COACHES RESPONSIBILITES. Coach all 12 players on your roster. Teach discipline and respect. Set team rules.

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1 RWLL COACHES CLINIC 2017

2 COACHES RESPONSIBILITES Coach all 12 players on your roster. Fun equates into success Build confidence in all players. Be positive in your coaching style. Teach discipline and respect. Set team rules. Delegate responsibilities to the other parents. Be organized and always have a written practice plan. HAVE SOME FUN! A team having fun is usually a team that is winning! Set up an easy way to communicate to the whole team.

3 CARE OF PLAYERS HEALTH Have a set written warm up routine for your team. Encourage kids to wear long sleeves, layer and dress accordingly PITCHING STAFF: Have a good practice plan for getting your young pitchers arms strong and ready for the season opener. 1. First week two 20 pitch bullpens plus long toss 2. Second week...two 30 pitch bullpens plus long toss 3. Third week two 40 pitch bullpens plus long toss COLD WEATHER ALERT. Be careful with arms early in the season. Do not run your pitcher up to 85 in his first start. Set conservative pitch limits before the game and stick to them. Increase pitch count as season progresses and weather warms SORE ARMS VS INJURIES? Ask where they are experiencing pain/stiffness? General rule: If the player points at a specific area, notify the parents about it. If the player points at a larger area, encourage rest and check it out at the next practice. Always error on the side of caution. #1 cause of injury to young arms is OVERUSE. TREATMENTS FOR SORE ARMS REST ICE AND/ OR HEAT CORRECT Pitching motion is the best way to save arms

4 PRACTICE PLANNING Have a written practice plan, Hand out to assistant coaches. Wear a watch; keep to your written plan as best as possible. Always start on time and always end on time. SAMPLE PRACTICE PLAN: 1. Warm up: 10 minutes for stretching and 5 minutes for throwing 2. Running drills: 10 minutes (limitless base running situations) Some examples: Thru first first to second work on your turns at the bases. Thru second second to home Thru third tag up or pass balls from third. Around the horn 3. OF/IF with the whole team: 15 minutes (for the brave manager!) 4. Stations: 5-10 minutes and rotate keep the attention of your players. Number of stations will depend on how many helpers you have. Examples of stations are groundballs, flyballs, tee work, front toss, live hitting, etc. great way to get quality reps. 5. End practice with a team competition: The key to a successful year! This creates game type pressure in practice and the kids love it! Always hold a post practice/ game wrap up meeting Leave the kids WANTING MORE! QUALITY VS QUANTITY

5 Catchers SKILLS AND DRILLS CATCHERS: The forgotten position when it comes to coaching your team. This is often one of the most important positions you will fill while setting your line-up. In Select baseball, a good catcher will limit stolen bases and passed balls. Catching thrown strikes or near strikes will often lead to a strike call from the umpire. SBA s absolutes on little league catching are below. 1. Receiving the ball: A good stance is with the feet shoulders width apart and the toes pointed slightly outward. Glove positioning should be with the fingers pointed to the sky and the glove arm slightly extended to give a good target. Keep your eyes on the ball! Always give a good target! Beat the ball to the spot are all good tips on catching the baseball. 2. Blocking the ball: The key to successfully blocking balls in the dirt is ANTICIPATION. Cutting the distance between where the catcher is and where the ball bounces enables the ball to bounce off the chest protector. Gaining ground shortens the hop and creates a better angle. Checklist: Knees: Get both knees to the ground. Glove: The catcher should lead with the glove and cover the hole between his legs with both the glove and bare hand. Elbows: The ability to flare one s elbows out creates a bigger target for the ball to hit. Chin: The chin should go directly to the chest. Eyes: Once the ball is knocked down the catcher must keep his eyes open to locate the ball as fast as possible to hold runners from advancing. Note to coaches: pick your poison You are very limited in your time at practice so if you can get a catcher to receive balls and block errant pitches you are miles ahead! Throwing runners out is a bonus! CHECK OUT SBA S YOU TUBE CHANNEL FOR DANNY CAVANAUGH TEACHING NUMEROUS CATCHING DRILLS!

6 SBA S CATCHING DRILLS 1. DRILLS FOR RECEIVING BALLS: Tennis ball drill: Have your catcher in a receiving position and throw tennis balls to him. You can go bare hand, instruct to catch with three fingers, two fingers, or with a glove on. As the young catcher gets better, move back and increase the velocity. Wall drill: Have the catcher face a wall (5 from wall) with the coach directly behind him. Throw the tennis ball off the wall and let the catcher react and catch it. (Bare hand and glove). Baseball drill: Throw baseballs and instruct the catcher to stick it Hold the glove for the umpire to call ball or strike. This can transfer into our blocking drills by occasionally throwing balls in the dirt so the catcher needs to drop and block. The catcher must now read the angle of the ball to ANTICIPATE where the ball is going and if it will be in the air or on the ground. 2. DRILLS FOR BLOCKING BALLS: Tennis ball or baseball blocking drills: Have your catcher put his hands behind his back and throw one hops at him. He now has to use his chest protector and face mask to knock balls down. With a glove on draw a circle out in front of home plate and throw balls in the dirt. The goal is to block the ball (not catch it) and keep it in the circle. As the catchers get more confident change to baseballs and begin ramping up the velocity to game speed. Three ball drill: Lay out three balls approximately 2-3 apart and have the catcher start at the middle one. He needs to drop and block the ball on the ground showing good technique. You can use all sorts of variables on this one. Have him start at the end and go up and down the row of balls. You can also point at which ball you want him to block. This is good for technique and conditioning. Live catching: Have your catchers catch bullpens and BP whenever you can and instruct them to go GAME SPEED! Act like you have the winning run on 3 rd base. Check out SBA s YOU TUBE Channel for examples of drills!

7 Common Pitching PROBLEMS and FIXES Presented by Nic Evanson: Head Pitching SBA The number one flaw I see in pitchers whether it be an 8-year-old or one of my college clients, is the lack of initial hip drive. The other flaw I commonly see is weak front sides. The following drills are my go to drills when attempting to either address these flaws or fix them. 1. Hips Through the Wall (Creates powerful initial hip drive) Have your pitchers set up 6-10 inches away from a wall. Go into a balanced lift position. The first couple of times push their back hip forward having just their front hip hit the wall. After a couple with your assistance have them attempt on their own. Only the front hip should be hitting the wall, while shoulders and body are staying back with head in a centered balanced position facing wall. 2. Hover and Drive (With and Without Assistance) Pitcher starts in balanced position with front leg dangling a few inches off the ground and hands together. Coach will push either back knee or back hip straight towards the target creating the initial hip drive movement practiced in Hips Through the Wall. Pitcher then separates on push and throws strike. After a few are done with coach pushing, have players hold balance for 3 seconds and then have them create push off themselves. 3. Hop and Go Pitcher begins in balanced lift position. Hop forward as far and as powerfully as possible, landing on same back leg you jumped from. Once pitcher lands, drive powerfully towards plate and throw a strike. 4. Rocker 1 and 2 Pitcher starts in 2/3 stride position with arms in equal opposite position or together. Pitcher will rock weight forward then back shifting hips not shoulders. Drive off back leg first working glove to front of chest not pulling glove in avoiding a flying open front side. Finish with back leg driving up and over while back is flattening out to strong position on a stable firm front leg. ***All drills can be found on SBA s you tube channel***

8 HITTING SKILLS AND DRILLS Cody Hastings, SBA s lead hitting instructor Goal: The goal for young hitters is to be in an athletic position to be able to hit the ball consistently. Below is Cody s FOUR absolutes for hitting a baseball hard. Hand path: Start with hands high and go directly to the ball. Once contact is made the player must push their hands through the ball and finish high. Drills: -High tee -Finish high drill -Two tee drill Hip Fire: Start by loading the weight back into the backside and firing the hips through the swing. Finishing with the hips fully rotated and the back heel up. Drills: -Hip fire drill -Hand resistance drill -Step back drill Hard Swing: Simply put if you swing hard you will hit the ball hard. Mechanics don't work unless the swing is hard. Drills: -Relaxed swing -Hear the bat swings -Weighted bat swings "Swing as hard as you can just in case you make contact" -Babe Ruth Head on the ball: Single most important thing a hitter can do. If you can't see the ball you can't hit it. Watch the ball all the way from the pitchers hands to the contact point and finish with the head down over the plate. Drills: -Head down drill -Head and hands to contact -Spin or knuckle -Two ball drill **All drills can be found on the Sammamish Baseball Academy YouTube channel

9 2017 TEAM RAINY DAY PASS Trying to give your Little League team the competitive edge? Buy SBA s rainy day pre-paid pass. Enjoy steep discounts on your indoor training time! Either supplement your outdoor practices with a weekly indoor practice or have the pass in case you get rained out. The number one problem with impromptu indoor training is collecting the $$$ from all the parents and wondering if you will get the whole team to show. This eliminates the headache by dividing the amount equally with all parents at the beginning of the season. All packages must be completed by June practice Pack: $ plus tax (30% off) 5 - practice Pack: $ plus tax (40% off) 7 - practice Pack: $ plus tax (50% off) Wow only $55 per hour! Each practice is 1.5 hours long and includes the following: Team area includes 2 cages which includes a mound and an Atec pitching machine. Add an SBA instructor for $100 per hour. To purchase your team s Rainy Day Pass Please contact (425) or us at info@sbabaseballacademy.com Buy on-line at