How to hit a softball Tom Sakell EDIT 704 Instructor Guide 2 December 2009 How to hit a softball Page 1
Table of Contents Class Information / Preparation... 3 Class Scope... 3 Class Statistics... 3 Objectives... 3 Terminal... Error! Bookmark not defined. External... 3 Summary of Learning Approach... 3 Prerequisite Knowledge... 4 Materials... 4 Icon Guide... 5 Preparation Before Class (30 minutes)... 5 Session Timetable... 6 Introduction to the Lesson (5 minutes)... 6 Start Instruction (10 minutes)... 7 Skills Practice (40 minutes)... 9 Transfer Strategies... 12 Dismiss the Class... 12 How to hit a softball Page 2
Class Information / Preparation Class Description This class session is designed to teach very young girls how to hit a softball. Class Scope This session is week 2 of a 5-week course. The students will already have a basic understanding of softball where the bases are and (generally) how to throw and catch a ball. In week 1, the students practiced catching and throwing a softball. In week 2, students will learn the different positions on the field. Class Statistics Class Length Class Size Audience 1 hour clinic (broken into three, 20-minute sessions) 15-20 students 5- to 8-year-old girls, most of whom have absolutely no softball experience. In the program, the girls will learn how to play softball and the different tasks involved batting, throwing, catching, running and throwing to the cutoff player. Objectives Internal Conditions Students will be able to: o Understand, remember and complex signals and cues. o Call on previous learning styles to accept new material o Accept new concepts and teaching External Conditions Students will be able to: o Properly swing a softball bat in a smooth motion. o Recall the following steps: o approaching the plate o holding a bat o swinging o keeping eyes on the ball o Remember to stay positive while at bat Summary of Learning Approach Introduce the students to a new concept: Hitting a softball. Be energetic. Be brief. Demonstrate the steps a batter needs to remember on each at-bat. Explain each step. Exude confidence in yourself. Pass confidence to your students. How to hit a softball Page 3
Have students visualize the exercise, try it without a bat, then try it with a bat in two different hitting situations. Mentor the students during the exercise, then follow up to see how the students completed the exercise and what confidences they ve formed. Prerequisite Knowledge Students have already learned how to throw and catch a softball, though they are not expected have any proficiency or form. They will probably have little to no experience in swinging a bat. Expect some students to have never held a bat before. In the last class, the students learned the strike zone, but nothing more at the plate. Materials Hardware Kids will be wearing Attitude (for children) Softball bats (size and weight appropriate for 5-year-olds) Batting helmet Softballs Home plates Pitching (lob) machines Batting tees League has provided projector screen w/ internet access for training movie. PC w/ internet access (league provides) Online video: harborsights.com/gmu/ edit704/softball.html Loose clothing Sneakers Softball gloves High energy Pay attention Be ready to be active How to hit a softball Page 4
Icon Guide Signals information to be addressed directly to the student. Signals a specific action the instructor should take. Important tip for the instructor! Preparation Before Class (30 minutes) Arrive at the fields 30 minutes before the clinic begins Greet 3 parents / adults who ve signed up to assist you during the clinic. Set up 3 batting tee stations, 3 jump batting stations Place 10 softballs at each station Place 10 batting helmets at each stations The stations should be in two rows. Batting tee stations should be 10 feet apart, all facing in the same direction. Twenty feet away, in the opposite direction, group the jump stations, facing in the opposite direction from the batting tee stations. Be sure computer and screen are turned on. League assistant will help you. Do not leave batting helmets at the stations! The kids will be distracted w/ available bats, and my cause a safety problem. How to hit a softball Page 5
Session Timetable Topic Expected Time Instructional/Learning Activity Introduction 5 min Discussion / Demonstration Start Instruction 10 min Demonstration/lecture Skill Practice/Role Play 40 min Small group activities Conclusion 5 min Discussion Total 1 hour Introduction to the Lesson (5 minutes) Welcome everyone. Welcome to today s softball clinic. Today we are going to learn how to hit a softball. Anybody here play softball? Do you know how to hit already? Yeah? Who wants to learn how to hit a ball today? Huh? How about hitting it real far? Yeah? I m going to show you how to hit the ball far, in a line drive? Let me show you how. Everyone gather around me in, in a half-circle. Like this. Come on around. That s good. That s good. OK. Watch me. Talk w/ high energy. Get attention. Keep attention on you throughout this exercise. As you set up to hit the ball, start going through the steps in the video. Do this wordlessly, w/o explanation -- all while talking everyone into position around you. Stand straight Spread feet slightly wider than shoulders Bend knees slightly, w/ a spring in your step Make Vs w/ your elbow, getting ready to hit. Point your pointer fingers, while holding the bat. Line up your fingers. Slowly, deliberately shift your weight back. Swing through the tee, watching the bat through the entire stroke. Hit three balls, talking the entire time. For effect, hit the ball far. How to hit a softball Page 6
OK, who wants to hit first? Work with the first girl to volunteer. Bring her into the circle and have her approach the batting tee. Start Instruction (10 minutes) Thanks, volunteer. Come on up here; what s your name. OK, Judy, here s the first thing we do. Take this bat (hand Judy the handle). Take it, Judy. Take it! (hold the bat so she can not pull it away from you) Come on, Judy. Take the bat. Remember, girls. Hold the bat loosely, but tight enough that I can t take it from you. Good job, Judy. OK, stand at the plate, Judy. Stand up straight. Hold the bat. Spread your feet. A little more. Your feet should be just a little wider than your shoulders. Good. Got it? Nice job. Lean over the plate, Judy. Just barely touch the other side of the plate. Just like that. See? Now you can hit a ball that goes over any part of the plate. This part is important. Hold the bat up. Right. Now everyone, look at Judy s elbows. Judy, can I hold your arms? Like this? Good. Thanks. See everyone, both of Judy s elbows have Vs in them. See? That s the way to hold your arms good. OK. Judy, are you comfortable holding the bat? Are your hands in the right position? What? You don t know what the right position is? Check this out. Keep your hands on the, bat, but point your fingers. Your pointer fingers. When they re both in the same direction, you re in the right position. OK, time to hit. Imagine the pitch is coming, Judy. It s a good one! Your swing starts by going backwards! That s right. Lean your body weight back. Just move your hip. Can I show you how? Your weight goes over your back foot, but just that far. That s great! How to hit a softball Page 7
Now swing. Shift your weight evenly. Swing level. Swing through the ball. The whole time you re swinging, look down the barrel of the bat. Imagine it s a toy rifle and you re looking down the barrel. All the way through the swing. OK. Judy. On your own. Approach the plate. Hold the bat loosely. Square your shoulders, spread your feet. Bounce a little. Bend your knees. Make your Vs! w/ your elbows! Point your pointer fingers. Shift your weight back. Shift your weight forward. Swing through the ball. Swing level. Look down the barrel. Great job, Judy. OK, now everyone. Form a circle around me. We re going to practice together. No bats! (No bats!) Just swing an imaginary bat. Ready? You demonstrate the drill two more times in slow motion w/ the kids -- w/o bats. You then walk inside the circle coaching each of the girls as they go through the motions. Take about 4 minutes for this exercise. OK, one more time. Watch this movie w/ me. http://www.harborsights.com/gmu/edit704/softball How to hit a softball Page 8
Skills Practice (40 minutes) OK, kids, let s go hit some balls. I want groups of three. Give me three here. Now three here. Three here. Good. Good. These three groups, head to the batting tees. You three groups, come w/ me to the jump stations. Here at the jump station we have a little pitching machine. It sits right close to your foot. I drop a few balls in the chute and, one at a time, this little machine makes the ball jump about three feet in the air, right in front of you. It s like a little pitching machine. When the ball s in the strike zone, you swing at it. OK, show of hands: Who remembers the strike zone? Remember, we learned it last week. That s right any ball over the plate, between your chest and your knees. OK, you, Jan, come on out here and try this out. Here s a bat. Now let s go through everything we talked about: Approach the plate. Hold the bat loosely. Square your shoulders, spread your feet. Bounce a little. Bend your knees. Touch the other side of the plate w/ the end of your bat. Make your Vs! w/ your elbows! Point your pointer fingers. Shift your weight back. Shift your weight forward. Swing through the ball. Swing level. Look down the barrel. Great, Jane. You ve got it. OK, each of you three groups, go to one jump station each. There should be three girls at each station. Each of you gets 10 pitches, Parents, you drop the balls in the chute. Listen up everyone. At the end of each turn, you go out and gather all the balls you ve hit. But all the stations need to do it at the same time so no one gets hurt while another girl hits. After your turn, go to the end of the line. Watch each other bat while you re on the line. You ll learn from each other. How to hit a softball Page 9
Important: It s so important that you make the kids and parents understand that no one can run out to fetch balls while another girl is still batting. Kids can easily get hurt in this exercise if they re in the wrong place at the wrong time. OK, you girls at the batting tees. We re going to do the same thing over here. I m going to place a ball on the tee. Line up on the ball and hit it cleanly. Who wants to start? You, Jill? OK, Let s go through our drill: Approach the plate. Hold the bat loosely. Square your shoulders, spread your feet. Bounce a little. Bend your knees. Touch the other side of the plate w/ the end of your bat. Make your Vs! w/ your elbows! Point your pointer fingers. Shift your weight back. Shift your weight forward. Swing through the ball. Swing level. Look down the barrel. Great, Jill. You ve got it. OK, each of you three groups, go to one batting tee station each. There should be three girls at each station. Each of you gets 10 swings. Parents, grab a bucket of balls and place one at a time on the tee. Listen up everyone. At the end of each turn, you go out and gather all the balls you ve hit. But all the stations need to do it at the same time so no one gets hurt while another girl hits. After your turn, go to the end of the line. Watch each other bat while you re on the line. You ll learn from each other. Over the next 15 minutes, walk through each stations. Be sure to see each girl swing at least two balls. Have at least two constructive comments for each batter. Remember to tell them each to relax and have fun. Also, you re instructing the parents as well. They ll take on the mentoring role after today. Answer any of the parent s questions, but always watch the batters. How to hit a softball Page 10
(20 minutes later) OK girls, everyone should have had two turns each. Everyone gather around me in a circle. Great. So. What did you think of hitting? Did you have fun? Did you like it? Was it hard? Really? What was the hardest part? Really. How about you. And you. Let s review the video again real fast. I want to make sure you remember all the points. In my last class, the girls forgot these two parts: pointing your fingers and shifting your weight back. Let s everyone try two swings w/ your imaginary bats. OK everyone, let s stay in our same groups and switch. You three groups. You were just on the batting tees. Now you re on the jump machines. You three groups. Over to the batting tees. Starting w/ the jump stations, walk through the drills again w/ the new groups. Show girls and parents how machine works, walk through strike zone drills, which group goes where and how many pitches each girl gets. Do the same w/ the batting tee groups. Walk through the drills again. Show the parents the same information. Important: Remind ever group: no one can run out to fetch balls while another girl is still batting. (20 minutes later) How to hit a softball Page 11
Conclusion (5 minutes) OK girls, everyone should have had two turns each. Everyone gather around me in a circle. Great. So. What did you think? Did you have fun? What did you learn today? Good. Good. Here s what I saw today: 18 girls having a lot of fun. The one problem I saw the most was shifting your weight over your back foot. It s a tough one; just keep working w/ it. Shift your weight and swing smoothly. Remember, it s not important how far you hit the ball. Just hit the ball. Power will come. Distance will come. Just hit the ball and have fun. Transfer Strategies I ve got a take-home paper for each of you, to remind you of what we learned today. It s each of the steps in your batting swing. Keep practicing. You don t need a bat or even to be outside. Practice your swing at home, even in your room. Make it smooth and you ll have fun! Dismiss the Class Thanks for your time today, girls. You re a great class and great hitters! How to hit a softball Page 12