Red Jacket Junior Baseball & Softball - (Shortsville, NY)

We hope everyone enjoyed themselves this season. Thanks to those of you that volunteered your time to help the league. We send a sad farewell to those players moving on to the modified level next year. As for everyone else........SEE YOU NEXT YEAR !!

With the growing emphasis on reducing avoidable injury to young pitchers many organizations have started using "pitch count logs". /rjjb_youthsports/files/Pitch Count Log 2008.pdf This is an accurate and easy way to keep track of the number of pitches a young player throws. Allowing the Manager to help reduce the chance of injury due to over use. Please take a moment and print out a few and use in your scrimmages and games. By tracking this information and making better decisions you are helping that athlete extend their career past youth baseball.

Coaching Youth Baseball

Baseball is just around the corner, are you ready? Everyone has a different take on how baseball should be coached. Every coach has had different influences in their lives that have help shape and mold their philosophies and approach to the game. The most important question for any youth coach is why are they volunteering their time to coach? Everyone will tell you it's for the kids and helping them develop their skills as they grow and advance. That is the correct answer and is why we spend countless hours teaching and molding young players today to be better ballplayers tomorrow. You don't have to be a former high school or college star to coach little league. You just have to want to help kids and that is what helps make this program successful. The act of going above and beyond to educate yourself and your assistance coaches is what seperates some coaches from the rest. It is a commitment that you make to your child, your team and yourself.

In the off season I like to spend some of my time surfing the countless number of sports websites that all claim to help you become a better coach or ballplayer. They all have a great amount of information from helping players with hitting, fielding and pitching. The fact that you are interested in learning more is what sets apart many coaches from the rest. Doing your homework and preparing for your season is the best thing you can do for yourself, your team and in most cases you own child.

I recently found a website called www.sportskool.com. This website covers more than just baseball but the content that I viewed gave detailed instruction from some of baseball's greats like Tony Gywnn and Nomar Garciaparra. This is also available on Time Warner Cable channel 723, programs on demand. Take a few minutes and sit down with your ballplayers and watch some of the short videos on hitting, outfield play, infield play, pitching and bunting. You never know what tips you might come away with that you can incorporate into your first few weeks of practice. Please feel free to share any other links or tools you currently use. You will be able to find some of my favorites in the "LINKS" section of the menu. Get ready to play ball!

Mike Perry

League President

Selecting A New Bat or Glove
Check out the Handout Section for a guide to selecting a bat and glove based Height and Weight.