Baseball hitting drills...Which ones are best for your players?
6 steps in choosing baseball hitting drills:
1. Know the skill level of your players
2. Set realistic goals for drill
3. Fun and engaging drills
4. Challenge players
5. Required equipment
6. Appropriate supervision
Know the skill level of your players Let me start by saying that the only thing that grows overnight in a garden is a weed. As a coach you are "growing" hitters. Learning proper baseball hitting mechanics takes time and effort. I am sorry to say that there is no one drill that will instantly improve all of your players. However, by starting with an accurate assessment of where players are in their development you will be able to choose drills that are appropriate for your team.
Great baseball hitting drills at www.ebaseballtips.com
Set realistic goals for the drill Think of the drill as a tool to repair a swing. The tool is not the fix... it is what coaches use to fix the problem. An easy way to fix a player's swing is to work on one or two items at a time. As the player gains confidence in accomplishing the "little things" then you can move on with other baseball hitting drills. However, if you try to fix 6 things with a players swing in a single batting practice by telling him what to do you have set unrealistic goals. Generally what happens after these workouts is that the player leaves defeated and the coach or parent leaves frustrated. By setting realistic goals for the drill the player will progress and coaches and parents will also be satisfied.
Hitting drills need to be fun and engaging Incorporate a challenge into baseball hitting drills. One of the easiest ways to do this is by playing line drive derby. The rules and scoring can change based on what it is the coach is trying to accomplish. Example:During short toss batter gets 1-point for each line drive off of the side nets 2-points for line drives off the L-screen 5-points for line drives off the back net. The coach (or little sister-added motivation) gets 1 point for each pop-up. This game is set up for the player to win while training in a competitive setting. As players get older, points may no longer work as motivation. In this situation you can use small amounts of money or food rather than points as a motivator.
Challenging Although it is important for baseball hitting drills to be fun, it also has to be challenging and it needs to improve the player's baseball hitting mechanics. Otherwise you are not making the best use of your time. Increase the intesity of the drill by speeding up the pitches, throwing off speed pitches, working counts and game situations. Making drills more challenging you will make the transition from practice to the game much easier than if the practice setting is not challenging.
Have the required equipment Before practice just make sure that you have thought out the drills enough to have the required equipment. For most coaches this is quite apparent but even the best coaches have started practices without the right equipment needed to run all of the drills. A little practice planning will go along way to making the most of your team's valuable practice time.
Appropriate supervision Utilize your coaches and parent volunteers. Once the head coach has explained a drill it is still important that the players are supervised. Obviously from a safety stand point...but also from the proper technique stand point. You don't want your players learning the wrong technique due to a lack of supervision. Use only those coaches and volunteers that you trust to do a good job. It is better to have fewer more productive drill stations than to have a bad coach or volunteer influencing your team.
|
