Attitude

Gotta bite at this one, what's the difference in cheers vs chatter?

GOINGDEEP said:

Gotta bite at this one, what's the difference in cheers vs chatter?

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Chatter = less/not organized IMO, like the old "Hey! batter, batter, batter, SWING!" that is no longer allowed, or "You got this Emily, one more stirke!" vs the "Once there was a froggy, sittin on a loggy" or "Sammy's up to bat, and she can really whack, if I were you and you were me you'd scoot your booty back" (one of my favs, and if they're going to stop singing it I'm going back to 10U next season).

BuckeyeGuy said:

Chatter = less/not organized IMO, like the old "Hey! batter, batter, batter, SWING!" that is no longer allowed, or "You got this Emily, one more stirke!" vs the "Once there was a froggy, sittin on a loggy" or "Sammy's up to bat, and she can really whack, if I were you and you were me you'd scoot your booty back" (one of my favs, and if they're going to stop singing it I'm going back to 10U next season).

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Oh ok, we did both..........just called it all cheering. But now I've learned a new term.

PEPPERS said:

A game I used to play with the kids I called Last Girl Standing.

All the kids grab a bat, helmet and stand in line one at a time they enter the batter’s box get one pitch and (according to age contact or a solid hit) if they make contact they get back in line if you miss grab a glove and go to the field. I pitch from about 30 feet and I’m a decent pitcher and usually throw a hittable pitch. The second round it has to be a fair ball, third round it has to make the outfield and finally round it has to a base hit. The last girl standing gets a prize.

I always tried to combine practice with competition between the players.

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We call this "the hitting game" and my DD's coaches did it at almost every practice last year and it was a total waste of time because they didn't put the difficulty parameters on it. Any fair ball counted every time up, and if they hit a foul, they stayed at-bat. So it would take forever to get through a game (these were very good 10U rec players).

PEPPERS said:

A game I used to play with the kids I called Last Girl Standing.

All the kids grab a bat, helmet and stand in line one at a time they enter the batter’s box get one pitch and (according to age contact or a solid hit) if they make contact they get back in line if you miss grab a glove and go to the field. I pitch from about 30 feet and I’m a decent pitcher and usually throw a hittable pitch. The second round it has to be a fair ball, third round it has to make the outfield and finally round it has to a base hit. The last girl standing gets a prize.

I always tried to combine practice with competition between the players.

Click to expand...

Our twist on this game is called "Survivor" in our league. Batter gets one swing. If you hit the ball in fair territory, you get back in line. If not, you grab your glove and go into the field. If you're in the field, and make a clean play on a batted ball, you go back in the hitting line. Pitching speed increases as the rounds go on. If everyone is killing it, we add in the parameter of "in the air to the grass" for the later rounds. The game does take a while, but it does whittle down to a final winner.

Another hitting game we call "hustle ball". 3 batters hitting, the rest in the field. Batter swings until they put a ball in play (strikeouts could be included, if desired). Fielders play it like a game situation. If the batter is safe, they stay on base and move around with the subsequent batters. If they score, they stay as a hitter, and bat again. If the batter or base-runner is put out, they grab their glove and play 1B. Infielders shift to the left, 3B goes to LF, outfielders shift to the right, and RF becomes gets in line to bat. The "hustle" happens in switching from fielder to batter, and vice-versa. In this game, everyone gets to hit at least once, and everyone plays every position at least once. Coaches interject with teaching moments, as necessary. It's a really good, all-around kind of game.

Quick update: tried the "bunting for dollars" game last practice, really got the girls excited and cheering for each other. I was missing 3 on vacation, but I hope to see the same reaction from them next practice. Didn't have to spend any of my money this time, but a few got real close!