Need coaching advise badly!

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Continued thanks for all of the posts and private messages- for all of the questions about where we are located; we are in Chagrin Falls (east side of Cleveland) and our school is St. Joan of Arc and we play in the CYO (Cathiolic Youth Organization) League. It seems to me that softball in Cleveland is not very popular compared to other parts of the state(?). Our league did not have enough teams to have an elemental league (only 4th grade) so we are playing up one league into developmental, which is 5th grade and 4th/5th mixed. Around here ****** is so popular that kids no longer play softball as their first sport like they did when I grew up and then they do not seem inclined to pick it up later.

We did get our game in today. :yahoo: which was a miracle in and of itself given the softball commissioner for our school (the one who gets the field ready) called last night and said he was probably going to call the game due to weather/conditions. I practically begged him not to call it and to give the weather a chance to clear up overnight and the field to dry out. So early this morning we went to the field about 5 hours before the game and I took a paper cup and scooped up all of the standing water I could on the field (there were big puddles at the mound and behind home) and then dried up the remainder with towels and then we left. I then e mailed him and asked if he could wait to make the call on the day until an hour before the game because the weather was very windy and partly sunny and if it kept up there was a possibility those soft spots would harden up a bit. So, he waited and sure enough the field was good enough to go and we got the game in!!

We ended up losing, but the score was 15-8 and we left two innings with bases loaded. The girls were so excited to be "in" it and they played well for them. The intense throwing practice on Fri helped a ton so tomorrow we are moving on to concentrating on batting at practice. The big thing I noted today was that they were doing great not swinging at bad pitches BUT they were not doing good at all with low strikes- they just sat there and watched those go by. High strikes they swung at but low strikes they will not bite on. I got one of those balls on a stick trainers and we are going to use that and a tee to get them to get comfortable with the low pitches while also breaking down batting step by step like we did with throwing. Hopefully that helps. The crazy thing is that I am sure our next game (Tues) will be rained out and then we don't have a game for 2 weeks due to Easter /Holy Week this week and then Easter break the next week. That is a huge layoff and most of the girls will be out of town or unavailable to practice over the break- not good when we are on a roll!

All in all, a great day!!

 

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Cleveland has a HUGE base of teams actually.

Sounds like the girls have more fun when they are "in it". Which is a good sign actually.

 

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Thanks- I obviously don't know where to look! I was more referring to the lower level of playing though (but I really am in the dark about highly competitive teams at all ages). Many of the rec leagues here on the east side are dying out (to the point where cities like Chagrin and Kenston have to combine to get enough girls for a league) and the travel team here could not find a coach (or enough players) for the longest time. Our CYO League also had to combine age groups to get enough teams for a leauge - and on teh west side the CYO had to combine 3 age groups to get enough teams to play (which IMO is too much of an age gap to have the girls playing together safely).

I also had a heck of a time a few months ago trying to find a pitching coach in Cleveland for my daughter. It took days of calling and e mailing, etc. I didn't think it would be that difficult- everything I found was either in Akron or south- nothing in Cleveland. I finally found a coach for her in Auburn (about 20 minutes away from us).

I am findout out more every day about what is available though - thanks to forums like this and all of the coaches, etc. who are willing to share all kinds of information with me. Out of all the sports we have done with our kids, this is definitely the nicest sporting "community"! Thanks Karen

 

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Need to make sure that you have plenty of people helping you with your practice. I would say break into stations (3 or 4) and work on individual drills and then rotate through.

 

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Karen, you might have to get out of the CYO ball to find a rec league .. especially if you think the age difference might be dangerous.

There are rec leagues in that NE corner that might fit your need. Are you going to do a rec league that last until Mid-June or Mid-July ? Some leagues go both ways.

Maybe some of theses NE Ohio people know of some rec league nearby you being offered that is outside of CYO. I know time wise, it has to be close to them finalizing their schedules for this season though

 

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Karen, I sent you a personal message (PM) with a name to contact and she would gladly help you in finding a league if you wanted that help.

 

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In regards to possible DVD's, I would suggest getting Howard Kobata's fielding ones. He is the best at what he does. He comes to the area a lot in the fall and winter putting on clinics for organizations who have him in.

 

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Irish-You are off to a good start. I'd like to offer you a few things thoughts.

You can not fix anything, the players will have to do all the heavy lifting. You can talk and show and talk some more and correct and repeat but I find it far better to 'trick' them into doing it right, whatever the task may be. By 'tricking' them I mean to do drills that will force them to do perform the task right. When they are shown and then concentrate on that task they will not take it in very fast. Tricking them is what your Elmo Drill does in spades.

As an example: I used a lot of tennis balls in my drills, they fit their hand better and don't break their noses, without their gloves, have them play catch. They will have to use both hands. After awhile at that, demonstrate fingers up for high throws and fingers down for low throws, then you can move to their feet and body position. While they are concentrating on all that other stuff their hands are clamping the ball and the elbows are flexing and softening the catch, just like real softball players and as a major bonus-when they miss no one gets hurt.

You will have to keep the practices moving and fun. Work hard but make sure there is laughter-both the kids and the coaches. Don't waste their time. When you teach say something positive make the correction and then say something positive; the cookie method. Don't harp. The kids will learn at different rates give them some space to do that.

Also be very careful of your help. Make sure they are on the same page. A misguided coach will take your team out at the knees with a few off-putting remarks. Make sure that the coaches are actually teaching the right stuff. Just because some guy played ball in high school 20 years ago does not mean that he'll be a good teacher. Remember that these are girls and they learn differently and have significantly different dynamics. (it took me about 3 years to learn this little lesson) If you treat them like boys or permit your coaches to do the same you will not have a happy experience. (Quite frankly I am not sure that even boys should be treated like boys but that is another discussion)

 

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I would say that there is some really good stuff in this post.

I am coaching our 9U right now and here are a few drills we use to get the girls up to speed.

#1 - we play a lot of catch without mitts using softball foam balls.........this really gets them in the habit of using both hands and catching in the middle of there body. It is crazy the difference it makes quickly. We usually warm up with foam then go to squish balls with mitts. This has made a HUGE difference

#2 - fly ball drills, we have the girls put on a helmet and throw tennis balls or foam balls. The girls to try to get underneath the ball and hit it with the helmet.

#3 - throwing.........we use the T system, and focus on the footwork. You go to the tee, point with the off hand to your target, have the ball "wave" to the outfield (palm pointed rearward, the come through and snap. Really focus on the snap and keeping elbow above the shoulder. As they progress get them to stay down in the athletic position.

#4 - hitting...........tee work is key in our experience


We also rotate one line so all the girls play catch with each other. And we also do 5, 10 catch drills then rotate.

As they get better we do the drill mentioned above on how many catches in 30 seconds.

It is amazing how quickly they can get up to speed.

Hitting is a tough one. I would say that you just need them to do work outside of practice if they are going to develop a good swing. It takes so much time to get in the reps needed.