Youth Softball Coaching Tips

By Trevor A. Sumner

One of your responsibilities as a coach is to give your players all the tools they need to play the game to the best of their ability.

The game of softball requires mental and physical agility, and youth softball coaching tips can help you impart needed tips to your players to give them the wherewithal to maximize their abilities.

Here are a few youth softball coaching tips that will improve your team's play:


Swing a Weighted Bat - One of the helpful youth softball coaching tips concerns itself with the feel of the bat in the hands of your players. In competitive fast pitch competition, it is helpful if your players can swing their softball bats through the hitting zone with speed. In order to do this, they must be able to handle the bat's weight. One of the top youth softball coaching tips is to advise your players to swing a bat heavier than the one they use in a game in preparation for their time at bat. In this way, their bat will feel lighter, and they will be able to handle it better, and swing it more quickly through the hitting zone.
Test Your Players - One of the more beneficial youth softball coaching tips has to do with imparting the rules of the game of softball. It stands to reason that the better your players understand the rules of softball, the better they will be able to make the plays that will maximize their abilities. You can impart this knowledge by holding skill sessions after practice or when adverse weather has prevented your normal weather routine. You can teach this by asking about game situations as you practice such as "if there is a pop fly, are you going to start running to second base?" As a coach, teaching your team the fundamentals of the game involves teaching your team the rules of the game.
Teaching Bunting - One of the most needed youth softball coaching tips is to teach your players the art and science of bunting the ball, and having fun while you do it. The fundamentals of the bunt are simple: Batters move their top hand up near the trademark, and the object is to "catch the ball with the bat." The batter adjusts the bat to push the softball pitch up the first base line or the thirds base line. You can introduce fun into the exercise by rewarding any player who bunts 5 consecutive pitches into fair ground. In this way, your players are practicing an important, but long-overlooked part of the game while having fun doing it.
Don't Forget the Fun - As a coach, teaching youth softball can be difficult. You should always consider the age of your players and consequently their attention spans and rigor in learning the basics. Often the most effective ways to coach about softball rules or teach technique mean adding a dimension of fun into the softball drills you practice. Turn drills into games, or make drills more fun by showing them how the pros do it such as this interactive youth softball drill library.
Always remember that playing youth softball should be fun for the team so they have a desire to learn and consequently you will get greater enjoyment in your youth softball coaching experience.

By Trevor A. Sumner who works for Weplay.com, a youth softball community dedicated to providing parents coaches and athletes the tools and information to celebrate the love of the game. Weplay has one of the most comprehensive softball drill libraries in its active softball community.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trevor_A._Sumner


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Softball Scholarships - 5 Tips For Softball Recruiting

By Sean J Farrell

College softball scholarships are becoming harder to get every year. More high school softball players are seeking scholarships as a way to help pay for college and athletes are becoming more knowledgeable regarding the recruiting process. To earn a softball scholarship you must have a solid recruiting plan and knowledge of how the recruiting process works.

College softball is classified as an equivalency sport. This means scholarships are rarely "full ride" as commonly thought. Most softball scholarships are partial scholarships. NCAA Division I schools can offer 12 scholarships. These can and usually are divided up among more than 12 athletes. For example, if you are offered a .5 or 50% scholarship, then the coach has 11.5 scholarships to divide up among as many athletes as they see fit. Incoming freshman often compete for 3 to 4 scholarships, all of which will be partial. DII schools have 9 scholarships, while NAIA schools have 10. Junior colleges have 24 scholarships and have become a hotbed of softball scholarship recruiting.

Use these 5 tips to help with your softball scholarship recruiting:


Get the best grades possible. This is an easy aspect of your recruiting to control. Coaches have a much easier time recruiting an athlete that leaves no questions to their academic ability in college. Colleges are tightening admission standards for athletes every year. Do let your grades leave you sidelined.
Play multiple positions. With such little scholarship money to hand out, if you can play two positions well, the coach saves money by recruiting you. You are a two-for-one deal in the coaches eye. Even if your high school coach only lets you play one position, play another during your summer season.
Get exposure. You have to let the coaches know you exist. Even if you are from a rural high school or school that hasn't had a scholarship athlete in years, you can get your name out there if you contact schools early and do it the right way.
Don't wait. Coaches are offering scholarships earlier every year. Start your recruiting during your sophomore year to get a jump on the competition. Junior year is critical for softball and you should have been contacting colleges all year. Don't wait for your high school coach or the college coach to contact you. Get out there and make it happen.
Be aggressive. There is a lot of competition. Be aggressive with contacting schools, sending out personal recruiting packets and picking up the phone. It often comes down to who did more work during the recruiting process, not who is the most talented softball player.

Use these 5 tips as a starting point for your college softball scholarship search. You need to start developing a recruiting game plan and educating yourself about the recruiting process. Take action and you can guarantee yourself success.

If you want a softball scholarship then don't wait any longer. You must start today. Visit http://www.collegeathleticscholarships.net to get the recruiting system that works for college softball scholarships. Use step-by-step instructions to beat out the competition and look forward to signing your National Letter of Intent.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_J_Farrell

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Softball Tips - Five Ways to Start Your Day Right

By Marc Dagenais

As a softball players, you know that tapering and honing your performance is a never-ending process. You need to do regular softball drills and training exercises that would help you be at the top of your game. But shaping yourself to become an elite player through drills and exercises is not the only thing that affects your performance. It is also important that you make sure that you stay in tiptop shape if you want to perform well and in a consistent manner. And that includes making sure that you get adequate sleep during the night. This surely helps you to rest your tired body so, that you are ready to face a new day.

Waking up to a new day can go either way. It can be as good as you can hope for or it can be as chaotic as you can imagine. It all depends on your perspective and your attitude on how you want your day to be. And so, to help you be at a positive disposition, here are some softball tips to help you start your day right.

Awaken Your Senses

Human beings naturally react to things through their senses like touch, smell, taste and sight. So, if you set the right mood in your own bedroom like putting up your favorite things such as scented candles, painting the walls with soothing colors and playing the music that you love, then, you would be able to wake up fresh and raring to go physically, mentally and emotionally.

Stretch Up

At the moment you wake up, be sure to stretch your muscles as this helps you loosen up your muscles and joints and help you to be more flexible. Be like the cat that when it wakes up from slumber, it stretches its spine and, then, its legs one by one before walking off. Stand up from your bed in a slow manner and, then, stretch your body, particularly your arms and legs, while you do breathing exercises.

Plan for Something to Look Forward to

Having something to look forward to serves as a great motivation for you to do well throughout the day. For example, you can treat yourself to a nice massage or you and your friends can catch a good movie at the movie theater. This will help keep your spirits up even if you stumble upon a couple of bad things in a day.

Have a Good Breakfast

As all of us know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This is because having a proper breakfast helps your body to get energized for any activity that you would be doing during the morning. And if you are able to do whatever you have to do well in the morning, you would be able to feel that you would also be able to do well for the rest of the day. For breakfast, you can have cereal or oatmeal, banana and skim milk, which contain high fiber and low protein.

Exercise in the Morning

Exercise is always good but be sure not to overdo it. It is important to do light exercise during the morning in order to trigger your metabolism and at the same time, energize you. Doing this means that your health is essential to you and this thought would help you in feeling great throughout the day.

Waking up to a new day is very important as this would affect how you feel about yourself and how you would perform throughout the day. So, if you follow the softball tips I have just shared with you, you would be able to feel good about yourself and be able to start your day right.

Marc Dagenais is a softball peak performance coach that helps softball players and coaches improves their game by sharing with them the tips and strategies used by the world's best softball players and coaches to achieve extraordinary performances. Visit his site and sign-up to get his FREE softball hitting tips!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marc_Dagenais

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Fastpitch Softball Hitting Tip: Forget "Elbow Up"

Why "elbow up" should NOT be forced upon young softball players or be taught as an absolute necessity to good hitting by fastpitch softball coaches.



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Softball Tips on Qualities of a Good Softball Player

By Marc Dagenais

My players often ask me what the qualities of a good softball player are. There are a lot of them, actually, and these qualities often depend on the type of game that the team needs. For a team that has a weak defense, they need good pitchers who have a wide array of pitches, or catchers with quick wits.

But we'll try to be general as much as we can here. We'll focus on the core qualities that each and every softball player must have, and regardless of the position that a player plays.

Let me run them down with some softball tips for you:

A good softball player needs speed. A typical play in softball lasts just 5 seconds or less. That's why a good softball player needs to be quick in order to get out of the batter's box quickly, steal bases, or track and catch fly balls.

How to build speed and quickness? Sprinting is the best way to do this. Sprinting teaches players to run and accelerate quickly.

A good softball player needs to be agile. Agility is the quality that enables the player to shift positions at the blink of an eye. A fly ball could go anywhere, which is why agility is an important quality in defensive players.

There are lots of softball-specific exercises that aim to improve your agility. Some examples include:

A good softball player has power. Power is the name of the game in softball. Whether you are a pitcher or a batter, power is your best friend. A powerful pitcher throws balls at blinding speeds, which leads batters to miss the ball entirely. Meanwhile, a powerful batter slams the ball out of the field, and out of the reach of defensive players.

Resistance training is the best way to build power. Just make sure you don't just train any muscle, but train those muscles that you need in softball. That includes muscles in your arms, shoulders, legs, wrists, as well as your core muscles.

A good softball player has quick wits. With plays happening at blinding speed, players are left with little time to react to situations that put in front of them. That's why it's important for a softball player to have quick wits. Teams need players with quick decision-making skills, and you can't succeed in elite softball circles without it.

Reaction times can be improved with exercises such as the 'finger flash'. In this exercise, a batter is positioned on the box, with a pitcher at the pitcher's mound. Instead of throwing the ball, the pitcher flashes one or several fingers. It is, then, the job of the batter to count how many fingers the pitcher flashed.

There you have it. I have just sharesd with you some important softball tips on how a good softball player should be. Keep in mind that in order to become a good softball player, you need to take a total approach towards your game. You cannot just rely on power to take you there. You also need the other qualities that I shared with you in these softball tips: quick wits, speed, and agility.

Marc Dagenais is a Softball Peak Performance Coach that helps softball players turn their athletic talent into extraordinary performances and help coaches get more out of their players, turn their struggling team around or get an edge over their opponents. Visit us to sign-up to get our FREE softball pitching tips!

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Softball Coaching Tips - How to Motivate Your Players Better

By Marc Dagenais
Motivating your players is one of your most basic tasks as a softball coach. But sad to say, it's also one of the most difficult things to master in this game. It's not easy to tell your players to perform better, to have a positive attitude towards the game, or tell them to relate well with their teammates.

You do not build your motivational skills overnight. You need all the experience you can get to do this well. Don't worry though, because I'll show you some of the most basic concepts of motivation through these softball coaching tips I have for you.

Let Motivation Start From Within

Many players have trophies and glory as their motivation to win games. However, these motivators - sometimes called external motivators - although good, are by themselves weak and do not push players well enough into wanting to become better players. This kind of motivation wanes when your players fail to claim the prize, or even after winning it.

What you should do, then, is to couple this with motivation that comes from within your players. You'll get lots of this type of motivation from players who really love the game. Let them share their enthusiasm with your other players, and it will eventually rub off on them.

Know Your Players Better

Motivation is not a one-way road. Motivation is a form of communication, and as such, you should learn to listen as much as you know how to talk to your players. Why should you do this? That's because only when you start listening to your players will you know how to motivate them well. That's the time you'll know which buttons to push to fire them up.

For example, you have a player who's severely unmotivated. This player often misses practices, and does not seem to relish the playing time you're giving him. And he's not complaining when you don't let him play, either.

To address this motivational issue, you should talk to the player why he's acting that way. You might feel surprised to find out that he doesn't like to play softball in the first place! Believe me, it happens. And the sooner you find out about this, the better. That way, you can prevent friction from building up and still part ways as friends. And more than that, you can find a replacement for that player immediately, if possible.

Shouting Does Not Motivate Players

Back in the day, coaches were a lot like drill sergeants. They always barked orders at you, and insulted you whenever you committed errors. But things have changed. Shouting doesn't work anymore. It could work for the first few weeks of training, but its effectiveness will wear off eventually.

What you should do then is talk to them as a normal person would. Again, motivation is about good communication, and you do not foster that by insulting and shouting at your players.

All in all, these softball coaching tips on motivation are all about relating well with your players. Following these tips will make it easier for you to find out what causes their lack of motivation and address the root of the problem.

Marc Dagenais is a Softball Peak Performance Coach that helps softball players turn their athletic talent into extraordinary performances and help coaches get more out of their players, turn their struggling team around or get an edge over their opponents. Visit us to sign-up to get our FREE softball pitching tips!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marc_Dagenais



SoftballrUs.com/FastpitchSoftballSupply.com is the ultimate online fastpitch softball online store. SoftballrUs.com has Batting Trainers,Pitching Training, Training Bats,Defensive Training Equipment,Coaching DVDs & Books, Softball Pitching Machines, Softball Complete Net & Frame Batting Cage Packages, Batting Cage Nets, Protective Practice Screens and Nets, and BatAction Hitting Machines, and much, much more. Visit Softballrus.com now!