The Youth Baseball Edge Podcast with Rob Tong: Coaching | Drills | Strategy

The siren call of sexy-looking drills is a temptation to many a coach. We wouldn't want to be called "the boring coach", would we? Fast-forwarding through the fundamentals can be a dominant thought when we want to be "the cool coach." In this episode, Trent Mongero, the head coach at Glyn Academy (Ga) encourages us to focus on the fundamentals and shares his foundational drills with us—drills he uses even with college players.

We do a deep dive in ground forces to improve hitting. What is "leg-to-leg transfer speed"? How do you troubleshoot? What about coming up with swing mechanics by analyzing swing video? Justin Stone of Elite Baseball Training explains key concepts to help you help your kids improve their hitting. This is Part 2 of 2. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!

When we think of improving power in the batting swing, how often does "ground forces" come to mind? Probably never, for most people. So does that mean it's not important? If it is important, how do we tap into it? Justin Stone of Elite Baseball Training shares what he's learned regarding ground forces and how to teach it.

What lessons have you learned while coaching in 2018? Now that the year is in the books, it's a good time to reflect back on what transpired and see if there's anything you learned that you may be able to apply in 2019. Rob Tong shares seven coaching lessons he learned in 2018, and Paul Niggebrugge and Trent Mongero share the lessons they each learned in 2018. Please let us (and others) know how you feel about the show by giving us an honest review & rating on iTunes!

We've heard about the mental game but how do we actually apply it to our baseball coaching? How do we make the concept of mental game more practical? Brian Cain, #1 international best-selling author, speaker and coach, helps us with exactly that.

When one of your players doesn't feel confident on a particular day—or even throughout a particular season—what do you do? When a kid isn't having the results he wishes he had, what do you do? When you are looking for team leaders, what do you do? Brian Cain, a #1 international best-selling author, speaker and coach, helps answer some of these mental game questions and many others to help you give your team the edge.

Last time, Rob Tong gave several small tips that can yield big improvements. Today, Rob gives several big tips that can yield big improvements.

Small changes can sometimes have big consequences. Many times we're looking for that magic bullet that will make our kids enormously better—yet sometimes we just need to make some small, fine-tuned adjustments. Rob Tong shares seven seemingly minor changes coaches and parents can make to help kids make big improvements. 

Can pitch recognition skills separate the good batters from the great batters? Can pitch recognition training help overcome some common hitting flaws? Peter Fadde, author of "The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition", explores this and other topics related to pitch recognition.

What is "pitch recognition"? How do you do it anyway? How is it different from "vision training"? Peter Fadde, author of "The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition", answers these and other related questions.

How do you become an ump in youth leagues like Little League? How do you become a high school ump? College? Pros? What makes a good ump? Brandon Jackson, a long-time and well-respected collegiate umpire, shares his thoughts on these and other umpire-related topics.

Ever wonder what an umpire's thinking? What IS an umpire's strike zone supposed to be? Here's your chance to find out. Brandon Jackson, a long-time and well-respected collegiate umpire, explains umpiring philosophies and goes through some commonly misunderstood baseball rules that you might need to know someday.

How is the health of your relationship with your baseball-playing child? How would you know? Is pushing your child always wrong? Rob Tong addresses these questions in a thought-provoking episode that introduces the Open Baseball Journal. Learn ten questions you should ask your player(s) after each season that will help keep your relationship with your player(s) on the right track—or to get on the right track if you've been derailed.

If you had $5,000 to spend on youth baseball, what would you spend it on? Pitching coach? Hitting coach? Travel teams for exposure and experience? Strength training? High tech gear? Ben Brewster, founder of Tread Athletics, explains why strength training should be the majority of your budget. This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Plus Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv answers the Question Of The Week about how to help kids know how to end plays on defense. 

YBE has devoted several sessions to strength training. But how important is strength training anyway? Ben Brewster, founder of Tread Athletics, explains why strength training can help you bust through your current limitations. This is Part 1 of a two-part series.