Softball Drills for Children

For children and sports, the best rule seems to be to start out simple. While children's motor skills are not quite what they will be in a few short years, they are capable of learning a lot from the everyday drills that coaches enforce during each practice. While they may seem too easy for adults, focusing on the basics of good catching, throwing, and hitting in softball drills for children will pave the way for young novices to become older, expert players later on.

  1. Catch and Throw

    • When it comes to teaching kids the fundamentals of softball, catching and throwing come first. Start out your practices by getting the kids to pick a partner (or assign one), and then have them throw the ball back and forth for 3-4 minutes. This warms them up for all the other catching and throwing they'll be doing later.

    Grounders

    • Have the team form a semicircle around the infield, and use a bat to hit ground balls to each player. This gives you a chance to work on individual issues with their ground ball catching technique, and also gives the players a chance to feel the intensity of everyone watching them--just like in a game situation. Ideally, have a second coach near home plate to catch the ball once the player retrieves it, so you can keep hitting grounders to the next person. Spend enough time on this drill to get 3-4 grounders to each person.

    Pop Flies

    • Have the team form a semicircle in the outfield, and use a bat to hit fly balls to each person. Do the drill enough to have each person catch 3-4 fly balls. You can also do this by having players buddy up and toss fly balls into the air for one another to catch.

    Base Drill

    • Place players on base positions in the infield and hit a ball to the infield. Just before you hit the ball, call out a sequence of bases, such as "three two one," indicating that when you hit the ball and the players catch it, they must throw it to third base, then on to second, then to first. This trains players to think quickly to get the ball to the right base for that particular situation. You can also place runners on the bases, to make the situation seem more like a real game.

    Base Running and Sliding

    • Have each player run the bases, going past first base, then running through second and third, and sliding into home. For a more complicated drill, stage a situation where the base runner must decide whether to go on to the next base, or stay where she is, based on the position of the ball.

    Cones for Hitting

    • Set up cones in a V shape around a target area and have players hit balls into that target area. The area can be very wide or narrow, depending on the skill of your players. Divide the players into two or three teams and have them score points for each ball hit into the target area.

    Throwing Target Practice

    • Similar to the cones drill, divide your players into two or three teams. Set up a series of old tires, hula hoops, or a round object smaller or larger than those, depending on the throwing precision of your team. Have the teams throw balls into the holes, and award points for each successful throw.

    Pitching

    • Children's leagues often start out as coach-pitched, but after a few seasons, you'll need to find some pitchers from your crop of young softball players. To get them ready, have potential pitchers do a wrist-snapping drill, in which they stand 1-2 feet from a wall and do an underhanded "snap," throwing a tennis ball against the wall. The ball should come right back into the thrower's hand, if they are throwing it dead-on. Have players practice snapping the ball against the wall until the ball comes right back into their hand. After this, incorporate the "windmill" part of the pitch into this drill, having players stand 6-8 feet from the wall, performing the windmill action of the pitch, and then snapping their wrist to throw a tennis ball against the wall. If they're doing it right, the ball will come back to them.