Limited space practice

[sluggers]

Interesting request...

A coach has only an area about the size of a basketball court for practice. Any suggestions for how to run a practice in that limited space and what drills she might be able to do?

Thanks!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

Does she have a net, a tee, whiffle balls or anything? Actually, I like to practice in a gym. How old are they?

 

[quincy]

I am living this now and have some opinions but it depends on how old the girls are. What age group are we discussing?

 

[Sparky Guy]

Interesting request...

A coach has only an area about the size of a basketball court for practice. Any suggestions for how to run a practice in that limited space and what drills she might be able to do?

Thanks!

I've been in this situation almost every year. What I do is work on footwork, glovework, short hops, backhand, recovering from a missed catch and general quickness. It's hard to get actual infield work done with that limited space. Then once you get outside you're covering more of the big picture with them letting them see how all the boring intricate drills are put to use.

The other thing I do is to make sure the practice is either offensive or defensive. If you try to do too much the kids end up confused.

 

[sluggers]

This is for a group of HS freshman.

Thanks!

 

[quincy]

The Team USA ground ball drill works great inside. Where the coach rolls the ball to the player to all the different locations and they come up throwing.

I also like the box drill were the players throw around then run to where they throw it to. Then the bos slowly gets bigger.

Do not neglect fly balls, plenty of room to make sure their footwork is correct. You need to throw the ball but that allows you to control what you are working on.

All the above can be run breaking the players into Teams for a competition, if they would like.

There are a lot of dynamic warm-up exercises. Spend at least 10 minutes warming doing a dynamic warm-up and introduce a new one or 2 every practice. It is hard not to laugh at some of them. They laugh at me, so I am allowed to laugh at them. Everyone has a good time.

We also jump rope at the end of every practice to get their heart rate up a little bit.

My girls are not old enough where I have tried what I mistakenly call the “chicken drill”. Where the players roll ground balls to each other between 2 cones, if they miss it they are out. Slowly move the cones closer.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

You can do the relay drill. With 4 lines of 3 or 4, the first player holds a ball and throws to the next in line. You always turn towards your glove. Then, have the first person move up in the line, and the last person runs to the front.

Also, I have 2 or 3 or 4 lines of girls, facing the wall. The 1st girls throw the ball against the wall - up high. Then, she runs to the back of the line, the 2nd girl catches the ball and throw it up and runs to the back of the line.

You can also do this with ground balls.

This is an excellent time for the pitchers to pitch against the wall, and see how far back they can progress. A catcher can work on blocking and framing, hitters can work at stations, bunters can bunt.

I run a drill called "shoe strings" the girls are in a line and I toss a ball out in front of them. They try to make a shoe string catch. Then, they run and put the ball in my bucket and get at the end of the line. I am tossing continuously and the girls are running in a circle.

 

[quincy]

If they can get some gym mats a lot of fun options open up. Work on sliding, diving catches, etc.