how to get enough batting practice

When I was coaching rec ball, I always struggled between just getting reps and actually teaching how. With younger ones in particular (10u and 12u) I fell back to the old line method - not my favorite - of getting all the girls to line up and "walk" through the swing step by step. (The idea was to have parents (and ACs) watch so they were better able to see what I was looking for and then work with their DD at home.) After this, we went to stations: tee, bunt, and front toss mostly. Not many ever worked at home, but you could tell which ones did. Sometimes, if a parent could bring their DD early or late, I would work individually. When I thought a player was more serious about improving, I would suggest that the parents find a private instructor.

I never felt we had adequate time for practice (still never do), but I remember the special frustration of wishing somebody could throw and catch halfway decently. I also remember those exhilarating moments when a girl finally got something right for the first time.

bmakj, you are to be applauded for caring enough to wrestle with this. Most rec coaches I've seen don't. Your efforts will enable and encourage some of your players to move forward to bigger challenges. Keep up the good work.

I do suggest to parents that they get their kids to the cage (only really one by us, next closest is 30 minutes away, they have no slow or medium softball, so I tell parents to have their girls do slow baseball using bats available at the cages not their own, my girl dented her bat that way). Coin operated cages are pretty reasonable (20 for $2), i get my girls there at least once a week during preseason and season.

Biggest issue is getting help at practices. My one assistants job means she is only there about half of practices, about 2/3 of games (talk about screwed up priorities right, lol)

Have looked at doing team practice at a cage, but pricey, and not certain all my families can afford it (I cannot swing it alone). If one set of nicad batteries will power my lightning bolt (picked up at a going out of business sale for $25) for entire practice. Plan is to have three stations.

1-Tee, hitting into back of back stop (so I can see as I throw BP), girl resetting their own balls
2-lightning bolt, of soft toss if I can get more help, girls to shag and reset machine themselves (those balls I do not think will go far), again behind back stop so I can see
watching stations 1-2 while I pitch is hardest part, but necessary, got to correct bad mechanics early and often. 50 swings with bad mechanics is worse than no swings I think.
3-live BP, me on mound with bucket of balls (I give each girl a bucket of about 20-25 balls, arm is a noodle by the end of practice, starting with bum shoulder from misspent youth), or in cage (if I can snag the field with the cage on the practice schedule, also lets me have infield for defense practice, but most practice honestly will be at local elementary schools, back stop and infield full of weeds is the sum of the facilities)

this means I need at least 2 other adults running different drills with 4-5 girls each (grouped by ability, preferably 3 other adults with only 3 kids each). BP drills would determine when to rotate (once all girls had done all three hitting stations, they rotate out, three new players rotate in)

For winter training, in our basement we use those soft plastic balls that you see in mosh pits for batting practice. You can hit them off of tees and soft toss them.

If a coach is short on help and if they have several nets they can set up for hitting stations, I'd recommend this. First station set a tee up (preferably Tanner Tee.. Tanner Tees - Professional Batting Tees and Hitting Aids - Made in the USA ) at one net for them to work on their mechanics. Second station set up a couple soft toss machines in front of nets so they can work on hitting a moving ball. (two good soft toss machines on this site...mechanical and battery operated The Ultimate Hitting Machine ) Third, have them move on to live pitching where someone (or machine) can pitch to them. Once the kids are shown correct way to swing and the correct way to use the soft toss machines, then they can move through each station by themselves and won't need anyone to soft toss to them. If an extra coach or parent is around, they can help keep the kids moving through the stations so no one is waiting around very long.

Your field time would be better utilized for fielding. Find some batting cages for BP.

It's very difficult to hit live pitching in practices at 10U. Way to time consuming. Unless you have an older girl that can pitch. I find it much more time friendly to front toss at close range from behind a net or screen. It's easier to throw strikes, and you can simulate reaction time to some degree.

nicelag said:

It's very difficult to hit live pitching in practices at 10U. Way to time consuming.

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Yes, but for batters to improve they need to see live pitching as much as possible. You just can't replicate live pitching without actually doing it. There are so few pitches seen in real games that they need to supplement it during practice. Even if its 15 live pitches in practice, per player. It also gets your pitcher/catcher battery some work in practice facing live batters. Win/win for everyone.

Likely the reason in TB there are so many scrimmages and friendlies so the players get real game experience as much as possible. Hitting off a tee is nothing like hitting a girl who is trying to strike you out.

Rocketech1 said:

Yes, but for batters to improve they need to see live pitching as much as possible. You just can't replicate live pitching without actually doing it. There are so few pitches seen in real games that they need to supplement it during practice. Even if its 15 live pitches in practice, per player. It also gets your pitcher/catcher battery some work in practice facing live batters. Win/win for everyone.

Likely the reason in TB there are so many scrimmages and friendlies so the players get real game experience as much as possible. Hitting off a tee is nothing like hitting a girl who is trying to strike you out.

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What if they can't hit your pitcher ? Getting K'ed 3 times doesn't make for good BP. I've had them tell DD to let them hit. Not worth the risk. I was workin w/ a friends DD this summer on putting one over the fence. I told DD to throw nothing but strikes. She got big lump on shine Here is a way to do it: