A drill which emphasizes fielding skills with a competitive aspect.
The drill is fun yet can be a good test of players fielding skills and reaction.
King of the Hill
Playing area: Two large open spaces (field or gym). Divide the team equally into two groups. A coach goes with each group and serves as the “hitter”. Players do not use gloves in this game. The game is basically “pepper”. The coach “hits” a ball towards the fielders, one fielder tries to field the ball. A fielder who is successful stays in place; a player making an error moves to the LEFT end of the line. After the ball is fielded or retrieved that player tosses it underhand to the coach to hit, just as in pepper. The game goes on for a minute or two. When time is up the player on the RIGHT end of the line is the “King of the Hill” or winner. The coach should make an attempt to hit towards every player both for practice and to keep the contest fair. To make the game more interesting play one contest for a couple of minutes. Then take the half of the players from the RIGHT end of each line into a “winners” game and the players from the LEFT half of each group into a “consolation” game. Then play another round and the winner of the “winners” game will be the undisputed “King of the Hill” for the practice. The reason that gloves are not used is to force players to field the ball with two hands, rather than just using the glove and fielding the ball with one hand.