The Youth Softball Coaching Clinic Blog is your free online source for youth softball and little league softball coaching tips and drills. Our articles and daily post covers all aspects of coaching girls softball and girls softball teams.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Free Girls Softball Fastpitch Drills


By Becky Wittenburg

Any softball coach or player who wants to learn more softball drills can easily find a lot of drills in books and videos and on the internet. Most of these drills cost money but some of them are free. These free girls softball fastpitch drills are very good. Most of the free drills focus on throwing, fielding, and hitting the ball.

Throwing the Ball


The position of a player determines the most common types of throws that player will have to make. For example, a 3rd baseman will need to make hard throws all the way across the diamond to 1st base while a right fielder will most commonly have to make a longer throw from the outfield to a cut-off man near the infield or to a base.

The Before Inning Warm-up Drill


All softball coaches and players know what players do before an inning begins. The first baseman throws a grounder to each infielder while the outfielder stands in their positions and play catch. This is a common drill during games but it should also be performed everyday in practice.

The Relay Throws Drill


The Relay Throws Drill is another one of the good free girls softball fastpitch drills. This drill involves 2 outfields lining up on each side of an infielder. Each player should be about 100 feet apart.

One of the outfielders starts out with the ball and throws the infielder the ball using the crow-hop. The infielder catches the ball, pivots, and uses the crow-hop while throwing the ball to the other outfielder. That outfielder catches the ball and then throws back to the infielder, once again using the crow-hop.

This drill allows all 3 players to practice throwing using a crow-hop. It also helps teach the outfielders to hit the cutoff man. Finally, it helps the infielder practice receiving the cutoff throw, pivoting, and throwing to the desired base.

Fielding


It doesn’t matter how well a team can hit and pitch if the team can’t play good defense in the field. The key to playing good defense is for every player to be fundamentally sound. A great drill for this the No Glove Fielding Drill.

The No Glove Fielding Drill


Just as the name suggests, this fastpitch softball drill requires players to field the ball without a glove. The drill can be run with bare hands or with a board that is specially made for the drill and worn on the fielders’ glove hand.

Players can either field balls hit to them by the coach (more advanced) or they can field balls rolled to them. They need to concentrate on keeping their upper bodies square with the ball (get in front of the ball), bending at the knees, and cradling the ball with two hands into their body.

Once players master the technique of fielding without a glove then they will find fielding with a glove much easier.

Hitting


The only way for a player to get better with hitting the ball is for them to actually hit. Players can either hit a ball off a tee (to work on the basics) or they can hit pitches. Also, a part of hitting that is often overlooked is bunting. Players should be required to lay down at least 3 bunts every time they take batting practice (BP). If possible, players should take BP every practice and before every game.

Look for Free Girls Fastpitch Softball Drills


Softball players need to be drilled on the basics of the game (throwing, fielding, and hitting) as often as possible. Any coach or player who is looking for drills to do can easily find them. In fact, there are a great many free girls softball fastpitch drills on the internet.

Becky Wittenburg has been coaching softball for over 15 years- it is her true passion. She's constantly on the lookout for new free girls softball fastpitch drills. You can get instant access to a sample of her softball practice plans by visiting her website:


SoftballSpot.com

For a limited time, all coaches who visit Becky's site will also get a free copy of her special report: "The 7 Biggest Mistakes Softball Coaches Make". Go get your free copy today!

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


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