Sliding drills
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Slip and slide is best that I have seen, especially with the younger ones. If you don't have one, you can also use a tarp with water. DD has also used a really fancy (and probably expensive) two piece sliding mat in an indoor practice but she said that it didn't really simulate sliding very well.
A good piece of cardboard is what we used, and the girls enjoyed it more than the actual sliding mat we have. Sliding can be scary for some girls so it is imprtant to try and take some of the fear out of it by incorparting some fun in it. I am a 10U coach and we have some girls that slide like pros, and some that are still scared and need work.
That's a good one - I forgot about that!!! DD's little league team started out with cardboard on a hill. By the end of practice, the coaches and all of the parents joined in!!!
We did the exact sme thing, by the end of practice all the coaches and some parents were in a competition for the best cardboard pop up slide.
I'm a big fan of the cardboard too.
Someone posted a fun game of "tag sliding" in another thread that I used with a 10U rec team to great success earlier this year. If I remember right you throw down 3 or 4 bases in the outfield grass which are "base" for the tag game. To get on "base" you must slide. Only one girl can be on any "base" at any given time; to knock a girl off base another girl has to slide into that base. I also made it that you couldn't return to the base you were just knocked off of.
Someone posted a fun game of "tag sliding" in another thread that I used with a 10U rec team to great success earlier this year. If I remember right you throw down 3 or 4 bases in the outfield grass which are "base" for the tag game. To get on "base" you must slide. Only one girl can be on any "base" at any given time; to knock a girl off base another girl has to slide into that base. I also made it that you couldn't return to the base you were just knocked off of.
We did the exact sme thing, by the end of practice all the coaches and some parents were in a competition for the best cardboard pop up slide.
It might be time to drag out the cardboard again. A few of our girls could use a tune-up.
I used a blanket on the lawn.
Don't overlook static drills. Coaching rec, many of the girls I haven't coached before don't know the first thing about sliding. I start with them sitting on the grass and get them into the figure 4, hands up, chin tucked. Next, I have them sit with legs out front and then get into the figure 4 slowly, coaching for correct positioning of the feet, hands, and chin.
The next drill I do is to have them sit with legs out front, push themselves up with butts off the ground, and then drop into the figure 4. Only after they show me that they can get into the proper position repeatedly do we move on to actual sliding.
I favor using a poor man's sliding pad: a blanket on cardboard in the grass (no cleats). I start with a coach "escort." I have the girls run about half speed and right before the cardboard they go hands up where a coach on each side grabs a hand and eases them down into figure 4. After a few escorted tries, I let them go solo and have them gradually increase the speed.
Once they're all sliding all over the grass (doesn't take long) we move to the infield with the cardboard in place, and eventually remove the cardboard.
I erally like the idea of "tag" sliding, and will definitely be using that in spring!
The next drill I do is to have them sit with legs out front, push themselves up with butts off the ground, and then drop into the figure 4. Only after they show me that they can get into the proper position repeatedly do we move on to actual sliding.
I favor using a poor man's sliding pad: a blanket on cardboard in the grass (no cleats). I start with a coach "escort." I have the girls run about half speed and right before the cardboard they go hands up where a coach on each side grabs a hand and eases them down into figure 4. After a few escorted tries, I let them go solo and have them gradually increase the speed.
Once they're all sliding all over the grass (doesn't take long) we move to the infield with the cardboard in place, and eventually remove the cardboard.
I erally like the idea of "tag" sliding, and will definitely be using that in spring!
