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Honeoye Falls-Lima Sports
Regular Season 2012
2012 x Regular Season

Drills and Skills (4)

Drills & Skills


Established in 2008, the “DRILLS AND SKILLS” program is for new four year olds.  New players will learn the basic skills for baseball – hitting, fielding, throwing and running. The emphasis will be on having fun while getting ready to “hit the ground running” when they turn 5 and enter the T-Ball league.

We have learned that the development differential between 4 and 6 year olds is very significant.  "Drills & Skills" will provide a better experience for our 4 year olds and give them an early strong foundation.  Having the 4 year olds play as a group will be much safer and will also improve the T-Ball experience for our 5 and 6 year olds who have progressed physically.

Our league has experienced a recent trend of players wanting to play in the league above their normal age group. We expect that the addition of “Drills &Skills” will result in most players staying in their age appropriate league rather than registering to play “up”. This will raise the level of play in each league, providing opportunities to hone skills while having fun.

Overview


Drills & Skills is run as a clinic-style activity with the kids rotating through stations.  Players are assigned to "teams" but only to help move players between stations.

  • The Drills & Skills program will start opening weekend (typically the first Saturday in May) at 12:30 PM and meet for six Saturdays (no session on Memorial Day weekend)
  • Each session will last 45 minutes
  • All parents are welcome to volunteer and help with the stations.
  • We plan to make activities as fun as possible and weave in a little instruction regarding hitting, throwing, fielding and running the bases.
  • Each child should bring a baseball glove and sneakers to each session.  We will supply bats, balls, helmets, and batting tees.
  • Each child will receive a t-shirt and hat the first day.

Drills and Skills News

HFMYB Drills & Skills - Week 5

By Justin Smith 05/31/2012, 9:31am EDT

Back to baseball this week! Note earlier start time...NOON. (This gets you off to the carnival a little early.)

This week's stations...hitting, T-ball, throwing. As always...parents please jump in and help.


==========================
Week 5 - Drills and Skills
==========================
Welcome & Warm-up (12:00PM)
* Location: Open area behind Field D backstop
* Equipment: None
* Drills: Arm circles, jumping jacks, pogo jumps, neck rolls, torso twists, etc.

Station 1 - Hitting (12 minutes)
* Location: Open area behind Field D backstop
* Equipment: 5 tees, 3 soft baseballs per tee, 5 bats, 10 helmets (all kids wear helmets)
* Drills: Hit balls off batting tee. Tees in a row…"firing squad" style
* Coaching Tips for Parents helpers: 1) Safety...only kids at tees can swing bats, all hitters wear helmets 2) Watch the ball, athletic position/knees slightly bent, bat off shoulder, swing hard (swinging hard encourages correct balance) 3) Don't have batters chase balls (safety)...older siblings or parents should retrieve balls.

Station 2 - T-ball game (12 minutes)
* Location: Field D infield
* Equipment: 1 bat, 1 ball, 1 batting tee, 4 helmets
* Drills: Play T-ball
* Coaching Tips: 3 to 4 batters, 3 to 4 fielders, hit and run to first, have fielders get ball and attempt throw to coach/parent at first. Some kids will
get it (the throw to 1st base thing) and others not so much...try not to slow game down too much with
explanations...keep it moving and fun."

Station 3 - Throwing (12 minutes)
* Location = Right Field Line
* Equipment: Bucket of tennis balls, 2 blue barrels
* Drills: 1) Throw-get-throw (one ball per player, throw ball, chase it, pick it up, throw it again, to the fence and back) 2) Throw into barrel (pile of balls, barrels on side, 15 feet away, players throw simultaneously, no lines, tons of balls, make a mess) 3) Throw at coach holding barrel above head and also moving around.
* Coaching Tips for Parent Helpers: 1) Explain mechanics (reach back, step toward target with opposite foot, throw hard) 2) We want players to throw hard (i.e. don't aim it...throw it)...distance better than accuracy at this age

Close (12:45PM)
* Location: Field D backstop
* Equipment: Snack


See you Saturday!

-Justin
justinnaa@gmail.com

 

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