Getting Your Catcher Warmed Up & Ready for Practice

As a softball coach, you know that it’s important to spend time with each of your team’s positions.

In today’s blog post, we’re going to talk about a great warm-up drill that you can do with your catcher to get her ready for practice.

Catcher’s Warm-Up Drill

This warm-up drill is something that your catcher should do to get her arm warm prior to doing any other drills during practice, so that injury does not occur. It should take your catcher between ten and twenty minutes to warm up her arm.

This drill starts at approximately twenty-five to thirty feet, extends out to sixty feet as your catcher feels warm, and continues to progress out to a few throws from a long toss distance at about 125 to 150 feet. So not only is she warming up, she’s strengthening her arm each day.

With the warm-up, I don’t mean to just go and toss the ball lightly. Your catcher should warm up every single day. This game’s about fundamentals and basic mechanics. And what better time to perfect your throwing mechanics than when you’re warming up every day for fifteen minutes.

Remind your catcher to make herself do the mechanics properly throughout her warm-up every time she does. And if she does that, there is no way that she can’t end up with a stronger, more accurate arm.

Like every position, a strong arm is a necessity, but especially with the catcher, and especially in fastpitch softball. Where runs are so hard to come by, you need a catcher that can prevent people from stealing bases. It’s not just a matter of being able to throw them out. It’s a matter of the runners knowing that your catcher has a accurate, strong arm to where they won’t even try to steal.

As she feels like she’s getting warmer, expand the distance. And after she has reached that 125- to 150-foot range, come back in to sixty feet and finish off again with good mechanics.

One thing that you need to remember is that each position demands a different arm circle in their throw. The catcher has one of the tightest arm circles. As you watch her throw, it’s almost a direct draw back with the hand that has the ball, and a forward throw. This is unlike an outfielder, who will drop the ball down and take a big, long, full circle in their throw to generate the distances that they need.

So, as a softball coach, do you think other coaches would enjoy this article and use what it talks about in their next practice? Share it with your friends using the Twitter or Facebook icons below!