Stations vs Position Work

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Dec 11, 2010
4,713
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Ideally, BTW, you don't run a station. You constantly go from station to station instructing. Parents on the field are not coaches; they put balls on tees or throw or reinforce what YOU TELL THEM.
This is what dd’s coach did. He was pretty good at explaining the point of every station to whoever was running it.

Most of the parents were rec ball coaches from the various small towns the kids came from.

Another interesting thing- the coaches felt they had less parent drama because every kid had a parent helping at practice and they felt that it forced people to get along better.

I will say that this coach was a great communicator. I think that’s part of why it worked. I don’t know if I could pull it off or not.

I wish o.p. the best of luck and urge patience. Being on the right track is great but it might take awhile to get the bugs worked out.
 
Mar 28, 2020
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Everyone knows better than the coach......do what you think is best.....those who believe they can do better will break off an form thier own team....and its starts all over again
 
May 20, 2015
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totally doing it right

i prefer a small group of INF and a bucket full of balls - rolled ground balls, working on attack/approach, footwork, transfer, throw....repeat......give me a bucket and a line of 4 and i can get them more quality reps in 10 min then they'd get in 5+ practices of standing in lines for "real" grounders off a bat......and those rolled reps DO translate into gameplay......this year i was able to watch girls that played travel for me on multiple HS teams and multiple travel teams, no that we are no more......and to a "T" they are fundamentally stronger than most we see

others are on the right track in saying at your level, focus on outs at 1st and cuts to 2b first.....the rest will come when they are ready

at 10u i did the same thing - pulling parents out to run stations, if i could, i'd have enough parents & coaches to make it all work and i would "roam" - making sure stations are run right, providing feedback (and making sure my volunteers were giving the RIGHT feedback).......if you can avoid giving yourself a station, do it......this ends up making everyone else more productive and ensures you're getting what you want out of it

one thing we always did was situational at the end of every practice.....sometimes it might be 2-3 sequences of 3 outs, other times it might be 20-30 minutes......i'd announce the situation, "top of the order, no one on, no one out" and we'd ghost runner our way through the inning......eventually i'd whisper to the catcher and she'd call out the situation.....it's a great teaching tool, you can tell them ahead of time where the plays are, and you control where the ball goes........and there's plenty to dissect after....and it forces the girls to think pre play.....and if you have enough kids, you can add in baserunners, and have coaches working baserunning while you're working defense


but i'd still make the station type work 80+% of my day at your level........every play requires a catch or two or three and a throw or two or three.......if your defense can't field a ball and make a throw to first, at the very least, nothing else happens


too many coaches spend too much time with kids waiting in lines, and too much time listening to themselves talk (because at some point everyone else has stopped listening)

there's ALWAYS ways to make everything better, and increasing reps and eliminating wait time and limiting instruction time is always a good thing.......and if you can combine things like conditioning INTO a productive drill, all the better (can you tell I'm a PE teacher haha)

we always liked having 3-4 girls in a line at each base.......first girl in line at each base is on the bag, coach on the mound "pitching"....on release they take their lead.....i'd either yell back/go or nothing.......if it was go i might tell them to slide/round it/keep going.......we'd do this for 5-10 minutes tops, very dynamic, as soon as the player ahead of you clears, you're on the bag, ready to go.........it got them to work on lead on release, getting back to the bag, making a read on the ball, breaking for the next bag, sliding, rounding a base, going (2) (baserunning) all while conditioning - and i could add things in like making a read on an imaginary flyball (halfway, then go or back), i could yell at them to tag, then go......it was all very dynamic, worked some situational things, got conditioning in (trust me, they needed the wait time on this one).....and they learned a ton of softball in a short time..........find ways to get this sort of thing worked in, and you should be able to "placate" the "must learn game situation" crowd without abandoning your skills-based approach, which i feel to be totally correct

bottom line, keep doing what you're doing, it's your team......if parents don't like how you practice, close practices ;) or restrict them to the OF.......this is about you and your girls, and you're doing it right......the coach that tries to make everyone happy is the ineffective coach; you're going to have to break some eggs
 
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Jun 27, 2021
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Have a detailed practice plan to maximize time. From opening talk, stretches, throwing (long toss),glove skills, footwork on bags/fundamentals, to group breakouts and hitting both live and stations. Running bases during BP is ideal if taken seriously by runners.

Give your assistant coaches a group to take ownership of during practice and value their input. Use games as what to take time to incorporate next practice during situations. This game is easy once you learn it, but it takes experiences and reps to get there.
 
Jan 31, 2011
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Sounds like you have a great plan and approach! If you can get the parents to follow your lead and keep them busy all the better! This is just me but I try and run this drill (Mike Candrea has plenty of stuff on YouTube) with instruction. 1) Attack the ball, 2) stay low, bend at the knees, and 3) field the ball out in front... You can add more complicated techniques as they develop.

Still too much standing around? Split the team into two groups - Infield & Outfield. After about 10 minutes, rotate! Then rotate again if you have time. Keep the kids hopping or they get bored and you lose them.
 
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May 1, 2018
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I have been coaching a long time and I run it similar to what you are describing. Girls doing tee work, then soft toss, then face live pitching, One girl feeding then that girl hitting before rotating.
I would suggest doing "team buidling" drills. So it's the whole team moving the ball not just hitting to SS and they throw to 1. I'll call out number 4,2,1,3 Then hit the ball and they go home, second, first, third, back to home. mix it up.... doesn't always have to make sense but they are throwing and catching....which is a HUGE part of the game that is lacking in younger ages.
 
Jun 27, 2021
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I ran this with my baseball team years ago, fast pace everyone moving. Mike Candreas video was how we started practice as a team before we broke up into groups. After that it was broken down into group work/situations and then team situations. All done in about 30-45 mins.
 

Strike2

Allergic to BS
Nov 14, 2014
2,044
113
Good practices have lots of reps, and the most reps come with stations. Hitting practice should use stations regardless of age. Early field practices at younger ages should involve lots of station work. At older ages, it's often larger group drills rather than several individual stations.

Yes, you need help, but not too much, and the right kind. You need people who will teach what YOU want taught. The best coaches are benevolent dictators; cordial, engaging, willing to listen to good ideas, but willing to make a decision and enforce it. At any level, there should have no confusion about who is in charge. If you show weakness or indecision, stronger personalities will inevitably feel the need to step in.

After basics are learned, it's also important to progress to focused infield / outfield work, and then setting a defense. Hit balls, talk about situations, and go over what will happen during a game. Lots can be learned there.
 
Jun 20, 2015
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you can get many more reps with INF with rolled balls. And work with 1b for proper footwork etc. OR accuracy with throws by using a bownet if short on players. And can place bownet closer to limit players really needing to fire the ball if on limited throwing program.

stations work much better to keep all engaged and working. It is a little like trying to herd cats with the younger ages.
 

444

Nov 5, 2021
29
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I started coaching this year because growing up, and watching my daughter, it's always bugged me how horrible (in my mind) practices were run. Growing up playing baseball usually we would have one, or at best, 2 lines of kids doing a drill for 10 minutes then we would switch to the next drill, followed by 45 minutes to an hour standing in positions doing nothing as one kid got a ball every 20 seconds or so. I remember the bad players would be bad forever. They would still catch wrong after 3 years of playing. Because no one taught them.


i wish my kids had you. i would pay double to get you coaching them. Skills matter.

We have a high school soccer coach who wins state very frequently, gets a ton of kids to play next level. Why?
Most kids that get to him have no skills. They just had success playing.

Most of his practices are just passing so kids get to touch the balls 200-300 times in a practice. Since soccer 90% of the action is passing.
Some of the parents flipped in the beginning wondering why their kids were just working passing. He didn't budge, and now hes a local hero.

Your doing the same for baseball. Lots of quality reps.

nice job, seriously wish we had you.
 

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