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Resident Experts Column - March 2007
Win More Games by Holding Better Practices by Cindy Bristow

As softball coaches we’re always trying to find ways to win more games. We’ll take shortcuts if we find them, but if not, we’ll buy any tip, device, gizmo or new piece of equipment that somehow promises our players will play better and our team will win more games. Sound about right?!

While some devices and training aids can be helpful, NOTHING will replace the impact on winning more than holding quality team practices, and lots of individual practice! Nothing!

Winning more games won’t happen just because your team is practicing, because all teams practice and not all teams win. It’s HOW you practice and what you do during practice that can and will determine your team’s chance for success. You’ve got to out-practice your opponents and not simply try to out-play them on game-day.

All of this information, and more, is in my book – The Ultimate Softball Practice Guide -   (www.softballexcellence.com) but I want to share with you a few of the CRITICAL factors you’ve got to have in your practices if you actually want them to start resulting in more wins:

Critical Factor #1 - Skill Building:
No matter how good your team or your players are, each one of your practices must include some time for Skill Building – time when players get to improve their individual skills.

An easy way to do this, that takes only 5-10 minutes every practice is something called “Everydays”.
Those are key skills that are crucial to each position(infield, outfield, pitcher & catcher).

Here’s a look at a list of some Everydays:

Critical Factor #2 - Include Competition
Softball “games” are all about competition, not drills. You don’t have drill-offs against your opponents, you have games.Competition is the biggest factor present in games so you’ve got to include competition in your practice as often as possible in as many ways as possible. (The exception would be if you’re coaching a really young team, 8 to 10 year olds, or else an older team that’s just playing for fun, then you would only include a little competition each practice and more for fun than for game-training).

Let’s look at some ways you can include competition in your practices:

1. Against the Clock – keep track of things like your players release times when they’re doing either groundball or flyball drills (start the timer when the ball touches your fielders glove and stop the timer when the thrown ball touches the glove of the catcher), baserunning times, and throwing drill times. These are all things you can make more competitive simply by timing the players while they do their regular drills.
2. Against Your Teammates – to make something like batting practice more competitive add a point system for the hitters (as well as for the pitchers if you practice against your own pitchers). For instance, if your hitters take 20 pitches during batting practice then make the results have a point value based on what you’d like your hitters to do in games; Line Drive +3, Groundball +1, Pop Up – 3. Then after each hitter has finished their 20 pitches they’ll have a score based on their type of hits and you’ll have a batting practice winner.
3. Competitive Challenges – These are games or drills that are game-like and that involve a strong competitive element. Games like 7 Up, Bunt for Sprints, Short Game and Home to 2nd for Sprints are all explained in my book and are great ways to work on game skills in a competitive environment.

Coaches – find creative ways to add skill building & competition to your drills and practices and your players will start to develop confidence under pressure which will result in more wins. For more examples of great drills, practices and skills ready for you to purchase and view right now - check out our website at: www.softballexcellence.com