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Practice With A Plan & A Purpose. Brenda 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.
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Practice With A Plan & A Purpose Brenda 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