Softball Hitting Instructions

Softball Hitting Instructions
By Guest AuthorMarc Dagenais

If you are a softball coach, you have a big responsibility at hand. You need to empower the players every now and then. You need to be a living example of what you tell them to do. Most importantly, you need to improve their learning and make them become better. In order to improve the softball playing techniques of every member of your team, you need as much power and willingness to device a prevailing plan and instructions.

Now, softball has been one of the most popular team sports in the U.S. You must have observed that in every softball game, much of the control in the runs come from the batting. That is why every softball coach should properly and constantly instruct every softball player to practice and learn the different softball hitting styles and techniques.

There is a need to know that there are different hitting drills that are fit for every softball player. With this fact, the player and the coach must evaluate the varieties of softball hitting styles so that you will both know what works for you and what will not work for you but will still work for the other members of the team. Incorporate your new learning style to your practice and approach in each bat.

Hitting the softball is one of the most difficult skills to be learned. It is also one of the most difficult to coach. Because of these reasons, there is a call for both the players and the coach to work hand in hand for the direct positive result of every undertaking. Just avoid extreme changes when incorporating new styles. Change is good but when it is applied radically, it may bring a negative result which you don't want to happen of course.

The coach and the player must be well coordinated with the kind of style they will use. If the player uses a certain stance, the coach must observe him first. The coach must not reprimand the player in an instant. Observe first the comfort the player while he is using his own style of hitting and the stance as well. The player, on the other hand, should always listen to the coach. Both of you have one major aim. And that is to produce the most number of runs. In order for this to happen, a coordinated plan should be working between the coach and the players. In this way, a smooth flow of the game plan will materialize. Eventually, all the softball hitting instructions that the coach and the players have practiced will serve as their winning edge over the other competing teams.

Marc Dagneais is Softball Peak Performance Coach that helps softball players turn their athletic talent into extraordinary performances and help coaches get more out of their players, turn their struggling team around or get an edge over their opponents. Visit us to access our directory of FREE softball drills!

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

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Softball Hitting Basics: Slo-Mo Swing

In this video (one of the nine videos in the Softball Hitting Basics series), Coach Ricciardi analyzes a proper softball hitting swing in slow motion, detailing the key components of a strong, consistent swing.



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Softball Hitting For Power Basics

Softball Hitting For Power Basics
By Guest Author Brad Henks

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.

Talk about Fastpitch Softball over at http://FastpitchSoftballTalk.blogspot.com/.

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.

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

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Free Tips for Fastpitch Softball Coaches

Teaching Softball Drills To Win
By Guest Author: Becky Wittenburg
Teaching softball drills can be extremely challenging for new softball coaches. Here are a few strategies you can use when teaching softball drills to your team.

Softball Coaching Drills
By Guest Author: Becky Wittenburg
This softball coaching drill is explained as a defensive exercise but the skills that are being used will help to improve the players all-around. The Bubble Drill will help to ensure that your team is a step ahead of the other team. The Bubble Drill teaches the skills that a team needs to make it all the way.

Drills for Girls Softball
By Guest Author: Becky Wittenburg
If you're searching for the best infield drills for girls softball, then look no further. This article details two excellent combination drills that aim to improve your infielders' throwing accuracy and pivot skills in both regular play and double play situations.

Free Softball Drills
By Guest Author: Becky Wittenburg
Softball drills are what ultimately trains a team to win. It's very important that the various drills are adequate in teaching skills for different parts of the game. As the coach, it's your job to decide which drills will give the team the best practice. Here are some free softball drills that you can use.


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Four Little-Known Baseball/Softball Training Secrets, PART 1

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Four Little-Known Baseball/Softball Training Secrets, PART 1
By Steve Zawrotny Steve Zawrotny
Level: Basic

I do private & group baseball pitching and hitting power instruction in the Oklahoma City, OK area, along with writing and developing cutting-edge training programs ...

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Train for POWER

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Baseball and softball are not games of strength, but of EXPLOSIVE POWER. Just how strong do you have to be to pick up a 5 oz baseball, or a 30 oz bat? On the other hand, propelling that 5 oz ball 90+ mph, or hitting a ball 400+ feet with that 30 oz bat requires tremendous power - the ability to perform work. In this case, the work of playing baseball and softball at a high level.

In both games, while they can be slow in duration, the various activities that comprise a game are short and quick. Rarely does a play take longer than 6 or 7 seconds. There are exceptions, of course - an inside the park homer, or an extended rundown or "pickle." But, for the most part, things happen very quickly on the diamond.

Why does this matter to you?

Well, let me ask you this: how often have you heard coaches tell pitchers to condition themselves by running laps - Long, Slow Distance (LSD) training, or to spend a lot of time pedaling a bike?

If you've been around as long as I have, you've seen this a lot. Here's the problems: these coaches (and many players) incorrectly think that LSD (or aerobic) conditioning improves player performance. In fact, studies show the aerobic demands (the amount of oxygen needed by the body) of baseball and softball to be very low.

In fact, the oxygen uptake of a baseball pitcher (the most active position) is a low 45% of the maximum needed. Apparently the rest pitchers get between each pitch and in-between innings is sufficient to replenish the main energy system used.

Baseball and softball are considered to be "alactic anaerobic" sports in terms of the energy system utilized, with pitchers in both sports the busiest players on the field. What this means is that there is little to no lactic acid buildup as a result of this activity. That burning feeling you get when you lift weights really hard is a result of a buildup of lactic acid, a by-product of that (and other) short-term, intense types of exercise.

Have you ever heard of a ball player complaining of this problem?

Consider the baseball pitcher: it takes about 0.15 seconds from the time the front foot contacts the ground until the ball is released. Very little lactic acid can be built up in this short burst of activity. The primary source of fatigue in pitching is not metabolic, but neural. [1]

Again, why does this matter to you?

Because studies show that LSD training significantly detracts from power, strength, and speed development.

Reduce these characteristics, and you educe your ability to throw with high velocity, hit with power, and run at high speed. Look at the bodies of sprinters vs. marathoners. You don't have to be built like a sprinter to be successful as a ball player, but this illustrates how training affects one's body, conditioning, and hence, ability to perform.

Put another way: Train Slow, Perform Slow.

As mentioned earlier, aside from the game itself (which can be be long and slow) things happen quickly on the ball field. Playing softball and baseball requires high velocity, ballistic movements like throwing a fast, well located pitch, taking a hard swing at this high velocity pitch, and exploding out of the batter's box to sprint down the first base line.

So how should you train?

To augment the aforementioned activities, concentrate on developing power, flexibility, and speed. Weight lifting, plyometrics, flexibility, and short burst sprint interval training should form the basis of conditioning for baseball and softball players.

[1] Gambetta, V. A Big Windup. Training & Conditioning, p. 43 March 2003

Steve Zawrotny, MS, CSCS 405.373.3253 steve@baseballfit.com FREE REPORT: "Harmful Resistance Exercises Baseball/Softball Players Should Avoid" VISIT: http://www.BaseballFit.com

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Top 5 Softball Batting Tee Drills

Article Title: Top 5 Softball Batting Tee Drills
By Marc Dagenais

Here are the top 5 softball batting tee drills, in no particular order, and in my opinion. They are the ones that can really help turn you into an elite batter.

Drill 1 - Back Knee Down

Purpose: To develop upper-body strength and quickness. The drill helps the player stop lunging by eliminating lower-body movement. The drill can reduce upper cutting. It emphasizes keeping the barrel above the hands and using correct timing.

Procedure: Use a low T for this drill. The hitter kneels on a towel with the back knee at a 90-degree angle, keeping the shoulders on a level plane. The drill can also be done off a soft toss. The player sees the bat hit the ball.

Drill 2 - Bingo

Purpose: To develop a level swing and proper mechanics by offering instant feedback.

Procedure: Position two Ts at the same height with one directly behind the other. The batter drives the back ball into the front ball. The farther apart the Ts, the more difficult it is to hit the front ball because errors are magnified. The path of the hit provides quick feedback on the mechanics of the swing. If the hitter misses to the left, she has an outside-inside swing. If the hitter misses by going above, she is dropping her back shoulder. When successful, the hitter should yell "Bingo."

Drill 3 - Balance Beam

Purpose: To check balance during a swing.

Procedure: The hitter stands on a two-by-four or with both feet on the inner edge or a tire while hitting off the T. A hitter with good balance can stay on the beam throughout the swing.

Drill 4 - Look at Pitcher, Then Hit

Purpose: To practice refocusing from the pitcher to the point of contact.

Procedure: The batter at a T looks out at an imaginary pitcher and then refocuses on the T and takes a normal swing.

Drill 5 - Two Ts

Purpose: To concentrate on hitting to and through the ball on the sweet spot of the bat with a line drive contact.

Procedure: Two Ts are placed at the same height one directly in front of the other with a ball on each. The batter tries to drive the bat through the ball on the first T and into and through the ball on the second T.

Marc Dagenais is a softball peak performance coach that provides softball tips, softball drills, and information on techniques for hitting, pitching, coaching, and training through his blog at http://www.softballperformance.com/blog

He also helps softball players and coaches improves their game by sharing with them the tips and strategies used by the world's best softball players and coaches to achieve extraordinary performances. You can sign-up to get his FREE Softball Tips at http://www.softballperformance.com/softball-tips.html Go Sign-up Now!

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

Softball Hitting Tips - Is a Good Swing Good Enough?

Softball Hitting Tips - Is a Good Swing Good Enough?
By Marc Dagenais

A lot of softball players place a premium on good swinging that they start to think that it's the only aspect of hitting they need to do in order to become good hitters. However, nothing can be further from the truth than this.

The truth is that, good swinging mechanics is just a part of the entire equation. There are other things that you need to consider if you want to be a good hitter. And that's what we're going to discuss here in this article.

Tracking the Ball

First of all, you need to able to see where the ball is going. This ability is commonly referred to as tracking. To track the ball well means you should be able to see the ball's direction from the time it leaves the pitcher's hand to the time it reaches within your swinging reach.

Just like all skills, tracking is a skill that takes time to develop. At 70mph, the ball is quick enough that it leaves you just little time to react and trace its direction. That is why it's important that coaches should teach their players this skill through various drills.

One of the most common drills to develop tracking is called the Finger Flash. The good thing with this drill is that it doesn't need any equipment for players to perform. All they need to do is have a 'pitcher' who will quickly flash 1, 2, or 3 fingers from a distance, and the 'batter' would then call out the number of fingers that the pitcher flashed.

Making Split-Second Decisions at Bat

Another skill that a good hitter should have is knowing when NOT to hit the ball. There are times when hitting the ball would be too impossible that doing so would cause a strike while during other times, swinging the bat would constitute a ball, to name a few situations.

Pitchers will have a variety of pitches to throw at batters. The key here is for the batter to know whether to swing the bat or not. It may sound easy, but again, with fast balls, it would be pretty difficult to make split-second decisions.

It's therefore important for hitters to be able to approximate whether the ball is in or out of the strike zone. This skill could be developed through a number of drills that simulate pitches to particular zones. And, then, there's experience. As you go on playing the game, it will become much easier to make these decisions for yourself.

Of course, there's nothing that consistent practice can't remedy. As I said earlier, these skills take time to master. It may be a little more difficult to do these things now, but try to remember the time when you were just trying to learn the mechanics of hitting. It was difficult at first, but eventually you developed it into the good swing you have today.

Take the learning of new skills as a challenge. If you're out to compete with the best of the best, you should keep on developing your skills. And in this case, having a good swing is never enough. You should also train yourself to track the ball and make split-second decisions on whether to hit it or not. I hope you find these softball tips helpful and make them part of your regular training routine.

Marc Dagenais is a Softball Peak Performance Coach that helps softball players turn their athletic talent into extraordinary performances and help coaches get more out of their players, turn their struggling team around or get an edge over their opponents. Visit us to sign-up to get our FREE softball pitching tips!

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



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Step-By-Step Softball Hitting Procedure

By Marc Dagenais

Having trouble hitting the ball with striking result? Have you been practicing for it for several weeks, yet you always failed to deliver a satisfying performance? Are you now in great desperation to learn the technique of softball hitting? If so, then you may find the following step-by-step procedure very useful. This actually helps me a lot, too.

· Begin with a good standing posture. This is essential in softball hitting. This means that you have to maintain a comfortable stance. Your weight should be balanced on the balls of your feet. Keep your knees a little flexed, with a slight curve at the waist.

· Have a grip on the bat with your front elbow down and relaxed. Your grip must not too loose or too tight, but hold the bat just right. Make sure that your back elbow is at a 45-degree angle, pointed towards the ground.

· Then with your middle knuckles of one hand aligned with your middle knuckles of the other hand, take hold of the bat at a 45- to 90-degree angle.

· Always let your hands at the top of the strike zone, and close to your back armpit. Also remember that the bat should be between the catcher and your back shoulder.

· Also important to keep your head straight, then cast your full attention to the pitcher in anticipation for the ball to be released. You may want to focus your eyes on the side of the pitcher's leg. This will help you maintain a good concentration.

· When the pitcher goes into the windup, immediately shift the weight onto your back.

· Then with your front foot, take a stride forward on the release of the pitch, making sure not to bring any weight forward on the stride. This is what we call a soft step.

· Immediately after, begin turning around your back foot so that your back heel is facing the catcher, and move your weight forward to the middle of your body.

· Then lastly commence your hand, with the knob of the bat going in the direction of the pitcher's feet.

· You should be careful not to drop the barrel of the bat underneath your hands at the launch of the swing.

· Strike the ball and drive it. This should follow through by way of your hands swinging to your opposite shoulder.

Alright, there you have it. All you have to do is be familiarized with every step provided. At the same time, help yourself with perseverance and determination. Actually, there is actually no undisclosed topics you need to know when it comes to softball hitting.

For you become a good softball player you dreamt of, all you need to do is carry out, practice, and practice. Yes, keep on practicing and improving your skills. As a well-worn adage goes, "Practice makes perfect." Take that as your softball hitting key to success.

Reading magazines or articles regarding the proper technique of softball hitting can also help. Also try to solicit some advices from people who have enough knowledge and experience about softball hitting. Their true to life experience is worth knowing.

Marc Dagenais is a Softball Peak Performance Coach that helps softball players turn their athletic talent into extraordinary performances and help coaches get more out of their players, turn their struggling team around or get an edge over their opponents. Visit us to sign-up to get our FREE softball pitching tips!

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