Baseball Speed & Base Running Practice Plan for 11 and 12 Year Olds

Leads, reads, and the jump: the stolen base is won before the sprint starts. The stopwatch tracks the splits; the mimed pitcher teaches the eyes.

A-skips, build-up runs, line hops with quiet landings. Then four first-five-steps starts, low and punchy, chalk chased. Two three-quarter home-to-firsts through the line. The engine idles warm before the craft work.

The lead built: two controlled shuffles off the bag (feet never crossing, shoulders square to the plate, weight balanced enough to go EITHER way), eyes on the pitcher. On your sudden turn-and-look (the pickoff mime): the dive-step back, left foot planting, body dropping to touch the corner with the right hand. Eight reps mixing peaceful leads and pickoff scares. Balance is the whole lead: a lead leaning toward second is an out wearing confidence.

The lead's second act: as the mimed pitch goes home, two aggressive walking shuffles TOWARD second with momentum moving, landing balanced as the imaginary catcher receives. From there, alternate the two endings: sprint two steps on a "ball in the dirt!" call, or hard return on "caught!". Six reps. The secondary turns singles into first-to-thirds all season.

You mime from the stretch with honest variety: leg lift home (they GO, crossover firing on first move), pickoff turn (dive step back), long holds (they hold the lead, breathing). Ten mixed reps, jump quality graded in steps gained before your "pitch" would arrive. The read is the drill: eyes on the load-bearing half of the pitcher (front heel, back knee) rather than the whole blurry human.

Full steal reps off the read: lead, jump on the mimed first move, crossover, sprint, arriving past second (sliding practice only if grass and supervision allow; running through the far side otherwise). Four timed runs, best logged. Compare against straight-sprint times from a standing start: the gap IS the jump, made visible, and shrinking it becomes the game.

Two timed first-to-third runs off the secondary lead: momentum drift, "go!" call, banana through second (corner clipped, no stutter), hard lean, through third. Logged. First-to-third is where team speed actually shows up in box scores, and the corner craft from the earlier years is most of the time saved.

The day's numbers written and dated: home-to-first, steal time, first-to-third, jump grades. Then one three-quarter celebration lap, corners clipped, finishing across home. The log closes; the legs remember.

What to watch today: balance in the lead. Every kid cheats their weight toward second because it feels fast, and every pickoff in youth baseball harvests exactly that lean. A lead that can go BOTH directions at full commitment is the craft; the sprint was never the hard part.