Indoor Training
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For infield training indoors, two things we'll emphasize this winter (first year 16U):
- not hitting the ball so hard that it skids off gym or concrete floors. let them work on mechanics and footwork with balls they can handle, not balls ricocheting and taking their head/shins off. (see Candrea's *outdoor* infield practice for a great example of how-to)
- even when space is limited, make sure infielders field the ball and then make a throw. our shortstop this fall took a slight step back, and I think we worked a lot with her in pregames just hitting her balls "in a line", ie, field, throw back to person hitting -- but the real challenge is the right footwork and attack position that leads to a successful throw. indoors sometimes, you may not be able to create a full infield. do your best to simulate the distance and angle a fielder will face when making a throw from her position.
I like this thread, hope to hear more good ideas. I'm in Midwest, we get access to our big indoor facility -- big, but with poles and concrete floors -- in a few weeks.
- not hitting the ball so hard that it skids off gym or concrete floors. let them work on mechanics and footwork with balls they can handle, not balls ricocheting and taking their head/shins off. (see Candrea's *outdoor* infield practice for a great example of how-to)
- even when space is limited, make sure infielders field the ball and then make a throw. our shortstop this fall took a slight step back, and I think we worked a lot with her in pregames just hitting her balls "in a line", ie, field, throw back to person hitting -- but the real challenge is the right footwork and attack position that leads to a successful throw. indoors sometimes, you may not be able to create a full infield. do your best to simulate the distance and angle a fielder will face when making a throw from her position.
I like this thread, hope to hear more good ideas. I'm in Midwest, we get access to our big indoor facility -- big, but with poles and concrete floors -- in a few weeks.
- Apr 17, 2012
- 17
- 0
My organization uses our winter workouts almost exclusively for technique; throwing, fielding, pitching, catching, and batting.
I think the most important thing to do when you are working on technique is to slow the player down. When they move at 80% or higher speeds trying to change a technique, it is almost never done correctly. I am constantly telling my players to slow down while working on technique changes. As they get better at a technique we will try to move faster, but we almost never try to go as fast as we can. Even near the end of the winter season, or practicing during the season, we rarely hit hard shots at players.
To help facilitate focusing on technique, we typically use slow to medium speed balls, rolled by hand, not bouncing. Naturally we will work on short hops at some point, but we first want to be very good at technique on a non-bouncing ball before moving on. Next we work on short hops thrown by hand at a medium to slower speed. When we progress to hitting balls to fielders we typically drop to one knee to keep the bouncing to a minimum on our carpet covered concrete floors.
Rolling a ball by hand you have much greater control over the placement and speed, which is essential while working on specific techniques. I have pretty good bat control, but it will never be as good as I want it when working on technique in the early to middle stages.
I think the most important thing to do when you are working on technique is to slow the player down. When they move at 80% or higher speeds trying to change a technique, it is almost never done correctly. I am constantly telling my players to slow down while working on technique changes. As they get better at a technique we will try to move faster, but we almost never try to go as fast as we can. Even near the end of the winter season, or practicing during the season, we rarely hit hard shots at players.
To help facilitate focusing on technique, we typically use slow to medium speed balls, rolled by hand, not bouncing. Naturally we will work on short hops at some point, but we first want to be very good at technique on a non-bouncing ball before moving on. Next we work on short hops thrown by hand at a medium to slower speed. When we progress to hitting balls to fielders we typically drop to one knee to keep the bouncing to a minimum on our carpet covered concrete floors.
Rolling a ball by hand you have much greater control over the placement and speed, which is essential while working on specific techniques. I have pretty good bat control, but it will never be as good as I want it when working on technique in the early to middle stages.
We are blessed to have a full sand infield to practice on in the winter. With that being said, we can practice like we are outside for the most part. We can't do any fly balls though, the ceiling is to short.
We have changed our practice layout quite a bit this year though. We had the Wisconsin Badgers coach in for some clinics and he introduced us to differential learning. What that translates to is the kids are never standing around and the practice isn't stale. I will use an example: If we are working on hitting I will have 6 tee stations setup. While 6 kids are taking swings off the tee the other 6 are over to the side excersing. I.e. jumping rope, sprints,etc. We then switch the groups every 3-5 minutes. This keeps the kids moving and focused. We have seen a huge improvement in how engaged the kids are.
We have changed our practice layout quite a bit this year though. We had the Wisconsin Badgers coach in for some clinics and he introduced us to differential learning. What that translates to is the kids are never standing around and the practice isn't stale. I will use an example: If we are working on hitting I will have 6 tee stations setup. While 6 kids are taking swings off the tee the other 6 are over to the side excersing. I.e. jumping rope, sprints,etc. We then switch the groups every 3-5 minutes. This keeps the kids moving and focused. We have seen a huge improvement in how engaged the kids are.
DD practiced indoor on a concrete floor with indoor/outdoor carpet for 3 years prior to this year.
Softballs bounce like basketballs on the turf over concrete, so you are never going to replicate
how the ball is affected by the dirt, but there are plenty of throwing, catching, tagging and footwork
drills you can do.
My personal favorite is a relay drill where they throw from the outside to inside and back out, and the
girl in the middle pivots and throws back to the outside. When they throw, they follow the direction of
their throw. Banditscoach does this in his practices, he can explain it better than me.
Don't forget to do some pickle drills as well, the girls love those.
Softballs bounce like basketballs on the turf over concrete, so you are never going to replicate
how the ball is affected by the dirt, but there are plenty of throwing, catching, tagging and footwork
drills you can do.
My personal favorite is a relay drill where they throw from the outside to inside and back out, and the
girl in the middle pivots and throws back to the outside. When they throw, they follow the direction of
their throw. Banditscoach does this in his practices, he can explain it better than me.
Don't forget to do some pickle drills as well, the girls love those.
Here is how the drill Roscoe is talking about works.
Start with two groups of kids, one group at 2nd base and one group at home plate. Have one girl start at the pitchers mound. The girl first in line at home plate throws the ball to the girl on the pitchers mound and then follows her throw by running to the pitchers mound. The girl that caught the ball at the pitchers mound then throws the ball to the first girl in line at 2nd base, then she follows her throw by running to the back of the line at 2nd base. The same sequence then starts going back the other direction. They just continue rotating this way always following their throw.
The things we try to work on with this is the speed of transfer out of the glove, making sure the girls use correct footwork and turn the correct ways, and at home and second they can practice putting a tag down before they return the throw. It is very fast paced when the girls get the hang of it. They seem to have a lot of fun doing this drill.
Roscoe, let me know if I explained that well enough.
Start with two groups of kids, one group at 2nd base and one group at home plate. Have one girl start at the pitchers mound. The girl first in line at home plate throws the ball to the girl on the pitchers mound and then follows her throw by running to the pitchers mound. The girl that caught the ball at the pitchers mound then throws the ball to the first girl in line at 2nd base, then she follows her throw by running to the back of the line at 2nd base. The same sequence then starts going back the other direction. They just continue rotating this way always following their throw.
The things we try to work on with this is the speed of transfer out of the glove, making sure the girls use correct footwork and turn the correct ways, and at home and second they can practice putting a tag down before they return the throw. It is very fast paced when the girls get the hang of it. They seem to have a lot of fun doing this drill.
Roscoe, let me know if I explained that well enough.
Better than I could have!! But to add 1 thing, they also need to focus on making good throws.
Pivot person has to make a good throw for the girl at the base to make the tag, and girls
making the throw from the base back to the middle must throw to the glove side at correct
height for a quick turn and throw.
It sounds easy, but a lot of times they rush the throw because it's so fast paced.
Great training drill and a decent workout too.
Pivot person has to make a good throw for the girl at the base to make the tag, and girls
making the throw from the base back to the middle must throw to the glove side at correct
height for a quick turn and throw.
It sounds easy, but a lot of times they rush the throw because it's so fast paced.
Great training drill and a decent workout too.
