Best use of Indoor Batting Practice time

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Dec 19, 2009
37
0
We had our first indoor batting practice last night and I'm curious how other coaches structure the time? I know there isn't much to do indoors but I'm looking at any ideas on how to get more girls involved more of the time. I don't have a problem haivng 2 or 3 waiting but hate to see 5 or 6 girls standing around.

Thanks,
Chris
 
Jan 22, 2009
331
18
South Jersey
We are having the same issues. We have an indoor facility big enough to have 4 cages and a simulated infield. But we are struggling with how to run hitting drills. If we have 10 to 13 girls we may have the majority doing tee work and one or two doing front toss or hitting from a machine. The problem is having enough "coaches" watching and teaching the girls on the tees, it gets pretty chaotic, and the girls are on the tees a long time before they rotate to the "live hitting". We are a 10U team so we are still teaching fundamentals.
 
May 7, 2008
8,500
48
Tucson
I have a couple of girls taking dry swings. Also, you can do dry bunts and then, dry slaps. That can keep a lot of girls busy. If you still need more stations, have them do sit ups, push ups, etc.

One more station that I sometimes use, is having them learn to hit fungo.
 

Ken Krause

Administrator
Admin
May 7, 2008
3,913
113
Mundelein, IL
Instead of having everyone there and trying to keep them busy for two hours, try breaking them into smaller groups for shorter periods of time. For example, if you have 12 players, have six come for 45 minutes to an hour, then the other six for an equal time period. Keep mixing up who comes when. You may find that your girls get a lot more quality swings in that time than they get in two, and it's a lot easier to manage six and keep them busy than 12.
 
Jan 15, 2009
683
18
Midwest
Our group hitting sessions are each an hour long and can handle around 30+ players. We have a large organization (usually five teams) and offer two different session on one week night.

Players stretch and then do "dry swings" with coaches checking players and discussing with them each what the "student" needs to be working on that night --- only correct one thing at a time!

Then players are put into groups of two at the tee stations (one feeds a tee, other gets their swings in), a couple at the agility stations and one each at the Toss, Cage stations. One player will rotate at a time to the next station. (We try to put them groups according to team, left-handed, etc.)

We have 19 stations set up which include: Big Ball Tee, Regular Tee (2), Batting Cage (2), Strike/Ball Drill, Wrist/Forearm flex, Inside Tee, Bunting Batting Cage, Outside Tee, Jump Rope, One Handed Tee, Water Break (2), One Handed Tee, Dot Mat, Inside/Outside Tee, Soft Toss, Bunting, Agilities (Ladder, Line Jumps, Hurdles, etc.).

Parents run cages, Soft Toss, Strike/Ball Drill. Coaches either help at a station or roam around checking on players and keeping track of when to rotate to the next drill usually after a player has about 15 swings in a cage. There are usually 2-3 coaches roaming. It is about quality not quantity.

We do have a large area to do this type of sessions, but you can get creative with the actual stations (might do a sliding station, base running, etc.).

This is in addition to individual sessions, slapping/lefties and team practices.
 

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