Anybody Ever Create a Kata for Baseball?

[trag]

This is a bit tangential, so I apologize if it is too far afield.

I am finishing up my first season of coaching little league baseball, nine-year-olds. It's been several years since I studied Karate and Cha-yon ryu but it definitely made an impact on my life.

I've been looking for ways to improve how we (me and the other coaches) teach the kids and one thing I've realized is that we tend to assume that someone has taught them the basics at some point in the past. But when I work on basic concepts with them, I often find that they never learned them.

Much of baseball is composed of stylized motions. One adapts them to the situation, but there's a way to field a grounder, a way to catch a pop fly, a way to throw a pitch, a way to throw to another player, a proper stance for batting, a shifting of weight and balance during a swing, etc.

It occurs to me that creating a kata of these motions and integrating them into the warm-up at the beginning of practice might be a way to help introduce the kids to the basic motions they've missed along the way, and to give them a little practice in the proper form of the basics before they run out to the field to exercise them.

Then it occurred to me that surely someone has invented a baseball kata at some point.

So, anyone ever heard of such a thing?

Thank you for any helpful or humorous replies.

Jeff Walther

[bushido_man96]

I wouldn't call it a baseball kata, but just teaching the basics of good body position and doing reps upon reps of fielding grounders, catching pop flys, and hitting practice are what will help all this come together. I would focus on good drills to help them learn these skills.

You might also consider some kind of agility training using cones or the like to teach them how to move their feet properly to get into position.

[DWx]

Welcome to KF Jeff . Never heard of it but I don't think its such a bad idea! Maybe not so useful for adults but for kids its probably a great way of getting them to remember and practice.

[sensei8]

Imho, Baseball....Kata...can't work together! Two great inventions will fight for the number one spot in all things. Please leave them separate.

[trag]

Thank you for the thoughts gentlemen and possibly ladies. I appreciate you taking the time.

[DWx]

Imho, Baseball....Kata...can't work together! Two great inventions will fight for the number one spot in all things. Please leave them separate.

Surely just creating a kata where kids have to do a set sequence of actions isn't that bad? So they do mimic a batting stance, swing, step forward, catch a ball, turn left, throw to another player, step forward again etc. Not a true kata but something to get them remembering all the different movements and that they can practice at home. (apologies for the very untechnical baseball terms )

[Liver Punch]

In a sort of related topic: I actually saw a creative form between two kids at a tournament years ago. It started with them playing baseball, I believe the kid with the bat 'charged the mound" and they fought bat vs. unarmed with disarms/weapon trading. It wasn't exactly a traditional kata, but it was pretty cool.

[mindsedgeblade]

g a kata where kids have to do a set sequence of actions isn't that bad? So they do mimic a batting stance, swing, step forward, catch a ball, turn left, throw to another player, step forward again etc. Not a true kata but something to get them remembering all the different movements and that they can practice at home. (apologies for the very untechnical baseball terms )

Sounds like a good practice drill - exactly what any basketball team does.