Softball Coaching Tips

I’m often asked for fresh ideas for [tag]softball coaching tips[/tag].   Here’s a simple (but messy) [tag]coaching[/tag] [tag]drill[/tag] that will pay huge dividends with your team.

From Mark…
Coaching Tip: Orange Juice Batting Drill
I coach [tag]softball[/tag] to   7/8 year olds.   It is a coach pitch league and one problem that we have with the kids is listed below:

1.   They [tag]hit[/tag] hard off the tee and with a [tag]hitting[/tag] stick but when soft tossed or pitched to, they only take a half strength [tag]swing[/tag].
2.   The problem is that they are so worried about hitting the ball that their strength and speed are not incorporated into the swing.
3.   I like to have them hit fruit–ex.   I will [tag]pitch[/tag] oranges at them instead of softballs.   It is very surprising how hard they will swing to destroy an orange.   I also toss large grapes at them to help improve their hand/eye coordination.
4.   Clean up is a bit of a mess but they learned how hard we want them to swing.