MCGSA Coaches Favorite Drills
Keith Parkes – MCGSA 10U/8U Coach
Relay race—half the team at 2B, half the team at home. Each runner must touch each base
before the next person in line can go. Teaches them how to round the bases (or at the higher
levels, have them slide at each base to work on pop-up slides). At the lower levels, it teaches
them now to make sure they touch the bases, too.
Take one for the team—for 10U players. Use 6U or 8U balls and stand 10 feet away from a
player that just has a helmet (no bat). First throw strikes and have them watch the ball all the
way to the catcher’s mitt. Then throw balls at them (gently) to make sure they turn the right
way when the ball hits them. Let them see it doesn’t hurt much if they’ve turned.
Tennis ball fly balls—hit long/high fly balls to the outfield using tennis balls. The girls are less
afraid of the tennis balls because they are soft, and they are actually more difficult to catch
than real softballs.
Keep it in the infield—8U/10U…half the team plays defense in the infield…half the team bats
with coach pitch. Each batter gets 5 swings to try to hit it to the outfield. Infielders must knock
it down. Switch infielders and hitters after everyone has hit. Keep score. (I think I stole that
one from Kevin).
David Axelson – MCGSA Coach/12U Atlanta Flames – Russell Coach
Independent Baserunning – runners on all 4 bases. Fielders/shaggers at other positions. Coach
hits fungos. Baserunners assume there is 1 out and they are only runner on base. Baserunners
should read the ball, take an appropriate lead, and react to play. Runners only advance 1 base
on each hit.
Kobata Two-Ball Fielding Drill – teaches fielders to constantly attack the ball and keep move.
Coach rolls ball short, player charges and fields (teach proper footwork!), throws to receiver on
the end, 2nd coach rolls another ball for field and throw. Fielder should keep moving all the way
through both throws. Stay low, never let feet get even when fielding.
Singles Game – Split team in 2 – half in field/half hitting - hitting team gets 2 minutes to get as
many singles as possible. Once they reach 1 st (either safe or out) they go back to hit again.
Defense tries to make outs. Played with coach pitch/front toss/soft toss depending on age
level. Beware of safety!
X-Drill – Out field drill. Player catches 4 balls and returns them to thrower. First one is
shoestring coming forward to the left, then drop step right for over shoulder, straight ahead for
shoestring, drop step left for deep over shoulder.
Circus Drill – Players at SS, CF, 1B. SS fields and throws to 1B, 1B goes around the backstop,
returns ball and goes to SS line, SS then goes to cover 2B, CF catches hit and throws to SS at 2B,
drop the ball in the bucket, SS moves to CF and CF moves to 1B. Keep going until all the balls
are in the bucket by 2B.
Laura Horlock – MCGSA Coach
Stealing and base running defense
Works on stealing and steal defense at the same time
Players:
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2 coach pitchers side by side in the circle
2 player catchers, one on either side of the plate
Infielders covering the steal at 2nd and at 3 rd
Divide the remaining players to be runners and put a line of runners at 1 st base
and a line of runners at 2 nd base.
Coach-pitchers windup and pitcher to their catcher.
The runners first in line on 1st and 2nd run with the pitch like they are stealing.
The catcher on the right side of plate throws to 2 nd
The catcher on left side of plate throws to 3 rd
Fielders try to tag the stealing runner out.
Runners get back in line to run once their turn is over.
Rotate the catchers so they throw to both 2 nd base and to 3rd base during this
drill.
Hustle ball
Teaches players to move from their position to make plays
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Divide players into 2 even teams – one plays offense and one plays defense
Defensive team has 2 players in the infield, 2 players in the outfield, and either a
pitcher or a catcher or both if you have enough players.
Coach side tosses to the batter. When she hits the balls, she runs through as many
bases as she can without getting out.
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Defensive team has to chase down the ball and cover whatever bases should be
covered and either stop the runner from advancing or get her out.
The offense gets a point for every base. If the runner gets out, she gets no points
regardless of how many bases she touched before getting out.
Once the runner is stopped and the play has ended, she leaves the base and gets
back in line to bat.
The teams switch sides after 5 runs (or whatever run limit you want to set) or 3 outs,
whichever comes first.
Balls to the fence - cut off game
Use this after you’ve giving instruction on using cut-offs
Divide players into 2 or 3 teams of 3 or 4 players each
Team 1 – plays right field and 2nd base for cut-off
Team 2 – plays center field and SS for cut-off
Team 3 - plays left field and 3rd base for cut-off
Place a ball bucket on home plate
Place a coach in the outfield with each team
At the same time, coaches will throw a ball to the fence in their area of the outfield
The outfielders run to the fence to get the ball and throw it to their cut-off
Cut-off players start the play in their regular position but then run to cut-off position to
receive the cut.
· Cut-off players then throw the ball to home and try to hit the bucket.
· Whoever gets the ball back to HP first wins a point
· Rotate the players on each team and run the drill several times to see which team gets
the most points.
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Ed Hong- Former MCGSA Coach
Relay line drill with two or three lines (depending on the size of the team)
Around the horn
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Players at every base
Start at home (catchers) to 2nd; 2nd to 3rd; 3rd to 1st; 1st to home;
Swap out players at each base with non-receivers doing backup
Baserunning - 5 stations
#1: lefthanded batter box: run through 1st base and breakdiown and look over
shoulder
#2: right handed batter box: running for a double and doing a banana turn, hit inside
corner of base and straight line to 2nd
#3: first base: going 1st to third with a banana turn, etc.
#4: second base: going 2nd to home with banana turn
#5: third base: simulate fly ball tag up and third base coach yells commands; runner
from 2nd tries to catch runner tagging up.
Barehanded Ground ball drill
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No gloves
Players at SS and 2B positions and start at the edge of the outfield grass
Coach rolls to player and fields with bare hands, fingers down, wide stance, etc.
and runs ball to bucket at 2nd base
Make a contest on who picks up the ball the closest to the pitching circle
Jessica Bilz – 12U Atlanta Flames – Bilz Coach
Throwing and Communication
- Split the girls up, half down the third base line and the other half in line with the
pitcher’s mound. With enough girls they should make it all the way down the field. Start
with a full bucket of balls at one end, and an empty bucket at the other end.
I will toss a ball to the first person in line (typically the play on home plate) they will
throw it to the person across from them, that player will throw it next to the player at
home plate and so on and so forth. The ball will make its way down the field to the
player standing next to the empty bucket and they will drop it in. Once the girls get the
hang of it you speed it up, add in calling out the players name before you throw the ball
to them.
Outfield
- No bat needed, player starts out in front of you(coach), player pushes and rotated
towards the left side and catches a ball, then pivots towards the right side and catches
another ball, then sprints in for a diving catch
Infield
- same concept, except roll the ball to the front hand to field, then back hand to field,
then sprint in to a diving catch.
Hitting
Extension drill
Using a tee the girls will swing and stop at full extension. (with their bats extended fully
toward centerfield/or a pitcher) When we are inside the goal is to drive the ball through
the middle of the pitchers Box on the black hanging tarp. You can also put a net or L
screen and the goal is to drive the ball up the middle.
- Many of our girls pull off the ball so this drill reminds them to get maximum extension
every swing.
Line Drive Drill
Split the player in half for teams. Front toss 5-10 balls to each player. The goal is to hit
line drives. Whichever team with the most wins. If the team is tied then each team
picks one person from there team to settle the score. Winning team doesn't' have to do
crunches.
Base running
First base Break Down Drill
We were able to pick up extra bases this year with this simple drill.
- A coach will be at first base and another coach will have a bucket of balls.
The players are lined up at home plate. The goal is to run through first base as hard as
you can then break it down and look to your right, if you see a ball overthrow, under
thrown, then you take off towards second, pick up your coach @ third, if the coaches
hands are up slide into second, if the coach is pointing at third base round second and
head to third.
Derek Porter – MCGSA Coach
1. "Blind" Pop up - one simple one I like to do is a pop up drill where you have the girl stand 2030 feet away with her back to the coach/parent. The coach tosses the ball up in the air and
says "go" simultaneously. The girls turns around at that point and must track and catch the
ball. I like this one because you can get parents/assistants to easily help with this one. You can
have several stations going on at the same time or have it set up in the corner of the outfield
and let kids rotate through. It is also very easy to tailor how high/far you throw the ball or
where you set up the girl to accommodate different skill levels. At the more advanced level
you can also teach proper drop step technique and throw the balls so that the girls will have to
cover some ground and even mix in hard grounders that the coach rolls.
2. "3 balls at third base" - I like to use this one as a "game" at the end of the practice to have
some friendly competition. Try to divide the girls into 2 groups that are equal. Put half the girls
at 3rd base with their glove on and the other half at home with their batting helmet. Put a
coach standing at second base with his/her glove to receive the throw. Set 3 balls up on the
third base line - first one about 5 ft from 3B, and then the next ball 5 ft closer to home and the
final ball 5 more feet closer to home. Have the fielder start at the standard 3B position and a
batter start in the batters’ box. The drill starts with a coach saying "go" and it is basically a race
to see if the person playing 3B can run forward and pick up each of the three balls (barehanded,
not with their glove since ball is not moving) in succession and make a good throw to 2B before
the runner can advance to second base. Rotate through each girl and keep score as to whether
the base runner or the fielder "won" and give them a point. Some coach discretion can be used
as to whether all 3 throws to 2B were good enough as well as if the base runner took the
appropriate turn/path (and stepped on 1B!) when advancing past 1B towards 2B. You can have
them go through a few times before you swap sides. You can also adjust the distance between
the 3 balls to make it competitive/fair. When things are balanced properly it should be a pretty
close play at 2B on that third throw. I find the girls really like ending the practice with this
one. It also does a good job of creating that "game time" feel because you have the pressure of
the advancing runner and any mishandling of the balls or bad throws will certainly allow the
base runner to be safe. I guess in 10U/8U you could position the infielder and the 3 balls more
in the SS area to make the throw distance to 2B more feasible - easy to adjust as needed. I
started doing this one in 12U and the girls loved it.
Ken Dishman – 14U Atlanta Flames Coach
Flamingo Game (Beginner)
- Player starts throwing progression by standing in a "T" formation with ball held at shoulder
height, with wrist in cocked position with thumb facing ground. She's "showing the ball to the
outfield" behind her.
- Next, she lifts up the knee of her "off leg" (righty thrower lifts her left knee, lefty lifts her right
knee), and keeps it lifted so she is standing balanced on one leg like a flamingo, while also
keeping glove pointed at target (or elbow of glove arm pointed at target).
- Then, as she begins to move her arm forward to throw the ball, she steps forward with the off
foot so that her weight shifts to forward foot just as she releases the ball, with toes of forward
foot pointed in direction of target.
- Bring glove hand back toward body to emphasize shoulder-hip-knee rotation. For righty, her
left shoulder, hip and knee point in direction of her target, and when she's done throwing, her
right shoulder, hip and knee should be facing her target as well.
Circle Game (probably 8U+)
- Players form a big circle, with each player having feet spread apart in "softball ready"
defensive fielding position. The outside of both feet should be touching the outside of her two
neighbors' feet.
- One ball is rolled to any player in the circle except either player standing next to the player
rolling the ball.
- The objective of the game is to roll the ball between a player's feet and have the ball go
outside the circle. If the ball is missed by a player, that player leaves the circle and the circle
tightens.
- The process continues until there are only two players left. They stand facing one another and
try to roll the ball through the other's legs. The winner can be awarded a prize, etc.
Star Game (probably 10U All-Star+)
This throwing game reinforces accuracy and communication. There is a player at each position
in the infield (doesn't matter whether they are at a position they usually play for this game).
Person at the plate starts with the ball and throws happen consecutively as follows:
1. C throws to SS (all players yell "SHORT" just prior to throw).
2. SS throws to 1B (all players yell "ONE" just prior to throw).
3. 1B throws to 3B (all players yell "THREE" just prior to throw).
4. 3B throws to 2B (all players yell "TWO" just prior to throw).
5. 2B throws to C (all players yell "HOME" just prior to throw).
Time the sequence to see if the girls can beat their top score.
VARIATION: Players can follow their throws and rotate positions, and the sequence can
continue until every girl is back at the position she started at.
Daren Boaz – MCGSA 12U Coach
1) Relay drill - split the team into 2 groups, one at home plate and the other at second. Then do
a relay race around the bases. They enjoy the competition and usually ask to do it 2 and 3
times.
2) Hitting drill - have all the girls line up near on deck circle with one at home plate. They only
get one pitch then rotate after they swing. I usually end practices with this and I keep them
moving rapidly. They seem to enjoy this a lot.
Kirk Hegwood – former MCGSA and Atlanta Flames Coach