What is the drill? Jumping through a moving hula hoop. Variation one: jump through the hoop and grab the hoop before it stops rolling. Variation two: jump through the hoop as many times as you can before it stops rolling. Variation three: jump through the hoop, throw a ball (or kick a ball, hit a ball, or catch a ball), and then grab the hoop before it stops rolling. What does it work on? The hula hoop drill works on timing, coordination, speed, jumping ability, diving ability, and the strength to quickly get back up after hitting the ground. In sports, players need to know how to fall/catch t ..read more

What is the drill? Ping pong paddle coordination drill manipulating the ping pong ball in various ways. ·         Bounce ball on paddle ·         Front and back of paddle ·         Hand to hand What does it work on? Hand eye-coordination, visual tracking, catching ability, fielding ability, and ability to make contact with moving balls. The ability to coordinate our movements and move efficiently is imperative in any sport. If players want the ability to make difficult plays ..read more

What is the drill? The 5 10 5 shuttle sprint drill is a three-cone speed drill where the cones are placed five yards apart from each other in a straight line. Players start at the center cone (generally facing the cone with their chest), sprint five yards to the right or left and touch the cone, then sprint 10 yards to the farthest cone and touch it, then finally sprint back through the center cone to finish (do not stop at the cone, sprint past it). Be sure to sprint both directions when starting, for example, if you were doing two 5 10 5 shuttle sprints, the first one you would sprint to the ..read more

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1PTg2gFoLA for a video demonstration. What is the drill? Barehand Slaps are infield drills for baseball that develop hand eye coordination and infield fundamentals. Bare hand slaps also work great for any sport/position that requires hand eye coordination to field, stop, or return a bouncing, shot, or rolled ball such as hockey goalies, soccer goalies, lacrosse goalies, hand ball players, cricket players, tennis players, etc. To perform the drill, you have either a partner or a wall. Your partner can initially roll the ball and progress to bouncing the ball ..read more

As coaches and as parents we need to realize that children are just children- not future sport superstars. It’s important to understand that we need to cultivate a love for physical fitness and activity throughout life. And that we equip these children with not just baseball skills but athleticism skills to help everyone enjoy leisure sport for a lifetime.  We need to create practices that motivate kids to try their hardest (no matter their starting skill level), work towards team/ individual goals (with the help of affirmations, visualization/ imagery, and routines), and focus on doing w ..read more

Limit the instruction and let kids try the task As coaches we need to rethink our primary objective. It is not to teach kids how to perform a skill but to give them a properly structured task where their body can naturally perform the skill. The body is smart. The majority of the time, given a properly structured task, kids will perform the drill properly and in the most powerful position possible for their body at this stage in development. As coaches we can step in when a movement is obviously wrong, but we must stop “over coaching”. There are many ways to get the same outcome and kids will ..read more

Athleticism: a solid foundation of fundamental movement patterns and naturally combining those movements into complex sport skills. When first playing sports- fun play based activities that focus on efficient movement and coordination are much more important than sport specific skills. Giving the athlete a deep understanding of their own body through a variety of simple movement patterns, coordination drills, speed drills, strength, and mobility drills will set them up for success. As players mature and become mentally and physically capable they can combine these tools into the complex moveme ..read more

In most sports including baseball athletes will have to stop and start, change direction, and will almost never run 100 meters straight in one all out sprint. But the 100 meter sprint is a good teacher and example of the different phases an elite sprinter will enter.   The first 3 phases of reaction, clearance, and drive occur within the first 10 meters. The drive phase continues from 10 to 20 meters The acceleration phase occurs from 20 to 40 meters The top speed phase occurs from 10 to 50 meters The speed maintenance phase occurs once top speed is reached until just past the finish line ..read more