Monday, October 30, 2006

Softball Workout Stations

Just wanted to share a little tip that SAVED me at
last night's practice.

I don't know about you, but sometimes it is tough to
execute softball drills that involve "stations". You know, where
the kids rotate through various drills in groups of 2-3.

I'll admit it, I've had station drills go down in flames.

Stations can be tricky because unless you have an army
of assistant coaches or volunteer parents, it is very
difficult to keep your eyes on each station at all times.

Kids, especially the younger ones, are easily distracted.

Inevitably, they would rather be on the station they aren't.

Last night I found a bit of a "golden ticket".

I told each player to bring in their favorite CD.

I brought a small CD player to the field.

I told them they would stay at their station for 1 song,
then the groups would switch to the next station when
the song was over, then we would keep going song by song,
station by station until all the drills had been done.

MY BIG TRICK: I selected a "winner" from each drill rotation.
The winner was the player who was most focused and hard working
on their particular drill.

The winner would get to play their song NEXT.

This worked like a CHAMP! The kids had a blast,
and for 30 minutes they were extremely focused on their
stations/drills. Every 4 minutes a new winner was crowned.

Amazing!

If you're looking for fun new drills to add to your
stations, check out my coaching guide:

http://www.softball-practice-plans.com/

Try my music trick and let me know how it goes!

Talk Soon,
Becky