Practice Plans (2025)

This section contains 14 Practice plans. Content begins with basics of throwing and catching, then follows a step-by-step process for training all aspects of team play up through First & Third Defense and Bunt Defense. Going through the content of these Practice plans, with a team, prepares a coach to design their own variations on plans, and for creating additional plans beyond #14 here. At the end of the section, a Practice Plan Template is provided for writing up unique plans based on a team’s needs.

Teaching the Batting Swing and Pitching Delivery are built into the plans. Those skills are presented in small chunks in each practice. Skills are developed following a well-planned, building block sequence. The teaching is structured for group instruction so coaches can be most efficient with their limited practice time.

The current info in this section is incomplete. Some drill diagrams are included to illustrate how the content in the plans will be supported as info is added. All points, such as ‘Glove Fold’ and ‘The Pocket’ in Practice #1, will eventually be linked to explanations of the meaning of those points. The ‘Batting’ Tab on the website has info supporting that aspect of the Practice Plans. A similar section for Pitching Instruction will be added. A new section dedicated exclusively to Drills will be added. All of this is In Process; the site will grow in content over the winter of 2024-25.

Batting & Pitching instruction points are found at the top of the ‘Playing Catch Practice’ section of each Practice Plan (beginning in Practice #3). Additional Batting and Pitching info is found in the appendix following each Practice plan.

(The ‘Practice Plans 2020’ tab has information from the old BP website. While there is a ton of content in that section, it is not well organized and sometimes difficult to navigate. The links in the Tables of Contents did not show up on the new site during the site transfer. These will be updated in the coming weeks.)

The Practice Plans below are designed for the ages 11-12 and 9-11 levels. Later in the winter, new sections for ages 8-9, Coach/Machine Pitch, and Tee-Ball will be added. In the meantime, much of the content can be applied to younger levels for those of you working with kids over the winter (and for folks in the Southern Hemisphere who are heading into summer).

To receive alerts of when the content is updated, email your contact info to: mark@baseballpositive.com.

I welcome, and encourage, suggestions, comments, and any other feedback that can help me make this information as valuable, clear and user friendly as possible.

- All the best, Mark Linden (11/24/24)