Playing Catch Practice

Description - Playing Catch Practice

Playing catch properly is the foundation of the game. This is the most important part of the day. Often it is reduced to lazy, screwing around time; we want to change the culture of this part of practice, immediately, Day 1. 

Legendary, Hall of Fame Player, Cal Ripken Jr. is quoted as saying, “I can go to a kids game, watch the two teams play catch, and tell you who is going to win”.

The routine below is not simply, “Go Down the Right Field Line and Play Catch”.

This is a 15-20 minute Routine that covers:

• Batting Skills

• Throwing & Pitching Skills

• Catching Skills

• Cleaning picking a ball up, Relay Footwork, Receiving a Throw at a Base, applying a tag, then embedding the habit of leaving the base to ‘Look for Other Runners

‘Playing Catch Practice’ replaces the traditional ‘warm-up’ with an activity that we elevate to ‘Drill’ status.  Instead of sending the kids out to toss the ball back and forth to get loose before practice we organize a structured activity that has specific points of focus throughout.

The activity has four parts (5 minutes each; coach may choose to vary the times. parts 1, 2 & 4 can often be completed in less than 5 minutes):

        Part 1 ‘No Bat’ & ‘No Ball’ Drills 5 minutes

        Part 2    Pitching Practice 5 minutes

        Part 3    Position Player Throwing and Receiving 5 minutes

        Part 4   Skills 5 minutes

This ‘Drill’ requires strict policing by the Head Coach (this is the most important activity of the day), making sure the kids are executing their actions correctly. 

Enforcement involves stopping the drill, reminding the players of the focus point(s) of the activity and then re-starting the drill.  In the first few practices of the year this can occur 5-6+ times (most of the stopping and starting is during ‘Position Player Throwing and Receiving’).

Assistance from the other coaches and any adults that are hanging around the practice field is critical.

Their role is to get a new ball into the hands of any kid who misses a throw, so that player (and their partner) can immediately continue working on their skill development. – Chasing overthrown balls eats up a large chuck of baseball and softball practices. We want our kids, in every activity during practice to spend their time building skills, not chasing after missed throws.

SET UP:

Kids find a throwing partner and set up in two rows of six; one throwing partner in the front row, one in the back, behind their partner.

DRILL:

Batting ‘No Bat’ Drills, followed by Pitching/Throwing ‘No Ball’ Drills

(Days 1-3) [possibly plug in, from time to time, during the season for review and to solidify habits]

Prior to the players breaking out to Play Catch (Pitching Practice, followed by Position Player Throwing) have them Move Their Feet to Catch a couple times in each direction (takes 30 seconds)

Remind players that when a ball is thrown to them, when playing catch or in a game, rarely does it come straight to their chest. The ball is usually to one side or the other.

We do not want players reaching out to their side in the hope they catch an offline throw. We want them to ‘Catch the Ball with Their Feet’; we want them to ‘Move Their Feet to Catch’.

The process/drill has three parts:

1. Ready Position: Feet Wide, Knees Bent, Hand and Elbows in front of the torso; an ‘Athletic Position’ much like a linebacker in football or a basketball player defending against an opponent dribbling the ball up court.

2. Move Feet: in our drill activity, the players cross over 1-2 two steps moving approximately to the side.’

3. Reach Forward to Catch: after Moving Feet, the players square up their shoulders (back in a Ready Position) and put extra emphasis on Reaching their Hands out, simulating a good position to catch a thrown ball.

When doing this as a drill, have the entire group Move Their Feet to Catch in one direction. Then when everyone is set-up again in a Ready Position, have them move back the other direction. Do this in each direction 2-3 times; takes 30 seconds…but develops an incredibly valuable habit.

Note: during the drill, the rows will break down a bit. Don’t try to get the rows back in order. Run the drill, back and forth; finish the drill, then worry about getting the kids organized again. The younger the kids, the more the rows will get discombobulated

Ready Position

DO NOT give kids a ball until they are set-up properly and all are ready to start. Its amazing how fast they get lined up to throw when they don’t have a ball.

(Suggested Rule: players are Never allowed to reach into a ball bucket unless instructed by a coach. When the coaches are in control of the balls, players quickly become exceptional at following directions.)

SET UP:

Players 30’-35’ from their partner.

Head coach is positioned at one end of the rows of players, midway between the two rows; watches them like a hawk.

Extra coaches and adults spread out approximately 30’ behind the two rows of kids; each with 2-3 extra balls.  The kids will not catch every throw.  The role of the extra adults is to get a new ball into the hands of any kid who misses a throw, so that player (and their partner) can immediately continue working on their skill development. – Chasing overthrown balls, it can be argued, eats up more skill building time during a practice than any other factor.

Roll the balls to the kids. If we throw the ball, half the time it doesn’t get caught…leading to more missed skill building time.

DRILL:

Play catch focusing on a single aspect of the pitching delivery, per the direction of the coach.  Midway through, the coach stops the throwing and switches to a new point of focus.

Note 1: Yes! We have all players work on pitching skills each day. Two reasons: (1) We want to develop pitching depth, (2) if a less skilled kid ever asks to pitch in a game, we can fall back on the question, “have you been totally focused during pitching practice each day?’. We are not sidestepping the question; we are asking them a legitimate question in return. Often kids ‘want’ to do something, but don’t always ‘do the work’ to achieve that Want’. Its a good teaching moment.

Note 2: Make it clear to the kids that they are not throwing hard like a game; just natural speed.  The receiving player does not squat down (they will want to, but it quickly turns into screwing around time, not skill development time).  The kids are simply playing catch, but with their focus on the pitching motion. 

Note 3: It is recommended that softball players only use a modified action of just bringing the pitching arm back, focusing on the finishing segment of the delivery, rather than a complete pitching action. A good percentage of youth softball pitchers can stand to improve their finishing action and release.

“Move Your Feet to Catch, Move Your Feet to Throw”

SET UP:

Players move back to full throwing distance (65’ for 11-12 year-old level; 60’ for 9-11 year-old level; 50’ for ‘First Year Player Pitch level).

DRILL:

This activity is the bedrock of the drill.  When a player is throwing from a defensive position in practice or a game they (should) move their feet towards their target so the legs can power the throwing action.  The reality of positional throwing at the youth level is that kids generally resort to ‘pitching’ the ball across the field – they limit their footwork to ‘step and throw’

Proper throwing technique as a position player is preceded by a skip, shuffle or crow hop movement of the feet – position players “Move their feet to throw”.  In this part of the Playing Catch Practice drill the players are required to “Move their feet to throw” on every throw.  We need to make it clear to them that their footwork, moving their feet is the focus of the drill.  The fact that they are throwing the ball is not the primary focus. 

In addition to “Moving their feet to throw” we need to teach the players that after they release the ball they want to allow their momentum to carry their them forward a step or two ‘in a straight line towards their target’; they “Follow their head”. - This is where the oversight from the coach comes into play.  It will take 3-4 practices for all our kids to get in tune with the concept that the movement of the feet is the key to throwing success.  (The habit and discipline to “Move their feet to throw” on every throw, every day, all year requires constant oversight from the coaching staff.)  When we see the kids not executing this action it is time to stop the activity and remind them that the single purpose of their throwing actions it “Moving their feet to throw”.

The players receiving the throws also have specific focus points relating to moving their feet.  We know (and the kids know) that most throws do not go exactly to the spot the receiving player is standing.  In most cases, for the receiving player to have the best chance to catch a throw, they need to ‘move their feet to take their hands to the ball’.  The three requirements (on every throw) of the receiving player are:

       1.   “Ready Position”* (prior to every throw)  

       2.   “Move Your Feet to Catch”

       3.   “Reach Forward to Catch”

*Ready Position: Same stance as a basketball player playing defense – feet wider than the shoulders; hands reaching out in front of the body.  The receiving player needs to be ready to immediately move, the moment the balls leaves the throwing player’s hand, in order to ‘beat the ball to the spot’ where it will be caught.

RULE: The throwing player IS NOT ALLOWED to throw the ball until their partner is in a “Ready Position”.  -  Simply stating this rule will not result in the kids following it; this needs to be policed and enforced throughout the season.  This is not just a good rule for discipline and solid technique, it also increases safety during the activity.  If the receiving player is always ready and focused prior to every throw coming to them we will reduce, significantly, the occurrences of players being injured by thrown balls.

Move Feet to Catch

This throw is arriving a few feet wide of the base. The Third Baseman isn’t reaching sideways to catch the ball. He has Moved His Feet (taking his hands to the ball) to a point where he can Reach forward to Catch.

Yes, the runner is safe on this play (Runners are Safe A Lot!), but the Third Baseman stopped the ball. The runner has to stay at the base; cannot advance because there is not an ‘overthrow’.

Reach Forward to Catch

SET-UP

This drill is run immediately following Full Distance catch (65’ for 11-12 year-old level; 60’ for 9-11 year-old level; 50’ for ‘First Year Player Pitch level).

Playing Catch partners move closer together so they are 30’ apart.

Once the players are set-up correctly, set their hats on the ground next to their feet (so they can quickly find their way back to their starting point).

Each player needs their own ball.

DRILL

We have three different drills for this segment. We run only one per day. Day to day we rotate from one drill to the next.

This is run for a few repetitions at the end of Playing Catch Practice. Once the kids become familiar with this aspect of the Playing Catch Practice routine, we can get through Part 4 in about 3 minutes. 

A key ingredient of these three drills is reinforcing ‘Moving Feet’ by applying it to an activity related to a specific game action. 

1. Replaying the Ball                                               

2. Relay Footwork                              

3. Catch, Tag, Power Position (CTPP) - "Look for Other Runners"