Week Four Practice Plans

Please feel free to forward the Coaching-Fastpitch Practice Plan Newsletter to anyone that you think might benefit from it.


The specifics about each drill mentioned in this newsletter can be found on Fastpitch Drills link on the Practice Plans page of Coaching-Fastpitch.com. If you do not have a password for the fastpitch drills, you can get a password by signing up for the Coaching-Fastpitch Practice Plan newsletter <> has forwarded this e-zine to you because <> felt that you would be interested in this information. If <> thought enough of you to send this to you, shouldn't you at least check it out? This newsletter is FREE, so are the fastpitch drills and the other information on www.coaching-fastpitch.com.

We are about to start week four of practices and our first games are within sight. It still feels like we have a lot to cover, but then again, we have already covered a lot. Our first few practices focused only on skill development. We began working on some team defensive strategies last week. We are now starting to get into practices that have a little more balance between defensive skill building, hitting and defensive strategies.

You may have noticed that I like to work on pop flies. I believe that a pop fly should be an out. I hate to let an easy out get away from us.

We had to get creative for our practices this past week. The rain drove us indoors. We rented gym space from the community center and used throw down bases for infield practice. Our second practice was also moved inside because of more rain. The community center has a batting cage that we were able to rent. We were able to run the complete batting circuit indoors. I know that there will come a time when a planned practice can't happen because the community center will be rented to someone else. We may end up not being able to practice or may try make up practice on a different night. That's the nature of the sport. You can't let it upset you.

Anyway, here are my practice plans for this week.

Practice #7

6:05 Warm up playing catch

6:10 Set up 3 stations and divide team into 3 groups (and 3 coaches)

Station 1

Batting practice off pitching machine

Station 2

Pop Flies Bare handed catching tennis balls (build the catch with two hands habit)

Pop Flies Using gloves and regular softball (Make them go to the left and right)

Over head softball (or sub a mini football) pass over right and left shoulder

Station 3

V-Drill Practice thrown ball and relay left and right

V-Drill Practice ground balls from left and right

V-Drill Work backhand and forehand fielding

6:30 Rotate groups

Group at station 1 goes to Station 2, Group at station 2 goes to station 3 and group at station 3 goes to station 1.

6:50 Water Break

6:55 Rotate groups

Group at station 1 goes to Station 2, Group at station 2 goes to station 3 and group at station 3 goes to station 1.

7:15 Defensive Strategies Discussion/Demonstrations

Discuss who has priority on pop flies

Discuss back up responsibilities

7:25 Team meeting

7:30 Practice is over on time

Practice #8

6:05 Warm up playing catch

6:10 Set up 3 stations and divide team into 3 groups (and 3 coaches)

Station 1

Batting practice off pitching machine

Station 2

Infield Practice

Station 3

Pop Flies Bare handed catching tennis balls (build the catch with two hands habit)

Pop Flies Using gloves and regular softball (Make them go to the left and right)

Over head softball pass (or sub a mini football) over right and left shoulder

6:30 Rotate groups

Group at station 1 goes to Station 2, Group at station 2 goes to station 3 and group at station 3 goes to station 1.

6:50 Water Break

6:55 Rotate groups

Group at station 1 goes to Station 2, Group at station 2 goes to station 3 and group at station 3 goes to station 1.

7:15 Throwing Relay Race

7:20 Base Running Relay Race

7:25 Team Meeting

7:30 Practice is over on time


Our first league game is at the end of this coming week. I'll let you know how we did in next weeks newsletter. Please, use the Coaches Input Form to let me know how your team is doing. Are you seeing improvement? How are your practices going? How about your games? I really am interested in hearing about your progress.

Until next week, I'll see you on the field.

Dan Knutson