Here’s a softball training program that will prepare your players for the upcoming season with conditioning, skill development, and inspirational stories.
Your player can complete this softball training program from their backyard or neighborhood park. Spend less time in the car and more time on skill development.
Softball Training Program for Youth Players
Is your daughter looking to improve their softball game during the offseason? Here’s a tool to take their hitting, fielding, and throwing to the next level.
Softball Training Plan Contents
18 carefully designed, 66 minutes softball workouts
A minute-by-minute breakdown of activities.
Activities rotate from one to the next quickly to keep players interested and for aerobic benefit.
Designed for either six weeks with three sessions each week or nine weeks with two sessions each week. Players who play another sport in the offseason frequently find the nine weeks best.
Ebook format. Print off the sheets you need and follow along for each workout or follow along on your smartphone.
A softball inspirational story and quote for each workout.
Before each workout, we recommend that players read the stories and quotes.
Life lessons like overcoming obstacles, treating people with respect, and having a positive attitude are reinforced.
Essential info for youth softball players.
Featured content includes:
How to interact with coaches
How to eat smart on game days and before and after practice
The benefits of goal setting and more
Softball Training: Who is it for?
Ages 10 – 17 years old. It’s recommended that players have played organized softball before. That will help with this softball training program.
If the 66 minutes time period is too long or the activities are too challenging for younger players, we suggest shortening the sessions to 30 or 45 minutes in length. Pick and choose from the middle activities while maintaining the warm-up and ending activities to reduce the time.
Importance of Softball Offseason Workouts
Repetition of an exercise builds muscle memory. Focusing on individual skills during an off-season workout gives a player plenty of opportunities to fine-tune them and improve upon them.
Your team’s coaches don’t have enough time to devote to every individual skill. Regular season games usually present too few opportunities to hone a skill. Practices during the regular season provide more opportunities, but typically a coach has many other topics to cover.
Let’s say a player wants to work on hitting pitches on the outer half of the plate to the opposite field. A player may have only seen a few of these pitches during practice or a game. However, these softball training programs feature dozens of opportunities weekly to work on hitting this type of pitch. Lots of reps lead to improvement.
Breaking down the bigger game into each component makes it easier. If a player goes to practice and plays games, that player will likely get better at softball. Suppose that the same player takes a different approach, putting a concentrated effort into improving some of the fundamental softball skills; in that case, the player will likely improve faster.
And More
It provides a platform to strengthen weaknesses and build on strengths. Individual workouts can be tailored to work on the areas specific to a player’s strengths and weaknesses.
There is plenty of time until the next game. Experimenting with your batting stance, stride & swing during the season can be difficult. During the offseason, corrections and lots of repetition can be made to prepare for a game situation. It’s the ideal time to develop your hitting.
It’s a relaxed environment where no one is watching. Individual workouts enable players to take risks with no fear of evaluation or criticism. Sometimes, by taking chances and some risks, players improve their game.
Softball Conditioning Program – Design Considerations
The thinking behind the overall workout plan and each plan include:
A focus on fundamentals. We placed an emphasis on building blocks of what makes up a good softball player because that easily transfers from one team to the next.
Strong emphasis on throwing, fielding, and hitting. These are three critical areas that can be practiced individually or with another person effectively, and the offseason is a great time to work on these skills.
Multiple position development. Youth softball players shouldn’t just learn the skills for just one position. The best players are well-rounded. They know how to play many positions. This makes them valuable assets to any team.
Shift activities quickly. Moving from one activity to the next fast keeps players interested and enables players to work on many different skill sets.
More on this Softball training program
Increase the level of difficulty over time. Some of the fitness drills will get progressively more difficult. Initially, we want players to grow accustomed to using different muscles, and then as the plan progresses, we’ll ask for more repetitions or more extended periods.
A fitness focus. Players play their best when they’re in shape. It’s hard to execute at the highest level if you’re tired, lack strength, or are out of shape. A part of each workout session includes general fitness exercises to address these needs.
Designed for individual use or with a workout partner (a friend or parent is perfect). One player on their own can complete most of the activities for these off-season workouts. However, workouts can be more fun with a workout partner, and throwing and catching activities are better with a person than a rebound net. Players should try to find a friend to complete the workouts with or have a parent assist.
Designed for healthy kids who have played softball before. If you have any concerns about having your child participate in this type of program from a health perspective, consult with your physician. Kids should have a water bottle and drink water as needed.
SEE THE SAMPLE PLAN BELOW
About the Author
John Blissenbach has coached all levels of youth softball and baseball from kindergarten through high school. He has coached and managed championship youth & American Legion baseball teams.
He began coaching baseball in 1979 at the age of 20. John started as a high school assistant varsity/JV head coach working with varsity head coach Hank Mauer (great uncle of Minnesota Twins All-Star Catcher: Joe Mauer).
In addition to coaching softball, John has also been a coach for his 4 children’s softball, football, basketball, track, and soccer teams. During the past 20 years, he has enjoyed coaching more than 50 youth (boys & girls) teams.
Digital Download Available Immediately
Upon purchase, you’ll receive a PDF – this product is a digital download. The PDF works on both Macs and PCs – make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader (available for free) on your computer. The PDF enables you to print out pages you want when you need them.
MVP Offseason Workouts for Youth Softball — $23.98
SAMPLE PLAN includes an inspirational story and agenda with an explanation for activities. Note: sized to 8.5″ x 11″
Plan grid that can easily be printed out or followed on a smartphone.
An inspirational story for players to read start each session. Here’s an example.
MVP Offseason Workouts for Youth Softball — $23.98