Kids with ADD and other attention issues can excel at youth baseball with the right coaching.
If you’ve coached baseball for any length of time, you’ve come across kids with attention issues. Sometimes the parents alert you of the problem. Sometimes they say nothing.
If you properly address these kids and meet them where they’re at, you’ll find they can be valuable members of your team. Helping them succeed at sports will also do wonders for their self-esteem.
For proven strategies on coaching kids with attention issues, I spoke with Jim Rein, a former Division 1 athlete with ADHD, who played and coached in the NCAA tournament. He had the following recommendations
- Play for right reasons. Make sure kid wants to play, and he’s not on team only for parents. If he is not playing pitcher or catcher, baseball can be tough for a kid with attention issues.
- Teach tricks to stay focused. Especially when a kid is not playing pitcher or catcher, you want to come up with things for him to focus on so he doesn’t lose attention. For example, if the kid is playing in the outfield, you might ask him to watch for certain things to stay focused. You can give him a piece of paper with the other team’s lineup (by number) and he can make sure they’re not batting out of order or you can have him count the number of pitches thrown that inning.
- Make accommodations at practice. When you do drills with your team, a kid with attention issues shouldn’t go first, because you want to have him see others do it. But he shouldn’t be last, because then he’ll be waiting around and lose focus. You also want to find things for him to do during practice so he stays active, like have him set up the cones for infield drills. When kids break up into pairs to do drills, pick the pairs yourself and don’t leave it up to the kids. Also make sure the player with attention issues is paired with a good partner.
- Use verbal rehearsals. You want the kid to repeat in some form what you’ve instructed him. So, for example, if he’s in the outfield with a runner in scoring position, and you tell him to throw home on a hard hit ball, you then should ask him to repeat what you just told him to make sure he took it in. But then you want to do the same verbal rehearsals with all your outfielders, so the kid with attention issues doesn’t feel singled out.
- Talk with parents. It is important for coaches to know if kid has attention issues, so raise any issues with the parents even if the parents don’t divulge their is a problem. Try to learn from the parents about strategies that work in school for dealing with the kid’s attention issues. You also want the parents working at home with the kid on things such as baseball vocabulary, the team’s signals, and skills.
- Make sure kid stays on medication. It’s not uncommon for parents to allow a kid’s medication to wear off after school. Some parents also don’t believe in giving kids medication on the weekend. This is unacceptable if the kid is going to be on a team. If you suspect your player is going off his medicine for baseball, talk to his parents and make sure it lasts through practice and games so he can stay focused.
- Provide positive reinforcement, but no false praise. Offer deserved praise, even if just for effort. You want the kid to feel good about himself. Remember it’s also okay to be critical as long as it’s done in positive way and the rest of the team is subject to your criticism as well. You never want a kid with attention issues feeling like he’s being singled out.
- Use the “Sandwich Method” when offering criticism. When pointing out something the kid is doing wrong, start with something positive, like how you’ve noticed he’s gotten a lot better on ground balls. Then move to the meat, for example, that he needs to stay in the dugout when he’s not in the field. Then end with another slice of bread, like that you’re overall pleased with his performance on the team and he’s really contributing. For more on using the sandwich method, click here.
- Limit doubleheaders for him and make in-game accommodations. If you’re in a travel league, chances are you’re playing lots of doubleheaders, either in league play or for tournaments. This might be too much for him, especially in situations where his medicine might be wearing off. So talk to the parents and consider limiting him to only one of the games. During games, you want to do your best to make sure the kid isn’t staying on the bench for long periods of time. If he’s not a starter, considering using him as a pinch runner or first base coach.
- Have the kid’s back. Kids with attention issues often struggle at school. Sports, however, have the potential to build up these kids’ self esteem. For Jim Rein, the classroom was a disaster. He was called lazy and stupid, but he knew if he could get through the humiliation of school, he was okay, because then he had sports, where he thrived and made friends on his teams. So you as a coach want to be there for kids like Jim and help them find that much-needed safe space. Let them know about MLB players who overcame their attentions issues, like outfielder Andres Torres and pitcher Scott Eyre. These kids, with the right coaching, might wind up being your star players.
LET US KNOW IN COMMENTS IF YOU HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COACHING KIDS WITH ATTENTION ISSUES.
For more information about the emotional side of baseball, see:
- How to Manage Your Kid’s Baseball Tantrums and Meltdowns
- Anger Management and Youth Baseball: How to Calm Down
- How to Stop Being a Crazy Baseball Dad
- 5 Ways Youth Baseball Teams Cheat, and How to Respond
- How to Be a Good Baseball Dad in the Backyard
- How to Deal with Umpires in Youth Baseball
- Is It Now Fashionable to Hate On Baseball Dads?
For information on hitting, see:
- How to Get Out of a Hitting Slump
- 4 Best Baseball Batting Aids (No. 3 is Free)
- 4 Hitting Drills You Need to Do Before Every Game
- 4 Old School Baseball Drills You Need to Be Using
For information on pitching, see:
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