Coaching Tips
Position Drills
CATCHER
5 TENNIS BALL CATCHING DRILL: The 5 Tennis Ball Catching Drill is throwing 5 tennis balls in rapid succession to your catcher. Start your catcher in his stance and he simply catches the ball and drops it immediately straight down, then receives the next throw, up to 5. This sounds simple, but catching a tennis ball in a catcher’s glove is not the easiest task. They are very bouncy and the catcher must be able to squeeze the ball at the proper moment to secure the catch. There is your positive reinforcement. This can also be done with real baseballs at the older levels, but for teaching purposes at the youth level, this is an excellent drill.
- Try 4 rounds of 5 keeping score.
FIRST BASE
3 HIGH 3 DIRT DRILL:
First off, make sure 1st baseman is stretching to the ball with the proper foot on the bag. For righties, it’s the right foot on the front part of the bag. For lefties, it’s the left foot on the front part of the bag. First priority for 1st basemen is to catch the ball. See the ball flight first, then step to the ball, keeping rear foot on the bag.
Throw 3 balls high, then 3 balls in the dirt (making sure to keep the balls away from 1st baseman’s body). When throwing balls in the dirt, try and make them a short hop to catch, they are easier to catch. Stress the need to anticipate a bad throw. For more advanced training, you can lengthen the hops or throw the short hops directly at the 1st baseman.
GOALIE DRILL:
You will find that when players play catch, they tend to be
more “Free and easy” with their throws. When they have to hit a target, they
tend to tense up more and “Aim” the ball rather than throwing it. This drill
will help them get a better feel for how they need to make a throw in game
situations.
Have the first baseman stand correctly on the corner of first base and stretch all the way towards first base. When the player is completely stretched out as far as he can stretch draw a line in the sand. Then do the same thing stretching all the way down the baseline towards the outfield. Draw another line in the sand. Then do it one more time towards either 3rd base or shortstop and draw a line at the farthest point, tight where the tip of the person playing first base can pick a low throw off the ground without a bounce. Finally, do it one more time with the player standing at first base reaching on their tiptoes up high can reach a high throw. This is the “Soccer goal” for this drill. The goalie is the person playing first base.
Now tell the player any throw inside this area is their
responsibility to make the catch. Tell the players playing either 3rd base or
Shortstop there is no need to aim your throws, all they need to do is throw
through this massive wall and trust your first baseman to catch it.
This will relax the players and be a great drill for the person playing first base and the field position players as well. See if the players can throw all balls “on goal” and the goalie can make all catches within his goal range. Count the score. A bad throw or a catch is a stop for the “goalie”. Any miss inside this area is a score by the offensive team.