critique my practice

Hello I am new to coaching Softball and was looking for some constructive criticism on how i practice.The team I have is a 10u c class "travel team"(we don't really travel far).
My practices are 2 hours long,when each player arrives they take a nice slow warm up lap then its on to hitting which includes multiple stations including wiffles slow from my DW,fast from me,and off the tee,a line ball(my invention just a 12 inch ball with hole drilled through and 12 inches of rope run through attached to a carabiner that is hit back and forth down about 30ft of rope),and the Pitch to Hit Duece pitching machine each getting about 30 balls from the machine.Then we brake into pitcher catcher work,infield work,and out field work,Then if time permits we have a competition drill.I try my best to keep the practices moving at as brisk of a pace as possible.Any advice as to things i can do better or different methods to try to keep thing different would be appriciated.

Sounds like you are keeping them moving and active. The only thing that concerns me is for the start if practice....just a nice slow warm up lap. You need stretching, throwing, etc. Basically they are jumping in full steam with muscles tight.

CJ D said:

Sounds like you are keeping them moving and active. The only thing that concerns me is for the start if practice....just a nice slow warm up lap. You need stretching, throwing, etc. Basically they are jumping in full steam with muscles tight.

Click to expand...

agreed. A dynamic warm up is best.

Not a critique, just an opinion.

At 10 I would like to see the practice to be about 1 and ½. I guess my opinion changes depending on how often a week you practice. Twice a week for 2 hours would be OK, more practices shorter time. Always more to do then practice time permits.

Make an effort to have a completion drill at the end of every practice. If you need some suggestions some posters have some great ideas!

It sounds like you are doing a good job and are doing the most important thing is that no one is standing around.

Edit:

If you do have a 1 and a ½ practice do not be shy of asking the P and C to stay after practice for a ½ an hour, if they are 2 hours, and you have time, do not be shy about setting up a seperate P/C practice. I try not to separate them from the Team as much as possible.

Sorry, one more thing. Put bunting on your hitting list. It is hard to teach but easy to practice if you have a parent you are comfortable with.

I like the overall concept/structure. The big question is, especially with hitting stations, is anyone providing instruction at those stations? Or are they just doing whatever? Remember you can practice to fail as easily as you can practice to succeed. At 10U, when they're on the tee they may not be working on hitting; they may just be knocking balls off a tee. There's a difference.

It is not clear from your post, but I hope that everyone (including pitchers and catchers) does outfield work and everyone does infield work. 10YOA is too young to be pigeonholed.

As Ken said, the question is really what you are doing with the infielders and outfielders. You need to be doing lots of work on the fundamentals.

I coached this age recently and here is M2C. 2 hours for 5 session bi-week works for consistency. (3x on off weeks and 2 x on tournament weeks) The first 15 minutes are always for stretching after a jogged lap to warm up muscles. We did not try to be a jack of all trades in one session. I felt this would only make us okay at a bunch of stuff and not great at anything. That said, if we ran one practice weekly for 3-4 hours I would set the agenda differently. We established a routine over the 2 weeks.

Example:
5 sessions = 1 BP with stations and an instructor/coach for Bunting, Soft Toss, Pitching Machine or live coach pitch.
2 Strategy Sessions DEFENSE: players work in starting and secondary positions on what to do defensively in certain situations. OFFENSE: Baserunning and what we expect players to do in certain situations based on where ball is hit.
2 sessions on CORE SKILLS of Fielding (in and outfield skills ALL PLAYERS), Throwing and Footwork (things like drop step, resetting feet when possible, shuttle steps, off balance throwing, etc).

Doing this consistently becomes something the players can set a watch by. Our players liked it. They always knew what to expect and when they would be able to ask questions and work on things they struggle with based on the type of practice scheduled. This allowed us to spend a ton of time within one session on specific needs of the players/team. I tried many things the first year. Doing this the past year and a half has shown us positive results over time.

Hitting was not focused on as much because we expect all players to be in hitting lessons. Even when we run a 2 hour session no one player gets more 1 on 1 focus than they would at their own lessons. As coaches we do attend and watch their hitting lessons from time to time so we are aware of what the PC is teaching. This is done in an attempt to reduce confusion with the player. We do not wish to speaking Chinese when they are Learning Italian. (Essentially teaching the same topics just using different words to describe concepts) So far this strategy is working for us in Travel Ball.

After a dynamic warn up, be sure to really focus on the details. Don't make the same mistake 99% of coaches make by running repetitive drills without the attention to details. Just because Sally throws an accurate ball doesn't mean her mechanics were good. At this age and in fall ball season try to pay closer attention to the specifics. Things like charging a ball aggressively instead of taking a step or two and then bending over and waiting for the ball to roll between your feet. When she throws does she get her shoulders open and get good weight transfer in her legs? At the batting stations are they short and compact in the swing or casted out? These small details will be the difference maker in their development. And finally, practice like you play, hard and focused with an attitude of being unstoppable.
Stay consistent and never give false praise, and most important, don't judge them for their mistakes, instead judge them on their ability to learn from their mistakes!

I totally agree with Coach James. And I would summarize by saying...Don't be lazy, and don't allow the kids to be lazy.

The dynamic style warmup is the latest trend and highly recommended...do some reserach and prepare a dynamic routine that catches your interest and one you're satisfied with...and one the kids will actually do; don't make it too complex....but it's important they do it, and do it correctly.

Like CJ said, pay attention to the details and making sure everything they do is fundamentally correct, and don't take any excuses from the kids. Receiving the ball, fielding, throwing, etc. It's ok if they screw up, because it's practice and they are learning, but stay on them everytime till they get it right...no one can be lazy with this agenda.

Also...One thing I learned many years ago is that people mostly retain the first thing and last thing you teach them; and kids attention span is about 15 minutes for any specific event. So using that information, the idea here is to not have one long practice, where they will only remember the 1st and last part...but to break your practice up into many "small" practices, perhaps 6 segments of different drill/instructions. When you do this, you essentially "create" 6-first and 6-last "moments" of learning something.

Lastly...yes, 2-hr can be long for 8, 9 & 10yo; especially if it's hot (not sure what you region/climate is). And by all means end the practice with some sort of competition; and like the other member stated you can do a search on this site for some fun games to finish with. Don't ever lose the fun element.

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/coaching-softball/11283-fun-games-drills.html

Agree with the "What are they learning at each station?" comment. Just doing Tee work to do Tee work may be reinforcing the wrong things. One of my favorite Tee drills is what we call the Double ball drill. Using big wiffle balls (the size of softballs) with holes in them (the holes are important for balancing) we stack 2 balls on a tee. By using a hole in either ball and a curved spot on the second ball, the balls will usually balance with one on top of the other. The goal is for the girl to hit the bottom ball and not the top one. If done correctly the bottom ball will shoot out straight and the top ball will go straight up in the air and fall back down close to where the balls started. This teaches girls to swing straight through the ball instead of having the looping upswing so commonly taught in baseball (and reinforced by well meaning "I hit the ball great when I was in baseball and I taught my DD how to swing correctly" type of dads or coaches).