have been working in side since november girls are getting bored looking for some new drills to spice up practice!! can only do so many grounders and pop fly drills. this is a 12u team any suggestions??
have been working in side since november girls are getting bored looking for some new drills to spice up practice!! can only do so many grounders and pop fly drills. this is a 12u team any suggestions??
Set aside one practice to just have a "games day". We do this 2 or three times a year and the girls love it. Here's what you do:
- Buy a few bags of candy or jamba juice gift cards or whatever to give out as prizes. Girls love candy. (so long as they're eating it at home and not at your practices
- Pre-plan 5-8 "events" in advance. These are all softball related but geared towards inspiring competition and having fun.
- Break your team up into two teams. If you have a big organization you can have your teams compete against one another. How you do this is up to you, pick captains that pick teams, split them up yourself, outfield vs infield, whatever. I like them to be as even as possible.
- Award prizes after each event. Events may have either individual winners, team winners, or both, it doesn't matter, it's up to you
- Keep the pace fast and exciting (but safe) As with all practices, the better you plan the better it will be. If you're not already planning your practices. . it's no surprise your girls are bored.
- At the end, acknowledge the winning team, throw the remaining candy in the air, and let them have some fun.
Here's some events we typically do. Many of these you may already do, others you can find on the internet, I'm not going to go into detail but if you have questions ask and I'll explain them.
- Guts
- Over the Line
- "pickle" game (one team runners, other team fielders, 1 point for getting back safe to first, 2 points for getting to 2nd, 2 points for an out) This is a big favorite and teaches rotation
- Do or Die fly balls (machine launch fly balls, girl has her back to the machine, after ball is launched coach yells "turn", girl turns, spots the ball and catches it. A coach is next to the player watching the ball for safety. Teammates may help the player to locate the ball)
- Hitting TCB balls for distance
- Hitting wiffle balls with a golf club for distance
- Hitting wiffle balls with a tennis racket for distance
- Bat relays
- Bases relays (use a softball for a "baton")
- Throwing from SS and 2B for accuracy, target is a softball on a T at home. 1 point for the T, 5 points for the ball.
Use your imagination, set them up like a mini "softball-Olympics". You'll be amazed at the results you get from your girls when competition and candy is involved.
-W
You may already be doing these -
2 lines of girls. 1st girl throws the ball high up on the wall, she runs to the back of the line. 2nd girl catches it and throws it back up and goes to the end of the line.
Both lines can be doing this or the other line can bounce the ball to the wall, so that it comes back bouncing or as a grounder.
Then, instead of going to the back of the line - have the girl run to the back of the other line.
Also, do the basketball 4 corners drill, with a softball. First, you are just throwing 1 softball and the girls throw and then, the next girl steps up. (You have like 3 girls at each corner.) Then, use 2 balls. Then, you throw and follow the ball and get in that line.
There is also the relay drill. If you have 12 girls, you have 3 lines of 4 girls. They throw to the girl behind them. Up and back, turning to their glove side to throw. 1st team done, wins.