PRACTICE WITH A PLAN & A PURPOSEBrenda Holaday

Washburn Rural High School

Planning During Off-Season

• Meet with returning players – give them a focus for the off-season

• Select team leaders and share expectations

• Allow them to share ideas for team building, workouts, theme ideas, etc.

• Team leaders must help set goals and buy in to the work that must be done to accomplish them.

Planning Practices

• After tryouts, work backwards from date of first game.

• Make a list of things you must practice before you are game ready.

• Fit these into your practices as they make sense.

Assistant Coaches

• They must be involved in the planning

• Give your coaches responsibility and hold them accountable for those things.

• Give them season responsibilities, practice responsibilities and game responsibilities.

• The more involved your coaches are, the more successful your program will be.

All Practices Have These Components

• Pre-practice warm up• Position specific work• Stations to develop skill sets• Core defense by groups (IF, OF, P/C)• Offensive stations• Offensive/Defensive execution• Live defense w/baserunning

Pre-Practice Warm up

• Led by team captains

• Stretching, running

• Catch, long toss

Position Specific Work• Focus for the day for each position• 5-7 minutes• Examples:

Pitchers – (fast arms, spins, fielding the bunt)

Catchers – (blocking, pop ups, throw downs)

Corners – (short hops, bunts, foul balls)

Middles – (exchanges, back hands, quick release)

Outfield – (sun balls, fence balls, crow hops, angles)

Stations to Develop Skill Sets• Includes all players, divided into three groups• Three stations a day, one coach per station• 15 minutes total, 5 minutes per station

• Examples:

Extension drill Dive and reach

Over the shoulder Target throws

Fast hands Short infield

Hot box Two ball drill

Field 3 Bunting

Core Defense By Groups• Assign a coach to each group (rotate or don’t)• 15 minutes each day• Have a particular focus every day for each group

• Examples:

Pitchers – stride, spots, counts, particular pitch

Catchers – framing, receive/release

Infield – accuracy, quickness, drop step, bunts

Outfield – angles, ground balls, one hop throws

Offensive Stations• 3 stations, one coach per group• 30-40 minutes total, 10-13 minutes per station• Don’t just hit, what is your focus/purpose

• Examples:

Tennis balls – focus on staying back

Tunnel hitting – drive ball to back of tunnel

Tees – weighted balls, outside pitch, balance

Front toss – 5 pitches at a time with a focus

Live hitting – with a count, use limits on this

Offensive Execution• Pick a focus for the day and practice live execution. • Give limited opportunities (5 pitches per at bat)

• Examples:

Live bunting (sac, base hit, squeeze)

Hitting behind runners

Hit and run

Fly ball to score the run

Defensive Execution• Pick a focus for the day and practice live execution.• Build repetitions for this

• Examples:

Defending the bunt, slap, squeeze

Using cuts w/live base runners

Run downs

Covering steals

1st/3rd plays

Pop flies between infield/outfield

Live Defense w/Baserunning• We do this every day, at the end of the day• Favorite part of practice for everyone• Build a mind set that our defense is the most important

part of our game• Create a different focus each day of week

• Examples:

Play 21, keep track of errors

Switch every 3 outs, 10 seconds to change

Take the extra base, points for your team

Run for errors when errors are made

Practice with Purpose

• Coaches take notes in practice and games• Points of emphasis/improvement• Give players homework – (example)• Listen to asst. coaches/team captains• Use practice to imitate games, both in execution and emotion

• Take the time needed to plan good practices• I use about 30 minutes (lunch or 7-7:30)

Why is planning important?• If you don’t know where you are headed, how do you

know when you have arrived at your destination?

• This is why we have team/individual goals

• It is our job as coaches to develop a plan to make sure we have a chance to reach our destination.

Sample Practice Schedule

Use same format every day

Share the schedule with assistants/players

Stick to the schedule

Quality vs. Quantity (rarely go over 2 hours)

Most of conditioning is built into practice

We hustle in everything we do

Self-imposed consequences

Clean up schedule