Try these good coaching tips for softball. These are some of my favorite that I use with my rookie player for sure. It never hurts the “seasoned” ones to try these as well to polish their skills.
Hula Hoop Toss
For Rookie Players (new to the game) a good technique in teaching how to aim their throws is to hang a few Hula Hoops (lil’ girls love ‘em) from the backstop and ask them to try to make their throws through the hoops. It creates a lot of oohs and ahhs. A lot of fun for them!
Eggs and Soft Hands
I was having a very hard time getting the new girls to catch the ball with “Soft Hands”. We tried paddles and other things but some of the girls just didn’t get it. So I happened to have a couple of dozen eggs in my car that I was going to deliver after practice. I got the eggs out and made the girls throw and catch the eggs without a mitt to understand why we use “soft hands”.
After 1 or 2 broken slimy eggs they all understood the concept a lot better.
Glove Side Drill
After my 10U girls warm up for a few minutes, we make 2 lines (I have 16 girls) 8 each. This is how we teach the girls glove side.
We line up from the first base line to the outfield fence, about 20 feet apart and in a straight line. We want them to catch the ball without having to turn around to throw it to the base. We start at one end and go to the end and back. Best out of seven, the loser has to run one lap around the bases.
The girls have a ball. I split them up where it should be very even.