Need help for indoor practice plan

[dbronstein]

We decided to schedule an indoor practice for our team in a couple of weeks (12U rec). I've never done them before so I'm looking for some ideas on how to get the most out of it. We'll have two tunnels for 90 minutes, we have the open to open them up into one large space. Our goals are to work on hitting, pitching/catching, and some throwing. Any help is appreciated!

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

In 90 minutes, I'd leave out the pitching and catching and schedule an additional time for just them. Otherwise, have something set up for them as you work catching and throwing with the rest of the team. With rec, you're probably best to try and get an extra practice. It'll be hard to give useful instruction to both groups at the same time. Is it just you, or do you have assistants?

My usual 90 minute plan (and I usually have to keep a timer to keep me to just 15 mins. You'll be shocked the bad form you see, let it inform your next practice.):
15 mins warmup/agility (light cardio/plyo, footwork, shuffles, reactions, balance, sprinting technique. A little serious, a little fun, just working on body control and awareness and developing speed, strength and agility. Not much you can do in 15 mins, but it's a good time for some bonding, giggles, challenge their coordination, and have them bring intention to the rest of the workout.)
15 mins catching/grounder warmup (start slow with empty hand, high focus on watching the ball in. Add glove, remind them to focus the ball. Seems like they all need this reminder every practice)
15 mins throwing warmup/competition (speed, funneling, accuracy)
5 mins to get water/helmets/tees, set up, explain stations
40 mins hitting stations/soft toss (I like to have a focus of the day - today we're focusing on load/timing/explosiveness. Download yourself an interval timer app. This is only like 3 mins per station, depending how many girls you have.)

Good luck, keep it fun. And keep your humor and perspective, remember it's rec. Not saying you will, but I've seen many dads (and moms!) get frustrated when the girls don't share their high goals or standards. It doesn't mean you can't make every player the best they can be, but encourage their love of the game and they'll want to get better.

 

[GhostRider82]

Perfect timing for this question! I'm also coaching my first indoor practice (also 12U Rec) in a little over two weeks. Here's our setup:

Time/Frequency: 2 Hours - Once per week
Layout: We have 3 tunnels (14' x 55') with no ability to raise the side netting to combine them. Infield slots were taken unfortunately. I'm going to jump on that earlier next year. I've been told that we may have an extra 18' x 55' cage available at times, but that will be unpredictable. We will monitor the weather and grab outdoor practice whenever we're gifted a seasonably warm day.
Player Count: We have 12 girls on the team.
Assistants: I have 3 helpers, but it's not been easy to get them on the same page as far as what and how to correct. I believe for them to get better we should always praise the effort, but not necessarily the outcome if that makes sense. Otherwise we're reinforcing bad habits. I couldn't do it without them though so it's a work in progress.

I love the suggestions above and will try to work some of them in, but I'm struggling to find ways to keep things moving and minimize standing around because of the limited space. I can split into groups of 4 and do typical lines for fielding, etc. Not sure how effective it'll be in those confined spaces, but we're going to try to make it work! My biggest struggle is figuring out how to work in soft toss and tee work while also keeping it fun and minimizing standing around.

Anyone else have any suggestions for us newbies to indoor practices?

 

[NBECoach]

90 minutes is too short to do both offense and defense and take breaks. I would suggest concentrating on one or the other because you will be rushing through them to get to the next drill rather than taking the time to make it a teaching moment. To me coach = teacher. When you don’t spend time teaching and just let the players run through stations weather offensive or defensive, unless you have a very committed talented group, they get next to nothing from it.

 

[Fluid Fastpitch]

Perfect timing for this question! I'm also coaching my first indoor practice (also 12U Rec) in a little over two weeks. Here's our setup:

Time/Frequency: 2 Hours - Once per week
Layout: We have 3 tunnels (14' x 55') with no ability to raise the side netting to combine them. Infield slots were taken unfortunately. I'm going to jump on that earlier next year. I've been told that we may have an extra 18' x 55' cage available at times, but that will be unpredictable. We will monitor the weather and grab outdoor practice whenever we're gifted a seasonably warm day.
Player Count: We have 12 girls on the team.
Assistants: I have 3 helpers, but it's not been easy to get them on the same page as far as what and how to correct. I believe for them to get better we should always praise the effort, but not necessarily the outcome if that makes sense. Otherwise we're reinforcing bad habits. I couldn't do it without them though so it's a work in progress.

I love the suggestions above and will try to work some of them in, but I'm struggling to find ways to keep things moving and minimize standing around because of the limited space. I can split into groups of 4 and do typical lines for fielding, etc. Not sure how effective it'll be in those confined spaces, but we're going to try to make it work! My biggest struggle is figuring out how to work in soft toss and tee work while also keeping it fun and minimizing standing around.

Anyone else have any suggestions for us newbies to indoor practices?

If you have 3 lanes, consider splitting the time to two 1-hour segments, 6 girls each. 2 lanes with the ACs throwing toss. 4 tee stations with you (or the hitting coach) closely monitoring. I suggest a different theme on each station, something for them to focus on so they don't get bored. I'd rotate it in 5 min stations tee-tee-toss-tee-tee-toss for an hour. Repeat with next group.

Or, do a half hour hitting with the first group, pull both groups together for an hour practice, then a half hour hitting with the 2nd group. That way you don't have to alternate weeks hitting/everything else.

 

[dbronstein]

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[PapaBear]

Indoor practice

Open space- Depending on the size, we had a full infield with bases so our plan went
stretch- 5 mins
Baserunning- all through 1st base to get legs going 2 times through. Then break outs- split up to runners at home, runners at 1st and runners at second.
All running at the same time, runner on first picks up coach at 3rd, runner on 2nd base reads going home, runner at first through the bag.
10 mins


Field- throw 5 mins/Warm up
Put my 1B in position, everyone else is at SS area- at a fast pace much like what Arizona does, ground ball 2 rounds, back hand 2 rounds, forehand 2 rounds.
5 mins



MI- footwork and turning two/flips - no 1B
C - Blocking
1B/3B ground balls
Outfield- working on crow hops and communication
PO is doing J-bands, spinner, plyo balls if they have them
10 mins.

Break- 2 mins

Full infield in position-
Coming home
Turn two with a catcher block from the ball coming in from 1st back to coach to hit.
Throw to 1st.
Bunt coverage
Field situations
25-35 mins

If done right we had it done under 45 mins at a fast paced everyone moving, everyone involved. Always communicating, always moving

150 swings per kid
Cage- one live tunnel- coach underhand- 12 feet away at good velo to incorporate reaction time. Those not hitting are dry hacks, timing
One break out of bunts, tee work (inside/outside pitch recognition), soft toss
One coach with heavy balls
One coach with small balls on the back side of the cage.

Each group of 3-4 players per station- slotted at 10 mins per group. 1 min break in-between.

 

[Hawk_]

Two Lanes 90 mins -
Stretch
Tee work in each lane, 2 tees per lane hitting sideways.
Front toss in both lanes, make sure they switch lanes after their turns.. (5 bunts each time in) work with them on any issues with their swings.

Open the lanes:
Fielding partner drills, back hand forehand, rolling to each other.
basic fielding and throwing. Depending on the lane size forehand and back hand. But most likely just basic fielding.

If you have time, which you probably won't. Go through P warms up and some throws, cause at that level catchers need to see as much as possible

 

[_MIA_]

There all kinds of (IF) fielding drills where you roll a ball that you can do with that sort of space. Look up Antonelli baseball on youtube and Trosky baseball on twitter.

 

[NBECoach]

I used to be guilty of putting times to drills and trying to get in as many drills as breaks would allow. Turns out that practicing that way didn’t make perfect, but it made permanent. Sticking to the schedule didn’t allow for refreshing teaching the proper way to do the activity. I changed the times to include demonstration and correction and made it part of the drill. Maybe you are doing this already. If so, good for you. I learned the hard way.