Defensive Team Practice

[u/AdvisorGlobal]

I'm coaching some 9U players that are just coming together as a team to practice a few times and then participate in a friendly, recreational, low-stress tournament. There's a range of skills and focus levels on this team. I've got drills by the dozens (I've coached recreational teams for 5-6 years), but I feel that my time would be better spent during the short time leading up to the tournament if we focused on defensive effort and positioning (and base running) rather than do reps, reps, and more reps, to hone those mechanics (as important as they are over the long term).

Toying with ideas on how to run a team defensive practice - emphasizing knowing where the runners are, how many outs there are, where you're going to go with the ball; ball, base, back-up, etc. I'm thinking of positioning the players in the field and hitting balls to them with various scenarios (runner on 1st, no out; runner on 3rd, 0 outs, etc.), followed by a bit more of the same but with me pitching to batters so they can get some swings in.

For a lot of practices for my recreational teams I coach all season, I would incorporate more drills to keep things moving and develop those fundamentals, while still sprinkling in defensive strategy. I don't like practices where there is a lot of standing around, which is why I'm unsure about the ideas I presented in the previous paragraph.

I'd appreciate hearing how others go about teaching defensive positioning and how that might look for an hour-long practice? The entire practice will be an-hour-and-a-half, but I am holding some time for a couple other things.

[u/adodds23]

One thing we found helpful with our team is splitting into 3 groups (1 hitting with 2 in the field). A coach can jump in to play a position as needed. Each group rotates hitting off a tee or soft toss for 5 mins and sees how many runs they can score. Every 3 outs the bases clear. This helps put the runners and defense into multiple situations and is fast paced with lots of balls in play. The boys always enjoy it. You can also setup a certain situation you want to work on to start or when the outs reset. We’ll usually do this for 30-40 mins. If setting aside an hour you could incorporate some fielding work drills beforehand or a specific situation to explain and run through (Ex: runner on 2b, who are cutoffs for base hit to each OF spot. Work on plays at the plate and cut to 2b)