Love watching the various drills the coaches of different high schools do before games in pre game warm ups. Most 9th region schools I noticed in the regional tournament do the same things, does any school do any pre game drills a little out of the ordinary?

Back when I played freshman ball (years ago) we had a coach who had us take infield before the game without a baseball. Then yelled at us for missing our cutoffs every now and then. A little weird but we seemed to play solid "D" every game we did it.

Wasn't his name Max?

I believe his name was Max!! He used to do it to us before a big game every now and then and we would get so fired up, sometimes we were drained by the 4th inning. Hated it then but I laugh about it now!!

I believe his name was Max!! He used to do it to us before a big game every now and then and we would get so fired up, sometimes we were drained by the 4th inning. Hated it then but I laugh about it now!!

 

No ball infield, a Maxwell classic. When Dixie broke this out in the early 90's I thought it was a little off the wall to say the least, but the players got really fired up and I think at least initially it had some shock value on opponents. As a coach, not sure about it, as a spectator it was fun to watch.

Well Max was the head coach of the program but the freshman coach was Coach Hanlon. Whether or not Max specifically taught him that, I don't know. Never once did it during my time playing for Max at the varsity level.

It is silly, as I have seen others do it. It is silly and should never be done again.

It is silly, as I have seen others do it. It is silly and should never be done again.

 

And why do you say that?

Looks absolutely foolish and serves no purpose. You can pretend to hit towering home runs in bp with no ball too, but it translates into nothing.

Actually it translates into playing loose which is a help to every player. While you may think it serves no purpose I can tell you, as a player who has experienced it, it actually helps. When a ball gets hit to you in the game after taking "no ball infield" the thought of "oh no I may miss this one" is not in the back of your head like it sometimes can be.

Actually it translates into playing loose which is a help to every player. While you may think it serves no purpose I can tell you, as a player who has experienced it, it actually helps. When a ball gets hit to you in the game after taking "no ball infield" the thought of "oh no I may miss this one" is not in the back of your head like it sometimes can be.

 

Well then all the teams should do it to keeep them loose. I appreciate your opinion. I'll stick with my own thoughts on the matter.

I'm not sure what others do but when my son played, I always took him out to our backyard and threw him little plastic golf balls at him to hit. You have to hit it just right to get a line drive. It makes the baseball look like a watermelon come game time and with a bigger ball, you have a little more error to get that line-drive unlike you do with a plastic golfball. My son always tore the cover of the ball and I really attribute that to countless hours in the backyard doing this drill. It translated over into his high school team asking him to bring the balls to hit with before the game started his senior year. It really helped the ball club as offensively that year, they were one of the best in Northern Kentucky. Does any team or any family member doing something similar with their kids/players?

I coach fastpitch girls 10 and under and 8 and under teams, and I use little golf balls that we soft toss, before that, they are hitting off tee with correct way to hold bat, then fastpitch balls to them at a shorter distance than pitching depth. I have some teams and parents yell at me for throwing them too fast, but after 3rd game, they shut up as they can see even young kids can catch up with timing of faster pitches.....

There is definetly added value to the no ball infield. Although I never did it during a game we would often start practice with this type of drill. It helps the player focus on the actual fundamental skill of fielding, catching, and throwing without being concerned with the ball itself.

I would also do shell drill during basketball practices without using the ball. It really helped as far as setting a good screen and running through the entire play while completing the fundamental move.

I'm not sure what others do but when my son played, I always took him out to our backyard and threw him little plastic golf balls at him to hit. You have to hit it just right to get a line drive. It makes the baseball look like a watermelon come game time and with a bigger ball, you have a little more error to get that line-drive unlike you do with a plastic golfball. My son always tore the cover of the ball and I really attribute that to countless hours in the backyard doing this drill. It translated over into his high school team asking him to bring the balls to hit with before the game started his senior year. It really helped the ball club as offensively that year, they were one of the best in Northern Kentucky. Does any team or any family member doing something similar with their kids/players?

 

My husband always does that with my son in the yard. He wrapped little golf balls in masking tape (to weigh them down a bit) and my son uses a croquet stick without the mallet. My son swears it helps him see the ball better during games.