Last post, I covered some of what I learned while coaching youth baseball and softball – when looking for differences, I actually found more similarities. I continue: Team styles: The boys were definitely more apt to blame a teammate for any mistake – whether the teammate’s error or their own. The girls were more apt to shrug it off. Missed balls just happen. At this age, both boys and girls would tend to watch the ball rather than run after it, although each team had one or two go-getters. Goof-off styles: The boys tackle and dog pile. The girls chase and group hug. Both were easily distracted by each other. Some coaches have great solutions like individual buckets that they put upside down for each child to sit on. For both teams, I had a parent on task for watching the dug-out. I noticed that the kids do like some sense of order, and both boys and girls enjoyed yelling out the batting order and knowing "who's next." Continue reading

Baseball To give you a little background, I’m a mother of a boy, 9 and girl, 7. I work full-time, but try to squeeze out time for coaching, class volunteering, running, friends and family. This spring I was the head coach for my 7 year old girls’ softball team (2nd season) and an assistant coach for my son’s baseball team (3rd season). I played softball through college, so know a bit about the sports. At this age, they can’t quite fathom strategy and coaching becomes a challenge in teaching basic skills while keeping their attention. I’m not going to talk about the coaching, but about some of the interesting contrasts that I observed between these teams of boys and girls, realizing also that they are two years apart. These are just fun observations, and could differ with a different group of children. Continue reading