Confidence/Aggression

So, this is my first year coaching the girls. My DD is 7, and the girls on our team are all 7/8.
3 girls have played softball or tee ball, everyone else is brand-spanking new to the sport.

I've got some athletes. I can see it in their confidence and the aggressiveness in which they approach things.

I've also got several girls that lack that aggressiveness. Every swing is at 50% of what they can do. After every grounder, they're "thinking" about what they're going to do for a few seconds before they actually throw the ball to first, etc. It's like everything they're learning/doing in practice is scary some how.

We have a lot of fun in practice, all the girls are awesome with eachother, always cheering eachother on...I've been trying to pump them up with some confidence, have them not be afraid to really swing that bat, or really throw that ball....

It's not really working that well. Any advice on how to help these girls release their "inner beast." If they do, I know they can be successful!

Reps and more reps.

Put an adult at 1st and have them throw it as hard as they can.

Batting it is easy to put the bat in the way of the ball. Maybe put something on the field that they need to reach, might be as simple as the OF grass.

(If you have a net put it on 1st instead of a person)

Call drills games/competitions. I can do a drill which I call a 'drill' and will get low energy.... make the same 'drill' a competition and the energy level goes up.

I'll take any other tips on developing aggressiveness. I have two girls on my team that could be very good if they were more aggressive.... but they aren't.

Put a clock on them for grounders and yell their time out. Makes them hustle to the ball and want to throw hard.

+1 on competitions.

Try these links for ideas:
http://www.discussfastpitch.com/coaching-softball/17135-competetive-softball-drills.html

http://www.discussfastpitch.com/coaching-softball/15159-practice-competition-drills.html

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WY-bsfus85gCIyVSpZx9GcAMhu364WUurN2yea32Zc0/edit

(The last one has a ton of good stuff compiled by our own MountieSB)

I like hitting competitions, although I'm not sure how good they are for promoting form...

-Longest T: 3-4 stations of tees lined up on a foul line with a bucket of balls at each station. 3 kids (max) per station. Each gets 3-5 balls to hit. Mark the farthest with her glove. (Needs to be orderly but quick to keep everyone safe but engaged.) Can also be done with side or front toss
-Home Run Derby: similar to above, but stations are set up on the edge of the infield/outfield. Each kid gets 3-5 balls. 1 point for hitting the fence/warning track and 3 points for a dinger.
-Cage Bombs: Similar to above games, but in a cage with a T, front or side toss. Points are given for hitting the back screen with a line drive.

Generally, keep everyone active and challenged. Avoid lines or one girl getting reps while everyone else watches and waits. (Coaches often feel busy because they're constantly talking, tossing or whatever, then get ticked while the other players are chatting instead of paying close attention to the individual who's up.)

All good stuff. It also helps to have them go watch either a good HS or College team.

They are really good, TV does not show how good they are.

would you all consider a top 25 DIII team to be worth watching. local college team around here (about 25 minutes away) is ranked in top 25 of DIII, was thinking of inviting my team to go watch a game first afternoon of spring break.

Yes

Do not focus to much on the ball you can see that on TV.

Watch how all 9 players are moving, no one is watching the game.