Author name: stadmin

My daughter recently expressed an interest in acting so we signed her up for a beginning improv class. During the first class, she was extremely shy (which is definitely her personality in new settings), barely spoke above a whisper when it was her turn to participate, and then whenever she was asked to add something […]

Let’s just be honest; playing outfield during games in Tee Ball, Farm, and most of the time in Minors, can be pretty boring. Rarely does the ball get hit out there and most leagues (correctly) have rules in place against taking extra bases on overthrows so there aren’t opportunities for back-up bases either. But as

This blog might have the single most important piece of advice I’ve ever given out to parents…and it has nothing to do with playing ball. I have the best Summer Camp coaching staff in the world; they are passionate, energetic, fun, and truly care about the kids on the field. This is largely because 99%

My 11U All Star team was feeling confident coming off a super-exciting win in Game 1 as we faced off against a strong team from PVLL on Saturday. We battled through 2 innings and entered the 3rd inning tied 0-0; it was shaping up to be a good game. And then everything that could go

I’ve always loved that quote from the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (yes I’m giant nerd, but I did have to look up who said that 😁) and I’ve been using a version of that concept in how I’ve worked to mentally prepare my 11U All Star team for their tournament. Before our first scrimmage a

As kids get older, coaches should do less during games. Less coaching, less driving the energy, less micro-managing of the kid’s play and decisions. I coached Majors this year and in 20 games, there was not a single instance where I, or the other coach, called out where the play was, reminded the kids how

You’ve probably heard of the Savana Banana’s motto by now: “FANS FIRST.” And I hope you know that Spring Training’s motto is “Play Hard, Have Fun.” It took me a long time to come up with a short phrase that captured everything Spring Training is about (and I love it), but if I was ever

My favorite body language / attitude challenge to issue to the teams I coach is this: If someone arrived in the middle of the game and the scoreboard was turned off, they should not be able to tell if our team was winning or losing, or who was personally having a good game or bad

I’m coaching Majors this season and of the 11 kids on our team, 6 have pitched in multiple games already!   All 6 of those kids (5 of whom are 12 years old) throw a curveball/slider, in addition to their fastball, and a couple of them have a changeup as a 3rd pitch. Age 11 or

CAGE VS GAME HITTING! Now that the season is rolling here in Southern California, you might be noticing that your hitter crushes the ball in the cage and practice but takes really tentative swings (or doesn’t swing at all!) in games. Frustrating, right?!? Sure, but totally normal in Little League.  From Minors all the way