What about this drill?

KCPhoto · Mar 25, 2016

I help with a MS team that can be kinda lazy during practice. Instead of calling out constant reminders to each girl to get down and receive the ball in front and in the middle of your body and see them barely make an effort, I thought about this drill to motivate them.

Have 3 coaches hitting to 3 lines, 1 line at 3rd, 1 near short/second and 1 at first. Start with entire team at third and have them earn thier way to the middle field line with good form and throws to home. From the middle field line, they earn thier way to the first base line in the same manner. Good performance at first earns a break.

Hits to the third base line are easy grounders. Hits to middle field are stronger. Hits to first base line are hardest and include line drives and pop ups.

Can you think of pros and cons to doing this? I know the drill will run long, but we need a lot of fielding and throwing practice.

dadofadirtlover · Mar 25, 2016

The only con I potentially see is that 3B becomes a "punishment" in their minds. I like the idea of a reward system, though.

BuckeyeGuy · Mar 25, 2016

IME the "lazy" at practice is a result of too much down time. Depending on how many you have, try this:

The Three-Tee Fungo Drill

I have had 28 girls with only me (8th grade coach was sick) and run this drill, kept everyone hopping and a ton of reps.

I use a variation (assuming right handed batters, switch for lefties): players hitting from the right side of home are working on pulling the ball, tee set inside and in front of their stance; players hitting from the left of home players are working on going away, so tee set deeper in stance and outside; outfield tee works straight away.

Also, depending on what needs to be worked on, you can change the throwing pattern for them to work on longer or shorter (underhand, flip, backhand) throws.

coach james · Mar 25, 2016

There needs to be less time in lines. Establish stations of 3-4 girls per station. Each station is working on something different. Standing in a line is unproductive. My practices in stations are partially a cardio workout, because they're in a constant hustle to back in position....go go go go go. It's really hard to be lazy in these drills

Mad4Ball · Mar 26, 2016

coach james said:
There needs to be less time in lines. Establish stations of 3-4 girls per station. Each station is working on something different. Standing in a line is unproductive. My practices in stations are partially a cardio workout, because they're in a constant hustle to back in position....go go go go go. It's really hard to be lazy in these drills

I'm with you there for the most part. However there are some drills that require them to really think about what they are doing and they need a little time to gather themselves or get set up.

coach james · Mar 26, 2016

Mad4Ball said:
I'm with you there for the most part. However there are some drills that require them to really think about what they are doing and they need a little time to gather themselves or get set up.

I fully agree with the attention to detail. Lord knows I say that enough. However, once the specifics of the drill are established, and each one has demonstrated it both slowly and full speed, it's time to start moving at a pace that more closely relates to game speed. The biggest problem I have is the volunteer dads who help at practice, and the fact they tend to be result focused rather than the process being performed at the level it was taught. I'm a huge stickler on not allowing defenders to square up, wait on the ground ball to roll to them, gator chomp the ball, then stand and throw.... That'll set me off quick! I want them running through it, weight on their left knee, glove out front on the inside of her left foot, then explode up and out with the left quad into a solid throw.... Kobata style...TOO SLOW!! When I look at other stations I see the gator chomp with still feet, but she makes an accurate throw, she then promptly receives an atta girl from the AC... No, no, no.... Been fighting this up hill battle for years! Attention to detail, always, but keep moving quickly to get a ton of reps.

CJ D · Apr 8, 2016

KCPhoto said:
I help with a MS team that can be kinda lazy during practice. Instead of calling out constant reminders to each girl to get down and receive the ball in front and in the middle of your body and see them barely make an effort

With all due respect Coach, you are giving them the option to be lazy. We have fundamental stations set up at every practice. One inield and one outfield. Infield station is nothing more than 6 or so girls standing in a line catching hand rolled grounders Candrea style. Front, forehand, backhand, slow rollers with run through, slow rollers with back hand rake through, and short hop long hop drills. Outfield is doing hip turn, making circle to play behind ball, blocking, crow hopping, throwing through cut, throwing all the way, short dives and slides, dives and slides to all other directions, etc. And there are two rules basically....when you hit the white line you run everywhere you are going, and if one of the coaches makes an instructional comment on how you did something or if you made an error or bad throw, you immediately run back to your spot and go again. They don't have the option to be lazy. They don't have the option to half-way field a ball or make the throw and go to the back of the line. They will quickly tire of being called out and having to go 3-4 times every time.

Also please make sure that what they are being taught is correct. I see far too many coaches that do what coach James said. Girl fields the ball and makes a good throw....yayyyyy! Good job! BS!!!! If they field a ball off their right foot because they approached straight at the ball and planted in their throw to first, guess what? They get to go again! They back hand a ball and shuffle before throwing. Guess what? They get to go again! It's the attention to detail and the requirement that the skill is performed correctly that will have them working up a sweat when doing fundamentals.

PlayPerfect · Apr 11, 2016

CJ D said:
With all due respect Coach, you are giving them the option to be lazy. We have fundamental stations set up at every practice. One inield and one outfield. Infield station is nothing more than 6 or so girls standing in a line catching hand rolled grounders Candrea style. Front, forehand, backhand, slow rollers with run through, slow rollers with back hand rake through, and short hop long hop drills. Outfield is doing hip turn, making circle to play behind ball, blocking, crow hopping, throwing through cut, throwing all the way, short dives and slides, dives and slides to all other directions, etc. And there are two rules basically....when you hit the white line you run everywhere you are going, and if one of the coaches makes an instructional comment on how you did something or if you made an error or bad throw, you immediately run back to your spot and go again. They don't have the option to be lazy. They don't have the option to half-way field a ball or make the throw and go to the back of the line. They will quickly tire of being called out and having to go 3-4 times every time.

Also please make sure that what they are being taught is correct. I see far too many coaches that do what coach James said. Girl fields the ball and makes a good throw....yayyyyy! Good job! BS!!!! If they field a ball off their right foot because they approached straight at the ball and planted in their throw to first, guess what? They get to go again! They back hand a ball and shuffle before throwing. Guess what? They get to go again! It's the attention to detail and the requirement that the skill is performed correctly that will have them working up a sweat when doing fundamentals.

This post is exactly on point and correct in every respect in my opinion. Except perhaps, I don't make my kids run everywhere when they are in between the lines. I expect hustle though.

Ive coached every age group from 9 year olds to high school, and my practice philosophy is the same for every age. I critique every single play that is made and I can almost always find something that isn't perfect. When a play is executed perfectly, I just say, "PERFECT!!". This gives kids constant feedback and they thrive on that. I will also frequently let a kid have an immediate do-over. They love touching the ball and being able to do it better immediately.

hssoftball101 · Apr 25, 2016

Girls get bored very quickly. They're social and will start turning their backs, sit on the ground and chit chat with each other. I remember baseball practice was always somewhat "boring". Over 4-6 hours we had a lot of down time just sitting down and picking grass but when it was time to drill we were always on point. My girls don't like ANY drill. The only thing they get off their butts for is a scrimmage or scrimmage type drill. Having them work double plays with a live batter and runner, they like that.

What about this drill?

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