The best practice tip is to keep the kids occupied, keep the teaching simple, make it

fun and remember to not expect perfection from each team member (or yourself).

Practices for each level are different, but the outline below could be a general blue

print to follow. Specific examples of the various drills and exercises are listed after

the outline

10 minutes of stretching and organization

10 minutes of the pre-game and pre-practice warm ups.

40 - 60 minutes

Break into stations and rotate through 3 or 4 stations for 15 minutes each

Hitting in the batting cage

Hitting soft toss into the back stop

Hitting soft toss to fielders in the outfield

Hitting duct tape balls

fielding grounders

Fielding pop ups

Run Downs

Pitching

Specific fielding techniques (double plays, cut off throws)

Situational Play

Pepper

Etc.

Remaining time on a team activity

Practice game

Work Up

Rotation

Football

Run Downs

Double Steals

Bunting

Duct Tape game

Short discussion and announcements

The remainder of this section is devoted to more detailed discussions of the above

outline. Note that there are many variations of the drills mentioned, there are many

similar drills that are not mentioned, and that specific drills when run by two different

coaches may look completely different. Use your imagination and do what make

sense for you and your team.

Adults need to pay more attention to stretching than kids, but this is an important part

of the practice, particularly for pitchers and catchers. At T-Ball, Coach Pitch and

Machine Pitch, little, if any, stretching is necessary from a medical standpoint. It is,

however, a good idea to do a couple of basic stretches just to get the kids in the

habit. There is much discussion as to whether it is better to stretch first or do a light

workout before stretching. Some good baseball stretches are making a windmill

motion with the throwing arm; raising the throwing arm straight up, bending the elbow

so that the hand reaches the other shoulder behind the neck, grasping the wrist with

the other hand and gently pulling; holding a bat behind the small of the back with

your elbows and twisting at the hips one way then the other. General stretches for

legs are good as well.

Generally it is not possible to take batting practice before a game as it takes up too

much of the field for too few participants. Hitting Duct Tape balls behind the backstop

is good for pre game hitting. Since most players like to hit more than anything, it is

important to place any hitting at the end of the warm up routine so that all the other

aspects get covered. Here is one routine that can be used from T-Ball through

midget. Have players pair up. make sure that all pairs are throwing in parallel lines

to each other perpendicular to the line of the sun so that the balls won't stray into

each others' territories and that no one gets blinded by the sun. Start with 10 wrist

flips each. Next do 15 - 25 grounders each, followed by 15 - 25 line drive throws.

Have the players space out considerably and do 10 - 20 pop-ups. Follow that by

some stretching and then infield practice.

Place 2 or 3 players at each infield position and hit ground balls. If the ball is

successfully caught, make the throw to first. A more advanced drill will include throwing

to bases other than first, turning double plays etc. Particularly at the younger ages, it

is wise to have one player or a coach back up the first baseman. If a fielder misses

a ball, he/she should chase it to the outfield and RUN THE BALL BACK TO THE

INFIELD. DO NOT THROW THE BALL unless the receiver AND every one in the

vicinity of the path of the throw is waiting for the throw. A variation of the infield

practice is to position players at the normal 4 infield positions plus right on second

base. Two coaches are used for hitting. One stands between home & first and hits

balls to the third baseman & shortstops who make a throw to second. That player

returns the ball to the batter. A second batter hits balls to the second base position

(half way between first and second) and that player throws to first. The first baseman

returns the ball to the coach. The advantage of using two hitters is the ability to get

twice as much practice out of limited infield space and time.

This is a good exercise for T-Ball through midget. It looks kind of silly, but major

league players do it. Remember, if it is good enough for the professionals, it is

probably good enough for our kids. Grip the red & white ball (if you don't have one,

take an old ball and color half of it, across the four seams, red) so that one finger is

on each side of the line of demarcation. Hold the forearm of your throwing hand with

your mitt and toss the ball using your wrist only. A good throw will spin off the fingers

so that the red half and the white half of the ball will be clearly visible.

This is a great hitting drill for all ages and is used by the professional players.

Basically a coach delivers a pitch from the side and the batter hits it into a net or the

back stop. Delivering a good pitch is critical to this drill. Generally kids younger than

Cub can't consistently deliver a good pitch, so use adults. The coach should knell

down, safely out of the bat's way when the hitter fully extends his arms. The coach

reaches into the hitting zone and tosses the ball almost straight up, quickly removes

his hand and lets the batter hit it. Take great care to deliver the pitch into proper

hitting position which is just OUT IN FRONT of the front foot and tossed so that

contact will be made between the batter's waist and knee. Be careful not to "jam"

the hitter by pitching inside. Soft toss works well with duct tape balls. Soft toss can

also be delivered in the outfield to give fielders some practice while waiting for their

turn at bat.

Use a T-Ball (soft) for this drill through Pee Wee. Make sure the runner wears a

helmet at the older ages. This drill works best at the midget level, pretty good at Cub

and can be a challenge with the 60 foot Pee Wee base paths or the 54 foot Machine

base paths. It's worthwhile doing at those lower levels, but don't expect much

success at getting the runner out. Begin the play with a runner positioned half way

between first & second, one player at the pitcher's mound holding the ball and one

or two fielders each at first and second base, essentially forming a (short) line at

each base. The play begins with the field at the mound running directly at the runner.

The runner will move towards first or second. The fielder will throw to the base

before the runner has a chance to arrive safely. The point of this drill is that once a

player throws the ball, he/she follows the throw by running to the base and getting in

line behind any fielders who may be standing there. One the fielder at a base gets

the ball, he runs the runner towards the other base and throws in time before the

runner can arrive safely at the other base. Again, the thrower follows the throw and

gets in line behind the fielders at that base. This process continues until the runner is

out (or safe).

This is just like hot box except there is no runner. The point of this exercise is to get

the throwers to follow the throw and move to the end of the line. It's a good pre-game

warm up.

This game is one of the best skill development games available for both hitting and

fielding. Wrist flips can be worked in as well. There are many variations of the game

and only a few are described here. Use your imagination to come up with

something that works for your team. One note of caution, especially for the younger

players. The fielders are close to the hitter and it is very important to not hit the ball

hard or serious injury could result. Most variations are not bunting drills, so

remember to have the hitter line his feet up in hitting position and make contact at the

power point of the swing (out in front of the plate). The basic game is set up with

three or four fielders lined up facing a batter about 5 feet away. The player who

catches the ball delivers the next pitch. Here's some variations.

- Each round consists of one more throw than there are fielders.