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Published: July 2009
Categories: Infield Defense Game Day Outfield Defense
Type: drill
Purpose: The first purpose of the drill is to get additional body warm-up and running in during a warm-up period and get the body ready to play. The main purpose of the drillhowever,istogetaplayertolocateaballintheairatthelastsecondandadjust her body and speed to make the catch. it is great for outfielders but also very good for infielders. all players on the team participate in the drill, including pitchers and catchers.
Explanation: We try to follow the KiSS formula (Keep it Simple Stupid), but this drill can be modified in infinite ways to adapt to any particular coach’s needs.
The drill is done every practice and during warm-ups before every game and before throwing and hitting warm-ups. if we only have one coach available, then we use one line; if two coaches are available then we use two lines for double the work out.
The key to the drill is execution and timing.The ball is not thrown on a line drive but in a looping throw like a high fly to the outfield or pop up over the infielder for a bloop hit over the infield. a player must, while running, at the last second locate a ball already in the air and then adjust her body position and speed to make the catch. The player cannot be allowed to look back to the coach at any time or try to locate the ball until the command “Break” is given.
For explanation purposes, I will use just one line. Players line up in a single line beside the coach. Each player has a ball. The first player in line hands the ball to the coach and starts running full speed straight away from the coach. On the first sequence, the players are told that they will break left on command of “Break.” On the second sequence, they will break to their right on the command of “Break.” On the third sequence, they will run straight and will not look back,but on the command of “Break”they will look up and locate a ball that had been thrown over their head and catch it with their back still to the coach and running away from the coach. The last one is extremely difficult and they will miss it the first couple of times, but eventually they will learn to make this catch also. after the catch, the player returns to the end of the line of players by the coach.
You can run each sequence as many times as you like.The key to the drill is timing and execution. The coach must challenge each player by throwing an arching loop, and a well-timed throw can make each player go all out or even dive to catch a ball.The coach can also adjust the throw to accommodate the skill level of each individual player, but still challenge them and make each individual player stretch her limitations.