Developing Youth Baseball Skills: Coaching Tips & Resources

Question
My son is 8 and plays in the township rec league.  I help coach his team.  He's just completed tryouts and made the travel/tournament team.  He fields and hits well, but I want to learn to develop his skills.  What suggestions can you give, ie the value of baseball clinics, books, videos/dvds, etc.  I need to learn before I can help him!  I like the idea of videos/DVDs because they're visual and can be repeated.  Can you recommend some titles that are appropriate for his age, primarily in fielding and hitting?  He has a strong arm, and I've been told by experienced coaches that he'd make a good pitcher.
Thanks in advance.
Rob in NJ

Answer
Congrats on your son making the tournament team. Unfortunately, I can't recommend any DVDs or videos since I don't use them. To me, baseball is a three dimensional game, and learning in that fashion doesn't usually help much. Although, I do understand what you mean in that possibly you can learn some coaching techniques that way.

I would simply do a search on the net, as there are a gazillion instructional videos out there. For hitting, Mike Epstein has a good program (not sure if he has a video or not). For fielding & pitching, most teach the same things so any will probably do for that level.

If there's any skill in particular you need more info on, please don't hesitate to ask.

Mike Fortunato