Practice Organization - Clinic Division
Overview
It is a difficult task to ready a team for a season with a handful of practices. Practice organization is the key to get the most out of your available practice time. Come to every practice with a plan. Well-run softball practices should achieve three objectives:
- Improve players’ basic skills in throwing, fielding, hitting, and base running
- Improve players’ advanced skills in areas like looking back runners, executing rundowns, hitting the cut-off, turning the double play, etc.
- Provide opportunities for players to execute the basic and advanced skills in game-like situations
At practice, every minute is important. Practice should start on-time and be organized so no player is standing around idle. This practice guide will focus on helping Clinic Division Coaches run effective, age appropriate practices. It assumes 1.5 hours are available for practice. It is meant to serve as a guide. The times can be adjusted for longer or shorter practice times. The ratio of time spent on each element can also be adjusted to help you customize each practice to meet your teams specific development needs.
Coaches Preparation
Fundamentals, drills and a coaching checklist are available on the Denville Girls Softball website on the Coaches’ Corner page. Review the following prior to your first practice.
- Coaching Checklist
- Hitting Fundamentals
- The following Hitting Drills
- Hitting from a tee
- Hip rotation
- Soft toss
- Home to First section of Base Running Fundamentals
- Home to First section of Base Running Drills
- Fielding Fundamentals
- The following Fielding Drills
- Thrown grounders
- Thrown fly balls
- Charging
- Force play
- Making the tag
- Backup responsibility
- The following Throwing Fundamentals
- Grip
- Full overhand throw
- Quick snap throw
- Underhand toss
Warm-up – 5 Minutes
Warm-up should consist of a light jog and some stretching. Have the players take a jog around the field. This should be a light jog and not a race. After the jog, arrange the players into a circle for stretching. After the girls learn the stretching exercises, allow one of the players to coordinate this activity in subsequent practices and games. Alternate the responsibility of coordinating the stretching to a different player for each practice and game.
Throwing – 10 Minutes
Throwing consists of paring up the players to have a catch. Each pair should throw parallel to all of the other pairs. The players should start close together and gradually move apart as their arms loosen up. During the throwing exercise, work with the girls on proper throwing and catching fundamentals. Make sure the players use proper technique on every throw and catch.
Defense – 30 minutes
Break the team into small groups. All groups should be practicing skills at the same time. After players complete the drill in a particular group, they should rotate to the next group. Basic skills and advanced skills should be worked on during this time. The percentage of time spent on basic skills can be reduced as the players build proficiency in those skills throughout the year.
Basic defensive skills include fielding grounders, fielding pop-ups, making throws, and catching thrown balls. The first 20 minutes of the defensive time should be spent on basic skills. Perform the Thrown Grounders drill with half the groups and the Thrown Fly Balls drill with the other half of the groups. If you have an odd number of groups, use the Thrown Grounders drill for the extra group. The Charging drill can also be used to create some variation.
The last 10 minutes of the defensive time should be spent on advanced defensive skills. For the Clinic Division, these primarily consist of making and receiving throws for force outs and making and receiving throws for tag outs. The team should be broken into four groups. Use the Force Play drill at first base with two of the groups and use the Making the Tag drill at third base with the other two groups. Each player should rotate to the next group once she performs the activity in her current group.
Water Break – 5 minutes
Offense – 30 minutes
Break the team into four groups. As each player completes a drill in one group, she should rotate to the next group. Perform the Soft Toss drill with the first group. Position the batter on the right field line in the outfield and have her hit towards center field. Position the other players in the group in the outfield to retrieve the balls and relay them back in. One player should receive the throws and to feed the coach performing the soft toss. Use several balls in this drill to keep the hitter active. The fielders should rotate to the relay position, then the receiver position, then to the batter. Once the player bats, she should rotate to the next group. Pitch to the second group. Position the batter on the left field line in the outfield and have her hit towards center field. Position the other players and perform the rotation the same as described for the Soft Toss drill. Position the third group on the third base line in the infield with a tee. Rotate the players from that group through the Hitting from a Tee and the Hip Rotation drills. Position the fourth group at home plate. Perform the Home to First drill with the fourth group. Position the players at home plate and have them take turns performing the drill. After they perform it a few times each, they can rotate to the next group.
Game Situations – 10 Minutes
Assign players to each defensive position and make the remainder of players runners. Use the runners to create game situations. Practice offensive and defensive situations. Rotate players between defense and running. Teach both sides at once. The game situations are very limited for the Clinic Division since runners can only advance one base at a time and since bunting, stealing, and leading are not permitted. Teach the girls to make the outs. Focus on the lead runner or the highest probability out.