What do you do between practices?

[Coletrain]

My son's team practices 3 times a week. What do you guys do with your sons on off days? Play catch? tee work? He wants to do something every day and I was just curious what others are doing? Thanks!

[dominik]

depends on how old he is. if he is below 11 or so I would say give him days off to save his bones.

but if he is in HS he can train delay if his body can take it.

[Megunticook]

What do you guys do with your sons on off days? Play catch? tee work?

It's a great opportunity to give them individual attention, my sons and I do a variety of activities including catch, tee, soft toss, b.p., grounders, flies. If someone's having a particular issue (stepping in the bucket at the plate, for example), we might do some activities aimed at eliminating the problem.

My kids are younger (10 and 5), so mostly I just try to have fun with them on off-days. Too much hard-core drilling at that age can backfire, I feel, although every kid is different.

Rest is key, too. Nothing wrong with doing nothing on an off-day. Sometimes it's a good time to look at video clips showing various plays in major league games and the situational/thinking aspect of the game.

[Standballdad]

It's a great opportunity to give them individual attention, my sons and I do a variety of activities including catch, tee, soft toss, b.p., grounders, flies. If someone's having a particular issue (stepping in the bucket at the plate, for example), we might do some activities aimed at eliminating the problem.

My kids are younger (10 and 5), so mostly I just try to have fun with them on off-days. Too much hard-core drilling at that age can backfire, I feel, although every kid is different.

Rest is key, too. Nothing wrong with doing nothing on an off-day. Sometimes it's a good time to look at video clips showing various plays in major league games and the situational/thinking aspect of the game.

My son is 14, we try to hit in the cage for about 20mins, usually working on certain things that require some additional attention. If he wants we also go to the field and hit ground balls, but I just have him go through his throwing motion without actually having him throw the ball. The key to all this is that "He" wants to do it and I am more than willing to help if he has the desire.

[JRH11]

It's a great opportunity to give them individual attention, my sons and I do a variety of activities including catch, tee, soft toss, b.p., grounders, flies. If someone's having a particular issue (stepping in the bucket at the plate, for example), we might do some activities aimed at eliminating the problem.

My kids are younger (10 and 5), so mostly I just try to have fun with them on off-days. Too much hard-core drilling at that age can backfire, I feel, although every kid is different.

Rest is key, too. Nothing wrong with doing nothing on an off-day. Sometimes it's a good time to look at video clips showing various plays in major league games and the situational/thinking aspect of the game.

I've become a big proponent of down time for kids. Based on experience with my own son who plays on very competetive baseball and soccer teams, a little extra rest may be more beneficial than a few extra touches or a few extra swings.

[UAME]

I'm in agreement: no forced regimen. If my 9 yo wants to do something, I usually let him pick. Some days wiffle ball BP in the yard, some days pitching. For younger kids, I think just throwing a tennis ball against a wall and learning how balls bounce (and what it takes to catch them) is a superb way to burn some daylight. Whatever we do, we almost always make it a competitive game. (ie., How many throws can we make playing catch without the ball hitting the ground, etc.)

On rainy days, I'm happy to play a baseball game on PS3 against my son. It's a great way to discuss / practice the finer strategic points of baseball. Think a yound kid can't understand the importance of disrupting a hitter's timing? Feed him 98mph fastballs followed by low-80's offspeed pitches on a video game. It gets the point across!

[tg643]

What you do depends on the age of the kid and his motivation to play the game. Before high school my son never wanted down time from the sport in season unless there was a planned activity. In high school he saviored his days off. As a preteen he would hit off the tee or soft toss machine in the garage. He played a lot of whiffle ball with friends. I hit him 500 grounders or pitches to block per week (played short and catcher) as a position player. He threw on a daily basis whether with me or friends. To keep fielding practice from being boring we had "hot dog" time. The reality is he made some slick plays in games from having practiced some wild stuff. When he moved to the outfield in high school I would hit him 500 balls a week over his head and up the gaps.

[shake-n-bake]

For a kid that's reached puberty - go to the gym. My son and I were talking about how the conditioning phase of practice / tryouts for baseball is pretty short relative to the amount of potential at that age to make some pretty significant changes in one's body. He's seeing a lot of the kids feel like it's over and done with for now since practice has become more geared to skills and team development.

Motivation can be hard to come by when you have practice every day, so he tries to get his cardio workouts in less monotonous ways than when he was training leading up to the season. Less straight running, or pounding the elliptical, or going to a spin class - more basketball and football, and more classes at the gym that combine power and cardio.

Lots and lots and lots of push-ups! Push the truck up and down the street.

Watch video.