Simple but Fun Softball Drills
Softball is a team sport that requires team practice most of the time. Although it will rely to individual skills to considerably advance, winning a game will require everyone to play at their best all the time. Improving the best the softball players could give could be done by constant and well disciplined practice.
But not everything should be taken seriously that you are not allowed to smile during practice. In fact, the best practice sessions are often the sessions with fun drills. Players will not be pressured to learn but will eventually be familiar with the drill and improve considerably since they are at ease with the drill.
Here are some suggested drills that could gain the interest of the softball players.
The Color Game
This type of drill will require the use of a pitching machine but if there’s none available, manual pitching is still ok. The balls should have three different colors and one color should be assigned for a hit, bunt or just to take the ball. This will develop the agility of your players and will improve their concentration. The best way to do this is to randomly throw the balls and change the rules from time to time. This will encourage active thinking while at bat. It’s a very simple game but will considerably improve the batting as well as awareness skills.
Receive and Pass
This is not just your average receive and pass drill. There will be two teams and each team will be assigned with a coach. Each coach will pass the ball to the player and the player passes the ball back as fast as possible. This is a competition between two teams and there will be points each time the ball is successfully received and passed back to the coach. The first team that finishes with most points will be declared the winner.
One Hop Challenge
Each player would stand at least 30 feet far from each other. The goal is not to pass the ball directly but would have to pass the ball with one hop. This type of drill is not easy but still fun as they players would try to be familiar in properly throwing this type of ground ball. Everyone should be doing this for as long as possible until they have perfected the skill. This could be done once or twice as week for quick improvement.
Bases Loaded
This is actually a simulation for your players and will test their ability to run plays with some of the bases loaded. There will be players in 1st and 2nd bases and they are ready to steal. As soon as the pitch is thrown, the catcher would have to throw the ball as fast as possible to try to out the player that runs for the 2nd base. Since there are two players who wanted to steal, the catcher should be able to choose wisely which player that could be taken out of the game fast. This will also improve the cooperation of players as they try to reach three outs in an inning as fast as possible.