Youth Softball
Batting

Draw chalk foot outlines on the ground or lay down tape marks. Every kid steps in and holds the stance. Coach calls "Freeze!" — walk around and check feet width, knee bend, and weight balance.

1. Show your own stance first — exaggerate the knee bend
2. Kids step onto the chalk marks
3. Call "Freeze!" and check each kid individually
4. Cue: "If I pushed you, could you stay balanced?" Give a gentle nudge to test it

Sit in a circle. Pass one bat around — each kid picks it up correctly, checks their knuckles are aligned, squeezes once, then relaxes. Focus is entirely on grip — no stance, no swing.

Put a large marker dot on one side of the ball and place it on the tee. Before each swing, call out "find the dot." The kid must spot the dot before swinging. This locks eyes onto the ball — not the field.

1. Set ball on tee with dot facing the batter
2. Kid gets in stance, finds the dot with their eyes
3. You call "Ready... hit!" — they swing
4. After the swing: "Did you see the dot all the way?" Yes/no check-in builds awareness

Kid gets in stance with eyes closed. You set a foam ball on the tee. They open their eyes, find the ball, and swing. The 1–2 second "search" for the ball trains the eye-to-swing connection intentionally.

Arms crossed on chest, batting stance. On your signal, they rotate their hips and pivot the back foot — no bat, no ball. Just feel the motion. Repeat 10 times. This is all about the lower body pattern.

Tee reps, but you're watching the back foot — not the swing result. If the back foot doesn't pivot, it doesn't count as a good rep, regardless of where the ball goes.

Praise the pivot first, the hit second. "Your foot pivoted perfectly on that one!" is more useful than "great hit!" this week.

Hang a pool noodle horizontally between two poles or dangle it from a fence about 6 inches above the tee ball. Kids must swing under the noodle without hitting it — forces a level swing path naturally.

This constraint-based drill teaches the path without any verbal instruction. Kids figure it out themselves.

Move the tee to three positions: inside corner (out front), middle of plate, and outside corner (deeper). 5 reps at each. Kids learn that contact point changes with pitch location — not the swing.

1. Inside pitch: tee forward, hit out in front of plate
2. Middle pitch: tee at plate center, hit at contact zone
3. Outside pitch: tee back, hit deeper in the zone

Alternate between tee reps and soft-toss reps. 5 hits off the tee (confidence builder), then 5 soft tosses from the side. The tee reps serve as a "reset" whenever the soft toss gets frustrating.

Use two ball colors (or put tape on some). Yellow = swing, red = don't swing. Toss randomly. This adds a split-second decision element that dramatically improves focus and eye-hand coordination.

Each kid gets a 3-pitch at bat. You pitch underhand from 15 feet — consistent, waist-high, down the middle. No strikeouts called. If they miss all 3, they get a 4th. Contact is the entire goal.

1. Pitch slow and consistent — your job is to get them a hit
2. After each pitch, one cue max: "stay back," "watch it in," or nothing
3. Any contact = celebrate. Miss all 3 = give a bonus pitch, no comment on the misses
4. After contact: "Run to first!" — introduce the run even if it's just for fun

Place 3 cones at different spots in the outfield — each worth 1, 2, or 3 points. Teams take turns hitting and try to hit the ball near cones. Makes contact feel purposeful and adds scoreboard energy.