Everyday Drills to Maximize Practice Time

with Peter Turner,
San Jose State University Head Coach;
the winningest coach in San Jose State program history (over 300 wins);
2017 Mountain West Conference Champions; 2x Conference Coach of the Year;
member the ASA National Softball Hall of Fame (2007);
former USA Softball Men's National Team coach ('02 - '13)

Don't have enough time to cover everything you want in practice? Feel like your team isn't making the best use of practice time? Some coaches waste too much time hitting ground balls and fly balls to one player at a time while the rest of the team waits their turn.

Peter Turner shows you how to run an efficient practice where infielders and outfielders practice the skills they will need most on game day. Additionally, you'll get a unique pitcher's workout that uses a lot of run-through drills to build on accuracy as well as conditioning and fielding.

With over 20 drills showcased, Coach Turner takes you "behind the scenes" and allows you to learn from a program that gets the most out of practice time.

Practice Philosophy

Learn how to avoid long practices by drilling the skills needed most on game day. Coach Turner shares his practice philosophies and offers simple suggestions to make practices and drills you already run more efficient. He teaches how to plan a practice and what to cover at various parts of the season - pre-season, mid-season, and post-season - and how to maximize your staff and their abilities.

Infielders Catch and Throw

Cut down on throwing and catching mistakes and you will eliminate a lot of your team's errors, in general. Turner shows you seven drills to work on game-like throwing and catching technique, while challenging your players to be quick.

In the 21 drill, players must make 21 perfect throws in a row. Just like on game day, they need to make 21 outs, while the coach times the group. This drill challenges players to be quick while applying pressure similar to the pressure they may experience in a game.

Infield Everyday Drills

Practice eight of the most common plays for infielders in a controlled setting using Coach Turner's everyday drills. These drills are designed to get infielders lots of reps where the player and coach can focus on fielding technique and fundamentals. Improve your infielders' glove work while ensuring that they take proper angles to the ball, which will give them more range. Key teaching points include:

• Stopping the ball with the glove instead of squeezing the ball for quicker transfers.
• Taking a 45 degree angle to the ball up the middle or in the hole.
• Assessing speed of the players around them, on the bases, and at the plate.

Outfield Everyday Drills

Get outfielders involved with four everyday drills of their own. These drills will help your outfielders take better angles to the ball, which will result in more caught fly balls. You'll see how to teach players to catch a line drive coming directly at them - one of the hardest plays for outfielders to read.

Pitcher Run-Through Drills

After the pitcher releases the ball, they're no longer a pitcher - they are a fielder! Help your pitchers improve their pitching and fielding skills with three run-through drills. These run-through drills will help your pitchers practice fielding the ball and improve their conditioning and athleticism.

Lower Half Pitching Drills

Coach Turner introduces two drills to improve the lower half of your pitchers that will get them driving harder and rotating faster in order to throw the ball harder. These drills will emphasize the importance of rotation and location in pitching. He also demonstrates six drills that work on improving accuracy while incorporating other aspects of pitching

Having enough time to cover all skills and give every player the reps they need is a challenge for coaches at all levels. This video gives you plenty of techniques for accomplishing more at practice in less time.

89 minutes. 2018.