Youth baseball, softball, basketball, soccer and flag football
Every practice has a plan. Every kid gets better.
Sideline School coaches the coach. Start from what every player should be able to do by the last game, work backward week by week, and give every drill a why the kids can repeat.
The demo opens a sample 10U baseball team and its league. No sign-up.
Funnel Stations
"Out front, belly"Fix it: Watch for fielding the ball beside or under the feet. Tell that player: reach out and catch it where you can see it.
How you'll know: By the last rotation, each group fields at least 7 of 10 balls cleanly at station 3.
How it works
Start from the last game
Pick the season goals
Four to six things every player can do by June, from an age-right checklist. Your league can set them for every team in a division.
The plan works backward
Each goal is introduced, practiced, then tested under game pressure, with a check at mid-season so you know what to repeat.
Every practice teaches
Timed practices with stations, one cue word per drill, one fix per player, and a game at the end. Every drill comes with what to tell the kids and why.
One way of coaching, every sport
An edition for each sport
Same backward plan, same why on every drill, same life skills. Each sport gets its own drills, age rules and safety, and its own names for the coach levels.
Full Count
Baseball and SoftballCoach levels: Spring Training, The Farm, The Show
A 10U goal
Throw with a four-seam grip (fingers across the wide seams) and hit a partner's chest from 60 feet.
Full Court
BasketballCoach levels: Open Gym, JV, Varsity
A 10U goal
Change direction with a low crossover (bouncing the ball from one hand to the other in front of the body, below the knees) while moving.
Full Time
SoccerCoach levels: Grassroots, Academy, First Team
A 10U goal
Turn away from a defender with a pull-back or an inside cut (a quick touch with the inside of the foot back across the body), then speed away.
Full Field
Flag footballCoach levels: Training Camp, Practice Squad, Game Day
A 10U goal
Catch the snap, take a three-step drop (three steps straight back), set the feet, and throw on balance, all inside the pass clock.
Always the why
What the kids hear
Kids learn faster when they know why a skill matters and when it shows up in a game. Every goal and drill carries a line the coach says out loud.
Throw with a four-seam grip (fingers across the wide seams) and hit a partner's chest from 60 feet.
How you'll know: 7 of 10 throws hit between the partner's shoulders and belt from 60 feet.
Run to where a fly ball is coming down, get there early, and catch it above the throwing shoulder.
How you'll know: 6 of 10 coach-thrown fly balls caught after moving at least 10 feet to reach them.
Know when to just step on the base (a force out, when the runner has to run) and when to tag the runner.
How you'll know: Before each play, says force or tag correctly for 8 of 10 coach-called situations, then makes the right kind of out.
Put on full catcher gear correctly (helmet, mask, chest protector, shin guards, plus a cup for baseball boys) quickly.
How you'll know: Gets fully geared, straps snug, in under 90 seconds at 8U and under 60 seconds at 10U and older, 3 times in a row.
Swing through the ball on a tee and hit line drives instead of pop-ups or rollers.
How you'll know: 6 of 10 tee swings hit the net or fence on a line, below a tape mark at head height.
On a ball hit to the outfield, curve out a few steps before first base, touch the inside corner of the bag, and look for second.
How you'll know: On 8 of 10 outfield hits in practice, the runner makes a curved path (a banana turn), steps on the inside corner of first, and is heading toward second before deciding to go or come back.
A drill, the way it's written
Funnel Stations
Three small stations where players field grounders out front and pull them to the belly.
Show it
Coach fields a ball with the glove out in front of the feet, then pulls it to the belly button with both hands like a funnel.
Try it
Every player is fielding at their station at once. Each player takes a ball, fields it, then steps aside while the next one goes, about 10 seconds per turn.
Fix it
Watch for fielding the ball beside or under the feet. Tell that player: reach out and catch it where you can see it.
Play it
At the hitting station, each group counts clean fields plus on-target throws in 4 minutes. Highest group total wins.
Why it works
Three stations triple the reps compared with one line in front of the coach, and each station isolates one piece: the glove, the short hop, then the throw. At 10U, station 3 adds a throw to first to connect fielding with throwing.
How you'll know
By the last rotation, each group fields at least 7 of 10 balls cleanly at station 3.
274 season goals and 352 drills across five sports and 6U to 14U, each with easier and harder versions.
Bigger than one season
Connect the dots, from this drill to life
Most coaches are parents doing their best. Every drill shows how it serves the next game, this season's goal, the seasons after, and the life skill it trains. Players learn to coach themselves with one question after every rep, and every week has a team skill like next pitch or being a great teammate.
"Did I catch it out front, then bring it to my belly?"
- In the gameWe catch the ball out in front where our eyes can see it, then pull it into our belly. In a game, a clean grab means you can throw right away and beat the runner to first.
- This seasonField a ground ball in front of the body, glove down, then bring it to the belly with both hands.
- Seasons aheadAt 10U the funnel turns into field-and-throw in one motion, and at 12U into the feed that starts a double play. A ball fielded out front can be thrown quickly, so the out-front habit has to be built while the balls are still slow.
- The big ideaGet in front, glove down, move through the ball.
- In life · EffortFinishing the last math problem as carefully as the first. Doing the dishes all the way, pans included. At a first job, sweeping the corners when the manager is in the back. Friends and bosses notice who does the whole job.
Your assistant coach
Ask it anything about your plan
"Only 7 kids tonight and no helper." "My catchers keep flinching." "Rain on Thursday, what do we skip?" The assistant reads your actual plan, explains the why, swaps drills and writes new ones in the same format, so the change lands in the practice you run.
For league presidents
One curriculum for every coach in your league
Set the season goals once per division. Every coach gets a plan that teaches them, and next year's coaches inherit players who already have the skills. You see which teams are practicing and how the goal checks are going.
per coach, per year
per coach, per year
per coach, per year
Pilots include 12 coach seats free for the season.
Free every Sunday
The Sunday email
Three things to try this week, two ideas from coaches worth learning from, and one question to take to practice. Written for your sport and your level, so a first-year parent coach and a former college player each get what they need.