Field a winning fastpitch softball team year after year with the knowledge and insights of a coaching legend! Coaching Fastpitch Softball Successfully provides the guidance and technical expertise you need in order to build and maintain a competitive team, covering every facet of leading a squad on the field and developing a program off of it.

Hall of Fame coach Kathy Veroni, who has won more than 1,250 fastpitch games in her career, and pitching expert Roanna Brazier share their insights and experiences in this authoritative, comprehensive guide to coaching fastpitch softball. From developing a coaching philosophy and planning for the season to teaching the skills and tactics of the game, you will find proven formulas for success within these pages.

With practice and conditioning plans, administrative forms, sample scouting charts, tactics for dozens of game situations, and more than 130 drills, Coaching Fastpitch Softball Successfully is the most complete resource available for aspiring and experienced coaches alike. Take advantage of the authors' expertise to gain a winning edge over your competition.

232 pages. 2006.

Over the past 25+ seasons, Donna Papa has been the veritable architect of a Carolina softball program which ranks among the country's best. In this All Access DVD, Coach Papa shares her coaching philosophy, drills, and teaching strategies as her program prepares for the 2010-11 season. Get a candid look at the Tarheels in a live practice setting.

Throughout the DVD you will see the drills and strategies Papa and her staff incorporate into each practice. Pick up cue words and coaching insight as the Tarheel coaches teach their drills and coach their players.

Prior to taking the field, Coach Papa lays out her coaching philosophy and provides a sample practice schedule breakdown for organizing practices and workouts during the week and at different times of the year.

PRACTICE 1

• Bullpen Session - Assistant Coach Boo Gillette shares the strategies and drills used with the pitchers and catchers. You will see how she takes the pitchers through the warm-up and progresses into drill work to improve mechanics and speed. The catchers are also involved, working through drills to develop blocking skills and defense.
• Team Practice - Coach Papa takes the team through base running situations that she calls "reading the ball." The runners practice reading the flight of the ball to determine their best course of action. The session progresses to base running with live defense working on game-like situations.

PRACTICE 2

• Hitting Drills - Coach Papa takes her players through a series of tee drills as well as working on the different types of bunts.
• Bullpen Session - The pitchers and catchers work on hitting their spots and the inside/outside part of the plate.
• Practice Warm-Ups - Coach Papa shows a dynamic warm-up and speed ladder workout to efficiently prepare the muscles for practice. This workout also replicates the work that will be done during practice.
• Throwing Progression - See the Tarheel's daily throwing progression for infielders and outfielders. This progression improves body rotations, weight shift and transfers. Pick up an outfield drills for working on the drop step and throwing through the catch.
• Base Running - The team works on rounding all of the bases and on situations from the 3 bases. You will see their philosophy for tagging up, bunts, steals, pass balls, and sliding into bases.
• Defensive Fielding - Coach Gillette and the rest of the staff take the infielders and pitchers through a fielding workout and finish with team defensive work. This practice includes a competitive game for the defense.

176 minutes (2 DVDs). 2011.

Kelly Inouye-Perez, fresh off of UCLA's 2010 National Championship season, takes you inside the UCLA softball program as the Bruins prepare for the 2011 season. These practices will give you insight into how Inouye-Perez teaches and builds her players' fundamental skills using drills and drill progressions.

DISC 1
Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Lisa Fernandez and Inouye-Perez walk you through a warm up progression used at UCLA to prepare pitchers for competition - physically and mentally. This progression will build fundamentals, increase speed and maximize power. The coaches finish with a pitching competition session. These competitions are designed to put the pitchers in game like situations to see which pitch they would use as well as being able to make the pitch

On the field, practice begins with a warm-up that consists of dynamic stretching and a thera-band workout. From there the team moves into:

DEFENSE DRILLS: Watch as the UCLA staff takes their team through Pre-Practice Fundamentals (PPF) drills that focus on defense. The PPF drills include a ground ball series and reaction drills that get players comfortable with moving their feet and getting their body in the correct position to field the ball.

BASERUNNING: Inouye-Perez incorporates defense, live hitters and base runners to create a game-like atmosphere. See how she coaches players to be aggressive and to read outfielders.

OUTFIELD: ASA Hall of Famer and former All-American Gina Vecchione takes her players through an outfield workout that includes throwing to bases, catching fly balls on the run, line drive work, and running through the catch on tag up situations. Vecchione also runs a number of breakdown drills including over the shoulder catches, drop steps, shoe string catches, and wall balls.

DISC 2:
Before practice begins, Coach Inouye-Perez gathers the team for a pre-practice meeting and allows you a look inside a typical team meeting. On the field, the practice focuses on:

INFIELD: Fernandez works with the infielders concentrating on arm slot and footwork using a four corner drill and a ground ball series.

CATCHERS: Inouye-Perez puts the catchers through a series of drills working on catching foul balls, passed balls, blocking drills and fielding the ball to make a tag at the plate. She is a big believer that a catcher's success is in their leg strength and she puts them through a bunt drill to work on their leg strength.

TEAM DEFENSE: The team works on infielders/outfielders fly ball communication as well as a live relay & cutoff drill and finishing with working on bunt defense and bunt offense.

HITTING DRILLS: The hitting segment of practice begins with Coach Fernandez discussing with you the hitting mechanics they are teaching at UCLA. Inouye-Perez then takes you through some hitting drills involving upper body and lower body movement. These drills begin with working off a tee and include front arm, back arm, two hands, and walk-though and progresses to a long tee drill, front toss with weighted balls, front toss with regular balls, and a flat hip drill.

Inouye-Perez then shares an on-field combination hitting drill which works the live hitters working on opposite field hitting while another hitter is working on a front toss series. They finish with two drills used in the batting cage and involve working on the mechanics of rhythm and timing of the swing.

This is your chance to look inside one of the most heralded softball programs in the nation! This DVD set provi

Diana Pepin and her staff let the camera roll during this live, indoor practice. This entire practice takes place inside their campus gymnasium and includes the team drills you need to keep your players occupied and focused on the fundamentals when working indoors.

Dynamic Stretching
The Warriors' dynamic stretching program readies the muscles for the explosive movements of a softball practice. The warm-up ends with form running and acceleration drills.

Baserunning
See how to train your base runners to read the ball (or the pitcher) on tag-ups, running on contact and on a straight steal - all with a conditioning element attached to it.

Swing Mechanics
These team hitting drills train the basic fundamentals of the swing. Areas of concentration include stance, the heel plant, hips, staying long through the swing and head position.

Ground Ball Work
Pepin breaks her team into three groups to simultaneously work on their defensive fundamentals. The infielders work on short hops, tosses, and tags while the outfielders work on playing through a fly ball and drop steps. The catchers are working on framing pitches, blocking the ball and coming out of a stance to scoop the ball and throw to a bag.

Throwing Series
The throwing series has the entire team working on long, lofted throws to work on stretching their arms and developing good rotation on the ball. The program also works on receiving the ball. The players must catch the ball simulating a force play, tag play or cut-off position to work on their footwork. Additional drills work on quick glove-to-throw exchanges, throwing on the run and rundown throws.

Infield & Outfield Drills
These high rep infield drills focus on fielding ground balls, throwing to bases, turning double plays, and executing bunt defense. The outfield drills consist of catching on the run, working on drop steps, fielding ground balls and fly balls, and a good conditioning drill called the flying falcon.

Team Defense
Coach Pepin then takes the team defense through a series of game situations using live runners with a coach hitting or bunting.

Practice concludes with the Warriors' running through their pre-game warm-up.

This DVD is a must for any coach looking for ways to improve practice, get in a high number of reps, keep as many players as possible involved and active, and make the most of their indoor practice space!

92 minutes. 2011.

One of the most successful softball coaches of all time, Mike Candrea, shares how he effectively/efficiently structures his team practices to produce better results during the season! Coach Candrea's success is partially a direct result of being diligent in implementation of effective, well-thought-out practice plans. Candrea shares his recommended list of practice rules and explains the implications and importance of them in effective team building. He also recommends a checklist of drills (all demonstrated) to work on to add variety to your practices. If you want to learn to win and have a team that shows improvement as the season progresses . it all starts with effective practice organization and planning. Coach Candrea's ideas are time- and team-tested and will help you improve your team by showing you how a Championship coach organizes practice.

72 minutes. 2003.

SD-02348A: with Nancy Evans,
former University of Arizona Assistant Softball Coach,
#1 All-time Winning Percentage in NCAA (.938) as a player, 1998 National Player of the Year, 6 NCAA Championships (as player & coach)

Coach Nancy Evans has been successful at every level of her playing and coaching career, as she developed into the top college pitcher as a two-time All-American and has the all-time NCAA best winning percentage (.938), currently plays professional softball and coaches at one of the premiere college softball programs in the US. Through her experience and instruction, Coach Evans has gained a comprehensive knowledge in every aspect of becoming a complete pitcher and shares in this video the step-by-step progression to develop and succeed as a windmill pitcher. Using one-on-one player-coach demonstration, Evans breaks down every step in the pitching process from choosing the best grip to the full pitch and fielding position. Coach Evans moves through a progression of drills to develop the correct mechanics in every stage of the pitch and strongly emphasizes mastering skills through monotonous repetition and consistent practice routines in route to better accuracy, correct spin, and pitch speed. This step by step progression of the basics and fundamentals of windmill pitching can be applied and practiced at any level from beginner to advanced, and is essential to learning how to pitch the correct way!

77 minutes. 2005.

SD-02396: with Linda Wells,
former Arizona State University Head Softball Coach,
Dutch National Softball Team Coach (2008 OlympicS),
2004 Head Olympic Coach - Greek National Team

Learn proper hitting mechanics, principles, drills, and tips from one of the best hitting instructors in softball. In this DVD, Coach Wells gives comprehensive and detailed instruction on becoming a successful hitter. To teach the concepts effectively, Coach Wells takes a hitter through all stages of physical and mental preparation and execution beginning in the on-deck circle and ending with a full swing. Wells breaks down all of the mechanics of the swing in a step-by-step progression, including stance, box positioning, load and stride, hand and head position, the full swing, contact points, and follow-through. She also discusses hitting various pitches such as the curveball, screwball, riseball, dropball, and change-up, as well as situational hitting. Coach Wells then shares over 15 drills and tips to develop and master the proper swing mechanics and principles to become a consistent, successful hitter at any level of the game!

33 minutes. 2005.

Add or develop a dynamic component of your offense by utilizing and maximizing the slap-hitter. Coach Wells, with over 900 wins, has developed lethal offensive teams and has successfully utilized the slap-hitter as an offensive threat. In this video, Coach Wells has a former player and slap hitting specialist demonstrate and explain what it takes to become a successful slap hitter. They first discuss the process of converting and developing a slap hitter, advantages of slap hitting, and bat selection for slap hitters. Next, they discuss and demonstrate the sequencing of slap hitting by walking through the box positions, footwork, hand motion, body movement, types of slaps, making adjustments, and utilizing the fake slap and bunts. Coach Wells then shares multiple progression drills to develop and perfect the mechanics and timing of slap hitting using tee work, toss drills, and pitching machines. Slap hitters will learn how to effectively read the defense, gain bat control, put the ball down, and get down the line for team success!

28 minutes. 2005.

Coach Walton knows how to maximize his fielders' performance and has a record setting 70-win season to prove it. With the help of his Assistant Coach Jenny Gladding, Walton shows you an extensive list of drills they use to get the most out of their infield and outfield. Ground balls, short hops, double plays, bunts, plays at the plate, deep fly balls, drop steps and plays off the wall are just some of the skills and exercises Walton delivers. He also covers the importance of good communication, working with other fielders, getting every player involved and being prepared for any defensive situation. A great team starts with a great defense, so prepare your team with these proven drills.

109 minutes. 2009.