Fastpitch Softball Training Equipment: fastpitch tips

Showing posts with label fastpitch tips. Show all posts

Monday, December 5, 2011

Different Ways to Utilize Softball Pitching Machines

Different Ways to Utilize Softball Pitching Machines
By guest author: Lincoln Hawk

As a softball coach or a player, it's important to practice with the best all-around equipment, and an example of this would be softball pitching machines. This piece of equipment is very versatile in that it can be used to help improve your skills in many different aspects of the game. Here are a few ways that softball pitching machines can be used to improve your overall performance:

Outfielding

One way to use softball pitching machines is to adjust the machine to throw pop-ups to your outfielders. You can practice catching pop-ups, as well as chasing down pop flies that are "hit" away from you. You also could lower softball pitching machines to simulate line drives to the outfield that need to be fielded and thrown back to the infield. It's as important to field the ball in the outfield as it is to catch pop flies.

Infielding

To work on taking ground balls in the infield, you can set softball pitching machines to fire line drive grounders. You can also adjust the speed of the machines to simulate weakly hit grounders that infielders will need to run in on.

Hitting

The most obvious use is for throwing pitches so you can work on improving your hitting. You can adjust the machine to practice hitting pitches with lots of arch to them, or to pitch softballs that are a little bit flatter. If you are a fastpitch player, you can increase the speed of the machine to help you improve your contact as a hitter.

Team Drills

You can utilize softball pitching machines to work on team fundamentals. One way is to set up situational drills, such as having a runner tagging up from third trying to score. Use the machine to throw pop-ups to the outfielders. Have the outfielders catch it and relay it in back to a middle infielder, who will in turn fire it back to the catcher to tag out the tagging runner.

You could also simulate a game by having the players who aren't starters in the field act as base runners. You can then adjust the pitching machine to "hit" the ball to different parts of the field as the base runners advance. You can make a game out of it by making the fielders have to run laps or do pushups if the base runners score so many runs. This will encourage the fielders to pay more attention to what they are doing on the field, which will hopefully translate onto the field during a real game.

For more information on where to find softball pitching machines, check out pitchingmachines.zoostores.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lincoln_Hawk

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Baseball & Softball Coaches Equipment - Magnetic Lineup Board Review

Baseball & Softball Coaches Equipment - Magnetic Lineup Board Review
By guest author: Jim Moyer

If you don't have an easy to read line-up posted in the dugout you are hurting yourself, your players, and subsequently your team by allowing yourself and the team to be distracted from the game. Let's face it, it's information that you want to have ready access to, and you want your players to have ready access to as well. So why are you keeping this vital information on a scratch piece of paper or on a carbon copy that is barely legible?

The best magnetic lineup board is about 8.5" x 14" and consists of a position diagram of the softball field on the top, positions for a batting order on the bottom, and a hook so it can be easily hung in the dugout for everyone to see. You simply place magnets with the player's names in the position on the diagram that they will be playing. If you will be subbing in to a position you can go ahead and put the sub's magnetic above or below the starter's magnet. The same is true with the batting order. If you know you will be subbing in for a hitter just put the sub's magnet next to the starter's magnet.

The real beauty to a magnetic lineup board is before the game has started when you are putting together your game strategy. After making your initial batting order it's very easy to adjust for who's hot and who's not, or if you need a bunter in the second or third position, and if you change the batting order will that change who you want to play on defense and where you can make those changes. You can also see the effect your substitutions will have on positions and the batting order. What you used to have to envision in your mind you can now see on the board, both offensively and defensively and for the entirety of the game not just the start of the game. It let's you create your game strategy prior to the game. It's called HAVING A PLAN.

Hey Coach, Listen Up

The decisions you make in determining your lineup WILL AFFECT the outcome of the game. Once the game has started there's not much opportunity to correct a poor batting order. Sometimes it's easy to put together a line up. Other times, we've spent 10 or 15 minutes maneuvering players around on our magnetic lineup board to assess the strengths and weaknesses and determining what we needed for the upcoming game. I can't imagine going through this exercise with paper and pen.

Whether your fastpitch softball team, or baseball team, is a beginning team or a highly skilled tournament team, putting your players in the right positions, building the best batting order, and having a plan for your substitutions, will decide the outcome of many fastpitch softball games. A magnetic lineup board costs about $20.00. Twenty dollars is a cheap investment to KNOW that you have given your team their best opportunity to win. Hey, it's worth the twenty bucks just not to have to answer the question "who do I bat after" 500 times during the season.

There are two magnetic lineup boards on the market. The Easton brand and the Coacher brand. They both cost about $20.00, HOWEVER, the Coacher board is the clear winner. The Easton board does not have a field diagram which prevents you from visualizing the starting defense and, just as important, the defense after substitutions have been made. The Coacher board does have the field diagram.

In conclusion, I would grade the Easton board a C because it is better than using a piece of paper. The Coacher board gets an A+ as it is the complete package and the superior product. For the same investment, you have the choice of the Mercedes or the Pinto.

Having coached over 500 youth fastpitch softball games, Coach Jim decided to put his insight online to allow parent/coaches to draw on his unique experience. At http://www.mysoftballcoach.com/coaching-fastpitch-softball-successfully.html he has compiled a comprehensive list of softball game strategies, softball drills, softball tips, and techniques that are sure to help any coach become successful.

Visit http://www.mysoftballcoach.com/softball-equipment.html for numerous reviews on softball equipment, softball bats, pitching machines and other essential coaching tools, to make your team a Winning team. Before you make any softball equipment purchases be sure to read Jim's review to make sure you don't buy the wrong equipment.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Moyer

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Monday, March 28, 2011

Baseball & Softball Equipment Purchasing Advice

Baseball & Softball Equipment Purchasing Advice
By guest author: Mike Ripley

How do you choose the right equipment for your youth ballplayer. Here's a couple of examples:

Did you know that the first time parents buy gloves for their child, over half of them buy a glove size too big for their young player to handle? Remember, when you try the softball or baseball glove on, make sure the child can make the tip of the glove move by wiggling their fingers. If they can't- go down a size until they can.

Should you invest in catching equipment for your young softball or baseball catcher if they are 10 years old?

Definitely not, kids are growing like weeds at this age and any equipment you buy will be obsolete in a year. Poor fitting catching equipment is a major cause of catching injuries. Make sure, however, your little league or ASA pony team has good fitting catching equipment. Besides, maybe your player won't like catching next year!

I coached youth baseball and softball traveling teams for several years. I've had hundreds of parents come to me for equipment advice whether their player is six or sixteen. I also played college baseball and got scouted by a couple of major league teams. Believe me, choosing the right equipment is critical whether its girls fastpitch softball or a baseball Cal Ripken league.

Research your product as you would any other big purchase. Having the right equipment gives your youth ballplayer a chance to show their talent without worrying about what they are using or wearing. This builds confidence and positively impacts performance.

Softball & Baseball Equipment Coach has both the advice you'll need and the lowest wholesale prices you can find online. We also provide equipment reviews of major vendors such as Rawlings, Wilson, Nokona, Easton, Louisville Slugger and Mizuno. After you've tested my advice, I hope you will shop around the online store for all your softball & baseball equipment needs. Please visit one of our websites

Softball Baseball Equipment Coach http://SOFTBALLBASEBALLEQUIPMENT.COM
Catcher Mitts http://CATCHERMITTS.NET

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Ripley

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4042091
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Monday, August 30, 2010

Fastpitch Softball: Hitting/Weight shift

Fastpitch Softball: Hitting/Weight shift
Posted on YouTube by KevinHuntVideo

Farmington (MN) HS head softball coach Heather Ballstadt demonstrates a weight shift drill for hitting. Produced by Kevin Hunt Video at www.kevinhuntvideo.com and www.kevinhuntblog.blogspot.com.

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SoftballrUs.com/FastpitchSoftballSupply.com is the ultimate online fastpitch softball online store. SoftballrUs.com has Batting Trainers,Pitching Training, Training Bats,Defensive Training Equipment,Coaching DVDs & Books, Softball Pitching Machines, Softball Complete Net & Frame Batting Cage Packages, Batting Cage Nets, Protective Practice Screens and Nets, and BatAction Hitting Machines, and much, much more. Visit Softballrus.com now!

Check out these coaching articles at the Softball Coaching Digest:
SoftballCoachingDigest.com
• Articles from the Youth Softball Coaching Clinic Blog
• Articles from the Coaching Fastpitch Softball Pitchers Blog
• Articles from the Coaching Fastpitch Softball Hitters Blog
• Articles from the Tips for Fastpitch Softball Coaches Blog
• The Fastpitch Softball Training Equipment Blog