Baseball drills at home for 12 year olds

At a glance

At 12

67 baseball drills the app opens for a 12 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 40 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 60 minutes for a 12 year old.

How often

At most 5 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 12 hours for a 12 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: glove (21 of the 67 drills), balls (19), bat (14), net (7), soft balls (7), baseballs (6), protective screen (5), base (4). 5 drills need nothing but space. 28 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.

Safe at home

One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

67 at-home drills

Baseball drills for 12 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for a 12 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

arm strength

Arm Strength

• Pre-Throw Arm Care RoutineAges 11 and up · 8 min
• Quick Transfer ThrowsAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Band Shoulder CareAges 7 and up · 8 min

base running

Base Running

• First to Third TurnsAges 11 and up · 12 min
• Secondary Lead ShuffleAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Home to First Form RunsAges 7 and up · 8 min

fielding

Fielding

• Field and Shuffle ThrowAges 11 and up · 12 min
• First Base Footwork and StretchAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Barehand Roll and FieldAges 7 and up · 8 min

hitting

Hitting

• Hitter's Count ThinkingAges 11 and up · 12 min
• Inside and Outside TeeAges 11 and up · 12 min
• Move the Runner GameAges 11 and up · 15 min

pitching

Pitching

• Pitching Balance PointAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Stride on the LineAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Balance Hold GameAges 7 and up · 6 min

A 38-minute session

A home baseball session for a 12 year old

A warm-up, 2 drills and a cool-down, 38 minutes in all. Do it up to 5 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Baseball Warm-Up, Ages 11 to 13A 10-minute moving warm-up for baseball players aged 11 to 13: running, moving stretches, plank, balance, landings and build-up runs, then baseball moves, with a note on growth spurts.10 min
2. 2Throwing ProgressionPoint your front shoulder, finish across your body.10 min
3. 3Base Running SprintsExplode out low, run through the bag.12 min
4. 4Baseball Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 11 to 13A 6-minute cool-down for baseball players aged 11 to 13 after training: stretches for the legs, hips, shoulders and wrists, each held 15 to 20 seconds, never to pain, with growth-spurt notes.6 min

At 12

What changes in baseball training at 12

From 12, a home session can run to 60 minutes and the plan can have 5 training days a week, up from 45 minutes and 4 days at 11.

The app opens the same 67 at-home drills at 12 as at 11; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 12 hours for a 12 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting baseball into a week at 12

At 12 the limit is 12 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 5 sessions of 40 minutes is 3.33 hours, which leaves 8.67 for team practice and games. Even 5 days at the app's longest, 60 minutes, is 5 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.

  Côté and Vierimaa 2014

• Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.

  NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers