PRACTICE
Practice is where development happens. Practice is where connections are made. It's where individuals improve their game and where teams come together.
Yeah, we're talkin about practice.
Baseball Practice Plans & Documents
Practice without a plan and structure, is gambling at best, and most likely is not close to achieving optimal development of the athletes. There is a right way to practice - keep it ability level appropriate (for each player) and ensure each practice achieves what the team (and the players) needs and builds on the previous practices.
DELIBERATE PRACTICE
Now, there was a little more to the story with Allen Iverson, but it's clear practice isn't important to him. Kobe gets it, though.
Coaches, please email me your practice plans to be posted here. I'd love to get as many as possible to add to this site. In keeping with the theme of helping improve sports, it'll be posted here for other coaches to share.
Please include your name and attach the practice plan in either PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, ODP, ODT, or EPUB and please ensure it's under 15 MB.
Help me improve the sports experience for the athletes by helping other coaches.
Coach Morgan Sullivan
Coach Morgan Sullivan
10U Baseball Practice Schedule
Coach Morgan Sullivan
Coach Morgan Sullivan
Baseball Phase Progression
Coach Morgan Sullivan
FOOTBALL
BASKETBALL
11U Travel Baseball Practice Schedule
Coach Morgan Sullivan
Coach Morgan Sullivan
HITTING
CATCHERS
TEE PLACEMENT
This is something I've seen coaches and personal instructors mess up on a regular basis.
Use the two pictures and video below to get an idea of where the tee should be placed and where each pitch should be hit.
After that, if you still have questions, send me an email here.
The RED arrows are for a right-handed hitter.
The YELLOW arrows are for a left-handed hitter.
PITCHERS
Make no mistake about this, young pitchers' arms are being sacrificed so egotistical coaches can win rings and trophies. DON'T BE THAT COACH.
If you're coaching young pitchers and you haven't taken this course, get with the program. It's full of great information and it's FREE!
Click the link below:
MLB PITCH SMART on NFHSLearn.com
Plan your practices around who's eligible to pitch. Make sure you have time, ideally with a dedicated coach, to handle the pitchers. Pitchers need to build their arms up each year before they begin to pitch. Take that last sentence into account - it means there's a period (4 months according to research) where the young pitchers aren't throwing.
Build their arms slowly over the course of a few weeks or a month (especially if you only have 2 practices per week).
During the season, if you're not sticking with the MLB Pitch Smart guidelines, you shouldn't be coaching young athletes. It's the medical research of safeguarding a young arm versus your desire to win, think about that.
MLB Pitch Smart Guidelines with USA Baseball
INFIELD
First Base
Outfield
Here's IMG Academy on Outfield Play.
USA Baseball's Darren Fenster on Outfield Play.
Baseball Training Tips on Outfield Play.
Baserunning
Baserunning is one of the most underdeveloped skills for baseball players. In some part this is due to coaches not knowing how to practice it, or not believing in its importance. Baserunning is the #1 skill that can easily add to your run production, especially for youth teams.
Dedicate time to practice this important skill and use baserunners during all live field BP sessions.
Team Defense
Here we won't talk about strategy, as every coach will have their own idea on this. Below you'll find articles and videos outlining ways to practice your team defense. This is another extremely underdeveloped skill in high school players - they don't know where to go in many situations.
Take time to practice your team defense but it doesn't always mean one coach stands at home plate and hits one ball to one fielder who makes a play. Keep in mind the "Ball, Base, Backup" concept, and work as many players as possible.