't safe. Swinging metal bats around. Diving for balls. Throwing balls wildly. All fun. Not safe.

So, my approach has been, by being safe and being kind, we can have fun. We don't laugh at others or make fun of someone if they fall or swing and miss or throw the ball backwards.

We're safe and kind, first and foremost, and then do our darndest to have fun.

A last word on this topic: some kids don't want to be there, and that's ok. I've found when kids want to go see their parents, play in the dirt, pick flowers, etc., I don't try to stop them. What I do focus on is keeping them safe (turn them towards the hitter and warn them the ball is coming and usually stand next to them so I can stop the ball if needed). But I don't try to give them a pep talk or change their minds. I just let them do their thing and they usually come back to t-ball in a few minutes. Let's face it: anyone who has played or certainly watched baseball knows it can be boring. So don't try to pep up a 4-year-old who is taking 5 minutes out of 60 to pick a few flowers. Keep them safe and engage them when they're ready.

Jersey numbers are your friend

Perhaps the simplest and most impactful thing on this list: when it comes to your batting order, simply go from top to bottom and switch each game. We have 12 kids, so the first game #1 went first all the way through to #12. No lineup cards. No confusion. Anyone can tell who is up next. Then, the next game, reverse it so #12 goes first and so on down.

A related note: assign jerseys based on the roster you're handed. I got a list of 12 kids and that order dictated their number. No conversations, no debate, I just gave everyone their shirt. If they have specific sizes that's a different game but everyone on our team got a kids small, so it was easy.

Last but not least…

Don't forget your cheer! And don't be stingy — before and after games is great.

1… 2… 3… Blue Jays!