U10 Large skill disparity/How to run practice?

There is a fairly large skill disparity between a number of girls either first time playing, or coming up from U8 to those this is their last year of U10. So the talent ranges from can't catch unless underhanded right into the glove, ducking from it and shot putting the ball when throwing to girls that the basic drills aren't exactly a challenge.

In a typical practice, I'll run multiple stations and mix the girls up in groups and mix the skill level. I'm not really thrilled with it because I end up since the drill can be derailed frequently by a player who just isn't capable of completing it successfully or more experienced girls are bored. Yesterday, I tried splitting the girls based more off their capabilities so each drill could be tailored to them. I was not a fan of that either, and doubtful I'll do that very often.

Any suggestions on how to manage the great skill divide to provide the kids with the best experience?

i also take any and all drill/practice suggestions. My go to list is to small, need more options/variety. =)

I am afraid splitting the girls by skill is probably the best choice. this way you can tailor the drill to the girls level. you can do basically the same drills, but adjust the difficulty to the girls skills. this way they all get the most out of them.

I have a similar situation with my 8U team, 3 girls from last year's All Star team, one other very good girl, 3 girls who have played before, and 4 girls that had never picked up a bat. After a couple different failed ideas, I find dividing them up by talent level and doing stations is the best way to keep them all engaged and learning. We do 3 stations, batting, throwing, and catching. We work on different things within those stations based on their skill level. It's not the greatest situation, but in rec ball, it's something that is going to be the case more often than not.

They're older, but our team was very similar in the early spring. In the fall we took several players with little to no travel experience. Then we lost a few at the end of fall and took a couple more who were inexperienced. We also have several who have played a good bit of A ball, have been playing softball since 6U, and travel since 8U. The discrepancy was pretty huge in the beginning. HC did some dividing but mostly he has not. The newer girls have required more coaching on the basics, but ftmp they've done all the same drills, including the more advanced ones. I've been kind of amazed at how quickly they've caught on. It was a little painful early on but that didn't last. It's like working with the higher level girls inspired them to be better.

chevy706 said:

After a couple different failed ideas, I find dividing them up by talent level and doing stations is the best way to keep them all engaged and learning.

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At that age in particular, I think the proper terminology would be "skill level" and not "talent level"....

pattar said:

At that age in particular, I think the proper terminology would be "skill level" and not "talent level"....

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I believe you are correct, and I used the wrong word choice. Particularly since two of the four girls that had never picked up a bat before are quickly working their way to the next group up.

chevy706 said:

I believe you are correct, and I used the wrong word choice. Particularly since two of the four girls that had never picked up a bat before are quickly working their way to the next group up.

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Exactly. Lorenzo Cain didn't play organized baseball till HS, didn't even own a glove...

So I have a similar situation with my DD's rec team. 3 of our TB girls play on the team and then their is a HUGE drop off in skill level. I will work with girls early in practice on fundamentals, cause everyone needs that and we roll straight into drills. I try and put the girls with more skill in the same rotation if it's a multiplayer drill. But at some point all of the girls have to play on the field together....so everyone needs to go together. The less skilled girls will pick up their game, but you have to keep challenging the exceptional girls too.

The first thing you need is some good assistant coaches that are all on the same page as you are. I cannot stress this enough. It takes a huge burden off the HC and makes practice much better for everyone involved. Before every practice I would do the following:
1. I would send out an email to the coaches to ask for input on what we needed to work on.
2. Come up with a practice plan with stations, girls assigned to stations, coach assigned to station, and times to rotate

For example after stretching, running, throwing I would split the girls up by skill level and have half of them doing infield work and half doing outfield work. We would then switch. When we would bring the entire team together to work on situational stuff I would have the girls rotate between outfield and infield as a group. Sometimes the more skilled girls would start as the infielders and sometimes as outfielders. The key here is to have your asst. coaches roving the field talking to girls and working with girls that need more instruction with catching style, throwing style, base to throw to etc. It worked well for me to keep both the higher skill girls improving and the developing the skills of less skilled girls. It also kept practice moving at a fast pace.
All of this was only made possible because I had excellent assistant coaches that helped. Putting the various coaches in areas of strength to have them succeed is usually overlooked and just as important to team development as putting players in a place to succeed. Of course I stole everything I did from a 10u rec baseball coach my DS had that I thought ran an excellent practice. If you have had the pleasure of having a kid be on a team with a good practice plan it is tough to then go watch a practice that does not have one.

Thanks everyone for your ideas. Any thoughts on field positions in games? So far, I've typically tried staggering the inexperienced and experienced with each other so they have close support. I am allowed in the outfield to coach so that helps. I mean it is a development league, I'm not in it to win it. I want to build up their confidence and to some extent I do believe that means shielding them a bit as they build up their skills. Though depending on the person, putting them on 1st might provide the motivation to learn to catch.