10u practices

[Diamond Dirt]

I am coaching 10u rec and would like advice on running a productive practice. what's best to work on? more hitting or more defense? what drills are good? how do i keep them focused for practice? any good videos that anyone could recommend would be great. Thanks in advance!!!

[Bleacher Mom]

Keep them busy. You will loose them if they are standing around waiting for something to happen. Have lots of different stations. Batting- have a tee station and a soft toss. Have several work on throwing mechanics. You get the picture. You will need help from other parents to keep it moving.

[softball_parent]

Make sure all the girls get to practice at multiple different positiions. Have them all do infield drills and all d outfield drills, play games that increase their skills, split the team into 2 groups and have skill competitions and them split into 2 different groups and have competitions. Keep them constantly moving and keep it very fun. A wonderful experience may determine their future.

[Tucson]

There are many books available now, on softball skills. Look on Amazon.com.

[Judd]

http://www.catchingcamp.com

He has a good video on training catchers

Like stated, keep them busy, do different stations such as T, soft toss, rapid fire drills, pop ups, infield drills. Run each station 10-15 minutes and rotate. Have 3-4 girls at each station. Then maybe some situational practice at the end. Theres quite a few sites to get drills from

If you dont have coaches, recruit some parents and spend a couple minutes showing them the drill and how you want it done, what would be wrong etc.

You will probably find the girls need work at all levels and all you can do is chip away at it and teach them. Just remember its rec and you are there to teach them

[SoCalFP]

Break the team down into small groups to perform drills (stations). Obtain some assistance from parents to run/monitor the drills, but first make sure the parent knows what you want to accomplish in the drill and the correct mechanics for performing the drill, so they can correct. Have these parents and your assist coaches run the drills, so you can move between them to see that they are being conducted correctly. NEVER, NEVER have your team playing defensive positions while you are pitching batting practice to players. End each practice with a fun game involving the entire team that requires use of softball skills.

[DonnieS]

Take the kids as a group to go see some top level softball, maybe a very good highschool or if you are fortunate enough to have a good D1 program locally, take the kids to see that. We took a day off after 3 weeks of practice (we are talking 10u) and took the kids that wanted to go over to see our local D1 team play, ours is Texas A&M Corpus Christi, the Islanders. It was pretty intense for the kids but it was awesome. Afterward there was an pizza party that we went to and got to meet the players and coaches. I think its great for the young ones to see their positions being played by the best and see what they are working for.