practice plans

[gladcoach]

Can you coaches help set up a practice plan for 10u team. If you could be as specific as possible as to what you would do and tring to accomplish, it would help a new coach out a great deal. We will normally go 1.5 - 2 hours 2-3 days a week till games start. please all ideas welcome.

thank Mike

 

[Momo'sDad]

Can you coaches help set up a practice plan for 10u team. If you could be as specific as possible as to what you would do and tring to accomplish, it would help a new coach out a great deal. We will normally go 1.5 - 2 hours 2-3 days a week till games start. please all ideas welcome.

1) How many adults are working with you?

2) What's the experience level of your players?

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I will gladly help you, if you will PM me. I would start out, initially going with 1.5 hours or you might lose the interest of the girls. They can only retain so much information.

I will look through my books and see if there is anything that will help, too.

 

[Screwball]

Agree with Amy. By a few years later, they are so overloaded, have things they were told when young be no longer "correct," and their brains are working so hard, it is hard to get them to make quick, simple tried and true plays in games as they sort through it.

One of my biggest concerns.

I would NOT go into every detail of everything that COULD happen on a play or in a game, but get all the basics down (while not dumbing it down too much) so that the girls can later think for themselves from that foundation.

I was also reminded by a younger team's coach that they like being friends and have some time to communicate as a group, whether it is a cheer or group answers to coach's questions about how to do certain skills as a review.

 

[SoCalSoftballdad]

Hi Mike,

My .02 cents:

- teach the fundamentals (go back to the basics of throwing, catching, fielding, and hitting)
- someone knowlegeable needs to work with your pitchers and catchers, every practice
- set-up multiple drill stations which is god's gift to softball practices
- practice hitting as much as you can. IMO, in this order of importance: 1) live pitching 2) front toss 3) Tee work 4) side soft toss 5) batting cages
- always end practice with a fun drill or game: 6 x 6 scrimmage, "last girl standing", water bottle game, running bases, etc.
- just like you expect of the players: "good attitude" and "effort" by the coaches will make the game enjoyable for everyone.

At 10U, aggressive offense and conservative defense should make your team very competitive. Good luck!

 

[gladcoach]

1) How many adults are working with you?

2) What's the experience level of your players?

5 adults and it a mixed bag as for experience of players, some our first times others have been playing for a few years.

 

[darken]

Wish I had four assistants!

5 adults and it a mixed bag as for experience of players, some our first times others have been playing for a few years.

Wow. There's a lot you can do with 5 adults.

I would set up at least four stations:

Batting (dry swings, hitting stick, T, front toss). Work on swing fundamentals.
Throwing (grip, one knee drill, full overhand throw). Work on following through across the body, and good footwork.
Infield skills (grounders with a throw to first. Include backhand, short hop, etc.) The key here is to bounce or hit the ball slowly to keep them thinking "charge the ball". Don't put them on their heels with hard grounders. Focus on getting low, glove on the ground, non-glove hand open and ready to protect against bad hops.
Outfield skills (drop step, rolls, grounders, getting in a good throwing position, hitting the cut off, backing up bases). Focus on running full out with thier glove tucked.

The fifth adult could work with the pitchers and catchers.

I also like the idea of using the last 20 minutes or so for a full team drill, scrimmage or skill-related game.

Good luck!

 

[obbay]

I agree with everything but wanted to add that we need to work catchers in addition to pitchers. (blocking, throwdowns etc.)
you could be the 5th adult, cruising to ensure everything is going according to plan.

 

[Sparky Guy]

I've been working with young girls for the last 7 years. The best thing you can do for them is to use the KISS method. Keep It Simple Silly. Don't overload practice with 15 different activities because you can. I have a handwritten list of about 80 different skills a player needs to master in order to play the game well. What I will do is take three skills and work on them for the practice. I make sure to get the first two on the list done. If things go well then we'll work on the third skill. Get them lots and lots of reps at the skill. Keep it moving, push them. You have plenty of help. Break them into groups and get even more reps done in the same amount of time. You can't give a young player too many reps. also, make sure they are quality reps. If they do it wrong make them do it again until they do it right.

Don't mix in hitting with defense. If you're working hitting work on only hitting that practice with the team. Let the kids concentrate one aspect of the game at a time. With young one if you do too much it all becomes a blur.

Learn the correct fundamentals yourself so you know what you're teaching them is correct. Once you have all the basics down the rest of the game comes easier to them as they can actually execute on larger parts of the game when you start working on them.

First and foremost make sure they can catch and throw well. The rest will fall into place with work.

 

[Momo'sDad]

Wow, 5 adults would be a dream for me!

We do have 6 others, plus the Team Mom, but because of other obligations, we're never able to get everyone there and into the mix at once. So, it's generally myself, plus one or two others, and we always make it work.

Pitchers and catchers arrive first to begin their drills and warmups. I see them 15-30 minutes before everyone else on practice and game days.

As soon as the girls arrive at the field, they head right to the bucket, grab a ball, and jog to the outfield with a partner to begin warming up. They don't even have to ask, because this is the one part of our practices and pregame that is the same every single time. We're only about 5 weeks into practices ourselves, so I make sure the girls who need extra attention with throwing and catching get it.

I then pair the girls by fielding ability if they weren't already and they work grounders to one another. Then we get everyone going with snap throws to one another.

I go into each practice with a basic outline of what I'd like to cover on that day. When we had all our rainouts in March, if we could get onto the field, we did all field work those days, and if we were indoors, we did nothing but hitting (aside from the one day when we had an indoor field and could do both).

Following our first game last weekend, I knew that I had to re-emphasize the first rule of baserunning - which is to make sure you touch first base before even thinking about looking back to see whether the umpire called it fair or foul. The other thing we needed to work on most was bunting.

There were 4 other items on the agenda, and we worked them all in - getting the catcher's to pounce, working on backup responsibilities, quick toss, and field communication.

My 10u rec team only has one 1st-year player, but 4 of our girls are 8u's playing up, so we've got a very young team, but I've challenged them to take ownership of their roles during practices, so most require very little direct supervision until we begin coaching game scenarios. The pitchers do long underhand toss with an outfielder who returns long overhand throws. The catchers practice getting up, blocking low, and their lateral movements.

In your team's case, the advice you've received above is solid. We do grounders every day we're outdoors, but if you're practicing 2 days a week, then I'd dedicate 1 days to fielding, the other to hitting and baserunning.

Work through your progressions teaching them to field and make throws and then if things are going well by your 3rd or 4th fielding workout, start putting the ball into play off your bat and challenge them to make the play. Make sure the outfielders know they're moving on every play, too. They may not see many fly balls at this age, but they should know what to do with them.

On hitting day, you really must use multiple stations. Tee work is a staple of our diet, because proper swing technique - even if we're just focusing on keeping our eyes down on the ball - will pay dividends later. Another fun drill for them is to set up 2 tees in a line and challenge them to hit 1 ball into the ball on the other tee. Set up another station with a deflated basketball or volleyball on the tee so that they focus on complete follow through. Do some soft toss from front and side and also some quick toss (I typically set up just forward and to the side). You can also just have them take their stance and demonstrate proper weight shift.

Now that we're at 1 day a week for practice, we have to get it all done in the time we have alloted, but there is no walking or standing around allowed. We get through all our drill work and then get into the field to work on both offensive and defensive plays. We're now using our pitchers for what amounts to live batting practice, but do a little coach pitch as well. During this segment, every player has to be on point, because they never know what scenario is going to involve them directly.

We give our girls a lot of information to process, but only because a majority of them are equipped to handle it and they want to know how various game situations should be handled. We lost our first game (a couple of coaching errors!), but have a different goal for our next game.

Good luck to you!