Drills and Games for 1st - 3rd grade boys and girls clinic

[seahawk08540]

Anyone have any ideas on some drills or games for this age group? The clinic consist of both boys and girls and the only equipment is a stick and a soft lax ball. We have done relay races, ground ball elimination games, and teams who can collect the most lax balls. Need some more to keep the interest level up.

[MadLaxPlaya16]

do u have ne goals?? u could turn them upside down and have a shootin competition. u could also put the kids into groups of three (dpending on how many there are) and do a triangle drill and the first to get to a certain number with out droppin the ball (or the fewest drops with this age group) i mean i dunno how good these ideas are but it could be somthin

[seahawk08540]

These are very new players. Most are doing this to see if this is a sport that they would be interested in doing. We have no goals to use either.

[3rdPersonPlural]

Little kids like to bump into each other. Since your job at this point in their development is more evangelism than skill development, run a lot of ground ball drills and stuff that is fun but requires little skill to execute.

[picknroll]

I run a line drill variant that is appropriate for very young kids. Put two lines about 20 yards apart. Give the ball to the first guy in one line. Have him cradle the ball half way out and drop it in the middle. Focus on his vertical "box area" cradle. Most very young kids want to cradle horizontally. Once the ball has been dropped. Get the first kid in the opposite line to come out, scoop the ball, and pass to the first guy in the opposite line. If you are lucky that player actually catch the ball and then the drill repeats. If the first guy in line misses the ball, which happens a lot, the next guy in line is responsilbe for chasing down the ball and getting it to the first guy in line.

The thing I like about this drill is that there are multiple skills and opportunities for success. All of them can readily learn to scoop so this is the first success point. Likewise all should learn to cradle to some degree of success - first horizontal then vertical. Lastly some of these early players will learn to succeed with throwing/catching - and some will greatly succeed to your amazement. The good part about this drill is that there is something that everyone can succeed in.

I worked with 1st and 2nd graders over the summer. They are a lot of fun. We used helmets and pads so most of the stuff that we did is not appropriate for stick only drills.

[LALAXMAN]

My kids love "the Fox & the Farmer" which is: put all the kids in a box/grid sized based on how many kids you have and stuff pinnies in their shorts dangling out like fox tails. They should each have a ball in their stick. One kids is the Farmer, who plays without a stick and uses his hands to try to pull the tails of the foxes. If a tail gets pulled or they drop the ball or step out of the grid, they are out until the next round. Last one with a tail is the farmer for the next round.

This drill is great for practicing cradling, dodging and movement to open space, even for kids who haven't been taught those concepts. I usually put the pinnies in the front of the shorts, which teaches them to keep their bodies between the defender and the ball.

Plus it's a contest, which kids love.