ESO Coaching Clinic

I ran a coaching clinic for the ESO league this afternoon. The purpose of the clinic was to show all the volunteer coaches drills and fundamentals to teach their players. My role in the league has become "Quality control" of both playing and coaching knowledge.

Coaches Warming Up

Over 20 dads showed up and 4 moms. I was totally impressed with the turnout. Some had more experience than others, a few of the moms played softball in college, and some dads used to play at UCLA, but there was a wide range of skill and knowledge.

My plan was to run a practice like I usually do and have all the parents participate. The best way to learn is by doing. Man, was everyone sweating just from running the one warm up lap! Many of the dads were familiar with baseball, so I made sure that I pointed out the small difference in fundamentals.

I taught the basics, how to throw and catch correctly. We went over proper glove work and infield drills. I explained bunt defense because small ball is such a big part of softball. We also did some outfielding. Today's clinic was only defense and in two weeks I am going to go over, hitting, base running, and maybe a little pitching. I hope everyone learned something today!

Dave Hitting Grounders

Everyone had a ton of fun this afternoon. People were taking the learning part of the day seriously, but they were also joking around with each other and saying that they don't move like they used to (myself included). Dave, the league commissioner, helped me hit some ground balls and he was totally enjoying making his friends work. During warm ups, Dave was laughing so hard at his friends that he got out his video camera.


A day at the softball field is never wasted, even though I was feeling a little overwhelmed by adding one more thing to my weekend. It ended up going very well.

Busy week ahead too. I'll keep you posted.