Fun Drills for Kids
Coaching kids baseball can be hard: you have to combat hot summer days, short attention spans, and varying ability levels. The key to kids baseball drills is to keep them fun so the kids don’t realize they’re learning — they think they’re just playing around! These drills for kids are designed to teach them the basics of baseball while keeping them excited about practicing the game.
Hubba Bubba Ball
For this kids baseball drill, the coach needs an oversized plastic bat and balls — they can be found at most toy stores. The coach divides the team into defense and offense and acts as full-time pitcher.
The kids play the game as they normally would, only because of the plastic ball the defense doesn’t need gloves. The batters should focus on clean hits and correct tossing of the bat — the coach might want to set up markers on either side of home plate so the kids can see where they bat should go once they get a hit. The defense should focus on catching and throwing with soft hands.
Beat the Heat
This baseball drill for kids teaches them about passing and hitting using water balloons. The coach will need to bring plenty of water balloons to practice — about 100.
First the kids will practice passing by lining up in two relay lines with a big bucket at the end. The two lines compete to see how many unbroken balloons they can get into the buckets in the fastest time by passing from one player to the next. How far apart the kids are spaced when passing the balloons should be based on their age and ability level — or how hot it is outside!
Now the kids can practice hitting with the remaining balloons. The kids take turns at bat with the coach pitching them water balloons. This drill is great for kids who have trouble keeping their eye on the ball and are hesitant to follow through with their swing because they don’t want to miss seeing the balloon burst.
Ball-Go-Round
For this kids baseball drill, divide the team up into groups of four and have them form a square with each player spaced 10 paces apart. The drill begins with the first player rolling the ball to the player on his right, who will catch the ball, pivot, and roll it to the player on his right, who will in turn catch, pivot, and roll, continuing around the square.
The coach will then add another ball into the mix. The players will continue rolling, catching, and pivoting, but this time with two balls going around simultaneously. The players should start calling out the name of the person they are passing to. The coach continues adding balls until there are four going at the same time. The players can then advance to soft-tossing the ball.
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