Team Defense Practice Highlight, A Great Drill For Developing Each Players's Defensive Awareness, One Situation At A Time.

Team defense practice highlight is an easy way to instruct defensive situations to your entire team at one time.

This drill has the capability to allow all players to experience each situation from every position, thus gaining a greater understanding of the situation's concept, rather than just their individual position assignment.

The hightened level of understanding for each player ultimately leads to those free flowing, thinking on the run athletes that are so much fun to coach and watch.

Team defense practice highlight is one tool to help develop those athletes within your program, with the ultimate goal of having a defense that appears seamless and always on the same page.

Equipment Needed

1. Players with gloves.



2. Field with bases.



3. Coach with fungo and baseball

The Drill

• Defense consists of all 9 positions.



• Regular baseball rules.



• Put nine players in position, then explain which situation the "practice highlight" is covering on that day, and what every positions job is on the play.



• Once all 9 players on the field know their job, the coach hits/throws the ball.



• After the play is made correctly, all players move up in order, until all positions are played. If the players do not know the position numbering for baseball, the first "practice highlight" will need to cover that.



• Coach hits/throws the same play each time.



• If you have more than 9 players, rotate additional players into right field, and out at pitcher. Keep going through the same situation until all players have had an opportunity at every position.

Tips ~ From the Dugout

• Provides additional flexibility to your defense, as players learn what to do for all positions.



• Defense will improve as all players have an understanding that every position on the field has a job, in every situation. On defense, if you find yourself with nothing to do in a situation, you have made a mistake.



• Player performance level increases as they are able to play multiple positions with confidence.



• Making a list of the most common situations you expect to encounter at your level, you can then map out a plan to use the "practice highlight" to cover that list, one day at a time.



• Practice highlight nicely transitions into situations off a fungo which runs as a controlled game situations drill, complete with base runners.

The Game Of Baseball Is Made Up Of Many Little Things. If We Do All The Little Things Right, Then We'll Never Have A Big Thing To Worry About. (Cal Ripken Sr.)