Your best 5 drills

[lynx]

what are your best 5 drills (defensively) with 10u, 12u, 14u teams?

 

[Lance Steckler]

i will share that the best drills for my 16 & 18u squads did not work worth beans when tried with younger girls. have to walk before you can run .

 

[Rolling Hard]

10U. Make use of tennis balls. Much safer. Bare hand ground balls. Good for flyballs too.

 

[CaledoniaDad]

I can only speak for 10U as this is where the basics of softball come alive (plus this is what I coach). Positional play and understanding situational defense is often hard with this age group because they are still worried about what went on in school for the day or their parents' thoughts about their performance. Because of this stage of emotional development, frustration levels can get high quickly.

I agree with Rolling Hard above - tennis balls and lite flite balls work wonders allow the girls to practice without the fear of being smacked by a softball.

Coaches should call every pitch and play in this age group with a consistent system the girls can understand.

This age group is about development - not winning. The coach's patience and understanding are key - this is where most girls I've seen quit if they don't have a good coach to develop them.

Infield - A lot of focus on the basics of being springy, ready, and having proper fielding mechanics while understanding situational defense with runners. Quite a few runs are scored in this age group because of the allowance of stealing (which I dislike; I wish stealing was introduced at 12U instead of 10U).

• Strength and accuracy of throws to 1B from all infield positions (emphasizing checking other runners)
• Throws to 2B from all infield positions (emphasizing positioning and movement of the SS and 2B players, and the possibility of the double play - which is VERY rare at this age group)
• Bunt defense for 1B and 3B positions (with 2B and SS covering the bags)
• Fly ball catching, communication, and positional priority in the infield
• Wild pitch defense with a runner on 3B
• Advanced: Steal defense throws from C to SS with 2B as the backup

Outfield - Focus on tracking with the eyes (keeping the ball in FRONT of them), moving their feet and cutting off angles, and getting the ball to the proper infielder as most are unable to make the long throw home in the air

• Fly ball tracking
• Throws to 2B
• Throws to 3B
• Throws to home via pitcher relay

Pitchers - Coaches should call ALL pitches at this age group

• Fastball mechanics
• Changeup mechanics
• Wild pitch defense
• Mental aspects

Catchers

• Wild pitch defense
• Steal defense 2B/3B
• Blocking
• Dropped 3rd Strike Rule

Batting - Girls moving up from 8U struggle the most, as they are used to being pitched meatballs, patience with them is key as they will get frustrated a lot. The more they see a live pitch, the better. A pitching machine is a great weapon for any team (we use a Lite Flite machine). Too many drills to list here, tons are available on YouTube.

• Mechanics Drills
• T Drills
• Batting Cage
• Coach Pitch BP
• Live Pitcher

Game Drills - I emphasize with live scrimmages stopping every play where a mistake is made, and talking about what happened so the girls can learn from their mistakes

• Live Scrimmage with situational defenses, rotating batters and positions
• Machine Pitcher Game
• Coach as Pitcher Game

I know this is more than 5, but you can make an infinite number of drills and situations out of the above. There are just so many resources out there for coaches (these forums), and while some may be out of date for today (such as my first book I read on this when I decided I wanted to be a coach for my daughter's team, Coaching Fastpitch Softball Successfully by Kathy Veroni), they are still valuable resources for any coach.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

what are your best 5 drills (defensively) with 10u, 12u, 14u teams?

The best five drills are any 5 five drills you do after you have taught them proper footwork and given them a foundation.

It's like teaching a kid to play an instrument without teaching them to read music. You can do drills but if they don't have proper footwork you are just wasting time.

 

[CoachCeetar]

I can only speak for 10U as this is where the basics of softball come alive (plus this is what I coach).

Outfield - Focus on tracking with the eyes (keeping the ball in FRONT of them), moving their feet and cutting off angles, and getting the ball to the proper infielder as most are unable to make the long throw home in the air

• Fly ball tracking

Kids at this age have probably seen very few real fly balls in the outfield. I noticed this fall when we tried some outfield drills that pretty much every kid, even the good ones, were tricked by balls over their head. They just don't see it enough. I started throwing/hitting every ball over their head, just to give them reps of seeing that. Started telling them to think first step back, or at least angled back. They misjudge a ball in front of them, maybe it's an extra base. They misjudge a ball behind them it's probably a home run.

 

[lynx]

Gunner, you are correct but within the those fundamentals (footwork, etc) what are your 5 best drills to teach those

 

[sluggers]

The simplest drill is to hit (not roll) ground balls to them and then correct their fielding technique. If a girl doesn't do it correctly, have them do it again.

You have to have the bat skills to hit soft ground balls.

 

[4Martini]

The best five drills are any 5 five drills you do after you have taught them proper footwork and given them a foundation.

It's like teaching a kid to play an instrument without teaching them to read music. You can do drills but if they don't have proper footwork you are just wasting time.

My daughter had an ex-nfl player/ P5 assistant coach dad coach her at 12u rec. He had amazing footwork drills. A lot of running a cone sequence, fielding a ball and throwing to a teammate.

The star drill really helped my daughter with throwing accuracy and it keeps everyone moving.

 

[Cornbread]

Go look up Matt Antonelli on YouTube. Look for his defense stuff. It’s really good. His hitting stuff is solid too.