Four corners drill (1 player per coach or do in pairs)
This drill is an individual drill for working on quick feet, explosive movements and thereby increasing the width of the area a player can field and stop a ball. The drill is simple; you place four cones away from each other to form a square, have your player be standing in the middle and then call to what cone you want the player to move. In this example the cones are colored, but it could also be west, east, north, south or numbers – as long as the player knows where they are going. This part of the drill is for working on quickly moving the body according to communicational instructions. Then when the player has moved to the cone and touched it, the coach will toss a groundball in the middle of the square for the player to get back to and field. The coach is supposed to make it challenging, but not impossible.
Gradually increase their comfort zone during the drill and over time. We want the player to eventually feel comfortable stretching their area of reach so much that they will throw themselves at the balls to gain reach.
You can tweak the difficulty by hitting the groundballs harder or the placement of the ball. You SHOULD NOT make it more difficult on the player by starting the toss of the groundball before the player has reached and touched the cone, as this will teach a bad habit for the player to keep the motion going towards the cone, even though the player sees the groundball has been tossed. The only way you could toss the ball before the player has reached to cone, would be if you had instructed the player to abandon the cone and just go for the ball, as this will teach the player the correct muscle memory: that the ball is of highest priority.
