Little league Coaching

[MacTourney]

Specifically looking for drills, input in any way.

Several years ago saw interesting drills thought I'd pass along. Not sure with this age bracket but clever ideas and they could work with a litle modification.

1. Infield practice without a glove fielding tennis balls hit with minimal force. They'll instinctively start using two hands without being told and not be afraid.

2. When comfortable, with glove hit a little bit harder until they are comfortable using 2 hands with glove on.

3. Next phase when comfortable is hit a little harder, fielding with 2 hands and glove, while having a coach beside you hit an aluminum bat with a tack hammer each time you make contact with the tennis ball. The kids will associate a sharp noise with an incoming tennis ball with speed toward them that they've proven to themselves they can handle without being hurt.

Back to watching it snow...

 

[pinger_72]

One thing i just remembered I did when i coached. We had a netted batting "cage' where you could pitch battign practice to the kids . I would have a bucket of balls and pitch to them. There was also a soft type of ball like a tennis ball in the bucket. Every once in awhile i would throw that one right at them ( not hard of course and not towards the head) . It was to get them used to getting out of the way of the ball and not digging in too much

 

[Scrap22]

Several years ago saw interesting drills thought I'd pass along. Not sure with this age bracket but clever ideas and they could work with a litle modification.

1. Infield practice without a glove fielding tennis balls hit with minimal force. They'll instinctively start using two hands without being told and not be afraid.

2. When comfortable, with glove hit a little bit harder until they are comfortable using 2 hands with glove on.

3. Next phase when comfortable is hit a little harder, fielding with 2 hands and glove, while having a coach beside you hit an aluminum bat with a tack hammer each time you make contact with the tennis ball. The kids will associate a sharp noise with an incoming tennis ball with speed toward them that they've proven to themselves they can handle without being hurt.

Back to watching it snow...

This is great and I appreciate all you guys helping me. Although I feel like I know the game really well, this is a different thing for me and don’t want to f#%k it up for the kids. The tennis ball thing I’ve heard a few times and after seeing the tryouts, a lot of these kids haven’t ever seen a throw let alone a liner or popup. Thanks again.

 

[WSox fan]

One thing I used to do was instead of hitting endless grounders and flyballs. I would do quick infield and outfield. Then I would setup 9 on the field and the other kids would be runners to try to get them making plays at game speed. I would also give the 9 on the field 3 outs. I would hit the ball all over make sure the runners got on base. Then see what plays the kids made and if it was the wrong one we’d explain what should have happened. It was amazing each season how the kids would get in games and just react and make the right play without us telling them as the season went on. I started doing this with kids as young as 8. One other thing when you’re doing batting practice don’t keep kids up there taking endless swings. I’m a big believer in muscle memory so when they get in a good groove I would have them step out. Sure enough when I had them go again they would pick up right where they left off most of the time. It almost always seemed if I let them go too long they would lose that groove they were in from fatigue and if I gave them another turn the bad swing would be what they start with. I would use a similar philosophy with pitchers. It worked pretty well.

 

[Scrap22]

Just wanted to thank everyone who offered their suggestions to me on this thread. Things are going great and my son and other players are liking it. And the parents seem happy. A ton of work, but very cool. Thanks to all you guys. I appreciate it very much. Season is almost here. First game beginning of March (if it doesn't rain..)

 

[Hawk]

Just wanted to thank everyone who offered their suggestions to me on this thread. Things are going great and my son and other players are liking it. And the parents seem happy. A ton of work, but very cool. Thanks to all you guys. I appreciate it very much. Season is almost here. First game beginning of March (if it doesn't rain..)

Glad to hear it. There's few things in the world I get more satisfaction from than what you are doing. Years from now you're still going to see those kids and they'll remember you. It's a great feeling.

 

[Scrap22]

Glad to hear it. There's few things in the world I get more satisfaction from than what you are doing. Years from now you're still going to see those kids and they'll remember you. It's a great feeling.

Thanks for this message.

 

[DaBuckBoys]

I did this for a few years as my 3 sons aged thru. I won't offer up any drills. I'll offer up a piece of advise. Every kid wants to pitch. Have a day where you ask all to participate in a drill to see if they might be able to pitch. One by one as they throw a few pitches you have a chat with them as to their ability and what they need to work on. The kids are very understanding and will appreciate the opportunity.

This is kinda true. Had one kid that wanted to pitch and he had enough arm to do it. Problem, he was still afraid of the ball. I'm talking throws back from the catcher, let alone a batted ball. Settled that pretty quickly.
Another Mom told me her son wanted to pitch. He was the youngest kid on the team but very athletic. I was already working him in at 2nd base. Throws to 1st were a challenge. I let her know we'd work him in but 2B was a big challenge for him already and he'll have plenty of opportunities in the future. Funny thing, the kid has grown up and graduated HS this year. Headed to a D1 school to play linebacker.