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Balloon – Low Release:
Drill: Be out front of the hitter, like you would with the base balloon toss. Throw the balloon up from the ground to end it in the middle of the zone around the hitters belt or chest. The balloon should be moving upwards when it gets to the hitter.
Benefits: Good for hitters that have a tendency to swing straight up. It will be hard for a hitter that swings straight up to be able to hit the balloon if it is rising when it gets to them. Great for barrel awareness.
Coaching Points: Have the hitter hit it through your feet. A ground ball is ok, for this drill, praise it. The things we don't want to see with this drill is a swing and miss underneath the ball or a clip of the bottom part of the ball. If they do, be sure not to point out the mistake but to reinforce where you want them to hit it to.
From The Sky:
Balloons – From the Sky
Drill: Find a way to make the balloon come straight down to the hitter. Can throw it up really high or stand to the side and hold it high and drop it or throw it up. The idea is for the hitter to hit it right back to where it came from.
Benefits: Learning how to hit different pitch shapes. This is the extreme version of it and is good for some hitters, but not all hitters. The hitters that it is best for is the kids that like to chop straight down with the bat.
Coaching Points: Instruct the hitter to hit the balloon straight up. If there is a ceiling, you can tell them to hit it through the ceiling. Use adjectives that reinforce intent, as well.
Coaching Points: Instruct the hitter to hit the balloon straight up. If there is a ceiling, you can tell them to hit it through the ceiling. Use adjectives that reinforce intent, as well.
Balloons : 2 Balloons
Balloons – 2 Balloons
Drill: Have two balloons that are around the same size and have two distinct colors. Toss both of them at the same time and yell out which color that you want them to hit. Most of the tosses won't be in the zone, but the hitter will be swinging no matter where the balloon ends up. You can toss them side by side as well as above and below. For a variation, you can make the balloons different sizes and that will vary the action of the balloons.
Benefits: This is teaching the hitter barrel adjustability without having to cheat to either balloon. It keeps them looking in the same area and teaches them to adjust without having to make their mind up early with which one they are planning on swinging at.
Coaching Points: Swing at everything. It will help them to find a solution. Keep it fun and positive. This is a tough drill that will have some failing. Continue to preach intent. When it becomes challenging, kids will revert to being safe to just make sure they hit the right one. Celebrate when they hit the right one, move on when they don't.
Balloon: Shuffles
Balloons - Shuffles
Drill: You will want to start a little further back from where you do your normal tosses from. Toss the ball a few feet in front of them and instruct them to shuffle to make it a pitch that they will want to swing at.
Benefits: This drill will help with athleticism throughout the swing. Good for kids of any age that feel stuck. Allows for the barrel to come through with better intent if a hitter has lost their ability to sync up and swing hard.
Coaching Points: Don't let them stop at any point throughout their shuffle. Preach being smooth while hitting it hard. You can change the directive on where you want them to hit it but it should always remain the same that you are promoting athleticism and intent.
Balloons: Regular Speed
Balloons – Regular Speed
Drill: This is the foundational drill for all the balloon hitting drills. Get about 5' to 7' feet in front of the hitter with a regular sized balloon. Try and chest pass the balloon into the hitting zone so that it stays on the same plane from when you let go of it to when it gets within the zone. Your tosses wont be perfect, but make sure that the hitter is swinging at everything. Can do the drill with any type of bat.
Benefits: It's a bigger target to hit so it will give the hitter some confidence. It will teach intent if you give them the right cues. By swinging at everything, it will help the hitter to learn how to adjust their bodies, and ultimately their barrels to get to the balloon/baseball. Above all, it will let the hitter have fun. Who doesn't love to hit a balloon?!
Coaching Points: Preach intent. You can coach the hitter to swing hard, but you will get more out of them if you have them try and pop the balloon or if you have them try and (use your own adjective) knock you over. Make sure they are swinging at everything, as it will teach them how to adjust the barrel to get it to the balloon, and ultimately the baseball.
Balloons: Slow Toss
Balloons – Slow Toss
Drill: Similar to the regular toss, except we are varying the speed in which the balloon comes in. For this drill, we're going to either give it an arc or a light pat to get it into the hitting zone at a slower speed.
Benefits: This is for the hitter that lunges or gets too forward too fast. It will help to stay athletic for a longer period of time while teaching the hitter how to get their best swing off with a slower speed.
Coaching Points: Always preach intent, to get their best swing off. Have the hitter wait until the balloon gets within the strike zone. If you have a hitter that is wanting to get it really far out front, create a boundary on the ground and make the hitter wait to launch the swing until it is past the line.
Ballons: Fast Toss
Balloons – Fast Toss
Drill: Can use a bat of any size. Make sure the bat is one that the hitter can handle (in the video we are using a broom stick to help with swinging fast). Be close enough to the hitter so that when you chest pass the balloon at a high speed, it holds its plane and doesn't slow down.
Benefits: This drill helps the hitter to be quick while hitting something that is big and fun, helping to create confidence through success.
Coaching Points: Intent. Make sure the hitter isn't swinging to just make contact. Praise good, intentful swings. Have them swing at everything, regardless of it being a ball or strike. Aggression will always trump passivity.
Balloons: Mixed Speeds
Balloons – Mixed Speeds
Drill: Be sure that you are close enough to the hitter to be able to chest past a fast toss while still having the ability to get a slow toss to the zone. Mix up your tosses. You can go every other with the speeds or, for a more advanced variation, make the speeds random.
Benefits: This is mainly to help the hitter to learn how to adjust to different speeds without having to think through how to adjust to speeds.
Coaching Points: To help them to learn how to adjust, they need to swing at every pitch. Praise intent. Praise getting good swings off. Don't worry about the quality of contact. This will improve over time.