Baseball is a popular sport amongst 7 year olds, especially boys. From their favorite team to jerseys and gloves, the conversations are endless. However, like any sport, we tend to encounter various obstacles that hinder a child’s effective training in the sport.
As a parent of two 7-year old twins, I often found it challenging to cultivate the principles of baseball into them.
After immense research on the net, I was able to find a few baseball drills for 7 year olds that will help them understand and perform the fundamentals of baseball effectively and efficiently.
I hope these drills help your child kickstart their blooming baseball career so that he can be the next Babe Ruth. Do note that proper gear is important for kids, like for ex. getting soccer shoes for kids.
What Are Baseball Drills?
Before we delve into the various baseball drills for 7 year olds, it is crucial to have a perspective about what exactly baseball drills are.
Baseball drills, in their basic sense, are activities that will help enhance a player’s performance. Their main objective is to strengthen an individual’s coordination, agility, speed, and power.
These are often referred to as the cruxes of baseball. Let us take a closer look at some of the factors to understand its functioning better.
1. Coordination
The main agenda of coordination is to ensure that all parts of the body and mind work in harmony with each other. Some of the elements that fall under coordination include agility, balance, footwork, and movement.
2. Strength And Power
Force production, commonly referred to as strength and power, is vital for any sports player. The activities under this branch help a player train their body in a particular manner that helps prevent injuries, as well as improve their nimbleness.
In its simplest sense, these types of drills help to keep a player in form and shape.
Baseball Drills For 7 Year Olds
As mentioned above, here are a few drills that are a perfect way to boost your child’s performance in their sport.
1. The Moving Tee Drill
The first type of baseball drill is the moving tee drill. The primary purpose of this particular drill is to help the child get accustomed to various pitching positions.
In baseball, there are two main positions that a pitcher may use to pitch the ball, i.e., the stretch or the windup.
The windup pitch has a relatively longer motion than the latter type of pitch. As it involves a big leap kick, it is often used when very few players present on the base.
On the contrary, the stretch is a more straightforward type of pitching. As it takes less time to pitch a ball in this position, the runners have less time to approach the bases.
Based on this discussion, the Moving Tee drill is designed to help children become well-versed with these pitches so that they can hit the ball accordingly.
For administering this drill, a coach needs to follow a series of steps. Firstly, you need to disperse the tees at equal distances for safety and place a ball on them.
Once you have done that, you can ask your players to stand by each tee. You will ask them to hit off the tee in the correct position.
I would recommend you repeat this process until each player has hit approximately 5 to 10 balls.
Furthermore, as a coach, I would recommend you switch things up every once in a while. You should ensure that no player is idle or sitting. Everyone should be on the go and enjoy each and every step of the process.
2. The Game “How Many”
If you are on the hunt for some funbaseball drills for 7 year olds, then you should definitely try the “How Many” drill. This game is designed to create a fun, motivating environment for all players.
To initiate this drill, you need to ask all your players to pair up. Once each of your players has found a partner, ask half of them to stand on the field line. The other team of players will stand right opposite to their teammate with a gap of 15 feet.
Once they have attained this position, you will ask them to toss the ball back and forth to each other. Let them count the total number of catches completed without dropping the ball.
After a team has dropped their catch, ask them to sit on the grass. The last pair standing wins the competition.
With this competition, individuals can not only improve their catching skills but also enhance their team building and sportsmanship skills.
If you wish to, you can make the rounds challenging to bring a little more excitement and thrill into the overall game.
3. Base Coach Drill
Another drill that is an ideal choice as the best baseball drills for 6 and 7 year olds is the base coach drill. This drill will require at least two members. The first coach will stand on the first base, whereas the other volunteer will stand at the third base.
The first step in this drill is to ask all your players to form a line at the home plate. Next, you will tell them to keep an eye out for the signal by the first base coach to run.
When the coach yells “Hit”, the batter runs to first base. He then listens to the coach’s instructions to either stay on the ground or move to second base.
On the other hand, when the second batter approaches, he will receive the exact instructions from the first base coach. However, the first batter will listen to the third base coach to either move and stay on the third base or go home.
The primary objective of this drill is to improve the listening skills of your players, while they run. It helps them to keep their mind and body agile at the same time and increase their speed.
4. BucketBall Drill
Any baseball drill routine is incomplete without the bucket ball drill. If you take a closer look at the operations of this drill, you will encounter that the training revolves around improving the throwing accuracy of your team.
Many 7 year olds tend to have a varied set of throws. Some may be accurate, while some are quite distant.
For this drill, you will need two 5 gallon buckets. Place both the buckets, one over the other, at the home base. However, it should be noted that the bottom bucket should consist of weights, whereas the top is empty.
After you have done this, the next step is to divide your team into two and call them Team A and B, respectively. Team A will be situated in the second base position, whereas the other team is in a shortstop position.
By alternating the teams, you will ask the players to hit or throw the ball to the first player and ask them to aim for the top bucket.
If they hit the top bucket, their team earns three points, five points for knocking it down, and one point for precise fielding.
With this particular activity, you need to focus on accuracy rather than strength. It is okay if a player hits the ball slowly, but it should be accurate.
5. Relay Drill
Relay drills are yet another classic example of a fun, exhilarating workout for your kid. In this type of drill, you will divide the team into two even groups. Ask Group A to start at the home plate and Group B to begin at second base.
After you blow the whistle, you will ask the first person from both the groups to run to all bases. Once they have returned to the starting point, the next player will move forward.
Repeat this until all members of the team have moved across all the bases. The champion will be that team that has crossed all four grounds first.
Overall, the primary purpose of this drill was to increase the speed and agility of your team players.
6. Soft Toss Drill
The last but not the least choice for the best baseball drills for 7 year olds is the renowned soft toss drill. Personally, this is my favorite, as it helps my children learn how to bat from a pitch.
To play this drill, you will ask a player to hold a bat and get comfortable in a fielding position. Once they do this, you need to stand at least 15 feet away and throw them the ball. Your main goal is to get them acquainted with hitting a ball correctly and accurately.
However, patience is a prerequisite in this drill, as it can take some time for each player to get comfortable with swinging the bat.
Conclusion
On the whole, it is pretty evident that playing any sport such as baseball is not an easy task. It takes time and effort to become a good player.
Hence, to encourage and boost your child’s skills and abilities, try out the aforementioned baseball drills for 7 year olds, as they help to train your child to master the craft of baseball.
Founder and a 36-year old mother of one who has gone through the usual problems of parenting herself and shares her own experiences through this blog. Ruby is a great writer who researches well before putting forth facts in the articles.