As a Little League coach, you should encourage your players to give their best effort at all times, work hard to improve during every practice and game and treat mistakes as learning opportunities rather than failures, according to Little League's official website. Use these principles to guide how you design and conduct your practices. Organize them so your players have to work hard, but have fun; so each player develops and improves at the fundamentals of the game; and so they are not afraid to make mistakes. Applying these principles will help your team reach its potential on the field and will instill qualities in each player to help them succeed in life.
Warm-Up
Begin each practice with a warm-up period to prepare your players' bodies for the skills they will work on that day. First, have them perform calisthenics such as high knee runs, lateral shuffles and skips. Then have them perform dynamic stretching exercises, including arm circles, forward bends and trunk twists. Finally, have them play catch to warm-up their arms.
Baserunning
Your players probably like practicing baserunning about as much as they like cleaning their room. Therefore, you should have them practice baserunning early during practice, when they are not yet mentally and physically fatigued. Pick one baserunning skill for your players to work on for about 10 minutes during each practice session. Examples include running through first base on an infield ground ball, stealing second base and tagging from third base on a fly ball to the outfield.
Defensive Stations
Defensive fundamentals include catching, fielding fly balls and ground balls and throwing. Organize four stations, one for each fundamental, and assign one coach to each station. Divide your players into four groups and have them rotate through the stations, spending about 5 minutes at each. Praise your players when they work hard and give them constructive feedback when they make mistakes.
Rules Instruction
Little League players are just learning the rules of baseball. Gather your players together during a break period in the middle of practice and teach them one or two rules they might have not learned yet. Give them time to ask questions as well.
Hitting Stations
Hitting is a complex skill that takes many hours of practice to learn and master. Run four hitting stations during each practice to give your players the repetitions necessary to improve their swing. The stations might include hitting off a batting tee, bunting, side toss, front toss or other drills. Change the stations each practice to keep your players from getting bored.
Scrimmage
Finish each practice with a controlled scrimmage lasting 20 to 30 minutes. Have one player start at each position and those remaining line up to bat. Rotate after each batter so each player gets to play all the defensive positions and bat at least once. Give your players constructive feedback when they make mistakes and replay specific situations, if possible, until they do it correctly.
References
- Little League Online: Principle #1--Redefining "Winner"
- "The Baseball Drill Book"; Bob Bennett; 2004
- "The Baseball Coaching Bible"; Jerry Kindall and John Winkin; 1999
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