Coaches Handbook Grade K-4
Coaches Handbook (Grade K-4)
Dynamic Warmup
- Marches on toes
- Butt kicks on toes
- Teeter totters
- Inchworms
- Walking lunge w. twists
- Arm circles
- Self hugs
- High knees
- Butt kicks
- Lateral slide w. touches
- Carioca
- Form runs
- One-knee warmup throws (15 ft, 25 ft)
- Stand and throw; extend out
Hand-Eye Drills
- Short hops
- Line tosses – underhand
- Line tosses – overhand
Infield Drills
- Bucket drills
- Straight on
- Forehand / Backhand
- Short hops
- Focus on using one hand
- Make it fun – form 2 groups and have them compete to see who can make the most plays in 1 minute
Outfield Drills
- Underhand fly ball tosses (younger kids)
- Drop step and run drills
- Left / Right
- Focus on running to spot, with glove down
- Cutoff / Relay throws
- Make it a race to see who can go through line 3x
Situations
- No one on base – throws to first base
- Runner on first – turn the double play
- First & second – get the force at third
- Runner on second – look the runner back, get the out at first
- First and third – hold the runner, get an out
- Bases loaded – play at the plate
- Put runners on base (w. helmets) to run
Field Bunts / Cover Bases / Teach Positions
- More advanced skill progression
Hitting Drills
- Batting tee
- Soft toss
- Front toss
- Focus on proper technique
- Proper hand position: line up mid-finger knuckles
- roper arm position: inverted “V”
- Weight over back foot, short stride with front foot
- Hip turn for power
- Downward plane (Top hand – Frisbee; Bottom hand – skipping stones)
- Hit ball out in front, off front foot
- Finish with full follow through
- Work on hitting in small groups. Do not have 12 kids standing around while 1 hits.
- Keep as many kids engaged as possible
Base Running
- Practice running through the base at 1st
- DO NOT run station to station – teach kids to round the bases and look for opportunities to advance
- Use base coaches and encourage kids to pick up 3B coach as they approach 2B
- Teach aggressive base running!