While all sports involve varying levels of strategy, perhaps none relies on attention to detail as heavily as does baseball. Physical tools such as throwing strength, speed and batting power come into play, but to be successful at baseball, you must have fine-tuned fundamentals as well. Whether you're a coach or a parent trying to teach your children the game, you can provide an early foundation for success by teaching the right way to play the game through drills and instruction.
Tee-Ball
Tee-ball is a modified version of baseball in which the ball is placed atop a rubber tube attached to a home plate-shaped base. Set so that the ball sits around waist height, it gives young players a chance to work on batting skills because the ball is stationary and thus easier to hit than a pitched ball. Have the kids bat with their head down, eyes focused on the ball, striding into the swing with the front-side leg, turning their hips into the swing and powering through the ball with arms and wrists.
Infield Practice
The act of fielding a ground ball is not a natural one. Kids typically have an inclination to shy away from the ball, which can take funny hops and strike them in the legs or chest. But it's also one of the most important skills in the sport. Line your kids up at each infield position -- rotating a few at each spot if you have more than four of them -- and hit ground balls to them, starting softly and increasing velocity as their skill improves. Have them focus on proper technique, with their knees bent, eyes on the ball, glove tip touching the dirt and throwing hand used to trap the ball in the glove.
Base Running
One of the most confusing facets of baseball for young players is base running, or knowing when to advance to the next base and when to retreat. After you've explained the basics -- that runners must advance on a ground ball when the base behind them is occupied and must return to their base when a fly ball is caught -- you can drill your kids on base running. Set up different situations, such as runners on first and third, a runner on second and so forth. Standing at home plate with fielders at each position, alternate between grounders, fly ball and line drives, and have your base runners make snap decisions on whether to advance, retreat or pause momentarily to diagnose if a ball will be caught. You can also incorporate instruction for fielders in terms of knowing where to throw the ball.
Throwing
Kids love to throw balls, but the proper technique in throwing a baseball doesn't come naturally. Specifically, kids often fail to use the power of the wrist snap. Line up a pair of kids five or 10 feet apart depending on their throwing strength, with a ball but no gloves. Then have them take turns gripping the ball with fingers crossing over the seams, bending their throwing arms in an "L" shape, with their wrists cocked back. With the non-throwing hand holding the throwing-side elbow in place, they then flick the ball to their teammate using only the elbow wrist, with no wind-up.
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