Practice Organization
I. Determine your priorities
A. What are your team's strengths and weaknesses?
B. At what level of competition does your team play?
C. How often does your team practice?
D. What are realistic goals for your team?
II. Preparation
A. Plan your team's practices ahead of time.
B. Plan your practices around your priorities
...1. If your team has trouble fielding and throwing, don't work on double plays!
...2. Focus on skills you will use most often in the game.
C. Early season practice should concentrate on your team's improvement.
D. In-season practices should focus on your team's game performance evaluation as well as on your opponent.
E. "Perfect practice makes perfect." Repetition is important!
III. Isolate
A. Break skills and situations down into practicable parts.
B. Build through skill isolation progression (i.e., teach throwing from a sitting position, then from the knees and finally standing up.
IV. Innovate!
A. Time
...1. If your entire team can't always practice together, have some come early and some come late so you can give them an individual practice.
...2. Don't try to teach too much at one time. Your team doesn't have to work on every day!
B. Equipment
...1. Use safe teaching equipment (softie softballs, batting tees...)
...2. Use existing equipment on your field, save money! (bases for baserunning drills, old fence for "soft toss" or "drop" batting drills)
C. Players
...1. Always plan every drill so that everyone is doing something and you know where they are supposed to be at all times
...2. Have your players hit "fungoes." This helps improve their offensive skills.
D. Softball Field
...1. Use entire facility, both sides of the fence
...2. If practicing indoors, modify your drrills and equipment to fit in a tight space
...3. Make the best of what you have!
V. Enjoy!
A. To get the most out of a practice, it should be fun!
B. Discipline doesn't have to include yelling and strict rules.
C. Be creative! Change the routine, make practice excitting and new.
VI. Keep 'em busy!
A. Use your coaches or players whenever possible. This allows you to observe and evaluate.
B. Instead of one drill with ten kids in line, use five drills with two kids.
C. No more than 30 minutes on a specific drill.
VII. Show you care!
A. Talk to each player every day! Use their names--it makes a difference!
B. Don't forget that you are coaching softball players, not a sport! Your players will always be people, they will not always be softball players. Be positive!