Help.....coaching softball for the first time

[Sweet Lou]

I like this and will try it. I've been a roller (candrea warmup routine) for a few years but will give this a shot as I like your philosophy. Thanks.

Pretty much what I've been doing this year.
One of the benefits of roll/throw is you can place it where you want to work on different types of catches pretty easily: backhand, short hop, etc.
But I do like the concept of reading the ball off the bat which is absolutely a learned skill that generally only comes with reps so the more the better.

 

[leoskee]

Well....first practice went suprisingly well. I was sharing the field with another coach. I asked to join him because my other ACs were running late. He said fine but as I was preparing the equipment he took off when his AC arrived and started his practice with his girls. He knew what he was doing and started running drills. I on the other hand was not sure how to start so I went with my plan. I did an ice breaker with the girls. They did the name game tossing the ball around and had a good time. I then did some stretching but had the girls take turn initiating what they thought would be good stretches. It was funny what they came up with but it served the purpose of actively involving them. I then lined them up on HP and had them do a relay around the bases. When the first one got to second base I sent the next one. They did this two times. Next I lined up 4 water bottles near HP and had the girls practice trying to knock the water bottles over. I coached them through the motions of a full throw and was suprised how they went from throwing arching balls up 8-10 feet in the air to actually getting close to direct hits on the water bottles.

One of the other coaches arrived so we decided to break them up into a hitting group and a catching group. I did the whole alligator, clove on the ground drill and rolled 5 balls at each girl in rapid succession. I went over squating to catch and then connected the water bottle target practice to the throw back to me. Then we switched. I tried to keep the momentum going and reminded the girls to hustle at all times.

With 20 minutes left the other coach told me we should have a game. I found it interesting because when we first talked he told me that having games so early on was not so good due to the fact that most of the girls did not know how to play. I decided to scratch my freeze tag game I had in mind as a wrap up activity and lined the girls up to play. My girls went first at bat and the my other AC pitched to them. I have to say that I was pleasently surprised with my girls. Each and everyone one of them were able to get a hit by the 2-3 ball. Some of them hit some really impressive line drives. Then we switched and my girls suprised me yet again. They remembered their stance and the alligator catch for line drives. Some of them actually attacked the balls as they were hit towards them. One of the girls was at the short stop position and cleanly fielded a line drive and was able to acurately throw it to 1st. The girl on first missed it but hustled after the ball.

I went home pretty tired but deeply satisfied with my first practice. I want to thank all of you for your tips and advice. I am going to go back through the thread and write down all of the great ideas that were given to me. Thanks again.

I did realize one thing though from my very first practice....it is interesting to see how the adult's can bring their competative mentality to a game with such young girls. Its going to be interesting to see how I balance the idea of my girls being able to "win" games while not sacrificing my goal of making sure that they have fun learning the game.

 

[T.J.]

I did realize one thing though from my very first practice....it is interesting to see how the adult's can bring their competative mentality to a game with such young girls. Its going to be interesting to see how I balance the idea of my girls being able to "win" games while not sacrificing my goal of making sure that they have fun learning the game.

Food for thought: Don't focus, or teach the girls to focus on "winning"...Focus on teaching them to play smart and competitively; all with good sportsmanship. If you do that, the wins will come.

 

[CoachBroker]

I did not read everything above but here are some quick facts for that age.
Teach them how to use their glove, you may even have to take some home to oil and break in (glove not kid). Teach them how to throw, field, catch, and bat. Take your fastest girl who can field the best and put her at pitcher. Take your best player at catching ( especially balls over her head and stick her on 1st. Strongest arm on 3rd.
At batting, assuming this is coach pitch, teach the girls how to square up on the plate, how to hold the bat, and how to swing. Then, figure out where each girl likes a pitch to hit. Every girl is different. Pitch to that spot and your girls almost always hit.
Keep it all fun, run stations and change things up. Pay attention to your batting line up too.

 

[leoskee]

Im going to sit down and come up with a more specific game plan. I want to coach the girls in a progressive manner so that they develop and fine tune their skills. I dont want to do random drills with them. I want to build on the last drill like I did with the catching and throwing drill.

If all of the girls are being pitched to by the coaches why should I worry about the line up? From what I was told so far the first half of the season is spent playing games where the girls hit and go on base. Then they continue around as each girl hits. This way everyone gets a hit and goes on base. It didnt make sense to me but that is what I was told. Any input on this?

 

[Sweet Lou]

If all of the girls are being pitched to by the coaches why should I worry about the line up? From what I was told so far the first half of the season is spent playing games where the girls hit and go on base. Then they continue around as each girl hits. This way everyone gets a hit and goes on base. It didnt make sense to me but that is what I was told. Any input on this?

That is what our league does at the instructional 5-6 age group. No score and bat the whole lineup each inning.