The Fastpitch Softball Training Equipment Blog is your online source to softball hitting, pitching and fielding training equipment. Site features coaching and training drills, tips, articles and training product reviews.
The Fastpitch Softball Training Equipment Blog is your online source to softball hitting, softball pitching and softball fielding training equipment. Site features softball coaching and softball training drills, softball tips, softball articles and fast pitch softball training product reviews.
Showing posts with label softball hitting tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label softball hitting tips. Show all posts
Mike Candrea: USA Softball - Hitting Drills Posted on YouTube by SportsDVDs
In this DVD, Coach Candrea demonstates his hitting drills program, helping you and your teamready your skills and instincts for any situation in the batter's box. Featuring Andrea Duran.
Since 1976, Championship Productions has been the world's #1 producer and distributor of instructional DVDs for coaches and athletes! --------------------------------------------------------------------
Every coach tries to sharpen players’ skills so that they enjoy drills and improve their performance everyday.
But many coaches overlook bringing variety into drills to avoid players getting bored with same softball hitting drill again and again.
It is human nature that what you practice repeatedly becomes your habit. Coaches are no exception. Most softball coaches stick to same softball hitting drills in their daily practice. It affects players adversely and fails to bring out best in each player.
Variety in softball hitting is essential to motivate players and provide stimulus to players. Motivated players only can give best performance and improve their skills to greater heights.
Players must spice up their practice by learning fresh and some unique softball hitting drills from their coaches. Here are some types of drills to improve skills.
Pepper Game drill: This drill helps in developing short and quick swing and bat control. The hitter has to stand 22 feet away from 3 fielders who stand 2 feet away form each other. The hitter then hits the ball sharply giving single or double hop from fielders using short and quick downward stroke.
Coloured ball soft toss drill: The coach tosses two balls of different colours and shouts after releasing the ball which one to hit. This drill helps player in developing concentration keeping weight back.
Hitting fungoes: This drill is very useful for improving weight shift, downward swing, hand action and follow through. The hitter has to concentrate on hitting top half of the ball using short, downward swing.
Apart from drills, player must learn better softball pitches. For the beginners these softball pitches could be fastball pitch, curveball pitch and changeup pitch.
Fastball pitch requires lot of practice and the speed can be picked up with proper timing of leg kick, snapping of arm and stepping forward off the mound.
For curveball pitch you need to practice various techniques of gripping the ball and releasing it from hand with bending of wrist. Curveball pitch also requires different follow through directions of pitching arm.
The changeup pitch is thrown in a way to appear like a fastball but arrives much slower to the plate. Its low speed and deceptive delivery are intended to confuse the batter's timing.
In order to throw a ball at the intended spot, you need to grip it properly. You can learn different grips with the help of softball videos.
Seam fastball grip: In this grip, fingers are placed along top seam of the ball. Pitchers also use two seam fastball grip, but four seem provides more downward movement.
Curveball grip: Pitchers put a bend in thumb on a seam and create more spin. Hand is kept underneath the ball to create four seam sideways rotations.
Other grips include, knuckle curve, four seam rise ball, spinner rise ball and drop ball grip.
For learning different softball pitching grips and pitches, softball videos are quite useful. These videos demonstrate different pitches, hitting and explain how to grip softball for being more effective.
Softball videos are also useful for recruiting with coaches. You can show your skills and some best highlights to coaches on video to sell your talent.
Watching some of the best hitters in baseball and softball makes us want to hit just like them. There are great home run hitters like Babe Ruth, Albert Pujols, Crystl Bustos and some others. They all command attention when they step up to the plate because of their explosive hitting power.
Here are some tips to help you become a better, more powerful softball hitter. Implement these at your next softball practice.
1. To be a powerful softball hitter you will need to be powerful and in great shape physically. Work on this by do exercises that will build power such as squats, plyometric jumping drills, long jumps over boxes. Work on your triceps, and chest by doing medicine ball drills or dips for a few ideas. You can come up with more I'm sure.
2. Learn to hold the bat properly. A lot of young players naturally, but mistakenly grip the bat way too firmly. If you loosen your grip on the bat you will be able to swing the bat much faster and it will feel better. You need to have loose wrists and grips. There is even a line of batting gloves out there that help you keep a looser grip on the bat.
That should tell you how important this is for a powerful swing.
3. Do some one handed batting drills. Use a tee, swing the bat with the top hand only. Then repeat using only the bottom hand. Do about 10-15 wings each. This will strengthen your arms and hands. Also gets you into proper alignment with the bat and your body.
4. Using both hands, remember that your front hand pulls the bat while your back hand pushes the bat. Beginners may find this a little tough but stick with it and you will get the hang of it soon.
5. Step to the plate correctly. Align yourself about in the middle of the batters box to give yourself plenty of room to see the pitch and time to swing properly at it.
6. Get a good view of the pitcher. Make certain you are looking straight at the pitcher with both eyes. Hold your chin on your front shoulder to put your head in the proper alignment.
7. Watch the ball all the way to your bat. Don't close your eyes and don't be distracted by the infielders moving or the base runner starting to steal a base. Keep your eye on the ball as they say. This will help you track the ball for a more powerfull softball hit.
8. Let your weight shift forward as you make contact with the ball. Allow your back foot to slide forward a couple of inches. This will put all your power into the hit.
9. Focus on hitting the inside seam of the softball. This will make the ball go back up the middle for a hard hit line drive. These are really hard for infielders to get to.
10. When you hit the ball, run as hard as you can all the way through first base. Your coach will tell you if you need to keep going.
There you go, some basic softball power hitting tips. Practice these at home on a tee or with a friend. What are you waiting on, go out and learn to become a true power softball hitter.
The author is a fastpitch softball enthusiast and has been involved in fastpitch softball and baseball for 20 years as a parent and coach. For more information please visit http://www.BuyFastpitchGloves.com for some of the best fastpitch softball gloves and related accessories.
Hitting a softball is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports. It takes very good eye to hand coordination. It takes great timing, talent, and a bit of luck (sometimes) too. For a player to maximize her chances of being the best hitter she can possibly be, she should regularly go through some hitting drills. Three important hitting drills every player should do are "Hitting off a Tee", "Self Toss and Hit", and "Side Soft Toss".
Many players, unless they're under the age of 12 or so, view hitting off a tee as being too childish, but it isn't. In fact, players of all ages and all capabilities should always hit off a tee. This helps hitters to work on their form as they take their stance, swing, hit the ball, and then follow through. With the help of the coach, problems can quickly be identified and corrected during this hitting drill.
Another important hitting drill is the Self Toss and Hit drill. This drill simply involves the hitter tossing up a ball and then hitting it. The hitters should toss the ball close to their body, farther away from their body, and everywhere in between. Also, the batter should hit the ball when it's high in the strike zone, low in the strike zone, and everywhere in between. This way the hitter can get used to swinging at the ball in all these different positions. The point of this hitting drill is for the batter to once again work on the mechanics with her swing and the drill will also help develop better eye to hand coordination.
The third important hitting drill is the Side Soft Toss. This drill requires a pair of players. One player will hit while the other player will toss the ball. The player hitting will assume her stance and get ready to hit. The other player will stand off to the side a few feet (close but not so close that the bat can reach her) with a softball or a bucket of softballs. The player with the ball will lightly toss the ball into the strike zone of the hitter. The hitter will then put a good swing on the ball and hit it forward. Once again this is a great hitting drill for developing eye to hand coordination and for helping a hitter develop good mechanics.
Hitting is probably the single hardest thing to do during a softball game. It takes a player with good eye to hand coordination, good timing, and good mechanics to be able to hit the ball consistently. Three important hitting drills that will help players become better hitters are "Hitting off a Tee", "Self Toss and Hit", and "Side Soft Toss".
