Incorporating pitching into 10u rec practice?

[Caredeocr]

Curious if anyone has thoughts or good ideas. How do I incorporate pitching into my practice plans?

Taking over a 10u rec team (rec level play but travel around the county). League is kid pitch, but no walks so when it gets to 4 balls (routinely), the coach comes into pitch. Team is a mix of experience and brand new. Once the season starts (April 2) we will have a single 90-minute practice per week. I'm trying to get the team together 4 times before the season starts though, 90 minutes at a time.

I have 4-5 assistants which is great for stations and drills. My plan for practices 1 and 2 is to focus almost exclusively on fundamentals; practices 3 and 4 will incorporate position specifics and game situations. However, I assume the weather will cancel at least one practice and I can't guarantee the team will all show up for a session (otherwise I'd set aside one whole practice for hitting work).

With so much focus needed on fundamentals and basic game situations, any ideas for incorporating pitching work? There are 2 girls returning from last season that were ok (generous) pitchers but everyone else will be starting from scratch.

Thanks

 

[clemenslee1]

Curious if anyone has thoughts or good ideas. How do I incorporate pitching into my practice plans?

Taking over a 10u rec team (rec level play but travel around the county). League is kid pitch, but no walks so when it gets to 4 balls (routinely), the coach comes into pitch. Team is a mix of experience and brand new. Once the season starts (April 2) we will have a single 90-minute practice per week. I'm trying to get the team together 4 times before the season starts though, 90 minutes at a time.

I have 4-5 assistants which is great for stations and drills. My plan for practices 1 and 2 is to focus almost exclusively on fundamentals; practices 3 and 4 will incorporate position specifics and game situations. However, I assume the weather will cancel at least one practice and I can't guarantee the team will all show up for a session (otherwise I'd set aside one whole practice for hitting work).

With so much focus needed on fundamentals and basic game situations, any ideas for incorporating pitching work? There are 2 girls returning from last season that were ok (generous) pitchers but everyone else will be starting from scratch.

Thanks

If your going to do it, I would make it a end of practice run. The problem you run into is that players will stand around quite a bit, cause its hard for pitchers that age to get it over the plate consistently. So to help, the pitcher has so many balls to be thrown per batter and then coach steps in if they are struggling. Hope that helps.

 

[quincy]

Maybe set up 1 station with a P, batter and C. 20 pitches or so to each batter then move on.

Give the P a bucket of balls to keep it moving.

A different station for hitting practice.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

I would do it before or after practice for those interested. I also would not hit in practice, you don't have enough time to make a meaningful impact.

Lower your expectations and spend all of your time on running the bases, and the few team specific items like bunting and bunt defense. Have a plan on balls hit to the outfield (every ball to 2B is a fine option for 10u rec).

 

[Caredeocr]

Thanks all for the replies and good ideas. Not sure we will get any takers for before/after practice, doesn't work with school dismissals and then obviously it gets too late after practice. Our initial defense focus will be trying for high percentage outs on balls hit to P, 2B, 1B. Balls hit to the OF will all go to 2B.

 

[Eric F]

I also would not hit in practice, you don't have enough time to make a meaningful impact.

For rec ball, it's pretty likely that most players aren't doing any work except at team practices. By not doing any hitting work, you're completely neglecting half the game, and development of the single most difficult skill.

 

[Nimrod]

I agree w/ what most are saying. I love the idea of live hitting, but the logistics for a younger rec team is a challenge - unless perhaps you have two fields. When I coached 10U rec, we occasionally had a second field that was open and could break the team up and keep everyone busy.

 

[Caredeocr]

For rec ball, it's pretty likely that most players aren't doing any work except at team practices. By not doing any hitting work, you're completely neglecting half the game, and development of the single most difficult skill.

Yes, 100% agree. We could not forgo hitting during practice. Kid pitching for batting practice also is not worth the time. We have a few players (my daughter included) that take outside lessons or are just naturally good at the sport, but for most, if they don't take BP during practice, they aren't hitting anywhere.

 

[JayW]

I picked my best 3 candidates for pitching and worked with each of them before/at beginning of practice while the other coaches put the rest of the team through hitting or fielding drills. Luckily one of the pitchers was DD so we also worked at home.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

For rec ball, it's pretty likely that most players aren't doing any work except at team practices. By not doing any hitting work, you're completely neglecting half the game, and development of the single most difficult skill.

You just don't have enough time before the season starts to have a meaningful impact. Get them game ready first and then circle back to hitting. You get the least amount of return on your time focusing on hitting to start the season.