T-Ball Regeneration Proposal

Spring Sports 2014

T-Ball Regeneration Program

•The current T-ball Program is guided by the values and principles of TRUE SPORT

•The TRUE SPORT principles are: Have Fun, Go For It, Respect Others, Give Back, Play Fair and Stay Healthy.

T-Ball Regeneration Program

•The three spring sports that Bridlewood Community Association supports are Soccer, Softball (T-ball and Coach Pitch) and Ultimate Frisbee

•The Soccer Program for Junior Kindergarten aged athletes was successfully regenerated 4 years ago

•The Soccer Program made a move to develop skills through repetition, short sessions and 1 on 1 attention – each child brings an adult (parent, older sibling, other family member or friend) to work on the drills with them.

T-Ball Regeneration Program

The BCA Soccer program for children 4-6 (Kindergarten) has revised their Soccer Program to take into account that young children have yet to refine their listening skills in the following areas:

• following audible instructions without repetition• following directions for a short-period of time• following direction in a large group

T-Ball Regeneration ProgramBCA has taken the following action steps:

Follow audible instructions without replication•Repeat it! Do the little things over and over and over

Follow directions after a short-period of time•Change it! Change activities or skills every 10 minutes

Follow direction when in a group of large participants•Break it down! Provide 1 on 1 instruction.

T-Ball Regeneration ProgramRepeat it!

Catch Drills:

For 10 minutes throw a bean bag back and forth between child and adult.

Ask your child to catch with 2 hands – no glove required!

Gloves are big and clumsy and often don’t fit a child’s hand and even if it does, it’s hard to squeeze!

T-Ball Regeneration Program

Change it!

Throw Drills:

For 10 minutes have a child throw a Velcro-ball at a Velcro-Dart Board, bean bags at a target or soft balls to their adult partner

Have child try to throw a ball through a small hula hoop that the adult partner is holding

T-Ball Regeneration Program

T-Ball Regeneration Program

Do the little things over and over and over!

Batting Drills:

•Little Bats for Little People•Whiffle Balls – no more bruises•Will my child still learn? Yes •Teach safety skills – wear helmet when batting or running and always keep your eye on the ball when on the field.

T-Ball Regeneration Program

Where do I stand?

My hands go where?

So I stand behind a Plate?

Hmm... Doesn’t look like dinner

When is it my turn to hit?

Why do I have to wear this bobble-

head thing?

Hey am I a bobble-head? COOL...

I have to PEE? Where am I gonna

PEE? Whoops!!!

Pragmatic – How does this work?

Station #2Throwing Drills in short outfield

Station #1Batting Drills here – Enabling use of Backstop

Station #3Catching Drills

Station #4 - Running Drills outside baseline

What to expect each week

• 2 Teams per field – each team has a different t-shirt colour and 2 adults per team (coaches) will receive t shirts

• Each team of 8 – 10 players will be divided into 2 groups with pinnies making 4 groups while rotating through the stations

• Each child will be accompanied by an adult – 1 adult (coach) will be tasked with warm up drills and moving the group from station to station

• Schedule:6:00 – 6:10 Warm up 6:10 – 6:20 1st Station6:20 – 6:30 2nd Station6:30 – 6:40 3rd Station6:40 – 6:50 4th Station6:50 – 7:10 Each team regroups and plays 1 inning of t-ball (1 team

will take positions in the field while the other team bats and runs. Then they switch. Times may vary)7:10 Snack – the highlight of the evening!

Resources required

In order to provide a more meaningful, age appropriate and fun T-ball program, we will need the following resources:

Volunteers –•Develop drills for each station for 8 weeks using repetition each week but also adding increased challenge•Create new coaching manuals based on the existing JK Soccer program•Activity leaders at each station (4 per field) to provide instruction to the groups on the drills

Equipment –•Pinnies for 2 groups/field•Bean bags, velcro balls, wiffle balls, hula hoops, extra tees and bats, etc. as determined by the drills for each station each week.

Feedback and Discussion