Youth Baseball Training - Pitching Drills for Little Leaguers

Youth Baseball Training - Pitching Drills for Little Leaguers
By guest author: Jake Wyatt

In youth baseball training, the coach shouldn't wait until problems develop to use pitching drills. Pitching baseballs should be practiced all the time to promote good pitching habits and fundamentals. Here are some pitching drills that can be used by Little League coaches.

Before beginning pitching drills, you must know pitching mechanics. The type of pitching drills and number of throws depends on the age and strength of the player. Every coach should teach the mechanics first. This will be boring for the players but the coach must require proper mechanics of all his pitchers to prevent injuries.

Here are some great pitching drills for young players:

1. Balance Drill. This involves the pitcher "playing ball" from the mound, to get the feel of compensating for the slope of the mound. Have a "catcher" set up in front of the plate, giving a good target to the pitcher. Since the distance is shorter, the pitcher can work on his mechanics while not using his arm as much. This drill helps reinforce the wind up and throw, with balance, while throwing strikes.

2. Stay-closed Drill. This is another drill that helps reinforce good mechanics. Again, the catcher will position himself six or so feet in front of home plate. After warming up, have the pitcher stand sideways on the mound with his feet spread the approximate width of his stride. Next, have the pitcher shift his weight to his back foot to throw the ball to the catcher. You want the pitcher to develop good tempo by smoothly transferring his weight from back to front. The goal of this drill is to make sure the pitcher's head stays on line with the target and to have his head down as he finishes the pitch (have him take his hat off and pick it up at the end of the drill to reinforce this). The goal is to throw efficiently, not hard, in this drill.

3. On-your-knee Drill. This drill reinforces the hip and trunk rotation needed for a mechanically correct delivery. Have a right-handed pitcher place his right knee on the ground, with his left shoulder closed and pointing toward the catcher. Have the catcher set up in front of the plate to make the drill easier. Have the pitcher "rock back" and throw the ball. Make sure the pitcher keeps his head in line and finishes the delivery properly. This drill is good for developing curve balls and changeups.

Making pitching drills part of your regular practices will improve your team's pitching consistency and help prevent injuries as well!

In order to be the best possible baseball player, training should happen year-round and be a joint effort between the coach, the player and the parents. Get more free tips to improve baseball performance, reviews of e-products related to baseball, and links to training resources at http://youth-baseball-training.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jake_Wyatt

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Baseball Drills - Staying Motivated While You Practice

Baseball Drills - Staying Motivated While You Practice
By guest author: Nate Barnett

One of the biggest challenges a coach faces is to successfully instill a long-term motivation and vision in practice during the typical lengthy baseball season. It's not uncommon for a high school player to spend February through August doing baseball drills, workouts, training, and of course participating in games. So the question must be asked, how can you create a sense of urgency and long-term focus during the hundreds of hours of baseball drills throughout the season?

This is where goals come into play. Though I will say, be careful how you use the term "goals", the reaction of your athletes may be less than excited. I prefer the term, "road map". Whether it be to play in high school, college, or professionally, you will be much more likely to find your athletes will perform the baseball drills and workouts you create efficiently if you help them continually expand their road map. Without a clear and defined road map, you'll end up wasting a lot of practice time and will most certainly find it tough to help your players stay motivated throughout the duration of the season.

I'm sure you've agreed with me thus far that a road map creation process is vital to the success to an athlete. But let me give you one tangible and practical way to help enlarge the thinking of your players.

Think of it this way. If the goal is to get to the Big Leagues, there are some serious rewards that come with the title of Big Leaguer. One of the benefits of course is economic. Lets say a talented and successful player makes one million dollars annually playing professionally. Broken down over a career of practicing and working hard on baseball drills, that's about 20 grand per practice! Obviously it largely depends on the age of the athlete whose dream is to play in the Bigs, but I'm sure you can do the math and figure out the amount of money per practice. Have the athlete deposit the money in his mental bank account only if he's worked hard during his practice.

The mind is an amazing thing. Help your athletes develop it so they may achieve their full potential.

Nate Barnett is owner of The Pitching Academy and improves the mental game of baseball in athletes. Help your game by improving your pitching.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nate_Barnett

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