NTAA Single A Baseball Coaches Guide

Transcription

1 NTAA Single A Baseball Coaches Guide Goals The Single A division is for boys one level above Rookie. The players start to pitch, then the coach will finish up if the batter hasn t received 3 strikes. All 8 year olds and some 9 year olds with no experience, plus 7 year olds that are highly advanced will play in this division. While coaching Single A Baseball you are trying to develop the following: Fundamental skills throwing, catching, base running, hitting Learn the game rules, positions, and game details. Love the game enjoy it, respect it, respect your teammates, respect your coaches, respect the other team. Challenge them. Even Candyland has a winner and a loser. Your game doesn t, but the kids will enjoy competition and can handle not always being the winner. Give them some competition in practice and some personal challenges on game day. Skills to Teach and Drills for Practice 1. Throwing THE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL. Good throwing begets good catching, every time. a. Start on 1 Knee and work on arm slot and shoulder rotation New Concept for Single A b. Work underhand flips from approximately feet away c. Feet in straight line to target with strong back leg d. Point front shoulder at target e. When throwing bring elbows high with the ball to the sky f. When throwing, follow through to the target have them pull through and let it fly g. POP & Pull Have players facing their target with a ball, say Pop and have them shift their feet so now they are in a straight line to the target with their elbows high and the ball to the sky, next say Pull have them throw the ball to the target with good extension. h. The majority of boys should be playing catch with each other at this level. 2. Catching thrown or hit balls a. Continue to work on catching and glove position. If need be, you can work on catching without a glove, however, at this level all catching should be with a glove. b. Always Pop and Pull after catching a ball so they are ready to make a play. 3. Fielding ground balls a. Catch like alligators Make sure they use both hands. b. Start with no gloves or use Soft Hands this will make sure the boys are using both hands. c. Work on Footwork Right Left into the ball when fielding it for right handed players.

2 d. Always Pop and Pull after catching a ball so they are ready to make a play. 4. Base running a. Review each base, 1 st base, 2 nd base, 3 rd base and Home Plate. Refer to them as 1-1 for first, 2-2 for second, 3-3 for third and 4-4 for home. b. Overrun first base. c. Stop at the others. d. Run them in the correct order. A kid that runs the wrong way is funny at first, and somewhat cute, but Mom will be embarrassed and the coach should too. 5. Hitting a. Teach good setup, good balance. Start with Bat on shoulder, lift hands and bend knees. b. Don t over coach the swing, focus on the bottom hand and pushing the ball off the tee or through the hitting zone, extend and finish. c. Don t throw the bat! Drop the bat on the way to first. d. At this level, hitting the ball is the key. Rules and Concepts to Teach 1. First rule is it s a RACE to the base. The player has to beat the ball This never changes 2. 4 ways to get out: a. Strikeout. b. Ball caught in the air. c. Ball beats runner to base (specifically 1 st base). Force outs vs. tag outs This is the time to really start teaching this concept. d. Runner tagged when not on base. 3. Names of the bases and the positions (it s home plate, not home base) a. Call them out and have them run out to the position. Make it a game. 4. Ready position or baseball ready it helps establish control and some focus. 5. Baseball is a game of failure a. Players in the Hall of Fame got out 7 out of every 10 at- bats. b. There is no crying in baseball. c. I once brought stats of famous players to show them how many times they get out (e.g. Babe Ruth hit 714 HRs, had 2873 hits, but got OUT 5526 times). If you cry every time you get out, you re going to cry more than you don t. Practice Sessions Drill, drill, drill, drill, concept game 1. Work on fundamentals EVERY practice ½ to ¾ of practice. a. Start with throwing (pop/pull) in the first practice, and work on it every practice. b. Add a new fundamental every practice (or maybe every other) until you have all the fundamentals. c. Then try to work at least half the practice on throwing, catching, base running, hitting.

3 d. Stations with SMALL groups (2-4), different drills, rotate. 2. Work on a NEW Concept a. Short overview of concept. b. Attention spans are still short (believe it or not). c. Review them frequently Don t assume they know what you are talking about. d. End practice with a game/something fun. e. Competition is good they love it have a winners circle f. Game pressure performance under pressure is important g. Always Make it fun Fundamental Drills to Use Warming up on 1 Knee Work on proper arm placement and throwing form. Pop & Pull Long Toss Throwing Drill (this is the start of long toss) Have your team break up into pairs and line up on the foul line in the outfield with a ball and their glove facing their partner. When they are all set give them the instruction to Pop each player should jump into the pop position with their shoulder facing the target. When all are set, give them the instruction to pull and have them all throw their baseballs to their partners approximately 70 feet away. Have their partner do the same and return the throw. This should be done 5-10 times. Four Corners Break your team up into groups of 4 and have an equal amount of players at each base or set up cones on the field approximately feet apart (instead of bases). Have the player at home throw the ball to the player at third and then follow their throw and get in line at third. The player at third then throws the ball to second etc.. o This drill allows your team to get comfortable throwing the ball to each other. It will require you to have a lot of patience, however, if you stick with it you will see your team improve. Safety Tip Have a coach/dad at each bag to make sure everyone is paying attention. 3 Ball Drill Line 3 Baseballs up in a row approximately 3-5 feet apart and have the boys work on their footwork. Ground Balls (with or without gloves) Roll ground balls and work on them fielding the ball with their glove. Make sure they bring in their throwing had to secure the ball. Once the ball has been fielded have them Pop or have them flip the ball to second base. Fly Balls Have a coach with a small group of players and work on catching pop flies thrown by the coach. Have them work on using two hands and calling the ball when it is in the air. Base Running Break the team into 4 groups and put 1 group on each base. Have a runner go from home to first and run through the bag, next have the runner on first run to second with a sticky bag at second and so on. o Drill #2 Break the team into 3 groups with runners at home, first and third. Have the runners from home to first, when he gets to first have the runner on first go from first to

4 third, when he gets their have the runner score from home. Continue until every players has 1 turn around the bases. Hitting With waffle balls or baseballs you can set up in a corner of the field and work on hitting the ball off of a tee or with the coach pitching. PLEASE DO NOT HIT BASEBALLS INTO THE FENCES. Please note, as long as they play baseball they will hit a ball off of a tee..so start early. Making Practice Fun Break the team into 2 groups, 1 at home with their helmets on and the second in the field with their gloves in defensive positions. Have a player with his helmet on run from home to first, at the same time roll or hit a ground ball to the infield and have them field the ball and try to make the play at first. This is a good time to rotate positions, learn how to get outs and to run the bases. Bucket Drill s (this is good at the end of practice) Drill 1 Place an empty bucket at first base on its side with the opening facing the pitchers mound. Have your team line up at the pitchers mound with their gloves. Roll a ground ball to the first player in line, have them field the ball and try to throw it in the bucket. o Drill 2 Place an empty bucket on top of another bucket at home. Have your team line up at the pitchers mound. Roll a ground ball to the first player in line, have them field the ball and then have them throw it at the bucket trying to knock it down. Relay Race Split the team into 2 groups. Have ½ of the team at home and the other ½ at second base. Have them race around the bases making sure they don t run into each other. 1 Swing Drill with parents playing defense At the end of practice have the parents and coaches play defense and the kids bat and run the bases live.this can be a lot of fun for all. Practice Game Rotation Put a team in the field at their positions, have 1 person hitting at the tee or with the coach pitching. Give them 3-5 hits (with the defense making the plays each time) on the last hit have the team play it live, trying to get an out. When the next hitter is up, keep the first batter on the bases running them like it is a game. This will help your defense get use to runners on base, your runners will get work on running the bases and your hitters get work on hitting. Be sure to rotate positions when you change hitters. Game Day The Big Show 1. Parents will remember where their kid hit in the order and what positions they played. It's not competitive so batting order doesn't matter. Flip it every inning and change it every game. 2. Rotate defensive positions every inning. Attempt to get everyone a ground ball if you can. Pitcher gets the most hits to them by far. When you put the daydreamer there, make sure he pays attention. 3. For safety reasons, you may not want to play everyone at first base. Keep in mind the skill level of the pitcher when selecting your first baseman. Let the parents know before the season starts you may restrict who plays first base for safety reasons.

5 4. For at least half the season, try to get every out at first. A catch, throw, and catch that beats the runner is 20 times more satisfying than a cheesy force out at 3rd...and it gets 2 kids involved and not just one. Since you don't keep score, count the outs you get in a game and challenge the kids to get more each game. 5. Give a game ball to one of the kids at the end of each game. Each manager will receive one of the two game balls after the game, so you will have one to give out. Put their name, date, and team name on the ball. This is a great memorabilia for the kids. The game ball is not necessarily given to the kid that had the best game, rather a good game for their own skill level. Once everyone has received a game ball, I would recommend not giving out any additional game balls. You will have enough games to give everyone one game ball, but not enough games to give everyone two game balls. Single A Local Rules