Our players love to play games and as most 8 and 9 year olds do, they occasionally get bored with regular drills and ask to scrimmage each other. Running a scrimmage can be difficult to do (not enough kids to divide up into full teams, kids left standing around waiting for their turn to bat, etc.) not to mention, a scrimmage can easily eat up an entire practice without having accomplished much as far as skill improvement. One idea we have come up with to help is our "Three-Way Quick Scrimmage" that we will run once a week for the last half of a practice.
ADVANTAGES OF THIS DRILL:
- Keeps a player moving, with no standing around.
- Quick pace gives game like situations, but still allows coaches to coach during the drill.
- Allows players to practice playing multiple positions.
- Can run several innings in half a practice. (Average innings is 10 to 15 minutes. With this drill, players can do less with a good pace.)
- Allows the feel of a real game, or full scrimmage with a limited roster and without having to alter practice schedules to scrimmage another team.
DRILL SET-UP:
- Divide the players into three even teams with each team having an equal mix of good and lesser ability players. (We usually have 12 kids on our roster so we end up with three teams of four players each.)
DRILL:
One team will begin in the infield, one in the outfield, and the last team begins as the batters. Use a coach or pitching machine for the pitcher and either a coach or your fourth outfielder for the catcher.
Batters are allowed three good pitchers and must hit (no walks.) At the beginning of the season, we will rotate after each player on the batting team bats twice. Once we get going in the season and the players get more competitive we will rotate after three outs or eight batters, whichever comes first?
Batters will rotate to the outfield, outfield to infield, and infield to the batters position. An inning is complete when each team has played all three positions.
It is up to the coaches to keep a quick pace and to reinforce situational awareness and the use of proper skills while playing (good base running, batting, fielding, and throwing techniques.)
The players keep track of the score and the "winning" team usually will get some sort of prize (from a handful of sunflower seeds, or a fruit roll-up, to fewer sprints at the end of the practice.)
As our players love to compete, we are able to have a lot of fun, get in a lot of repetitions, and accomplish some skill development at the same time.
Good luck and have fun!
