Fun Competition-like practices

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Mar 23, 2009
3
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Hey everyone-back with a new question. :) Thanks for all the cut-off advice on the last one!

I am looking for more competition-like drills or fake-game scenarios where you can divide the girls up into teams to compete against eachother. I have 13 high-school girls on our team and we have found that doing competitions really increases the hussle and effort in our practice.

For example..yesterday at practice we did batting stations in the gym, and each girl got 10 balls in the cage of the machine. Each person had to make contact with 6/10 balls, or their team had to run a line drill. If all the team members got contact, then the coaches would run one. We then did another round where they had to get 2 fair bunts down & 2 hits out of 6 balls, which also worked great. The girls loved this.

Especially interested in any you might have with defense/live pitching. We are going to try a version of 21 outs today with our girls but i really don't have enough squad to divide up into 2 even teams to compete against eachother. Open to suggestions?
 
Jan 15, 2009
585
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One competition that we break out to work on throwing/catching quickly is the round the horn drill

We start with 4 players in a 10 ft square (one player on home, one 10 ft up 1st baseline, one 10ft up 3rd baseline, last one finishes the box kitty korner to home plate). Stop watch starts and girls must complete the circuit twice before moving the square to 30 ft (halfway to the base) complete circuit twice, move back to 60' complete circuit twice and stop the clock. The 10' distance forces them to work on flip throws, the 30' distance puts a premium on quick exchange, and the full distance emphazises both quickness, throwing strength and accuracy.

I've considered that now that the girls are older we should add a 85-90' square since catcher, 3B, SS and the outfield are regularly throwing further than 60'.
 
Nov 1, 2008
224
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Divide them as evenly as possible into 3 groups (A,B,C). one group(A) bats while the other 2 groups (B,C) are in the field. the 2 groups in the field must get an out for each member of the batting team (4 girls, 4 outs). once they get the required number of outs, the next group (B) gets to bat and the group who batted first (A) joins group C and fills the empty spots in the field and the game continues. Groups A and C must get 4 outs in order for group C to bat. Keep up with the runs scored by each team and let the winners watch the others run a lap or two.

if you do it close to the end of practice, they'll REALLY hustle to make sure they get to bat before time is up.
 
Dec 3, 2008
161
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Disclaimer: This drill doesn't have much to do in the way of teaching skill. It will, however, reinforce 1) competition and 2) hustle. Trust me, you'll wish your players ran this hard all the time.

You can do this either off a tee from home plate or off a pitching machine.

1. Divide your team up into three teams -- A, B, C.

2. Team A will hit first. Team B will start at first base with gloves. Team C will start at third base with gloves. For this round, Team B and Team C will be working together.

3. One member from Team A is up. One member from Team B starts with her foot on first base. One member from Team C starts with her foot on third base.

4. Team A member hits ball (whether off tee or machine) and runs the bases. On contact, Team members B and C chase after the ball. When BOTH defensive players touch the ball, the play is dead and Team A receives a point for every base the runner has touched.

5. The two defensive players can throw the ball to each other to make the play go dead.

6. Once every member of Team A has hit, rotate. Now Team B is hitting, Team C is at first base and Team A is at third base.

To teach hitting to a certain spot (for instance, hitting behind a runner) you can start your two defensive players anywhere. We do it sometimes with one fielder at the fence in center field and one fielder at third base. Mix it up however you like.

I'd save it until the end of practice, because it's going to tire these kids out. At the college level, it's certainly not something we do every day, week, or month. But a couple times a year we'll play this game and it's an all-out battle.
 
Dec 3, 2008
161
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In a scrimmage/live pitching situation, you can tally points based on the total number of bases each team gets per inning instead of runs.

I second Alabama's scrimmage technique of 4 on 4 on 4.

Defensively, quick fire competitions (either with partners or in star patterns) work well for focus, throwing accuracy, transitions, footwork.

Some Hitting Games...

Knockout: Similar to the basketball version. Player 1 hits. Then player 2 hits. If player 2 has a better hit, player 1 is out. If player 2 does not have a better hit, she is now in jeopardy of player 3 knocking her out.

Eraser: You have 13 players. Assign them, for instance, 130 sit ups. Each player gets one hit. If she hits it well, you erase 10 sit ups. If everyone hits well, no sit ups. (This isn't really a competition against each other, obviously).
 

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