On the Sunshine Coast, as in most of Australia, Tee-ball is a fun, children's game. It is a modified version of baseball where the child hits the ball of a tee, which is of an adjustable height, instead of having the ball pitched to them.

From "How To Coach Tee Ball Without Going INSANE" by Robert Doss © Bullhorn Media Group (INSANEbooks Division).

Hitting tees have been used by professional baseball players for more than fifty years to help them develop their swings for use against "live" pitching -- the first hitting tees were made by Voit.

The tee is great for practicing that "perfect swing" for players practicing alone and it's perfect for coaching hitting mechanics in a setting where the coach can pay close attention to every aspect of the swing. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to learn that kids around the world have found ways to place baseballs or tennis balls atop some equipment resembling tees and making a game out of it for years.

As you'll see in your experience in dealing with tee ball players, some of the neatest and most imaginative things come out of the minds of kids. However, when it comes to laying credit for inventing the game of tee ball - - we go all the way back to 1960 and to Dayton Hobbs, then a thirty-eight year old elementary school principal from Bagdad, Florida near Pensacola.

In the Official Tee Ball Rule Book, amended and published annually, Dr. Hobbs reminds us what the children already know: "that this is nothing more than a game of children's baseball." He admonishes managers and coaches "not (to) put pressure on the children, but attempt to teach them to play the game to the best of their ability while they enjoy it."