By: Kelly Ford, Head Softball Coach at Mt. SAC

Every coach is looking for their athletes to practice like it were a game. Most of us see our athletes go through the motions at practice and all of a sudden when its game day and they put the uniform on and the transformation occurs. We want that transformation to occur at practice too! Here are some simple suggestions.

1. Have your athletes wear a practice uniform or their game uniform to practice. There is something about having that uniform on that makes our athletes more focused and take practice more seriously.

2. Using an umpire at practice. If you have the resources to ask an umpire to either work behind the plate for a scrimmage, work behind the catcher in the bullpens or just put them out there to call plays at the base paths – it changes the entire approach with my athletes. I even have the umpire make some controversial calls so our athletes learn how to deal with that as well. Again it just changes the atmosphere to a game like atmosphere.

3. Timed events and skills. When you pull a stop watch out – you instantly get the attention of your team. Everyone wants to beat the clock. Whether it is timing them running bases, glove to glove time defensively or just creating situations and letting them know they have 1 minute to make 3 outs. It puts the pressure on and again creates a game like situation. We even create a weekly chart of timed events and the athletes get really excited to try and beat their previous time.

4. Using a goal number. I use this everyday in the cages, in the bullpens, on defense and running bases. Examples: If the athletes are bunting off the machine. They must get 10 sac bunts down in a row before they can move on to the next drill. Defensively: We will end our defensive segment with 21 outs. I will hit situations and they must get 21 outs in a row or we start over. You need to be realistic with this goal – you may want to say they must get 18 out of 21 depending on the age and skill level of your group. In the bull pens I will challenge my pitchers to hit 8 out of 10 spots before moving to the next pitch. This adds focus and gives the athletes a goal.

Hopefully these are a few quick tips that you can take out with you to your next practice. Creating a competitive practice is up to you coach. If you can work out the butterflies in a practice setting then your athletes will be more prepared to deal with them at the game. Good luck to you in 2006!

2003, 2004 & 2005 South Coast Conference and Regional Champions
2003 & 2005 State Champions