When thinking about coaching, I always find myself thinking about the elementary school student athletes. Maybe that’s because I always had a lot of fun with sports when I was younger. I guess it shouldn’t be a big surprise that I want to teach elementary physical education. I didn’t realize just how hard it is to set up one practice for a student athlete that is just trying to grasp the basic skills of a sport.

I decided to focus on a practice plan for a little league baseball team. For this practice session there are twelve members on the team and two coaches (including myself). A little league baseball player ranges from 9-12 years of age. The first decision I had to make was how long should the practice be. I didn’t want the practice to be too long or too short. The practice plan I am using is based upon 1.25 hour practice.

Warm Up 5 min

-One light jog around the outer edge of entire baseball field.

-Neck warm up (left, right, front, back, small circles)

-Shoulder shrugs and giant arm circles

-Elbow push in front of body and over head

-Wrist stretches push back and down

-Lunge stretch to the front and side

Passing Exercise 8 minutes

This exercise is utilized to not only warm up the athlete’s throwing arm, but to also slowly go through the proper mechanics of throwing. There will be 6 groups of 2 involved in this exercise. One person in each pair will stand on the sideline and their partner will stand approximately 15 feet across from them. At about half-throwing speed the pair will through the baseball back and forth to each other while focusing on the mechanics. Every two minutes the partner not standing on the baseline will take 2 or 3 giant steps backwards and then continue to throw the ball back and forth between the pair. By the end of the drill, the athletes will be 60-75 feet away from each other. This process will help to build the confidence of the player to throw at longer distances.

Fielding Exercise 15 minutes

This exercise will focus on both infield and outfield positions at the same time as to minimize the amount of “standing around” during the practice. One coach will work with four athletes in the outfield on outfield defense and the other coach will work with eight players in the infield on infield defense.

There will be 2 players at the infield positions of 1st, 2nd, shortstop, and 3rd base. The two players at each base will rotate at “fielding” the ball. The coach will call out the scenario (example: 1st and 3rd runner defense), then hit the ball to 3rd base, the player will field the ball, and then throw it to the appropriate base. The coach will use the same scenario until all the infield players have had a chance to field the ball. The coach will then move on to another scenario.

Three outfield players will be a safe distance away from the infield positions and lined up near the foul line. The second coach along with the fourth player will be across from the group of outfielders. The second coach will be hitting pop ups to the players to catch. The player will then throw the ball to the forth player standing near the second coach. After each player has fielded the ball they will one at a time rotate with the fourth player near the second coach. The outfield players will also practice fielding balls such as one hop balls and grounders that go pass the infield player.

Batting Exercise 36 minutes

There will be four players playing infield positions and 4 players playing outfield position. Each athlete will have 3 minutes at bat. One coach will be pitching each ball. Another athlete will be at the “on deck” position warming up. The two remaining athletes will be behind the back stop with the second coach. These two athletes will be practicing hand eye coordination drills with the second coach. The athlete will be in a batting stance approximately 4 feet away from the back stop. The coach will be kneeling off to the athletes right or left side, depending on the batter’s stance, and lightly throw the ball up in front of him or her. The athlete will then take a half swing to connect with the baseball. This will continue until the 3 minutes are up for the batter on the field.

Team Building Exercise 5 minutes

Each practice will have a team building component that will focus on a specific skill that will not be worked on in every practice. One team building exercise is the “Relay Race” that helps a coach to facilitate proper running of the bases that can be a lot of fun for the players. The players will be divided into two teams. One team will start a home plate and the other team will start at 2nd base. When the coach yells “GO!”, one player from each team will begin to run around the bases clockwise with a baseball in their hand. Once the player arrives back at their original starting point, that player will hand off the baseball to the next person. The first team to have all of its players run around the bases wins.

Cool Down 6 minutes

Players will sit together and stretch while listening to the Coach’s comments on that day’s practice or a possible game that is coming up.

References:

http://www.coachjim.250x.com/stretching.htm

http://www.littleleaguecoach.org/home.aspx?article=697

http://www.angelfire.com/oz/coaching/sitemap.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/oz/coaching/drillsbaserunning.htm