U10 Skills & Drills

[Kevkey]

OK guys (and gals) tough question.
I will be taking over a U10 travel baseball team after years of coaching 14 - 18 year olds.
What are the top 3 or 4 skills I should focus on during winter indoor practice?
Can you recommend a drill that you have found effective in developing a specific skill?
Thank you for any and all suggestions.

[onbaseball]

In my opinion, the singlemost important skill at that age is throwing. Learn the fundamentals of correct, safe throwing technique and any drills that reinforce good throwing mechanics.

[WonderMonkey]

For practices I would take a very basic and fundemental approach. One that the team stretches out, warms up the arms, then comes together as you demonstrate how to correctly do a base skill, such as fielding a ground ball or general hitting style. Then the team breaks up and goes to divides up to about 4 groups for stations. Each station reinforces the skill you demonstrated from slow form to almost live speed.

For instance on fielding
- Coach demonstrates correct ground ball fielding form
- Coach demonstrates the four drills that will be performed and why each are important.
- Team breaks up into the stations and along with another coach or parent, does the drills.

Each basic skill can be done this way. As the team progresses over a few weeks you can adjust depending on what you see.

[Catchingcoach]

What I have found is the 10U team that has a catcher that can block can dominate in leagues and tournements. So many runs at that level are scored by passed balls. And even if the league does not allow taking home on a passed ball the runners freely advance from 1st to 3rd quickly with all the pas balls.

Begin identifying the players that will be looked at to fill the catchers role and begin teaching them to block. Below is a link to my website with an atricle on the teaching progression I use to teach blockking.

http://www.catchingcamp.com/index.php?page=blocks

[WonderMonkey]

What I have found is the 10U team that has a catcher that can block can dominate in leagues and tournements. So many runs at that level are scored by passed balls. And even if the league does not allow taking home on a passed ball the runners freely advance from 1st to 3rd quickly with all the pas balls.

Begin identifying the players that will be looked at to fill the catchers role and begin teaching them to block. Below is a link to my website with an atricle on the teaching progression I use to teach blockking.

http://www.catchingcamp.com/index.php?page=blocks

I'd have to agree that this is one of the places to start. Several years ago the whole flavor of our league changed when one kid showed up that looked and acted like a catcher. The first game they would play against that kid and the runners would just take off that kid would pop up and fire it to second, easily beating the runner. Stunned silence is what you heard. Changes their whole game plan.

Very few people actually take the time to develop a catcher. Most coaches don't know how.

[Whitesoxnut]

Very few people actually take the time to develop a catcher. Most coaches don't know how

If you can develop both catchers and pitchers then you are well ahead of the curve. Every kid wants to pitch, thinks they are a pitcher, has parents who "thinks" hes a pitcher, and thinks he has 6 different pitches by the time they are 8yo. Find the ones who can consistantly throw strikes.

I have one of these http://www.atecsports.com/framesets/pitchingmachinesframeset.html , tho I dont use it much anymore. You can use indoor balls with it and I'd inlcude some kind of hitting machine and tee work. With kids that age you have to keep it fun and as long as they can hack away at a ball part of the time they will enjoy practice. Theres also no reason not to identify swing problems early and take steps to correct them.

Congratulations. That was my favorite age group to coach as well.

[Kevkey]

I appreciate all the responses and great advice.
We will have a limited number of indoor practices (about 8) before the outdoor season and I want to optimize the time.
I appreciate the feedback on the catcher, leadoffs are allowed so working with the catchers will be given as much time as working with the pitchers.
Proper throwing and fielding mechanics have always been one of my pet gripes in the older kids so I appreciate the validation there.
So much to work on, so little time.
So now, what percentage of time would you spend on defense (throwing/fielding) vs offense (hitting/base running) during the indoor season?

[Ursa Major]

Keveky, I think one of the most important things you can do in the off-season is to get the kids footwork down on fielding balls and getting into throwing position. Ron Washington, one of the best infielding coaches ever (he's the one who turned Eric Chavez from a liability to a Gold Glover) emphasizes, "You'd be surprised how much better your hands are when your feet are doing the right thing." Roll tennis balls at them and have them charge the ball, do a quick right-left-drop to field and right-left-throw to get rid of it (assuming they're right-handed). Too many kids are fielding and throwing off the wrong foot (both grounders and flies) or with their hips opening too soon and weaken their chance of fielding it and certainly diminish their chances of getting a strong, accurate throw off.

For offense, this is the golden time to elevate kids out of any flaws in their swings (and there will be some). Get Steve Englishbey's video and get 'em with that program. Invest in a bunch of wiffle balls and have 'em swing off tees til they get their mechanics right, then let 'em try it with pitched wiffles. Video them to keep 'em from regressing.

[Kevkey]

Thanks for your feedback. I must admit I had not considered the fielding drills you recommend, but now looking back at the older kids I have been coaching the wrong footed throws ARE shocking prevelant.
I have just ordered Steve's DVD's (should be here tomorrow) but I am concerned about the "complexity" of the terminology and the paucity of drills I have been able to observe on the setpro site. My hitting direction has always been fairly simple: hitting starts with intent, correct stance, short soft stride while loading the hips, rotate into foot plant(meaning rotation of the hips start at toe touch), hips lead hands, maintain box, and finish high.
I did start video this year and I can tell you that not only did the kids love being able to see their swings, both they and I learned alot. Being able to watch a swing frame by frame is an incredibly educational experience!

Any other thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have been rather critical of the poor overall level the of basic skills of the young men coming into the high school/legion ball program. Now is my time to "put up or shut up" but more importantly, for the sake of the kids, I want to get as many things as possible right from the very beginning.

Kevin

[Jake Patterson]

Keveky, I think one of the most important things you can do in the off-season is to get the kids footwork down on fielding balls and getting into throwing position.

We do a circle drill that helps the young players greatly. May be difficult to explain here...

If you could imagine a ball coming from the plate with the player at shortstop. We start by circling around the right side of the ball so you are moving toward first when transitioning, fielding the ball out front glove side.

Coach between Pitchers mound and foul line 3B side with a bucket of balls. Empty bucket at first.

Steps are: On the roll from coach (RH Player)

1. Left foot toward the ball
2. Right foot over left, moving toward first
3. Left foot toward first (Now you have your body moving toward first) Catch the ball with left foot out toward first. All normal GB and transition mechanics apply
4. As you transition shuffle, shuffle, throw to first.

Rotate out

Crude drawing attached...

Make sense?
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[Whitesoxnut]

Go into the practice with a schedule of stuff/game plan and make sure the kids come on time. Being late to practice with me, without prior exuse, meant extra laps. Often a team that develops together better will beat a team with more talent and they develop better because they better utilize practice time. Which means not wasting a minute. Best of luck.

[WonderMonkey]

In an indoor practice you can do half hitting and half defense. While that is going on have a mound where a potential pitcher rotates out of the out of practice to the pitching area to do work. By the time practice is over you will have gone through a cycle of hitting stations, fielding stations, and all the pitching. Your catchers should rotate out just like the pitchers and work on their stuff as well.

For pitchers have one pitching off the mound and one working on mechanics. The pitcher goes to pitching mechanics then the mound. When they are on the mound do a bit of form then just let them throw.