I tried something new!!

[wild man]

In all the years I have coached I have never had a team quite like the one I have now. It is Juniurs Level LL But about 5 of my players could play Travel ball, The rest of them have never played before so getting them all "in the groove" has been hard. They could not even take infield with out about 20 balls , Couldnt play catch, And looked what seemed worse and worse every game. I began haveing real doubts about my ability to coach at all.

I have always had a conditioning type warm up and am a pretty hard disiplinarian. Well if it doesent work try something Right? So last night I had them play a silly little keep away game for 15 minuets as a warm up. Man they were gassed, But giggley and acting plain silly at the end. BUT Batting practice went well wich has been our strong point . Then we did some fielding drills and they looked like a different team. We did some base running stuff and the same siliness ensued. Then we took infield, we only needed one Ball and only made ONE over throw at first.

Our game for tonite was cancelled but I really think things would have been different than most of the year. I lightend up and it did wonders for them. Guess Ill try a little more of that if I Coach any in the future.

 

[Coach Dad 01]

Just goes to show that it is a "GAME" and kids like to have fun......

Good luck Coach! I have always felt there is a time for discipline and a time to have fun! Just make sure you stay in charge and control the practice...

 

[barlowjames]

If you don't mind how did you set up the game? I'm similar in liking to focus on conditioning but am always looking for ways to hide it so the girls don't know what I'm doing.

Your game idea sounds great but I'm not understanding what you did.

 

[init4thegirls]

That's a much better approach in my opinion. I'd like to know how you set it up as well. Warm ups are the most chaotic time of our practice. I coach a 10-u team and warm ups turns in to goof off time very quickly. Then you get errant throws and players not paying attention. A girl in our 12-u league got her nose broken a few weeks ago from this type of thing. It scares me to death, I think a game could help keep them focused.

My high school coach was really overbearing and finally got fed up with us, or the other way around. We lost to one of the worst teams in our area and he "gave up." Told us we could wear shorts to practice and do whatever we wanted. Much to his surprise we lost 3 games the remainder of the season two of which we're in the state tournament. I think there is a lot to be said for the fun aspect of the game. Not many kids respond well to the tough love, disciplinarian approach. I think it leads to kids being scared to mess up, which leads to more mistakes.

 

[smallball]

I'm similar in liking to focus on conditioning but am always looking for ways to hide it so the girls don't know what I'm doing.

A stopwatch works wonders for this. Time them from H-H and sit back and watch as they want to keep going again and again to beat their previous times and/or teammates.

Another one I like is to put 3-5 balls about 10' apart up the third base line, and 3-5 balls about 10' apart up the first base line. The girls start on either base line and run back and forth, picking up the balls and throwing them to second. Time it and give a 5 second penalty for errant throws. Again, they usually want to keep going until they beat their times and/or their teammates.

I like doing these at the end of practice. More times than not they don't want to stop and when we do, they say things like, "Whew, that was fun, I'm tired."

Regarding the first 15 minutes of practice being chaotic, the coach getting frustrated, and practice going downhill from there, a few years ago I read somewhere (don't remember where) about the importance of the girls being allowed to socialize with each other before practice. It's been my experience that when they aren't allowed this time, they'll take the opportunity to do it during warm ups. I now plan for 15 minutes of socializing. Sometimes it means scheduling practice 15 minutes before I really plan on starting it; sometimes it means scheduling warm ups that allow them to socialize without getting hurt. It has worked out well so far.

 

[wild man]

Sorry about taking so long to reply. What I did was really simple. I gave them a tennis ball, devided them up into two teams, Then gave one team the ball. The rules of the game were simple, Tag the girl with the ball and it is turned over to the other team, She can throw it to another teammate to avoid being tagged. It can be intercepted by the othe team if they can. If it goes to the ground its a free for all. At the end of 15 min. who has the ball wins. They had a great time and did not care who won.

Acually I have a lot of fun drills that I came up with myself that I havent used in a while. I think that the biggest mistake a real seasoned Coach like me makes is being too darn serious about winning and being too tight at practice.

Coaching is just like playing you have to learn and then re-learn. Getting stuck in a rut is a real problem for some Coaches. I want them to do well but in the end it is still just a game.