When I was a player I prided myself on defense. I loved taking extra ground balls during and after practice at every level I played. It was never work for me. I was one of those guys who loved practice. As a matter of fact I used to have to bribe some of my college teammates who were pitchers to hit me extra balls. If they got more than 5 past me out of 100 I would have to buy the food or beverage of their choice. I would typically go home with a lot of black & blue marks, but as one of my friends once said “Pain is temporary, stories last a lifetime and chicks dig scars.” I never have claimed to be a handsome man and didn’t date much so I guess 2 out of 3 ain’t bad!
Next time you are planning a practice I would like to encourage you to just focus on defense for the full 2 hours. Plan a trip to the batting cages later in the week and do offense only that day. Tell your players to go out with thier parents to the local park and take extra grounders. Older players should go out on thier own and work out together. Heck I used to use constantly throw a rubber ball into a small box I taped on our garage door. We had a gravel driveway do the ball would bounce everywhere. I did it becasue it was fun, but little did I know I was actually working on my defense.
Baseball is an awesome game so do your best to get your work in and make it fun at the same time. If you would ever like to bring out one of our coaches to help you implement some new drills at your practices please go to the following link on our website to learn more about what we have to offer- Cactus Practice.
