10 hours of Outside Practical Experience

I actually have 2 different places where I did my outside practical experience.  The first was at my previous school Herkimer County Community College.  There I helped my previous softball team with their practice by running drills, explaining strategies and ways to handle situations in a game, etc.  I mainly worked with the outfielders during defensive work.  One of the drills I had them do was what we call at SUNY Cortland the T drill.  In this drill one outfielder goes at a time, and you as the administrator of the drill, have to throw softballs at the particular spot for them to run and catch.  The first route they must run is straight back.  On this route the administrator should throw a lob type of ball for them to catch just over their head.  Then they continue running to the left where you will throw them a sharp line drive type of ball that leads them where they have to stretch to catch it.  Then they need to stop as quickly as possible ond run in the opposite direction (to your right) and and run a ways where you will throw them a high but far pop fly that they need to catch up to to catch.  After that they run directly towards you where you wait for them to get near and toss a short ball that they need to slide to catch.

Diagram of T-Drill I drew on paint. Click to see larger image.

In this drill have the rest of the oufielders stand in a line some to the right and some to the left of you.  After the outfielder who is going catches one ball they should roll it in to the line of outfielders and continue running through the drill.  If the outfielder who is going doesnt catch the ball they should leave the ball behind and continue on through the next route.  This drill is meant to tire the athletes.  It is for cardiovascular endurance, stamina, and skill enhancement.

I also did my practical work during our all day softball clinic here at SUNY Cortland.  The  softball team puts this on every year as a fundraiser.  We had a jawdropping 220 girls come to this year's clinic.  Many travel teams bring all their players to the clinic to work through it together.  During the defensive portion of the clinic my fellow outfielders and I ran some outfield drills with every group.  During the hitting session I was individually assigned to teach and administer the tennis ball change-up drill.  This drill is to be done with partners.  One partner is hitting and the other is the tosser.  The tosser must stand on a chair, holding a tennis ball with their arm straight out.  They will then drop the ball in a spot about a foot in front of the toes of the hitter's front foot.  The hitter will then wait for the ball to bounce and then try to hit the ball when it comes back up.  This teaches the players to wait for the ball before initiating the swing.  It helps them in the situation of a change-up being pitched to them.  The hitting session was like a marathon.  There were 22 groups with about 8-10 girls per group.  So it got pretty repetitive explaining the drill 22 times.  Haha.  At the end of the day though, it was worth it because they all had a great time and learned a little more about softball.