Coaches, breaking monotony:

Coach, what do you mean by, "Stop watch drills?" Thanks.

Getting a stop watch and timing guys turning two, time them to see how long it takes them to make certain throws in the diamond, throw multiple balls around the infield (working on focus)see how many balls you can throw completely around the infield with no mess ups in 30 seconds, another thing we do is throw 4 balls around the infield and they are trying to beat their own time to create a best time for the season. Things like that to try to speed things up or to bring a new level of focus. Doing it on a stop watch gives us something measureable.

Something I've thought about doing but haven't yet and wonder how it would work out is....

Start with what right arm of zeus is saying with one ball and work it around the diamond. After this bring in two balls going around the diamond. Then bring in 3 balls and then finally 4 balls to work around the diamond. This would be a nice little workout for 30 seconds. Catch and throw, catch and throw flat out.

I haven't done this yet, but thought of it a couple years ago; the mention of PS3/XBox days made me think of it.

On rainy days in early spring or anytime in the fall, get all P's and C's together in front of a projector linked to a gaming console. (I have only played the NCAA baseball game a few times, but found it extremely realistic, especially the pitching aspect). Have a discussion with each pitcher/catcher about pitch selection, location, sequence, patterns. I thought this would be a good way to simulate throwing to lots of batters in a relatively short period of time.

We have done this a few times over the past few years when there are day games during the baseball PE period. I'll record MLB games during the fall and have a "film breakdown" period, similar to football, where we see how MLB teams defend bunts, 1st/3rd off., and line up on double cuts/relays. When our kids see big league guys doing the same things we do, it gives them some confidence knowing they are operating a pro style system.

A good game of kickball always works. Plus you can work on base running and cut situations.