How important is it to teach...

Every player each position on the field?

I coach HS ball (1st year as HC) and we live in a very rural community hours away from the city so we have no youth softball leagues. So when the girls become freshman most of them are just now learning the game. We normally struggle to get 10 players but this year we have 15, of which 9 are freshman, 7 of them with no prior experience.

We normally do hitting for approx. 75 minutes then move to defensive drills for another 75 minutes. How would you go about having each girl getting reps in both the infield and outfield? Would you have the whole team fielding ground balls in the infield then move the whole team to the outfield to do outfield work? Looking for opinions from some experienced coaches!

Thanks

I do not think you have enough time with the players to teach them all the positions. I would go the 1 IF, 1 OF position route.

Having all 15 in the IF or OF would be brutal, if you have help break them into as small of groups as you can.

Initially I would break them up to right side middle and left side. The girls who play right field learn first and vice versa, middle infielders learn center, 3rd base learns left... That way they are able to see similar ball flights which will shorten some of the learning curve.

808state said:

Would you have the whole team fielding ground balls in the infield then move the whole team to the outfield to do outfield work?

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If you put everybody in the infield, you are wasting valuable training space (the outfield) and limiting repetition. You're better to put half in the infield, half in the outfield, then switch. They need to field as many balls as you possibly can deliver. Use space and coaches and even the players to help facilitate that, IMO.

We do a basic skills session at the start of each practice. Everybody gets balls at SS, 2B and 3B like in the drill below. Then everybody gets some flyballs with 2 coaches hitting so it goes fast. Then they go to their primary positions for situational work, rotating to their secondary positions after a break. If organized, it goes fast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDwFdR4gluQ

Until you can slot players into positions, I would try to work everyone in the infield and outfield. After you establish positions I would focus on a primary and a secondary for each player. Do you have any pitching?

I would also use a classroom setting with a chalkboard or paper to show backup responsibilities and fly ball priorities.

You would be better off breaking them into three groups of 5. Have 1 group at a 15 minute hitting station, 1 group at an infield position, and 1 group at an outfield position. Try to group your middle infielders in one group, and corner infielders in another. This will allow you to work on position specific drills for them. Rotate through each station twice, and you have a 90 minute practice(plus warm up, cool down and any strength training).

First thing you need to get yourself 2-3 assistants. You need to coach those assistants on exactly what you are looking for out of their station. Once they are properly trained, then its time to get them to train the players at their stations. You can migrate around the stations and make sure everything is going well. By staying in small groups you will keep the girls moving, and will get more out of your time with them.

Good luck, hope this helps!

We are only 10U but our coach has coached his daughter's teams all the way through high school so he has a ton of experience, and this is what he does. In practices he has infield drills and outfield drills, and all the girls do both. Most girls play 2 positions. For example, our primarily left fielder sometimes plays 1st base. One of our catchers plays both 1B and 3B also. Our pitchers play 1B, short stop, outfield. There are a couple of girls who could probably play just about anywhere but in reality they each only play 2-3 positions. This seems to work out pretty well. He has enough backup for each position that if someone is hurt, sick, traveling, etc, we won't have a terrible hole. But they're focused enough on a small number of positions that they can learn them well. I think it works nicely.

casedawg51 said:

We do a basic skills session at the start of each practice. Everybody gets balls at SS, 2B and 3B like in the drill below. Then everybody gets some flyballs with 2 coaches hitting so it goes fast. Then they go to their primary positions for situational work, rotating to their secondary positions after a break. If organized, it goes fast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDwFdR4gluQ

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Nice video link! New 12U coach here and already do something similar like this, but this giving me some additional ideas to work with my girls!

grcsftbll said:

We are only 10U but our coach has coached his daughter's teams all the way through high school so he has a ton of experience, and this is what he does. In practices he has infield drills and outfield drills, and all the girls do both. Most girls play 2 positions. For example, our primarily left fielder sometimes plays 1st base. One of our catchers plays both 1B and 3B also. Our pitchers play 1B, short stop, outfield. There are a couple of girls who could probably play just about anywhere but in reality they each only play 2-3 positions. This seems to work out pretty well. He has enough backup for each position that if someone is hurt, sick, traveling, etc, we won't have a terrible hole. But they're focused enough on a small number of positions that they can learn them well. I think it works nicely.

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I coach 10u, take a little different perspective, at this age I do want to get them all some experience at almost every position (P, C, and 1B are exceptions). I have 7-10 on my team, with more 7s and 8s than 9/10s, so I want them to move around a lot, when they move to majors, I do not want any of them to be like "I am a SS" or "I play 3B".

HS would be different, I would definitely limit it, especially with a lot of new players. probably biggest thing though is fundamentals, even if they understand every position on the field, makes no difference if they cannot execute. Especially for new girls, I would do 1/3 to half of practice on fundamentals (fielding ground balls, throwing, catching thrown balls, catching fly balls, catching (or at least defending themselves from) line drives. not position specific, just skills drills.