First practice last night. FT JR already hates his coach.
I like him. He's exactly the coach these kids need compared to the other 4 where the kids are throwing the ball over the field.
First drill he ran was putting everyone on the field in spots and doing scenarios of where you are supposed to cover when the ball is hit to x. FT JR did well knowing where to back up playing center, not so well at 1B, and bad at catcher; mainly because he is so soft spoken and kept getting told in a loud voice to speak louder. Yes, this coach can get loud, but as he explained it, you need to be loud when you are catching and telling the center fielder at the eall where to throw the ball. Outstanding drill and something the other coaches he's had have never worked on or taught their teams.
He's also aggressive an wants the kids to swing instead of standing around at the plate, so he yelled at FT JR a few times during batting practice. Hit him once too. Eventually JR started getting better swings on the ball and when his turn was over, the coach went up to him and worked on his technique. He did also tell him he knew from last year that he was fast.
Outfield drills went well as he caught a bunch of balls. The only thing he was criticized on was the one time the ball was stopped and instead of just picking it up with his barehand to throw, he scoped it with his glove.
FT JR is one of only two seniors on the team. the other 10 kids are all juniors and some of them brand new to juniors. It should be an interesting season. Coach played catcher at Eastern Carolina University. His philosophy is practice hard, learn the fundamentals (especially since most of those kids are playing on the bigger field for the 1st time), and have fun in the game. He said he'll never yell during a game, but he sure is going to ask you why you did something the way you did it when you mess up. Like I said, I like him! The wife, of course, doesn't.