Here are some fun baseball drills that get results
In order to be good at anything in life you have to practice. I have seen that kids practice what they enjoy. Your kids are probably similar to mine in the fact that they enjoy sports, video games and watching TV. I don't think parents ever have to coerce their kids into watching TV or playing video games. The reason is because kids enjoy doing these things. Baseball practice should be fun. Here is information on how to make practice more enjoyable and productive for your team. Fun baseball drills should be productive, doable and safe 1. Productive The drill needs to accomplish the desired goal of skills acquisition for individual players and the team. 2. Doable Find drills that are skill level appropriate that both challenges the players while instilling confidence that they can achieve the desired outcome of the drill. 3. Safe I have seen drills that have gotten to be so "fun" that players get hurt...remember fun doesn't have to be silly. Use your assistant coaches or parents for additional adult supervision. Free baseball drills can be found all over the Internet. Keep in mind the guidelines when choosing fun baseball drills for your team. The video link at the bottom of the page works like i-tunes. You purchase and download the drills and instruction specific to your needs.
Productive practices start by having players work in small groups or stations. This way players get more involved in the action. Grouping players into stations will result in a more productive and fun baseball practice.
Players love to catch fly balls, ground balls and run the bases. In this case a logical rotation of stations might look like this: 4-players in center field catching fly balls from a coach standing on the right field foul line. 4-players at shortstop fielding ground balls from a coach hitting from mid way up the third base line. 4-players at home working on base running home to first and rounding first base. You can even use a stop watch if you really want to have fun!! After about 10 minutes each group rotates. In about 30 minutes your team will have had a blast playing baseball because they were able to learn (and play) in a fun, meaningful, safe environment.
Doable drills take into consideration each players ability and potential. Remember that skill acquisition and development is a process. If your team is not at the point of turning a double play then you may want to consider holding off on that great flip drill until they are better at fielding ground balls and making accurate throws. This does not mean they will never learn the double play flip drill. It simply requires a baseline capacity to fielding and throwing before you implement a more complex drill into practice.
I have seen coaches and players get frustrated and discouraged due to the difficulty of the drill. No matter how great the drill actually is if your team can not execute the prerequisites to the drill go back and drill on the fundamentals a bit more before moving on. Safe environment for each player and coach... First let me give you a bad example of a fun baseball drill...A player that struggles to catch the ball is not the best candidate to have at first base when your strongest short stop is firing missiles across the diamond. A well organized and well run baseball practice will be fun. Keeping players attention to what is going on rather than leading to clowning around is a great way to keep it safe. Unfortunately, I am not just talking about young players here. I have worked with high school aged kids that get hurt more often from "playing" around during a fun baseball drill than youth baseball players. Having enough coaches not only will help keep the drill safe but will allow for the teaching and learning aspect of the drill to take place.
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