Rich Wieligman and the OSU Cowgirl staff deliver a live look at how their practices are set up, executed, and completed on a daily basis.

Day 1:
Build passion into your players from the moment they step on the field! Coach Wieligman's practices begin with early bird work for the first 40 minutes of practice. The early bird work includes hitting fundamentals and pitching work. You will see competitive pitching drills you can use to keep your pitchers focused and avoid the doldrums of simply counting pitches. The competitive nature of these drills makes every pitch count just like a game.

The main practice focuses on infield/outfield play, bunt defense, steals, hitting rotations and pitcher's fielding practice. The practice centers on a game-like approach using baserunners, fielders, defense and offense multiple softball skills simultaneously.

Day 2:
In the early bird segment, Assistant Coach Clarisa Crowell runs the Cowgirl pitching staff through a bullpen session concentrating on fundamentals. You'll see how she interacts with each pitcher to develop a good snap on the drop ball and you'll see a competitive, situational pitching drill. While pitchers are in the bullpen, the other players work on tee drills.

Practice starts in a split mode - outfielders and infielders. Coach Wieligman takes one group into the batting cage where players rotate through front toss and machine drills fine tuning their hitting mechanics. Assistant Coach Tom Gray takes the other group onto the field to work on fielding fundamentals. Infielders work on short hops, footwork and glove to ball transfers; while outfielders work on playing the ball off the wall. Both groups come together in the field to work on cuts and relays, slap defense, rundowns and fly ball priority.

You can The Oklahoma State staff made it very apparent that every skill in softball needs to be focused on each day.

236 minutes (2 DVDs). 2012.

This DVD features NSCAA Senior Academy Staff member Paul Payne demonstrating the value of this coaching methodology in small group play, such as 6 v. 6 and 8 v. 8 situations, and includes information on how to structure conditioned play, a key element to this coaching method. The overall theme of the sessions on this DVD is training the midfielders to work together in both attacking and defending situations.

Sections on this DVD include:

• Warm-up for training
• Defensive midfield
• Attacking midfield

Bonus Material

• Shadow training
• 3 zone activity
• Coaches Roundtable discussion on Coaching In The Game Methodology

50 minutes. 2007.

In the second part of this series, Teaching Team Tactics, the methodology is expanded to full 11 v. 11 play. NSCAA Academy Staff member Paul Marco coaches within game settings to develop improved on-field communication between defenders and midfielders. As in the first part of the series, structuring conditioned play, a key element to the coaching method, is demonstrated, as is the importance of linking the warm-up to the elements that will be stressed during the training session.

Sections on this DVD include:

• Warm-up for training
• Teaching Midfielders and Backs to Coordinate Their Defending
• Counter Attacking

• Winning The Ball To Start The Counter Attack

59 minutes (main program 50 minutes, bonus material, 9 minutes). 2008.

A cross-section of the most experienced NSCAA staff coaches share their wisdom about the game in clear, concise 1-2 minute tips designed to help players improve their technical execution, tactical understanding, and goalkeeping skills.

Technical

Tactical

55 minutes. 2008.

An essential element of finding success as a team is being prepared for competition through well-planned practices.

In this instructional soccer DVD, George Kuntz explains what every good practice needs and gives you some ideas on how to plan your practices based on the unique qualities of your team: age, tactical ability, experience, etc.

PRACTICE PLANNING
Coach Kuntz stresses how important it is to take out what isn't working, fix it through practice, and put it back in and analyze the results. He explains how practices should be balanced between immediate needs versus both seasonal and future development needs. You will learn Kuntz's four pillars of successful soccer and a simple, systematic tool for analyzing and improving the pillars.

Kuntz shares a process for how to take your goals and break them down to activities that take place during practice. Learn tips for:

• Measuring improvement
• Keeping your team in a competitive mode during practice
• How to organize an actual training session
• How to vary exercises based on your players' abilities and other variables

Keep your training sessions focused this season and learn how to effectively practice to meet your goals and your team's biggest needs.

WARM-UP
Warm-ups are a key part of practice. They get players ready for practice, but also need to reflect elements and scenarios of the game while maintaining a player's interest in the practice. Kuntz presents a number of activities to accomplish these goals:

• Dynamic Warm-ups - Moving stretches to loosen up players and prevent injuries.
• Warm-up Touches - Use window drills with light dribbling, juggling, and short passing to prepare for more demanding drills. This trains players to see the game as it develops, find windows to see the field, read the situation and adapt. Also improves timing, balance and agility.
• Passing Exercises - Incorporate triangle passing, open-field passing and variations of each to get your players to move off the ball and constantly looking for support (similar to a game). These exercises will help improve first touch, mobility and passing over increasing distances.
• Third Man Run & Shoot - This warm-up exercise will strengthens your players' technical skills and will get your players passing to space, running toward the goal and getting shots on goal.

In practice you can go through the motions or you can grow as a player. Playing the game is the best teacher. Set up practices with games that teach success and put your team in a competitive mode so they are encouraged and motivated to always do better.

Get your players excited about the day's practice by providing fun and creative avenues to work toward achieving your team's goals.

88 minutes. 2010.