Tag Archives: Softball Drills

5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Practices

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Coaching Softball Practice TipsOne thing many, many coaches want to do is improve the effectiveness of their practices. Ideally, as coaches, we have a solid jam packed practice that has little down time  and lots of quality work being done by players.  So what are some of the ways you can make the most of your practices AND help them improve their game even more?

Here are 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Practice Sessions

1.  Schedule Your Practice Time: This is so important!  Always have a plan otherwise you’ll spend time in practice trying to figure out what to do.  This results in unproductive down time for the players and may stall the “momentum” you’ve got going.  Have a plan each day of what you want to work on, what drills you’ll use, and what equipment you’ll need to run them.

2.  Make it Game Like: Often times we ask our players to “practice how you play” and yet we give them very little “game like” situations in practice.  Too often practice situations are nothing like game situations (i.e. not having to run after you hit a ball, not having to keep track of your count when you’re in the box, having no baserunners when practicing defense, etc).  Look for ways to make your practices a little more game like so that your players are better prepared for game situations.

3.  Engage Your Players: Have discussions with your players!  Don’t just tell them what to do or tell them what they did wrong.  Ask them questions.  Have them identify problems and help each other fix them.  This is the only way they are going to develop a better understanding of the game and learn to think on their feet, a necessary skill for success at game time.

4.  Have a BIGGER Plan: Know what your striving for beyond today.  Have a plan of what you want to accomplish for the week, for the month, and even for the season.  This will help you figure out what to do on a day to day basis instead of just pulling skills out of the air to work on for “today.”  Having a bigger plan also allows you to plan a more solid progression to go through with your players, each day building upon the last vs being somewhat random.

5.  Work on the Mental Game Too: This is HUGE!  So many people will agree that the mental game is a big part of performance and yet so little time is spent on it in practice.  Give your players opportunities to work on the mental game in practice!

Bonus Tip: Have Fun! Always incorporate fun somewhere along the way.  Remember fun doesn’t always have to equal smiles and laughter.  :D

Coaching Youth Softball Practice Fun

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Softball Drills: An AAF Favorite

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fun softball drillsIf you’re a new coach needing help with softball drills this season, I just wanted to give you a heads up about THE most popular resource here at All About Fastpitch.  It’s an oldie but goodie.  Year after year, this is the package that coaches are picking up to help them plan better practices and give them ideas of what to do in practice to develop their player’s skills while keeping the game fun!

Our 2.0 Package includes:

  • The Keeping Softball Fun e-book filled with fun drills, competitions, and other resources to use in practice
  • A Sample Practice Schedule
  • Quick Tips for Organizing and Planning Your Practices
  • Quick Reference Sheet with ideas on what to practice at practice
  • Bonus 21-page report on Motivation and Mental Toughness

Always remember to have fun and enjoy the game! I wish you the best this softball season. :D

Practice Help for You

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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…

Free Softball Drills

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Quick note, got some new softball drills up on our Defensive Drills page.  Use them in your next practice if you’d like, they are all free.  There is also a page for Offensive Drills as well.  Now, I don’t have a whole lot up yet, but I am trying to slowly by slowly add more and more drills.  If you have a favorite or two you’d like to see up there, please let me know!

The new softball drills that were just put up on the Defensive Softball Drills page include:

  • Ball First
  • The Triangle Drill
  • Teaching the Relay

If you’ve got a great drill to share, feel free to leave a comment below and tell us about it!

Softball Drill: Pressure on the Infield

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This is one of my favorite softball drills to put an infield through because it forces them to treat each play with urgency.  You can tell them to get to the ball quicker or to get rid of it quicker, but this drill gives them an “in your face” reason to do that.

Now, I’ve also heard that using a stop watch is helpful as well.  However, with a stop watch, the players don’t get as much of a visual on how far off or how close they are to making the play.  Using runners, like in this drill, gives them a more concrete visual of what’s going on.

So, how does this drill work?

  1. Set up an infield
  2. Have the rest of the team put on helmets
  3. Runners will start 10 feet up the line to first (not from the batters box) and will start running when they hear the coach’s bat hit the ball
  4. Coach stands in the batter’s box and  a hits grounders to the fielders
  5. Fielders field the ball and and make the urgent play at first

Obviously this cuts down significantly on the time the field has to field the ball and make the play.  I like to run this drill with routinely hit ground balls…not screamers.  Force the players to come get the ball instead of sit back and wait for it and quickly get rid of it to make the play.  Do not hit laser shots at them and force them into a defensive mode.

This drill is a great way to put pressure on your infield and challenge them in practice so that game situations seem easy.  It’s also a great way to get some sprints in.  You can also switch out the infield and the runners to give everyone a chance at making these urgent plays as well as give everyone some sprint work.