I’ve found that all of the teams that I have coached (8yr olds through 12 yr olds) have enjoyed a game called Tennis 500. Basically, this is one of those great fun baseball practice drills that focuses on catching a flyball while creating a competitive environment.
Tennis 500
Here it is:
- Line up your team in the outfield.
- Using a tennis racket, hit tennis ball flyballs to each player.
- If they catch the ball on the fly, they get 100 points.
- If they field it after 1 bounce they get 50 points and if they catch it after two bounces they get 25 points. First player to 500 wins.
(I generally have some sort of big treat for the winner and smaller treats for all.)
I always start off with easy fly balls but make them more and more difficult the closer they get to 500. I can also vary the degree of fly ball difficulty based off skill level of each player.
I use tennis balls because if someone misses a ball, it won’t hurt if it hits them.
I have yet to find a team, baseball or softball, that doesn’t enjoy this drill.