Softball Practice - Top 10

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Oct 23, 2009
967
0
Los Angeles
Having coached a couple of years at the youngest levels, below are some of my observations and comments about softball practice and the game in general. Feel free to add to the list.

1. Buy good equipment

2. 2 hour practices is about right

3. Condition the glove every week (preferably with Nokona or comparable oil)

4. It's never too early to teach the fundamentals

5. Repeat instructions, over and over again. Don't assume the girls get it.

6. Use the hitting "T" as often as possible

7. Challenge the advice you and your coaches give to the players. It might just be incorrect advice, passed down through the years.

8. Enjoy the time when they are young, make it fun.

9. Make sure to keep the parent "in the know" and be transparent.

10. Drill Stations. This last one in my opinion is the key to successful practices and team play. If possible, conduct 3 or 4 drill stations (separate the girls into groups for hitting, fielding, catching, etc) at the same time. Keeps the girls focused, not fooling around and creating drama, and they get more accomplished in 2 hours than any teams conducting one-off drills (i.e. 11 girls in a straight line, coach hitting grounders one at a time, etc..)
 
Feb 9, 2009
392
0
--having them "warm-up", no matter their age, is an awesome way to start practice...

--teaching them at an early age that they can't throw the ball at another player unless that player is looking at them...hehehe

--and to go with the previous one...always have a first aid kit handy!
 
Sep 3, 2009
675
0
I think all the ideas from everyone are great. Our head coach has been giving away movie passes to girls who have shown the most improvement over something they were asked to work on, and also for little contests like 'most accurate throw' (hitting an object), etc.

The team my dd is on now is run this way. The previous team, just hit grounders for an hour once a week. Surprisingly very few of the girls could hit worth a darn, and many times in a game had no idea what to do with the ball if it came their way. Pretty sad.

Make sure they can do the fundamentals in their sleep, and challenge them with scenarios.
 
Sep 6, 2009
393
0
State of Confusion
I hate to take issue with anything because thats not what this is about. But while 2 hrs is OK for weeknights during school yr, I believe major weekend practice needs to be much longer (3-4hrs) to accomplish much. During summer time weekday practices may be same length too, 10 hrs practice during week and play Fri,Sat, Sun is not uncommon.

Im also pretty opinionated on glove conditioning. Good quality gloves should be lightly conditioned with petroleum jelly once/season. Overuse of anything will make glove heavy and make it go floppy, which is not what you need. Thin oils should NEVER be used, they will soak totally thru leather and will damage padding. Vaseline is the hands down best leather conditioner for gloves there is. Rule of thumb, the harder to break in the longer it lasts.

I agree totally with games. Racing bases in opposite directions. Every now and then do the game where you spin around a bat 3-5times then try to run bases (and fall down) good for laughs. Hitting games where last batter still "in" are great too. Hitting to left, center, right, out of infield in air, etc are all fun games to do .

Sadly, needs to be "punishment" too. Set a mistake threshold, and if not performing drills well, everyone runs. Not calling for ball, everyone runs. Makes them focus instead of socialize. After the second lap, they start to focus more usually.
 
Nov 24, 2009
54
0
Chicagoland
New to this site and really like what I've been reading. As far as practices go, I think a lot that has already been said is right on. Here's my list, most of which has already been brought up.

1) Fundamentals - never too early but never too late either. I can't tell you how many times I inherit a player who's never been taught some of the most basic aspects of the game. There's also players who start to develop bad habits over the years and need a refresher so we work a lot on the fundamentals.

2) Keep practices moving - Yes, stations work best but keep them short and specific. Kids tend to love drills that are also competitions, use that to your advantage.

3) Don't allow a drill to continue if done improperly. I've seen this way too often when players run through the drill wrong and the coaches don't interfere. This is the time to address bad habits, stop the drill and address immediately.

4) I think Mudbug mentioned this one, if you need to discipline, try to do it as a team (not always possible or appropriate thought). Peer pressure works 10x better than you yelling at them. So when a player is dogging it, line them all up for sprints. You'll see how fast that corrects itself.

5) Not sure I agree with 4 hour practices, kids attention spans are limited (adults too). I've found 2 - 2 1/2 hours is about right. Twice a week is about normal with the pitchers and catchers going on a separate night.

6) I love the use of video taping, kids can see what they are doing wrong. So many of the players often simply nod when you are giving instruction but sometimes it takes them to see what they are doing wrong. Don't assume they understand all of your terminology. Quite often they are embarrassed to ask.

Well not quite 10 but I'll stop there to avoid too long of a post.

-Tom
 
I agree with stations, and also with keeping them short and keeping the girls moving. One important thing to keep an eye on is do the girls understand what the purpose of the drill is, and are they really putting the effort into it? Drills that the girls don't understand, or if they are just going through the motions without any effort, don't really help, imho.

I also agree that conditioning a glove every week isn't necessary, and probably even detrimental to the life of the glove. My general rule is before and after the season, and any time the glove has been wet (or dirty, and therefore cleaned which got it wet). Also I use a vaseline type product, rather than thinner oil.

The length of practice varies for age of the players and level of the team, imho.
 
Nov 24, 2009
54
0
Chicagoland
One important thing to keep an eye on is do the girls understand what the purpose of the drill is, and are they really putting the effort into it? Drills that the girls don't understand, or if they are just going through the motions without any effort, don't really help, imho.

Absolutely agree. I instruct my girls to approach each drill with the focus to work on / improve on 1 thing (at least). Some of the girls will be more advanced yet they still have things they can get better at.

-Tom
 
Oct 19, 2009
639
0
If you incorporate competition (games) with consequenses (running, push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, etc.) into your drills, you will be amazed how quickly four hours go by. We practice two hours on school nights and my kids, for the most part usually don't want to leave. As much as possible I try to make a game out of everything.

Of course, I will finish with a game in which the losers have to rake the field, but these goofballs all want to rake!
 
Sep 26, 2008
18
0
When dividing into hitting groups make sure you have at least 3 per group. That way when hitting on the field there will be a hitter, a foul ball chaser and a baserunner. Always work on leads, advancing on the batted ball, tagging if a fly etc...

other ideas: use a hula-hoop to aid outfielders in mnaking relay throws that can be cut. Have cutoff hold hula-hoop over head as outfielders throw to the proper base. Ball must go thru hoop in route to base
 

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
42,809
Messages
678,966
Members
21,423
Latest member
Wes_K
Top