having both teams throw at the same time; the competition is a big hit with players.

Transcription

1 Fielding Infield Practice Many different drills can be used for infield practice. Avoid placing players in positions and then throwing/hitting one ball at a time. Here are a few suggestions to help keep players constantly involved: Have players pair up and roll a ball back and forth to each other. Split team up into two or three groups. Have one coach (or adult) in charge of each line. Coach then rolls a ground ball to the first player in his/her line. Player fields ball, throws it to the coach and then goes to the end of the line. As players improve, coaches should hit ground balls rather than throw them. Bucket Drill This is a fun, productive drill, especially for younger kids, though older kids can gain benefit from it too. It focuses on the importance of getting rid of the ball in a hurry. Split your squad into two teams. Line the first team up, one behind another, at the shortstop position. Take the second squad and place them behind first base. Next, place a five gallon bucket upside down on first base (a garbage can also works as a suitable target). Make sure that you have plenty of baseballs handy. A coach rolls or hits a ball to the first person in line at the shortstop position, who then has three seconds to pick up the ball and throw it at the bucket. The coach should loudly count off the seconds; this will initially fluster some of your younger players, but will also help them to cope with pressure better in the long run. If the bucket is missed, the player behind first base fields the ball and returns it to the coach. Regardless of the outcome, the player who made the throw rotates to the back of the line. After several passes through the line, switch sides. As an added bonus, keep score between the two teams it is amazing how much more effort you can get out of a kid if he s competing against his friends. If you have enough coaching help, you can vary this drill by having both teams throw at the same time; the competition is a big hit with players. Adding Pressure To Infield Drills We have all heard the phase you play the way you practice or words to that effect. So why is it we scratch our heads when one of our players blows a play in a tight ball game? Could the added pressure of the situation cause physical problems? I ve seen players perfectly field grounders all day long in practice but late in a 1-0 game boot one! What happened to change this player who you liken to a Kirby vacuum. Stress and pressure? We have all been under stress and most of us know we don t react the same as when we are relaxed. The question becomes how do we create stress during practice in order to help reduce the same during a game? I believe you have to artificially induce the stress through competition or physical demands. Anytime you can devise a drill that pits two players against each other, puts a little more stress in the drill as the players naturally compete against each other. (If they don t they will not be competing long in sports). The other method is to make the drill more physically demanding than it normally would be. It is this in mind that I devised a very simple yet effective infield drill that I use at a majority of my

2 practices. I have created a drill that we use to warm up our players and teach them a bit about pressure before the technical part of the practice begins. Divide the number of players into 3 equal groups. One group goes to SS, one to 1B and the last stays at home. A coach hits the ball to SS and he throws the ball to first and runs to first after his throw. The 1B throws a ground ball to the catcher and then he follows his throw to home plate. The catcher fields the ground ball and hands the ball to the coach and then runs to SS. Simple? Coach hits ground ball to SS SS throws to 1B 1B throws ground ball to C Catcher hands ball to coach SS goes to 1B after his throw 1B goes to C after his throw C goes to SS after his throw Where s the pressure? Here it comes - The coach hits to the SS immediately after the 1B receives the first throw. In this way, everyone has to really hustle in and out of position to make this work. Oh, one more thing. They must complete 3 full rotations without an error before we move on. So if you have 15 players that is 45 individual correct plays. A bad throw or a poorly fielded ball are errors. A player knocking down a ground ball and keeping it in front of him is not an error. Progression Drills DRILL #1 Players paired. First basemen are down first base line with gloves. Fielders (without their gloves) are two steps behind second-third baseline and two steps to the right of the right of the first basemen. Fielders place ball on baseline. Fielders assume good infield position. On signal, or individually if preferred, the first fielder advances toward the ball, lining up with both hands around ball, head down looking at ball, and feet set so that the back foot (right foot) is perpendicular to first base. The player picks up ball and throws to 1st. (Throws need to be accurate, not hard) DRILL #2 Start as in DRILL #1, but this time, fielder places ball to their right or left. Remainder of drill is the same as DRILL #1. These two drills provide opportunity to measure basic fielding fundamentals and emphasize the importance of feet, body and hand position. It also provides the opportunity to check the relationship of the ball to the body when fielded. DRILL #3 It will start as DRILL #1, except the fielder keeps the ball in his hands. On a signal the fielder rolls the ball forward and continues on to field ball. This is reverse motion, but is effective in teaching the fielder not to overrun ball. The ball can be thrown to the infield the first time and towards the outfield the next time. The remainder of the drill is done as in DRILL #1. DRILL #4 It will start as DRILL #1,except have the first basemen keep ball. First baseman throws an easy grounder (Remember fielders do no have gloves) to fielder. Fielder fields ball and throws back to first. It is imperative in these drills that attention be paid to how the fielder fields the ball with their hands. Some may be tempted to pick the ball up with one hand on each side. When doing progression teaching, you must replicate the task as closely as possible, changing only that which helps teach the part of the skill desired.

3 These drills give a good take on how well the fielder understands the skill and how well they perform the skill. They can be done fairly quickly with the progression done smoothly. You can use DRILL #4 as part of your pre-practice/pre-game loosening up drills. Beat The Ball Drill Set up the defense and a hitter gets one soft toss from plate to put the ball in play, the harder the better, no bunting. It is the job of the defense to field it and throw to first, second, third, and home plate in succession before the runner gets around the bases. Fouls are outs. The way it develops is the kids try to hit liners where no defender stands, placing their hits and run like crazy.meanwhile, the defense is incredibly efficient at getting the ball in and throwing around the horn. The kids not playing a base all communicate and line themselves up in a good backup position in case of a bad throw but to get an out each base must be tagged while in possession of the ball before the next base can be thrown to. A lot of outs can be made with clean throws, but one bad throw in the process usually makes it able for batter to score. If the runner scores the entire defense for the play must drop for 5 pushups and if the batter is out he must do 5. Keep a kid on deck to make it go smoothly and rotate the kids in the field to let everyone play a base. Infield Run Downs Drill Players line up in groups of three, spread evenly apart. The player in the middle, is the baserunner. One player holds ng the ball begins running towards the baserunner, simulating a rundown situation. We make one throw and a tag. Players rotate positions. Infield Cover Drill All infielders line up at the second base and shortstop positions. A player in front of the base rolls the ball to either 2B or SS. who in turn throws to the opposite player covering the bag, then turns double-play pivot. Back Hand Drill Infielders partner up, rolling the ball to each other to their immediate left or right and practice proper glove side and backhand fielding techniques. Beat The Ball Drill Set up the defense and a hitter gets one soft toss from plate to put the ball in play, the harder the better, no bunting. It is the job of the defense to field it and throw to first, second, third, and home plate in succession before the runner gets around the bases. Fouls are outs. The way it develops is the kids try to hit liners where no defender stands, placing their hits and run like crazy.meanwhile, the defense is incredibly efficient at getting the ball in and throwing around the horn. The kids not playing a base all communicate and line themselves up in a good backup position in case of a bad throw but to get an out each base must be tagged while in possession of the ball before the next base can be thrown to. A lot of outs can be made with clean throws, but one bad throw in the process usually makes it able for batter to score. If the runner scores the entire defense for the play must drop for 5 pushups and if the batter is out he must do 5. Keep a kid on deck to make it go smoothly and rotate the kids in the field to let everyone play a base.

4 Glove Hand Drill Infielders partner up, rolling the ball to each other to their immediate left or right and practice proper glove side and backhand fielding techniques. Adding Pressure To Infield Drills We have all heard the phase you play the way you practice or words to that effect. So why is it we scratch our heads when one of our players blows a play in a tight ball game? Could the added pressure of the situation cause physical problems? I ve seen players perfectly field grounders all day long in practice but late in a 1-0 game boot one! What happened to change this player who you liken to a Kirby vacuum. Stress and pressure? We have all been under stress and most of us know we don t react the same as when we are relaxed. The question becomes how do we create stress during practice in order to help reduce the same during a game? I believe you have to artificially induce the stress through competition or physical demands. Anytime you can devise a drill that pits two players against each other, puts a little more stress in the drill as the players naturally compete against each other. (If they don t they will not be competing long in sports). The other method is to make the drill more physically demanding than it normally would be. It is this in mind that I devised a very simple yet effective infield drill that I use at a majority of my practices. I have created a drill that we use to warm up our players and teach them a bit about pressure before the technical part of the practice begins. Divide the number of players into 3 equal groups. One group goes to SS, one to 1B and the last stays at home. A coach hits the ball to SS and he throws the ball to first and runs to first after his throw. The 1B throws a ground ball to the catcher and then he follows his throw to home plate. The catcher fields the ground ball and hands the ball to the coach and then runs to SS. Simple? Coach hits ground ball to SS SS throws to 1B 1B throws ground ball to C Catcher hands ball to coach SS goes to 1B after his throw 1B goes to C after his throw C goes to SS after his throw Where s the pressure? Here it comes - The coach hits to the SS immediately after the 1B receives the first throw. In this way, everyone has to really hustle in and out of position to make this work. Oh, one more thing. They must complete 3 full rotations without an error before we move on. So if you have 15 players that is 45 individual correct plays. A bad throw or a poorly fielded ball are errors. A player knocking down a ground ball and keeping it in front of him is not an error. Around The Horn Drill Here s a nice simple infield drill. This drill covers all of the throws an infielder will make, and it is so quick paced that the players enjoy it. Position a player at each base and home, give the catcher the ball. The players make three throws around the horn, then on the third catch, that player throws across the diamond to the player diagonally across to him. After four repetitions of this, the players run to the next

5 base and start again. Here s how it works: C-3b-2b-1b-across to 3b 3b-2b-1b-c-across to 2b 2b-1b-c-3b-across to 1b 1b-c-3b-2b-across to c who makes a sweep tag. Players than run to the next base: c-3b, 3b-2b, 2b-1b, 1b-c. Repeat this four times until the original catcher is back at home plate. Whenever a player throws to the wrong person, stop and give the ball back to him so he can get it to the correct player. Emphasis is on good, accurate, properly thrown balls, proper catching technique, and quick feet.