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Baseball practice can be, by definition, a chore. In order to perfect game-related skills, players must perform repetitive, sometimes mundane tasks in a quest to build muscle memory and skill. Even so, beware of making practice boring – players who dread practice won’t get as much (or anything) out of it, will distract the rest of the team, and may even quit.

Don’t get me wrong – I firmly believe in organzied, disciplined practices. Troublemakers should be dealth with swiftly; “running laps ’till their tongues hang out” is a great solution for many a problem. I am not at all above assigning pushups for stubborn cases.

But if you find yourself spending more time handing out laps than teaching the proper way to lay down a bunt, ask yourself why. Do you have twelve guys standing around while you hit one grounder at a time? Are the only players getting action the pitcher, catcher, and batter? Does your entire outfield want to sit in the grass, and do they seem to be influencing your third baseman to follow suit? If so, you may have a problem.

Come to practice with a plan. Before you practice, identify the areas you’d like your team to work on. If you don’t have any idea what’s going to happen in practice, chances are, the results won’t be good… at the very least, you’ll waste a lot of valuable time.

Stations are the gospel of practice. You should spend very little time with the entire team working on the same thing. Instead, break your team into three or four groups. Have one work on hitting, one work on ground balls, another work on relay throws, etc. After fifteen or twety minutes, rotate the groups. This ensures that each player gets many more repititions than they ever would have otherwise, and it breaks the monotony – by the time the player is used to doing one station, it’s time to move to the next one. If you don’t have enough coaches for this, ask for parental help – or conscript them from the stands, if need be. Tell them what to do, then go to the next station before they can protest!

Be inventive, and reward your players. Turn drill into contests – give points to different teams within your squad, and watch the intensity level rise. Raise the stakes by offering a small reward; a stick of sugarless gum will motivate a player like you wouldn’t believe. Consider handing out helmet stickers (think of the tomahawaks that the Florida State Seminoles get on their football helmets) for outstanding performers.

Don’t underestimate the power of encouragement. Keep in mind that, as a little league coach, you are one of the most influential people your players will ever have in their lives. Don’t fall into the trap of always criticizing failures without recognizing achievement and effort. If a kid is giving something his all, recognize that fact, even if he is failing. Support him, and he may amaze you – and himself – with what he can do.

If you have a player who is suffering from a long, looping swing, then the old standby of the fence drill may be just the prescription for what ails him.

In hitting, the name of the game is batspeed, period. In order to obtain optimal batspeed, the bat must be held with the elbow “in the slot” – in other words, the arms should remain close to the body, allowing the hips and large muscles of the body to provide the power of the swing.

Many times, however, a player will take the old adage of “throwing their hands at the ball” too seriously and end up extending their arms very early in the swing. This not only causes a slow bat – i.e. loss of power – but tends to force a “dip” in the swinging motion, which leads to a high percentage of easy popouts.

To do this drill, set your player facing a fence, slightly more than one bat length away (make sure that there are no fence posts withing the player’s swing zone). Have the player swing properly through the zone.

If the batter “casts out” with his hands, the bat will contact the fence, causing instant negative feedback. The only way that the drill can be completed successfully is by maintaining a compact swing.

The drill can also be varied by placing the player’s back shoulder very near to a fence or net, but the concept remains the same – a proper swing works, while a long swing or a “dip” results in the bat striking the fence.

This is a fun, productive drill, especially for younger kids,though older kids can gain benefit from it, too. It focuses on the importance of getting rid of the ball in a hurry.

Split your squad into two teams. Line the first team up, one behind another, at the shortstop position. Take the second squad and place them behind first base. Next, place a five gallon bucket upside down on first base (a garbage can also works as a suitable target). Make sure that you have plenty of baseballs handy!

A coach rolls or hits a ball to the first person in line at the shortstop position, who then has three seconds to pick up the ball and throw it at the bucket. The coach should loudly count off the seconds; this will initially fluster some of your younger players, but will also help them to cope with pressure better in the long run.

If the bucket is missed, the player behind first base fields the ball and returns it to the coach. Regardles of the outcome, the player who made the throw rotates to the back of the line.

After several passes through the line, switch sides. As an added bonus, keep score between the two teams – it is amazing how much more effort you canget out of a kid if he’s competing against his friends.

If you have enough coaching help, you can vary this drill by having both teams throw at the same time; the competition is a big hit with players.

This is a great drill for practice on throwing accuracy, quick release, and for encouraging quick decisions. Make it a part of your drill rotation.

If you want to have the happiest team in the league, you need to realize right off the bat that it’s not always about winning. Ask almost any child, and they will tell you that what they want in a coach is someone who boosts the morale of the team and keeps everyone excited about the game.

You need to find out what makes each player on the team tick. For example, some of the kids that you will encounter truly want to become the best possible baseball players – while others are playing because it is important to their parents. It is important to try to help the kids who are there for their parents get better and to teach them to appreciate the game. And it is also important to make sure that those kids do not end up sitting on the bench for the season and being ignored.

Following this, you should make sure that every player is on the field as much as possible. There is nothing more disheartening for a young player than being left out of the game in favor of better players because the coach is not willing to risk a win. Sure, sometimes it is not possible to play everyone for the entire game – but make every attempt to let everyone play.

And, since you are going to let everyone have a chance at playing you might as well work on interesting ways to help your young players develop their skills! Baseball players love to learn new tricks and tips that will help them to become better players!

Always try to be honest with your players. Be kind when telling them what they can do to improve their skills and be enthusiastic and excited when congratulating them on a good play. If you are honest with your players, they will definitely gain more respect for you than they would if there thought you were just telling them what they want to hear.

Whenever possible, try to incorporate some sort of life skills lesson into every practice. Take the time to talk to your team about perseverance, acceptance and the value of learning from your mistakes. You can find interesting ways to tell your team about how the skills learning in baseball and the values associated with the game can help to make a difference in their adult lives.

Your job as coach is to lead a team of youngsters through the journey of a baseball season. This is a very rewarding opportunity, and you should always be cautious not to take your position for granted. You have the power to be a great guiding force and to make a difference in the life of every child with whom you come in contact.

The hit and run is an excellent play to teach at the high school age, because it builds on some of the baseball batting drills & skills that have been learned in prior years.

What you need (set up):  To start, you might want to hit from a tee, just so the hitters can aim their swing where the hole is going to be in the lineup.  You will need a runner on first base, and infielders at all of the infield positions.

How this drill works:  Like any hit and run play, the object is to have the ball hit through the hole left when the second baseman goes to cover the appearance of the steal.  The runners will be awarded one point if they execute a good hit and run, with both players being safe on their bases.  The defense will get three points for a double play, two points for getting the man running to second out, and one point for getting the man going to first out.  No points if all runners are safe.

You can alter this drill a little by putting the hit and run on with a runner at second, or, you can have player at first and third, with the hit and run in the middle.

Further, you can add a pitcher to make it more difficult to hit the ball into the hole.  This is a great next step for batters in this drill.

Results:  This baseball drill achieves two primary things:  first, it helps batters and runners learn the effectiveness of the hit and run, and further helps batters utilize their skills of hitting to a hole.  But, this drill also help the fielders learn how to react to a hit and run situation and how to play the best defense against it.

This would be a great combination drill to run in a practice where you are trying to teach read and reaction for your infielders, and also hitting skills for your batters.

It is important for little league players to understand what happens when the ball is hit and it comes to them.  Most will be focused on actually stopping the ball, but when they do secure it in their gloves, they need to know where to throw it.  Ball to first is a great addition to your other little league drills.

What you need (set up) The kids should have their gloves on and you can send them out to second base.  Have one player play first base to field the throws.  You can also have one near you (home plate) to field balls from first base to home.

How this drill works:  You can either toss or lightly hit the ball to the players in line at second base.  Explain to them that when they get the ball, one of the first places they are going to throw is first base.  So, they practice their fielding skills, and then add one more step to it by throwing it to first base.  Then the first baseman can throw it home.

Players can then rotate:  the fielder goes to first, the first baseman goes to home plate, and then the ‘catcher’ will go to the back of the fielding line.  Once the players get the hang of it, you might be able to just keep hitting in succession as all the players go through the drill.

Note:  So players understand where all of the bases are, you can run this drill from any position on the infield, and throw to any base.  Keep the throw length reasonably short (shortstop to 2nd or 3rd, 1st to 2nd etc.) for the younger players.

Results:  One of the toughest things to teach young baseball players is to field the ball, and then throw it to the appropriate base.  Repetition is extremely important in this drill for them to associate fielding the ball with throwing it to first base (or other bases).  This drill also helps them learn the bases and positions in the infield.

Learning to throw and catch are two of the most basic elements of baseball.  With this beginner baseball drill, you can do both, and help the arms of the children condition themselves to throw longer and shorter distances.  One of the frustrating parts of coaching young players is they don’t have a sense of throwing softly and throwing harder (for long distance).

What you need (set up) :  Balls, gloves and an even number of players.  You will set the kids up facing each other about one stride apart to begin. 

How this drill works:  In order to help kids learn to throw and catch the ball, and that the amount of force they put behind the ball, they need to throw from different distances.  Further, it is good for kids to get used to the ball coming at them from differing distances, as well.

With the kids facing each other about 3’ apart, they should be instructed to place the ball in the other player opposite’s glove to start.  The catching player needs to use the ‘alligator arms’ approach to collecting the ball in their glove.  Once both players successfully execute this part, they take one giant step back from one another.

Results:  Each time the players take a step back, they must learn to adjust their throwing and catching.

Looking for coaching baseball drills?  You’ve come to the right place!  Try out this idea below and let me know how it goes for you.

Sliding into the bag is an acquired skill that takes time to learn, but is extremely valuable in beating a tag out.

What you need – You can set up a couple stations for this drill, each with a line of players and a bag that they are going to slide into.  Later on, you can add players trying to tag the runner out if you like.  If you have players that are first learning this drill, you might want to try it out in the outfield to work on the technique, before you move to the infield.

How this drill works  – The most important thing to begin this baseball drill, and to reduce the chance of players hurting themselves, is to instruct the proper technique.  When a player slides, they should be taught to create a triangle with the legs, and then to slide using the leg underneath, with the top foot free to touch the bag.

The player should lead with their left toe, right calf and then the slide should finish on the back of the thigh.  Try to teach players not to go directly on their bottom (it will hurt a bit), but to focus on sliding in with the backside of their thigh.

Result – Once players can master the sliding technique, you can take it one step further and show them what situations they should slide in.  This is going to help their overall baserunning skills.

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This coaching baseball drill will help players develop an understanding of a force out.

What you need – You can start off doing this baseball drill with no fielders or runners, but just explaining to your players what it means to be ‘forced’ to run to the next base.

How this drill works – Put a man on first base, and explain what happens when the ball is put into play – the man on first is ‘forced’ to go to second.  If you start a man on second, explain that the man is not forced to go to the next base, and therefore he must be tagged out.

Once the players understand that, then the coach can move them into a basic play recognition drill when they get the ball and are able to make the play to second when there is a force play on.  You can also put in a situation where there are two men on base (1st and 2nd base) and you can make the fielder decide where they have to throw the ball.

Result – With repetition, the players will learn to understand when there is a force out, and when it isn’t.  The instruction should continue to happen while the players are learning.