Had two weeks of practice and it felt like day 1...

[jbolt_2000]

LL Majors (11-12 y.o.)
So, we finished our second week of practice but this last one felt like it was day one with a bunch of 8 year olds.

No one was able to catch fly balls or throw to their target. A lot of talking and goofing around.

I sat the kids down and explained to them that they need to have fun but still conduct themselves in a manner that will help them improve and continue learning, but I don't know if it got through their heads. 2-3 kids worked hard and did well but the other 9 or 10 kids seemed like they lost a few years of maturity and skill. It was really wierd. After two weeks they seemed to have digressed. My first thought is maybe they've had too much practice or I've been too hard, but I would say I'm one of the nicer coaches out there and we've only had about 3-4 practices a week so far. Plus the day before they all had a great practice!

I feel like I'm at a loss of how to handle this. Last year when the kids would mess around I had them run wind sprints. I really want to get away from making running a disciplinary action, but it seems like the only thing that works.

Any thoughts on what I can say to my team at our next practice? Should I go back to running as a consequence for goofing around? Any ideas on keeping them motivated?

[HYP]

LL Majors (11-12 y.o.)
So, we finished our second week of practice but this last one felt like it was day one with a bunch of 8 year olds.

No one was able to catch fly balls or throw to their target. A lot of talking and goofing around.

I sat the kids down and explained to them that they need to have fun but still conduct themselves in a manner that will help them improve and continue learning, but I don't know if it got through their heads. 2-3 kids worked hard and did well but the other 9 or 10 kids seemed like they lost a few years of maturity and skill. It was really wierd. After two weeks they seemed to have digressed. My first thought is maybe they've had too much practice or I've been too hard, but I would say I'm one of the nicer coaches out there and we've only had about 3-4 practices a week so far. Plus the day before they all had a great practice!

I feel like I'm at a loss of how to handle this. Last year when the kids would mess around I had them run wind sprints. I really want to get away from making running a disciplinary action, but it seems like the only thing that works.

Any thoughts on what I can say to my team at our next practice? Should I go back to running as a consequence for goofing around? Any ideas on keeping them motivated?

Schedule a scrimmage

[Ursa Major]

Schedule a scrimmageGood point. Let them humble themselves a little bit in competition, and maybe they'll see the consequences of screwing around. Your drill introductions can now begin with the words, "Remember when I said you need to do X if you're going to be able to do this right during games, and sure enough, you guys didn't do X at practice and it fell apart in yesterday's game."

This is a tough age. You need unquestioned team leaders to set the tone. I'd pick a couple and go to them and flatter them and tell them that you want them to in effect be team captains by showing the proper work ethic. Maybe even recruit their parents if you think it will help.

You have to be careful in threatening to apportion game time based upon their demeanor at practice. If you back it up and give starting spots to kids who are trying harder, they risk being marginalized as 'goody-two-shoes' types.

Also, 3 - 4 practices a week is asking a lot of kids at this age level. They just are not likely to be able to consistently maintain the right level of intensity that many days. Either cut back on practices, or cut back on your expectations, or come up with novel ways to conduct practices each day.

Or you can just live with it a little. If you're getting one or two good practices a week, they're probably within shouting distance of being able to do it games. And recognize some of the tom-foolery as team bonding.

[THop]

Jbolt_2000,
In my opinion,

11-12 year old kids are no different than tee balers or high schoolers. They enjoy having a good time. My advice would be to make your drills more fun and more challenging.

Example: Most kids hate to run, however if you set things up as a fun competition they will run much harder than they will as punishment. One drill (skill) I teach, we call Quarterbacks that emphasizes turning and sprinting to the ball, stabbing it at the last second and then sliding feet first to stop (avoid imaginary collision with a teammate or fence). Every player starts at deep short. I put down three cones in short center, left center and left field. A player sprints toward the appropriate cone as I throw a blooper. If he performs everything correctly (direct path, pump arms, run on balls of feet, stab), he goes to the end of the line and gets to go again. If he doesn’t, he sits and watches until a winner is decided. I usually increase the distance 2-3 times for the group. At the end (15-20 minutes), they are so tired we have to take a water break. Cardiovascularly speaking, they probably get a better workout this way than100 laps. Attention wise, they really look forward to the next drill (skill). Baseball wise, they either performed or watched someone perform the skill correctly numerous times.

Hope this helps. I teach/rehash about 100 skills/drills this way all season long, but I have more practice (field) time than most.

THop
www.baseball-excellence.com

[AgentX]

Schedule a scrimmage

Gets my vote.

Staying loose and having fun is very important at this age. If you look at the LLWS, you'll see that the teams that win are always the ones that are loose and have fun.

If you put them in a game situation, you might find them tightening right up, in which case, the goofing off is probably just their way of letting you know that all the practice is getting boring.

If you're going to run rec league kids 3-4 practices a week, then you better make sure that your practices are stacked with a bunch of fun/competitive drills.

[TG Coach]

Sometimes teams have bad practice days. Sometimes kids are going to have a day when their minds wander. I would stop practice and explain why they lose by not getting in a good practice. Then I'd tell them to return the next time with a better approach. One bad practice isn't worth getting worked up over.

[mudvnine]

Make sure that you have practice schedules written before coming to the field to prevent standing around and that all players are participating in some form of drill or event at all times to keep them focused on the practice and not on each other . . . especially if you are practicing 3-4 times a week.

Another individual check is that if you are using the same drill(s) more then twice a week, you either need to find/learn more drills or schedule less practices per week. Repetition of a skill is good, but it needs to be addressed in several ways to prevent boredom and "cheating" the drill (yes, some will try to find a way to take short cuts if given the opportunity).

The old saying "Idle hands are the devil's tools" holds very true in youth sports practices. To help prevent this, recruit other parents to assist in your practices, even if it's just to work on very simple fundamental drills to keep EVERYONE busy and focused on what they are doing.

Multiple small groups (2-3 kids) are far better then groups of 4 or more, where the "back of the line" is standing there yaking it up with each other and losing interest in the practice in general.


Good luck . . .

[jbolt_2000]

Thanks for all the replies. At our next practice I will speak with them one more time about what happened last time and how we need to move forward.

I know 3-4 days a week is alot, but we have only 4 weeks to get everything in order before the season begins. We are two weeks away now from our first game.

I have a practice schedule set up for every practice I have. We have multiple drills and I split the kids up in small groups. I try to get three groups of 4 or two groups of 6, depending on how many coaches I have helping me that day.

Looking back, I think it may have just been one of those days. Our practice was from 7-9pm (I dont like practicing that late, but that was my scheduled time for the field). My assistant and one helper were out that day and I had one parent helping me. I was working with catchers that day and had the parent work on defense for the other players. I think the fact was that it was late and a large group taking repetitive grounders/fly balls that caused lack of attention. The lack of attention caused bad form and mechanics which resulted in not being able to catch or throw properly to the target.

I spoke with the kids after practice. I explained that they need to focus on proper mechanics. Explained that we don't just take grounders to take grounders, there is always a puprose to everything we do. I explained that if they can't focus in practice that they won't be able to in a game, etc, etc.

Our next practice is tomorrow. I will address this one more time but keep it brief. I want to show them that it was a one time deal and to move forward with purpose. Hopefully it was just a late night and a repetitive play (which I try to avoid as much as possible).

Thanks again for the replies.

[AgentX]

Our practice was from 7-9pm (I dont like practicing that late, but that was my scheduled time for the field).

You learn a lot from coaching the younger ones.

I've found that night practices (and even games) with 7-10yos on days that they have school tend to be heavy on the goof-around. While the 11-12s tend to be more focused, it's really just discipline, and seeing the younger kids you tend to recognize that it's just degrees of the same thing.

After a day of school, evenings on the diamond tend to cut into a kid's natural downtime, when being a goof-off kid is just what they do. On off days or weekends, it's a different story, but you're always going to have your work cut out coaching LL on a school night.

I would suggest you just roll with it. If you have a number of practices each week, and only one is late, then make that the "fun" practice for the week. Ask the kids what they want to do. Play a scrimmage with plastic bats and balls, or some other game. Just make sure that there are some skills being reinforced.

[jacksimpk]

Looking back, I think it may have just been one of those days. Our practice was from 7-9pm (I dont like practicing that late, but that was my scheduled time for the field). My assistant and one helper were out that day and I had one parent helping me. I was working with catchers that day and had the parent work on defense for the other players. I think the fact was that it was late and a large group taking repetitive grounders/fly balls that caused lack of attention. The lack of attention caused bad form and mechanics which resulted in not being able to catch or throw properly to the target.


Jeeez it wasn't you - my 12yo's bed time is 8:30 - sounds like circumstance was against you. You can't ask children to hold it together for that long. And I know you have to work around field time, but as a parent I'm not sure I'd let my son be on a baseball field at 9pm on a school night. And I feel for you - I'm coaching 12u little league and helping my daughter's softball team so I have practice every day 7 days per week and twice on Saturday. The latest practice I've ever seen for 12u was a winter camp that ran until 8pm.

[rkbenn]

Baseballs flying around the field tends to keep kids sharp and help in preventing screwing around. Organize your practices. IE. You do BP, stike and miss, hit a grounder to infielders and pop ups to outfielders. No one should be just standing around. To me this is an organization issue.