Drills and Skills Families,
Saturday is our last baseball session...more info to come on the league picnic the following Saturday (6/15). Pictures are in and can be picked up Saturday.
As always, parents are welcome and encouraged to help out with the stations. Also, more "at-home" practice ideas and drills can be found on the D&S web-page...
www.hfmbaseball.org/page/show/711273-drills-and-skills-4-2013-
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Week 6 - Drills and Skills
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Welcome & Warm-up (12:30PM)
* 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 - Ball Handling & Catching (12 minutes)
* Location: Field D Right Field Line
* Equipment: Bag of mushballs (one ball per player)
* Drills: 1) Ball handling drills (no glove...like basketball)...toss to self...two hands, one hand, alternate hand, catch after one bounce on ground, catch after bounce off knee, etc. Kids copy coach 2) Pick-ups. Ball on ground in front of player, pick up ball quickly when coach says go. Instruct kids to pick ball up with two hands quickly and bring to stomach so player can twist and throw. (like picking up a grounder) 3) 1-on-1 or small group catch with parent helpers. Players wear baseball gloves. Parents toss to kids, kids toss back.
* Coaching Tips: Catch with two hands, fingers out, soft hands, watch ball all the way into hands. Start with at the waist "basket catch" (thumbs up).
Close (3 minutes)
* Location: Field D backstop
* Equipment: Snack
-Justin Smith, Russ Chase, and Joe Banker
justinnaa@gmail.com
