Cannonball
Ex "Expert"
- Feb 25, 2009
- 4,887
- 113
I don't want to post too much of what we do but I do want to give a sense of what we do. The rationale for this is to give some of you who believe HS ball is worthless an idea of what happens at other schools which might not be in your region/state. As I have stated before, I coach in a very good HS softball area. Also, to be clear, I am now a volunteer coach. I'm retired. I have the luxury to say when I show up and take off when I want to do family stuff.
Today, the HC and her husband got to the field early to roll the diamond. That means both OF and IN. Then, screens etc, had to be moved and set up for the rest of the season. We/the team started practice at 9. Today's focus was hitting balls in flight. We had stations set up as well as rotations. I threw in the cage. As one player said, "Coach, you're not bad. You throw about the speed I love to hit." LOL That is planned. I throw at speeds where I can coach the swing. We had live pitching on the field as well. One thing that we do is that we have former college pitchers throw. They have to be approved by the school board and they have to have passed the state requirements or coaching requirements. When I finished throwing live in the cage, we set up a screen right behind the catcher on the field and I coach from there. Our pitchers now go-to game mode and pitch. We rotate them so that they simulate game stuff and our hitters can hit different pitchers. We film all of this as well and at some point, I will break all of that down.
Along with this, we did do those other things expected of a normal practice like infield. We do infield differently and it is intense. Think of a normal practice from most and have it be on steroids when I am hitting double infield with another coach. I am loud and intense. Again, I am not going to post much of what we do but I do want to share some to give an example that HS ball in many places is not worthless. I guarantee the girls today had fun hitting all of those balls in flight and that they were coached. Please share just a little of what you do if you are a HS coach to make this thread have some relevance.
(I forgot to add. We have 2 turfed cages and both have 70-foot cage nets. We set up stations outside of that as well. If our machine is not being used in a cage, typically, it is shooting outfield balls.) If some of you want to vent about HS ball, do so.
Today, the HC and her husband got to the field early to roll the diamond. That means both OF and IN. Then, screens etc, had to be moved and set up for the rest of the season. We/the team started practice at 9. Today's focus was hitting balls in flight. We had stations set up as well as rotations. I threw in the cage. As one player said, "Coach, you're not bad. You throw about the speed I love to hit." LOL That is planned. I throw at speeds where I can coach the swing. We had live pitching on the field as well. One thing that we do is that we have former college pitchers throw. They have to be approved by the school board and they have to have passed the state requirements or coaching requirements. When I finished throwing live in the cage, we set up a screen right behind the catcher on the field and I coach from there. Our pitchers now go-to game mode and pitch. We rotate them so that they simulate game stuff and our hitters can hit different pitchers. We film all of this as well and at some point, I will break all of that down.
Along with this, we did do those other things expected of a normal practice like infield. We do infield differently and it is intense. Think of a normal practice from most and have it be on steroids when I am hitting double infield with another coach. I am loud and intense. Again, I am not going to post much of what we do but I do want to share some to give an example that HS ball in many places is not worthless. I guarantee the girls today had fun hitting all of those balls in flight and that they were coached. Please share just a little of what you do if you are a HS coach to make this thread have some relevance.
(I forgot to add. We have 2 turfed cages and both have 70-foot cage nets. We set up stations outside of that as well. If our machine is not being used in a cage, typically, it is shooting outfield balls.) If some of you want to vent about HS ball, do so.
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