Re: New Coach Need Practice Drills and Help Organi
I have the Kobata tapes as well, and I usually run those drills the first two weeks of practice. Well worth the $50 investment.
You mention finding drills that make it fun for the girls, that is easier said than done.
As I have heard Mike Candrea say, "Softball is a game of monotonous repetition." The really good teams find drills that work and repeat them over and over till its becomes second nature.
If your coaching the JV squad, I would start by asking the Varsity coach what style of hitting, bunting and slapping he teaches. You don't want to be drilling them repeatedly on somrthing the Varsity doesn't use. Find out his expectations for the JV squad and design your practice so they are learning things that they will use at the varsity level.
I personally run a 2 1/2 to 3 hour practice. I usually bring pitchers and catchers in 30 minutes early to get their workouts in before everyone else is there, and they miss none of the hitting and fielding. The first half hour consist of team meeting with expectations for the days practice. Then we have a team stretch followed by a 5 minute warmup run, then usually some more stretching. I normally try to break up the last 2 hour into 2 sessions, 1 hour offensive and 1 hour defensive.
Offensive practice will consist of hitting stations, such as,
1.Machine hitting 2.Soft Toss 3.Machine bunting&slapping 4. Rocker start leadoffs@ the bags 5.Leadoffs@ bags with a dive return 6.Slap w/tee 7.Sprints from home to first 8.Regular tee, working In, middle,out w/ up and down as well. Every girl stays at each station for 5 minutes and rotates. If time allows will work on certain hitting situations that will occur in the game, bunt and run, hit and run, first and third situations, delayed steals, etc.
Defensively we work alot on situational defense, breaking into smaller groups, bunt to 3rd throw to first, ss and 2nd working turns at 2nd base, pitchers covering home on a passed ball. You can design numerous little stations that break down game situations, where everbody is doing something at the same time.
These may not be fun, but they stay busy and moving as well as learning muscle memory and situations, which doesn't allow boredom to set in.
Hope this helps, and good luck!!
Coach Yeater
