Efficient Youth Baseball Practice
3 min read
Whether you’re running a team practice at your home field or a traveling youth baseball league, keeping practices efficient is key to making sure your players are learning and improving.
One way to do this is by setting up stations around the field that focus on different aspects of baseball skills. Having players rotate through these stations helps ensure they get more reps and less standing around.
- Know Your Drills
Whether you’re running a team practice at home or on the field, knowing which drills to use will help you maximize your time and keep your players engaged. It’s also important to know that not everyone will be available for practice, which is why a well-planned schedule is crucial.
When deciding on which drills to run, it’s crucial to consider your team’s needs and what types of skills and situations you want to focus on during each practice. By implementing a wide range of drills and games, you can ensure that all your players are working on the things they need to improve on.
One of the biggest mistakes youth baseball coaches make is focusing too much on one skill or drill, which can lead to repetitive stress and fatigue for the players. It’s always best to include a variety of drills that focus on different skills and situations, so that your players never get bored.
- Know Your Players
If you know your players well, it’s easier to plan an efficient youth baseball practice that will help them develop their skills and make it to the next level. The right practice drills will keep your players moving, upbeat and focused throughout the entire session.
Start your practices with some light stretching exercises. This will get their body loose and teach them that getting ready to play a physical game isn’t always hard work.
In this age group you can break up your hitting stations into groups of two, then rotate them every 15 minutes or so (depending on the length of your practice). This way they’ll be constantly working on their fundamentals and making progress at all times.
As your players grow older, you can start to mix in more complex batting drills that will help them further refine their skills. This will make them more comfortable when it comes time to step up to the plate.
- Know Your Field
Regardless of the level of baseball you coach, there are some basic principles that can make your youth baseball practice more efficient. Those principles can help you get the most out of every minute of your allotted time on the field.
First and foremost, remember that youth baseball is a game. Kids sign up to PLAY the game, not just ‘practice it’.
This means that the most important part of your practice is to set up a program that engages and develops all of your players — no matter where they’re at in the learning process.
This starts with creating a clear vision for your program from the start. This includes getting everyone on the same page about what you expect from your players and from yourself as a coach.
- Know Your Time
Whether you’re coaching the littlest kids or your high school team, if you want to keep your youth baseball practice efficient, there are some things you can do.
First, be sure to know how much time you have for each drill or station in your practice plan. This will help you ensure that your players are getting the maximum amount of work out of every minute of your practice.
Second, get a good system in place for shifting from one activity to the next. Especially early on, this can add about 10-15 minutes of skill building work per practice when your players are trained/ disciplined to quickly shift between stations.
Finally, if you’re running a team of younger players, make sure to have at least one or two first/third base coaches in the mix. This will make it easier for your players to receive instruction from a coach during the game. It will also help them feel more comfortable with the idea of receiving instructions from a coach during practice.
