Voted up! One or two of the three kids up to bat are on base, and a situation is given to the fielders. A well-structured practice has multiple activities and involves quick transitions by the coaches from one spot on the field to another. A drill that is slow moving loses the players interest fast. Most practices vary little from on to the next. Instead of running the kids across the park and back, take them through a series of activities that develop baseball skills. Here are some tips on how to lower the stress and increase your chances of looking good! The Mini-Diamond, which is used often throughout the season, is something that can be set up in seconds using cones. Any drill in which the focus of the teaching is something other than working on full on overhand throwing technique can be run on a Mini Diamond. Starting a new group at your church? When a kid is chasing a misplayed ball, that player is not working on their skills. We want every possible moment of practice to involve skill building activities. %�쏢 Again, this is about as simple as they come when talking baseball practice drills but if you do this at a fast pace, (a hit nearly every 3 seconds) you can get every player about 10 ground balls in less than 20 minutes. Teach young children how to hit a baseball without a bat. I change the 'rules' slightly. This allows extra time for the other segments of practice to run longer while everyone gets accustomed to those. Here are some tips to make coaching youth sports enriching and fun! It also is a time when boys and girls begin to test authority and the limits to their independence, so coach… Beginner and novice coaches don’t need to be in a rush to get through all the content. Back-up, ***Outfielders Responsibilities (RF/LF) (see Defensive Responsibilities page - ‘Full Team Movement’), 2. 1-6 Play - "Turn Glove Side” (see SBW - ‘Pitchers Fielding’), 3. However, our trip to Publix proved me wrong! Immediately squash the players desire to see if they can ‘shoot’ balls into a bucket. Have you ever wondered what Youth Theatre is really doing for young people? Several problems often exist with young fielders' technique. The first step to running a great practice is having a great plan. The batter should not swing or push the bat forward. We tell the players the TWO objectives on defense are: 1. Their practices are designed to maximize each minute the players are ‘on the clock’. Little League is a great way for our youth to participate in an organized sport and make new friends. These are organized so that each successive practice builds off the previous. The hitter should have the bucket of balls gripped the same way as it is in the picture below. There will be times when things change, but the best way to make sure you're following your plan is to have it with you. The way to get the needed practice reps within the time we have available during the season is to structure our pre-game time into a practice. Any coach has certain things they want to teach and certain training priorities. At the college level teams have limits to how much time they can spend on the field each week. 26 0 obj Like the put out the fire drill, the pool noodle drill focuses on teaching good habits while developing rotational power. …until the defense forces them to stop after only going one base. 8-to-10-Year-Old Baseball Drills. Would it be unfair for a coach to lose that position if they try unsuccessfully to train a child to perform well? With younger hitters, we often see the head lunge forward or collapsing at the waist when the hips explode, this drill helps the hitter feel that movement and stay balanced through their hip rotation. The image below is a great example of wrapping the bat and exactly what we don’t want to see in the load position. Split them up. There is no exception to this rule. After the batter completes their swings they switch with the base runner. Each of these practice plans will be geared towards a specific skill or set of skills and each will continue to build off one another. Let the boys be boys from time to time too! Throwing on the Run (see SBW ‘Underhand Toss / Throwing on the Run’), Position Player Actions – “Move feet to catch, move feet to throw”, Recovering Balls (see ‘Playing Catch Practice - Part III, Recovering Balls’), 0:25 - 0:40 Rundowns - “Ambush” (see ‘Drills - Rundowns’), 0:40 - 0:55 Mass Ground Balls and Fly Balls (see ‘Drills – Mass Ground Balls and Fly Balls’), 1:00 - 1:30 Batting Practice (Video: ‘Batting Practice – A 12-Player Drill’), Recovering Ground Balls (see ‘Playing Catch Practice - Part III, Recovering Balls’), 0:25 - 0:45 Ground Ball Communication (see 'Drills - Ground Ball and Base Coverage Communication’), - 10 minutes: three drills involving Pitchers, - 10 minutes: three drills involving SS and/or 2b, 0:45 - 1:15 Batting Practice (Video: ‘Batting Practice – A 12-Player Drill’). If you aren't sure what to get for yourself or your little athlete, check out the suggestions in this article to get your bases covered! I know not all drills pertain to the whole team but give those who aren't involved something else to do besides watch the other group. If there is any question the ball will reach a base 4-5 steps ahead of the runner, they instead throw a full base ahead of the runner. ), Pre-Practice Whiffle Ball Batting (found on ‘Coaching Guide’ page), 0:00 - 0:05 Teach Drop Step Routine (Skill Building Warm-up page – ‘Fielding’), 3. If we leave them standing and lose their attention and it is a challenge to re-engage them. We will never share your information. Preventing extra base hits due to slow ball transfer can help keep your team in the game a lot longer than not. It requires various, special skills of nine players. Plan the three practices you have each week so that you force all of your priorities to be touched on every single week of the season. Plan to set aside one practice, following those first few practices, and dedicate most of that day to teaching the batting practice routine to the kids and other adults. Keys to Making Baseball Practice Fun and Productive. %PDF-1.3 It is similar to the anti-wrap drill in the sense that it gives you immediate feedback. After they both get their swings, switch them out with two of the kids on defense. Comprehensive Training for 12U Coaches and Players - Baseball & Softball. If you schedule nine practice drills, 10 minutes each for a 90-minute practice, you'll be sorely disappointed when you discover that only a very small part of the drills got done. Find some tips for creating a practice plan for youth baseball. Excellent job on showing how youth baseball can be fun as well as a way to develop so many skills both physical and life skills. Players rotate after 5 swings. Improve their skills. 3-1 Play (see SBW – ‘Pitchers Fielding’), 2. The practice plans alternate between a 90 minute schedule and a 2-hour schedule. They play just as well as leather, given the age group we are dealing with. Practice time is precious, so make sure that each minute is spent doing something valuable, or at least necessary. Do you notice how the bat is wrapped around the hitters head? This drill should only take about 5-10 minutes to run but you'll get a lot of transfers in during that time. This article describes how to teach young children to field a baseball. Once the hitter runs out of balls, the players return the full buckets to the hitter to continue the drill. Baseball players love to stay moving and hate being bored. Especially when it comes to the same person who tells them to clean their room or do their homework...they're kids ya know. You should be able to get every player about 10 ground balls and 10 catches in about 15 minutes and the rotation in line keeps the players hustling. 23 0 obj A ground ball hitter (preferably a coach), A ball feeder (preferably another coach or parent), Feeder tosses balls to the hitter to keep the drill moving, The hitter hits grounders alternating between 2 positions.