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- The Baseball Drill Book
Seventeen of the game's top collegiate coaches have teamed up with the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) to bring you the game's most comprehensive assortment of practice activities.
The Baseball Drill Book features 198 drills proven to improve individual and team performance. Former Fresno State coach Bob Bennett, Ripon College's Gordie Gillespie, Lewis-Clark State's Ed Cheff, Wichita State's Gene Stephenson, and South Carolina's Ray Tanner are among the greats who present their best practice drills and insights for improving these skills:
-Conditioning and warm-up
-Throwing and catching
-Base running and sliding
-Hitting and bunting
-Pitching
-Fielding
-Offensive and defensive tactics
Each drill follows a concise format. First, the primary skill or tactic to be enhanced is identified, then procedure and setup details are provided. Illustrations for proper technique are also included, followed by coaching insight to help you sharpen players' understanding of the game's finer points. Glean tactical advice such as how to get a teammate home from third when a key run is needed and how to “sit on” certain pitches while at the plate. Drill modifications are included so that each drill can be modified to fit specific needs.
Additional chapters explain how to effectively and efficiently incorporate drills in practice sessions and to simulate game situations. In all, The Baseball Drill Book provides the essential link between initial skill learning and winning performance on the diamond.
Introduction
Key to Diagrams
Part I Effective Applications
Chapter 1 Incorporating Drills Into Practices
Bob Bennett
Chapter 2 Performing and Conducting Drills
Bob Bennett
Chapter 3 Making Drills Gamelike
Bob Bennett
Part II Physical Training
Chapter 4 Conditioning Drills
Cheff
Chapter 5 Warm-Up Drills
John Savage
Part III Fundamental Skills
Chapter 6 Catching Drills
Jack Smitheran
Chapter 7 Throwing Drills
Jim Brownlee
Chapter 8 Sliding Drills
Bob Warn
Part IV Offensive Skills
Chapter 9 Hitting Drills
Rick Jones
Chapter 10 Bunting Drills
Gordon Gillespie
Chapter 11 Base-Running Drills
Rich Alday
Part V Defensive Skills
Chapter 12 Infielder Drills
Sonny Pittaro
Chapter 13 Outfielder Drills
Jim Wells
Chapter 14 Catcher Drills
Pete Dunn
Chapter 15 Pitcher Drills
Steve Smith
Part VI Team Tactics
Chapter 16 Offensive Team Drills
Gene Stephenson and Jim Dimick
Chapter 17 Defensive Team Drills
Ray Tanner
Chapter 18 Game Situation Drills
Bob Todd and Bob Bennett
About the ABCA
About the Editor
About the Contributors
The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) is the largest baseball coaching organization in the world and includes coaches from every U.S. state and hundreds of international members. The association's mission is to improve the level of baseball coaching worldwide. The ABCA assists in the promotion of baseball and acts as a sounding board and advocate on issues concerning the game. In addition, the ABCA promotes camaraderie and communication among all baseball coaches, from the amateur to professional levels. The ABCA also gives recognition to deserving players and coaches through several special sponsorship programs. It is an organization that has grown steadily in membership, prestige, and impact in recent years. The ABCA's headquarters is located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
From Scholastic Coach & Athletic Director
"Seventeen of the game's top collegiate coaches have teamed up with the ABCA to pen a comprehensive assortment of practice activities."
The Rhythm Drill
This drill will help you stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Rhythm Drill
Focus: To stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Setup: This drill can be done indoors or outdoors. All infielders participate.
Procedure: The drill begins with infielders standing in a straight line facing the coach, who is at a distance of about 25 feet. At the command of “Set,” the first fielder “keys up” and comes to ready position. The coach then hits short fungoes directly at the fielder, who fields the ball and throws to first base.
While the player at the front of the line is fielding the ball, the next infielder in line is directly behind him, shadowing his movements. This accomplishes two things. It gives the players more repetitions and allows them to focus on their movements without worrying about fielding the ball.
Continue the drill by hitting balls to the glove and backhand sides. The goal of the players is to move their feet so they field the ball in front of their body. Don't allow them to field the ball off to the glove or backhand side. Again, rhythm is the primary focus. Fielding the ball and throwing to first should be achieved in a smooth, continuous motion.
Repeat the process until all infielders have fielded five ground balls directly at them, to their glove side, and to their backhand side.
In the next phase, hit fungoes to the infielders from home plate. Start with balls hit directly at the infielders, then to the glove side, and finally to the backhand side. Continue having the fielder next in line shadow the person in front of him.
Coaching Points: While proper fielding techniques and footwork are essential, also focus on the fielder's rhythm. His movements should be fluid and pressure-free; he should maintain balance from start to finish.
Successful practices incorporate drills
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice.
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I'm not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team's batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It's virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach's key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It's true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it's also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
The Rhythm Drill
This drill will help you stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Rhythm Drill
Focus: To stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Setup: This drill can be done indoors or outdoors. All infielders participate.
Procedure: The drill begins with infielders standing in a straight line facing the coach, who is at a distance of about 25 feet. At the command of “Set,” the first fielder “keys up” and comes to ready position. The coach then hits short fungoes directly at the fielder, who fields the ball and throws to first base.
While the player at the front of the line is fielding the ball, the next infielder in line is directly behind him, shadowing his movements. This accomplishes two things. It gives the players more repetitions and allows them to focus on their movements without worrying about fielding the ball.
Continue the drill by hitting balls to the glove and backhand sides. The goal of the players is to move their feet so they field the ball in front of their body. Don't allow them to field the ball off to the glove or backhand side. Again, rhythm is the primary focus. Fielding the ball and throwing to first should be achieved in a smooth, continuous motion.
Repeat the process until all infielders have fielded five ground balls directly at them, to their glove side, and to their backhand side.
In the next phase, hit fungoes to the infielders from home plate. Start with balls hit directly at the infielders, then to the glove side, and finally to the backhand side. Continue having the fielder next in line shadow the person in front of him.
Coaching Points: While proper fielding techniques and footwork are essential, also focus on the fielder's rhythm. His movements should be fluid and pressure-free; he should maintain balance from start to finish.
Successful practices incorporate drills
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice.
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I'm not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team's batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It's virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach's key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It's true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it's also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
The Rhythm Drill
This drill will help you stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Rhythm Drill
Focus: To stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Setup: This drill can be done indoors or outdoors. All infielders participate.
Procedure: The drill begins with infielders standing in a straight line facing the coach, who is at a distance of about 25 feet. At the command of “Set,” the first fielder “keys up” and comes to ready position. The coach then hits short fungoes directly at the fielder, who fields the ball and throws to first base.
While the player at the front of the line is fielding the ball, the next infielder in line is directly behind him, shadowing his movements. This accomplishes two things. It gives the players more repetitions and allows them to focus on their movements without worrying about fielding the ball.
Continue the drill by hitting balls to the glove and backhand sides. The goal of the players is to move their feet so they field the ball in front of their body. Don't allow them to field the ball off to the glove or backhand side. Again, rhythm is the primary focus. Fielding the ball and throwing to first should be achieved in a smooth, continuous motion.
Repeat the process until all infielders have fielded five ground balls directly at them, to their glove side, and to their backhand side.
In the next phase, hit fungoes to the infielders from home plate. Start with balls hit directly at the infielders, then to the glove side, and finally to the backhand side. Continue having the fielder next in line shadow the person in front of him.
Coaching Points: While proper fielding techniques and footwork are essential, also focus on the fielder's rhythm. His movements should be fluid and pressure-free; he should maintain balance from start to finish.
Successful practices incorporate drills
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice.
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I'm not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team's batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It's virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach's key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It's true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it's also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
The Rhythm Drill
This drill will help you stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Rhythm Drill
Focus: To stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Setup: This drill can be done indoors or outdoors. All infielders participate.
Procedure: The drill begins with infielders standing in a straight line facing the coach, who is at a distance of about 25 feet. At the command of “Set,” the first fielder “keys up” and comes to ready position. The coach then hits short fungoes directly at the fielder, who fields the ball and throws to first base.
While the player at the front of the line is fielding the ball, the next infielder in line is directly behind him, shadowing his movements. This accomplishes two things. It gives the players more repetitions and allows them to focus on their movements without worrying about fielding the ball.
Continue the drill by hitting balls to the glove and backhand sides. The goal of the players is to move their feet so they field the ball in front of their body. Don't allow them to field the ball off to the glove or backhand side. Again, rhythm is the primary focus. Fielding the ball and throwing to first should be achieved in a smooth, continuous motion.
Repeat the process until all infielders have fielded five ground balls directly at them, to their glove side, and to their backhand side.
In the next phase, hit fungoes to the infielders from home plate. Start with balls hit directly at the infielders, then to the glove side, and finally to the backhand side. Continue having the fielder next in line shadow the person in front of him.
Coaching Points: While proper fielding techniques and footwork are essential, also focus on the fielder's rhythm. His movements should be fluid and pressure-free; he should maintain balance from start to finish.
Successful practices incorporate drills
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice.
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I'm not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team's batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It's virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach's key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It's true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it's also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
The Rhythm Drill
This drill will help you stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Rhythm Drill
Focus: To stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Setup: This drill can be done indoors or outdoors. All infielders participate.
Procedure: The drill begins with infielders standing in a straight line facing the coach, who is at a distance of about 25 feet. At the command of “Set,” the first fielder “keys up” and comes to ready position. The coach then hits short fungoes directly at the fielder, who fields the ball and throws to first base.
While the player at the front of the line is fielding the ball, the next infielder in line is directly behind him, shadowing his movements. This accomplishes two things. It gives the players more repetitions and allows them to focus on their movements without worrying about fielding the ball.
Continue the drill by hitting balls to the glove and backhand sides. The goal of the players is to move their feet so they field the ball in front of their body. Don't allow them to field the ball off to the glove or backhand side. Again, rhythm is the primary focus. Fielding the ball and throwing to first should be achieved in a smooth, continuous motion.
Repeat the process until all infielders have fielded five ground balls directly at them, to their glove side, and to their backhand side.
In the next phase, hit fungoes to the infielders from home plate. Start with balls hit directly at the infielders, then to the glove side, and finally to the backhand side. Continue having the fielder next in line shadow the person in front of him.
Coaching Points: While proper fielding techniques and footwork are essential, also focus on the fielder's rhythm. His movements should be fluid and pressure-free; he should maintain balance from start to finish.
Successful practices incorporate drills
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice.
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I'm not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team's batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It's virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach's key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It's true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it's also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
The Rhythm Drill
This drill will help you stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Rhythm Drill
Focus: To stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Setup: This drill can be done indoors or outdoors. All infielders participate.
Procedure: The drill begins with infielders standing in a straight line facing the coach, who is at a distance of about 25 feet. At the command of “Set,” the first fielder “keys up” and comes to ready position. The coach then hits short fungoes directly at the fielder, who fields the ball and throws to first base.
While the player at the front of the line is fielding the ball, the next infielder in line is directly behind him, shadowing his movements. This accomplishes two things. It gives the players more repetitions and allows them to focus on their movements without worrying about fielding the ball.
Continue the drill by hitting balls to the glove and backhand sides. The goal of the players is to move their feet so they field the ball in front of their body. Don't allow them to field the ball off to the glove or backhand side. Again, rhythm is the primary focus. Fielding the ball and throwing to first should be achieved in a smooth, continuous motion.
Repeat the process until all infielders have fielded five ground balls directly at them, to their glove side, and to their backhand side.
In the next phase, hit fungoes to the infielders from home plate. Start with balls hit directly at the infielders, then to the glove side, and finally to the backhand side. Continue having the fielder next in line shadow the person in front of him.
Coaching Points: While proper fielding techniques and footwork are essential, also focus on the fielder's rhythm. His movements should be fluid and pressure-free; he should maintain balance from start to finish.
Successful practices incorporate drills
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice.
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I'm not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team's batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It's virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach's key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It's true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it's also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
The Rhythm Drill
This drill will help you stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Rhythm Drill
Focus: To stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Setup: This drill can be done indoors or outdoors. All infielders participate.
Procedure: The drill begins with infielders standing in a straight line facing the coach, who is at a distance of about 25 feet. At the command of “Set,” the first fielder “keys up” and comes to ready position. The coach then hits short fungoes directly at the fielder, who fields the ball and throws to first base.
While the player at the front of the line is fielding the ball, the next infielder in line is directly behind him, shadowing his movements. This accomplishes two things. It gives the players more repetitions and allows them to focus on their movements without worrying about fielding the ball.
Continue the drill by hitting balls to the glove and backhand sides. The goal of the players is to move their feet so they field the ball in front of their body. Don't allow them to field the ball off to the glove or backhand side. Again, rhythm is the primary focus. Fielding the ball and throwing to first should be achieved in a smooth, continuous motion.
Repeat the process until all infielders have fielded five ground balls directly at them, to their glove side, and to their backhand side.
In the next phase, hit fungoes to the infielders from home plate. Start with balls hit directly at the infielders, then to the glove side, and finally to the backhand side. Continue having the fielder next in line shadow the person in front of him.
Coaching Points: While proper fielding techniques and footwork are essential, also focus on the fielder's rhythm. His movements should be fluid and pressure-free; he should maintain balance from start to finish.
Successful practices incorporate drills
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice.
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I'm not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team's batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It's virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach's key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It's true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it's also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
The Rhythm Drill
This drill will help you stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Rhythm Drill
Focus: To stress proper fielding technique for ground balls hit directly at the fielder, to his glove, and to his backhand side.
Setup: This drill can be done indoors or outdoors. All infielders participate.
Procedure: The drill begins with infielders standing in a straight line facing the coach, who is at a distance of about 25 feet. At the command of “Set,” the first fielder “keys up” and comes to ready position. The coach then hits short fungoes directly at the fielder, who fields the ball and throws to first base.
While the player at the front of the line is fielding the ball, the next infielder in line is directly behind him, shadowing his movements. This accomplishes two things. It gives the players more repetitions and allows them to focus on their movements without worrying about fielding the ball.
Continue the drill by hitting balls to the glove and backhand sides. The goal of the players is to move their feet so they field the ball in front of their body. Don't allow them to field the ball off to the glove or backhand side. Again, rhythm is the primary focus. Fielding the ball and throwing to first should be achieved in a smooth, continuous motion.
Repeat the process until all infielders have fielded five ground balls directly at them, to their glove side, and to their backhand side.
In the next phase, hit fungoes to the infielders from home plate. Start with balls hit directly at the infielders, then to the glove side, and finally to the backhand side. Continue having the fielder next in line shadow the person in front of him.
Coaching Points: While proper fielding techniques and footwork are essential, also focus on the fielder's rhythm. His movements should be fluid and pressure-free; he should maintain balance from start to finish.
Successful practices incorporate drills
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice.
Practice has several purposes. Learning to perform, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are the basic objectives of a beneficial practice. In the pursuit of these objectives, such areas as discipline, teamwork, persistence, timing, mental toughness, responsibility, organization, and gamesmanship play important roles during practice.
Coaches should ensure that learning, developing, maintaining, and perfecting skills are included in each practice. A good practice session also invigorates, enlightens, teaches, develops, excites, encourages, and promotes teamwork among team members. Your ability to select the best drills to match your practice goals often determines the success or failure of your practice sessions.
Three familiar quotes succinctly describe the importance of practice. The saying “practice makes perfect” has often been used to illustrate the need to do things repetitively while pursuing excellence. The value and importance of practice sessions is expressed even more strongly by the commonly heard saying, “perfect practice makes perfect.” An even more precise and descriptive way to point out the importance of practice is “practice makes permanent.” Choose any, all, or none of these sayings but realize that most would agree that practice sessions directly relate to the final results.
We practice to prepare for each game. If that practice is productive, the results will show. A well-designed practice in which players repeat and diligently try to perfect fundamentals is a big step toward success. A poorly designed and sloppily executed practice likely produces chaos and leads to failure in games.
Drills are an important part of teaching and coaching. Some coaches use drills without knowing it. I once had a coach tell me, “I'm not big on drills. I seldom use them.” Then I watched his team practice and noticed the skill and precise rhythm and timing of his players. I further noticed that his team's batting practice was very well organized and that outfield and infield practice was impeccably orchestrated. Of course, what his players were doing was running drills. Their pepper games (a drill), their hitting in the batting cages (a drill), and even their playing catch (another drill) clearly showed the results of fine teaching techniques through drills.
What Is a Drill?
A drill is a means of teaching and training through repeated exercise or repetition of an act. Fielding a series of ground balls, playing catch, practicing footwork, hitting, running the bases, or doing any other activity that is repeated can be called a drill. These kinds of activities make up a practice schedule. Among the many practice activities are both productive repetitions and unproductive, even harmful, repetitions.
It's virtually impossible to conduct a practice without using drills. However, it is not difficult to conduct a practice using drills that do little toward achieving team or individual goals. Obviously, the most effective practices incorporate proper drills that help players pursue excellence in the skill being taught. This is where sound teaching begins. Sound, effective drills are among a coach's key assets.
The Value of Drills
Muscle memory is important in accomplishing any athletic endeavor. Throwing a baseball, hitting it, and running the bases properly are activities that require freedom of movement. To perform these activities successfully, the performer must be able to react without having to carefully tell each muscle group what to do. His reactions are seemingly automatic. Muscle memory is the result of teaching the muscles how to perform a specific activity and repeating that activity until it can be done freely without methodical thought. Throwing, for example, requires some thought in where to throw and how hard to throw, but the mechanical part of throwing (getting the proper grip, bringing the arm into throwing position, and releasing the ball) should be routine. In order to get to the automatic stage, the muscles are trained to react quickly to each competitive situation.
Either the athlete is already gifted with the ability to make a mental command and have his muscle groups react and perform, or the athlete must train those muscle groups to respond to his mental commands. Most baseball skills must be methodically practiced before the body is able to react freely and without conscious thought to each part of the activity. This is muscle memory. Mental toughness and concentration are also necessary. Learning the proper techniques and methods and then repeating them correctly form an avenue toward success.
You can incorporate drills into practice in many ways. Some coaches use the “machine gun method,” which employs several kinds of drills to improve a single skill. The theory here is that someone will benefit from something. In other words, if enough different kinds of drills are executed and enough different kinds of approaches are used to explain the skill, something from these drills will stick to some of those who participate in them.
It's true that some players are astute and skillful enough to get the most out of even an ill-conceived, poorly conducted practice session, but these are the rare ones. Most players need the help that carefully chosen and orchestrated drills can provide.
Drills used wisely and correctly dramatically improve skills. There are many roads to success. Some coaches do most of their teaching with a few well-planned drills. They select drills that fit the lesson plan and repeat them with precision. Others use many different well-thought-out drills to accomplish the same end. Some coaches are clever enough to design on-the-spot drills that fit perfectly into the lesson plan for the day. Successful coaches and teachers have, or develop, an ability to know exactly where they are going and how they will get there. They can identify the areas that most need work and select the proper drills to address them. Coaching with concern and passion, they stay focused until they get results.
Along with selecting the proper drill, it's also important to choose the best length of time to do the drill and the number of times to repeat it. Appropriate drills performed several times in short spurts usually work better than lengthy drill sessions with long intervals between them.
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