Suggestions for 10U Practices?

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Mike Candrea Bucket Drill

In my experience 10-15 minutes for the same drill is too long. I have found 5-7 minutes to be about right. Have a list of drills and go through them one after the other. Doesn't matter if it's rec or not. As long as you keep the practice moving and flowing, you will also not lose them after an hour. A 2hr practice is easily obtainable for kids of this age.

One item I was told years ago. You stop the drill at the peak of it's success. DO NOT continue on until everyone gets it right. Move on to the next one. There's always the next practice to work on it. I've seen coaches work the same drill for 45 minutes trying to get them all to do it right, not knowing he lost them 35 minutes prior. Meanwhile, he would get mad and yell and scream at them. You're not going to "fix" them in one practice.

I really liked your post for the 10U. Could I get a copy of the checklist also that you put together for your team please? kjsteinman@yahoo.com
Thanks,

We do a "bucket drill" at the end of practices and the girls love it. We split the team in half and place half of them near the SS position and the other half near the 2B position. With a coach on each foul line and a bucket (or buckets - explained later) placed on the pitchers mound, the coaches both throw a grounder to the first person in line (with the remainder of the line in the OF waiting for their turn to be at the front). The person who catches the grounder then has to make an attempt to knock the bucket over. They get one point for hitting the bucket, first team to 5 wins. One alternate we do is add a 2nd bucket on top of the overturned bucket, using different color buckets and going to 10 points instead. Hit the top bucket get 2 points, bottom one 1pt and both of them 3 pts. SO what does this teach? First how to field grounders, secondly to focus on the throw, thirdly, when using 2 buckets, the top bucket simulates a chest high pass for when you want a force out, and the bottom one simulates a tag play. We also have several "twists" to this game. One twist is if one team is creaming the other team, if the losing team hits the top bucket, then they get to steal the other teams points. Another twist is to award point for hitting one bucket and taking points away for hitting the other one. It is very competitive and the girls have lots of fun. They don't even realize they are working on skills, all they know is that they want their team to win and they are having fun. They ask every practice "Are we going to play the bucket game today?" They look forward to it.

I also do not stand girls in the field and have one hit at a time very often. Most of my practices are skill drills, keeping them fast paced and the girls moving. I don't give them time to get bored. It is drill, water break, drill, water break, drill, waterbreak, finish with games.

I also insert a couple of practices where I switch out the balls with water balloons and the girls get to bean the coaches with the water balloons. You talk about excited!

Keep it fun and keep it moving = Success

In the spring we did a lot of drills, but in the fall we would play catch , do a couple of catch and throw games and then scrimmage half on half usually 5 on 5 or so. We would have a coach pitch and a coach actually catch to allow quick changes. It allowed each kid to play infield and we would get in 5 or 6 innings in an hour. We would stop to explain situations, but I think it helped the kids learn the mental side of the game quickly. We are young 10U team with several 9 year olds and a few 7 and 8's in rec. We worked on pitchers and catchers at a separate practice, but I really think this made us the best defensive team by far the next year. We also had the best offense but average pitching.

I like ending practices with a fun drill or game. For 10U, one of the best that I "stole" a couple of years ago from this site (was it SBFAMILY or PEPPERS?) is "Last Girl Standing". How it works:

Players get in a line along the fence in foul territory with bats and helmets on and fielding gloves near them. One player bats while a coach pitches to them from around 25 feet away (as the girls get bigger and stronger I advise pitching behind a screen). The player gets one pitch to hit the ball to the grass in fair territory, either ground ball or line drive/fly ball. Any other result (foul, swing and miss, pop up, infield dribbler that doesn't reach the grass) is an out and the batter must now take a position in the infield, generally at the edge of the dirt infield and grass, in fair territory. The defensive player can get back in the game to bat by cleanly fielding a ground ball, line drive, or pop-up before it reaches the grass. If the fielder does not catch the ball cleanly and it doesn't reach the grass, the batter is out and the defensive player is still out. As more players are out and playing defense it obviously becomes harder for the batter to get the ball to the grass. The last batter to get a clean "hit" is the winner "Last Girl Standing".

I like this game because its very fun for the girls, its competitive, it helps the girls to be aggressive at the plate with only one pitch to try to get a hit, and it helps them fielding because they want the ball hit to them and they have to make a clean play on the ball to get back in the game.

You can modify the rules for older and better players. For example, I will mix in change-ups and inside/outside pitches as necessary. Or you can use only 1/2 of the outfield where you can get a "hit" to promote opposite field hits.

Have fun with it, the girls will love it.

can i get a copy of your position checklist? my email is troycrawford74@yahoo.com

I would love a copy of check list. Thechristiehouse@aol.com
Thank you!

Can i get a copy of the checklist.. jdeguzz1@yahoo.com

Thank You

I'm not sure how live this thread is anymore, but I'm new to the forum and would LOVE a copy of the position checklist as well if anyone is willing to share.

sbrinkh@yahoo.com

thanks : )