These are two fun baseball drills I use with my younger players a lot. They enjoy these and forget that they are practicing drills. They’re great for teamwork as well.
“Coach Says” Drill
This is a twist to one of the popular ideas for “show me the ball”, “invisible bat”, and “coach says”. I have actually combined these into one exercise/drill and call it the “Coach Says” drill.
I have the children stand in a line facing me.
I show them the techniques for “show me the ball” and “invisible bat”.
Then they have to do what I say, if I say “coach says” (just like a game of simon says).
I have asked them to roar like lions, to jump on one foot, to meow like cats, act like monkeys, etc anything silly really.
Within the mix of all the funny things I will throw in “show me the ball” or “batter stance”, “swing”. At this time I go down the line and adjust if need be and we keep playing.
The kids LOVED this exercise!! It put a smile on my face, their faces and the parents as well, all the while we were learning some fundamentals of throwing and hitting the ball.
Glove Side Drill
After my players warm up for a few minutes, we make 2 lines, 8 each. This is how we teach the kids “glove side”.
We line up from the first base line to the outfield fence, about 20 feet apart and in a straight line. We want them to catch the ball without having to turn around to throw it to the base. We start at one end and go to the end and back. Best out of seven, the loser has to run one lap around the bases.
They have a ball. I split them up where it should be very even.