11 weeks x 3 practices per week = 33 practices.
Have 3 baseball events for your team each week.
Game Day- have a 60 minute practice before the game. This is necessary for skill improvement during the season.
Games do not provide enough practice repetitions to develop the player.
Most reputable sources use the 5-1 ratio. 5 minutes of practice time for every minute of game play.
Keep in mind that if you have one 90 minute practice and 2, 60 minute practices before each game, you still only have a 1-1 ratio.
Avoid long lines where kids are standing around waiting their turn. Have 2-3 players per station so they can gets lots of reps quickly. If 2-3 players are at one station 3-8 minutes per station is enough time to get dozens of reps.
Ask parents to help with practices. Make a schedule and let them sign up.
Try to have 4-5 coaches and parents at every practice.
Have your practice planned so you can assign parents to drills the day before practice.
Have your parents watch the video for the drill they will be running.
Help the parent or assistant coach to understand the basics of what the drill teaches and how to coach the player.
15 minutes before practice
Encourage players to be at the field at least 15 minutes before practice starts.
This avoids rushing to get to the field and quickly getting ready. Baseball is a relaxed game where we need to focused, prepared and disciplined. Even one late player or coach sets the wrong tone for the whole practice.
Let this be a relaxed time where kids can get dressed, put their cleats on and get moving with some fun activities.
I like giving them little challenging movement activities to start firing the body and mind, like juggling.
As a coach, have your practice plan done, and everything set up.
Don’t use this time to talk with coaches about the practice plan for the day. Instead, use this time to get to know your players. Chat with them and have some fun. This sets the tone for showing your athletes you care about them, and are interested in their lives outside of sports.
Practice start time 0:00
Warm Up
- start the warm up on time with all players
- the warm up is NOT throwing in the outfield
- see the athletic development section for warm-up ideas
- the warm up is designed to move the joints and get a sweat going
Throwing Program 0:05 – 0:20
- see the section on throwing program.
- this lasts between 15 and 20 minutes. Shorter at the beginning when their arms are not in game shape.
- set a stop watch and have a pre-prepared list of the drills you will teach that day.
After your Throwing Program you can choose what to do next. Here are some options.
Think about whether the skill you want to work on is an individual skill or a team skill. If it’s individual then break the team up into smaller groups and stations where they can lots of reps on each skill.
- Drill stations- players rotate around to get repetition at various drills.
- Team Fundamental
- Batting Practice
- while having a team batting practice, have multiple stations with hitting drills. Quite often when a team is taking batting practice, one person is hitting and the other 9 are doing nothing. Keep them all busy with drills and your hitters will improve much faster.
- Pitching Bullpens
- Sometimes you can do flat ground bullpens in the throwing program with the whole team. At other times you will want pitchers throwing from a mound.
Team Fundamentals
- cut-offs
- run downs
- relays
- double plays
- fielding ground balls and throwing out runners
- first and third situations
- bunt defense