All About Fastpitch Softball Blog

I just read a very interesting blog post about putting emphasis on basic throwing and catching in your practices.  Now, I have to admit, while I have posts from this blog automatically e-mailed to me, I haven’t had much time to read them.  This one however, struck a chord with me.

I, too, am often baffled by how poor some players basic skills are even when they reach the high school age level.  These player have been in this game for 4-5 years (at least) and still make fundamental mistakes when it comes to throwing and catching.  Not only does this increase their chance for error, it’s often times slowing down their execution of a play (which means a lower chance of actually get the out even when no error is made).

As Ken Krause stated (the guy who wrote this blog post I read),  one of the BEST times to work on basic throwing and catching skills is during warm-up. Every team I know of includes throwing as part of their warm-up on a daily basis.  This actually makes emphasizing proper technique during this portion of practice critical!  Why?  Because it’s something your players are doing day in and day out.  Every single practice they spend time throwing and catching during their warm-up.  If EVERY single day they are practicing poor throwing/catching habits and mechanics during warm-up, obviously, that is going to affect their ability to execute it correctly when it really counts.  It’s almost crazy to allow your team to practice incorrectly every day at the start of practice then demand perfection later.

Some of the most common mistakes I see during throwing/catching warm-up usually include:

• basic footwork – toes of both feet always point toward target, lead foot not even stepping in the direction of target, no move to the ball when receiving a throw
• body alignment – lead shoulder and hip are not pointed in direction of throw
• glove position – making catches with fingers of the glove pointed to the right (or left if lefty) instead of up for balls received above the waist
• stuck feet – no step to the ball with glove foot including no movement of the feet to help catch a ball that is thrown of center/target
• dumping/tossing – players dumping or tossing the ball from their glove to their throwing hand in transition

All of these issues are bad habits that are only being re-emphasized when you allow it to happen day in and day out during warm-up. Start your throwing and catching practice right there at the beginning of every softball day. Get that cleaned up and it will:

• allow you to get solid fundamental practice in without having to add time to your practice sessions or take away time from another skill
• increase the likelihood that your players will do it right during practice and game time
• decrease your chance for error
• increase your odds of getting outs
• be easier to remind your team of the proper mechanics during other situations (in practice drills or in games)

Warm-up is an often overlooked time for working on basic skills.  Making this one change in your practice can benefit tremendously on the performance front.  If you’d also like to check out Ken’s blog post on emphasizing basic throwing and catching technique, click HERE.

Technorati Tags: catching, fundamentals, practice tips, throwing

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I’m afraid of the ball…Did I just say that? Well, not terrified of the ball like some people are, but I admit, I am more afraid of getting hit by a ground ball than I used to be. Why? Mostly because I know that I’m not as quick as I used to be. My reaction time is slower than it used to be. Let’s face it, I’m no longer training to actively compete as a softball player. I do not practice fielding ground balls on a daily basis and therefore, I know that my skills are a little rustier than they were 13+ years ago when I was training to be the best infielder I could be.

I’m not, however afraid of balls that are thrown at me. I’m still quite confident in my ability to catch a thrown ball and do that quite often, so it’s not something that worries me. But lack of that confidence is a common reason why young athletes are afraid of the ball. Not only is it a relatively hard object traveling toward them, but they lack the confidence in their ability to handle it. They do not believe they possess the adequate capability to safely deal with this hard moving ball that
is coming at them.

I know that if I were to practice and train to actively play softball again, my fear of the ball would all but disappear as I regained confidence in my skills. The same is true for young players. If they gain confidence in their own ability to adequately deal with and protect themselves from this ball that’s coming at them, they won’t be as terrified of the ball anymore.

Of course, that’s more easily said than done in some cases and there are specific things you can do to help them along the way. I’ll talk about that in another post, but first I wanted to know if you’ve ever personally dealt with this situation before (players being afraid of the ball).

• What triggered it in their case?
• What did you do to help them?
• How old are the players you work with?
• Is there anything in particular you’d like to know about helping players get over their fear of the ball?

This seems to be a topic that I get e-mailed about a lot lately, so I just wanted some of your thoughts on it in case you were also dealing with the same issue.

Leave me a comment and let me know.

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Bill Hillhouse Pitching Location Update

Location for the Bill Hillhouse 2-Day Pitching Clinic in Hawaii (Oct. 10-11) has been set at St.  Francis High School. Registrations are already coming in for the clinic and spaces are limited! For more information, print out the flyer at http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/BH2009.pdf

Grab your registration form at http://www.allaboutfastpitch.com/BHR2009.pdf

Technorati Tags: batting, Defense, fear of the ball, pitching, Youth Softball

Here’s a message I sent out to AAF Members earlier this week.  So many are excited about this new service that I decided to share it here on the blog as well.

Practice Help is on the Way

I’m super excited about the new project I’m working on. I know, I always say that, but it’s always true. I love putting together new resources to help you out.

I was actually talking to a very NON-softball person earlier this week. This woman knows practically nothing about the game, but she is actually the one that thought this suggested this idea. Not so sure why I never thought of it all by myself, but oh well, no biggie.

What she told me to find a way to help coaches out with their practices – and do it EVERY week throughout the whole season. Basically, I’d be your own personal “virtual” fastpitch assistant or it’ll be like having a secret assistant coach in your back pocket so to speak – however you want to look at it. I promise not to go on a power trip or try to take over your whole team. LOL

Really, the plan is for me to send you one message each week with helpful and immediately useful information to make your practices better and improve your team. And I will do this for you for 6 full months!

I’ve actually already started putting some of the weekly tips and drills together and am having so much fun doing it! I may actually be able to start offering my getting you this practice help sooner rather than later, but I’ll keep you posted. If you think this is something that could help you, let me know.

This is something that will be free for Elite Members, so if you’re already an Elite Member, I have already uploaded the 1st week of practice help to the member area.

If you’re not an elite member yet, you can still get in at the introductory price at if you sign up today.

I’m also working on an idea that will give you a chance to get me as your “virtual” fastpitch assistant for free. More on that later…

Technorati Tags: coaching tips, practice tips, Softball Drills