• Little league baseball coaches deserve appreciation.baseball kids image by Linda Mattson from Fotolia.com
  
  Coaching a little league baseball team is a big commitment. The coach has to attend all pre-season meetings, organize and coach practices, build baseball skills as well as self-esteem in young players, and keep parents and families happy. One of these responsibilities by itself is a challenge, let alone carrying out all of them. A little league baseball coach deserves to be celebrated at the end of the season with some token of appreciation. Some inexpensive and meaningful gifts ideas include making a hand-decorated baseball team T-shirt, putting together a season memory book and decorating a styrofoam ice cooler.
  
  

Team T-Shirt

• Making a little league baseball team T-shirt is a simple project that shows thanks and admiration to a coach for a job well done. Making a T-shirt requires purchasing a good quality cotton shirt and fabric paints. If the coach is a woman, you can add beads, sequins and glitter to the shopping list. Decorating the T-shirt is a team project and there are many ways to design the shirt, but one idea to consider is team hand prints. To do this, have each team member paint the palm of their hand and make a hand print on the shirt. When the paint is dry, have them write their name on the hand print.
  
  

Baseball Season Memory Book

• A baseball season memory book is a nice way to have each child on the team let the coach know what they liked about the season and to thank them for their help. To organize the development of the memory book, purchase a scrap book or a three-ring binder and give each child a page to decorate as they like. If using a three-ring binder, use card stock paper so photographs and memorabilia can be glued or stapled to the page. Have team members decorate both sides of the paper. Set a date for when the pages are to be completed and turned in to be put in the scrap book or three-hole punched for a binder.
  
  

Team Styrofoam Ice Cooler

• No one has sat at a little league baseball game in the middle of the day in the middle of July and not wished for a cold drink. Making the coach a thank you ice cooler is a gift that can be carried to the ball field year after year. To get started, buy a styrofoam cooler and some paints or markers. Have team members write the coach a thank you message on the cooler and sign it or draw something. Fill the cooler with ice, bottled water, sodas and present it to the coach before a particularly hot game.