Less Talk, More Play
When choosing drills for girls softball practice, I always try to include as many drills as possible that keep everyone active. I've always found that the more standing around my girls do during practice negatively affects their performance both at practice and come game time. This is especially true when running infield practice drills, since playing infield requires quick reflexes and an active mentality. The following infield practice drills are dynamic and fast-moving, making them an excellent addition to your next practice or pre-game warm-up.
Infield Practice Drills 101
You'll get the most out of your infield practice drills for girls softball if you look for combination drills with throws to multiple bases, since that will keep more players involved in the play. In addition to a full infield, I like to run my drills with a catcher standing behind the hitter at home plate. After each hit, the hitter extends her hand backwards and receives the next ball from the catcher, allowing her to maintain constant watch on the field's events. Additionally, this speeds up the hitting process, which leaves less time for standing around and more time for practicing.
Pivot Your Way to a Double Play!
The first of the drills for girls softball infield practice aims to improve your players' pivot footwork when making the short throw to first. For this drill, you will need one feeder standing around shortstop with a bucket of balls, one receiver standing several steps from second base facing the feeder, and one first base player who stands on the base line midway between first and second.
To begin, the feeder throws to the receiver who catches the ball, pivots to face first base and throws the ball to the first base player. Continue in a fast-paced manner until the bucket of balls is empty and the players are to rotate positions. The emphasis on this drill is for the receiver to make a successful foot pivot, thereby saving her throwing arms because of the reduced distance.
Once your players have gotten the hang of the drill, don't forget to throw in a few curve balls to shake things up a little. In order to make things more difficult for this drill, set up obstacles such as a football dummy or equipment bag in the base path to make the pivot more challenging in simulation of game play.
For the next drill, your players will be practicing their double plays. To set up, have your infielders assume their regular defensive positions and a hitter at home plate. Instruct the batter to hit ground balls towards all the infielders one at a time and they are to field the ball as if it were a double play situation. Make sure the hitter employs a wide variety of hits including but not limited to slow grounders, line drives, and high bouncing balls.
Watch your infielders as they practice their double play pivots. Make sure to run the drill with actual runners once the players have gotten the hang of it so they can gauge the rhythm of the actual time involved in making a double play.
Always keep your eyes open for new and fun drills for girls softball [http://hubpages.com/hub/drills-for-girls-softball]. Watch your school's baseball team practice for ideas, watch other softball teams warm up before games. I often get great drill ideas while watching practices of very different sports (try watching the gymnastics teams go through their conditioning circuits)!
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Where to Give Your Books Away
Your Local Library - Unfortunately, many libraries don't take book donations anymore. But some do, so it is worth finding out if there is a library near you that will take your books, even if your hometown does not. Note: Libraries often take Books on CD and Books on Tape, Videos, DVDs, and Music CDs and Tapes too.
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Bridge to Asia's Textbook and Journal Donation Program - Got old textbooks and professional journals? This group wants college, graduate and professional level teaching and research materials. They accept books, journals and other forms of information both used and new. Visit bridge.org
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