Northern Illinois University Head Coach;
back-to-back MAC Tournament runners-up (2013-14)
Discover 55 drills you can use to develop powerful hitters from the ground up. Starting with the legs, Christina Sutcliffe covers the key components of the swing including hand path and extension before offering advice and drills for slappers.
Legs
Since the swing starts from the ground, Coach Sutcliffe works from the ground up when training her hitters. Using stationary and active leg drills, you'll see how she trains her hitters to generate power from their legs.
Learn how to help your players get more out of their legs with 10 drills designed to improve players' weight shift and leg drive.
Hand Path
Extra movement in the swing decreases consistency so one goal of any good hitter is to have a swing that is short to the ball. This requires an efficient hand path. Coach Sutcliffe introduces 12 drills to help your hitters get their hands to the ball efficiently and with no extra movement.
Extension
Once the hitter makes contact with the ball, the next task is to extend through the pitch. Good extension helps hitters keep their bat in the zone longer, making them more consistent and powerful.
In this video, you will learn about the power lines for each pitch and where extension should happen for inside, outside and middle pitches. In addition to learning about these concepts, you will see demonstrations of 10 drills you can use to develop and improve extension.
Visual Training
Discover 12 drills to help hitters see the ball better and develop concentration skills by training them to focus on the incoming pitch.
Competitive Drills
To help you keep practice fresh and exciting, Coach Sutcliffe shares six hitting games that will challenge your team by pitting them against each other. When your players compete in practice they are prepared for the competitive pressures they will experience on game day.
Slapping
Key pieces to any successful line-up are the table setters, those versatile players who can get on base to set the table for the big hitters to drive them in. Coach Sutcliffe introduces six drills that she uses to train her slappers how to become more explosive out of the batter's box and quicker to first base. She also shows how many of the drills she uses with her hitters can be converted for use with slappers.
Packed with 55 drills, this presentation is sure to give even the most experienced hitting coaches more than a few new ideas.
89 minutes. 2015.
SD-04808B: with Christina Sutcliffe,
Northern Illinois University Head Coach;
back-to-back MAC Tournament runners-up (2013-14)
Discover over 25 drills for throwing, infield play and outfield play, that progress from simple to complex. Christina Sutcliffe shows you how to train players to get to the ball quickly and how to set up to make a quick, accurate throw to all bases. Coach Sutcliffe includes drills that have the infield and outfield working together in game-like situations.
Outfield
Discover nine progressive drills that will help your outfielders get positioned and ready to make the play before the ball touches their gloves. The outfield sessions opens with a complete a series of fundamental quarterback drills. Outfielders practice getting behind shallow fly balls, drop stepping and cutting for deep fly balls, and fielding ground balls.
You will also learn a five-step progression for getting your outfielders comfortable with diving for the ball.
Infield
Moving on to the infielders, Coach Sutcliffe explains and demonstrates a "dailies" progression. Beginning with knee work and working up to fungos, you will see unique twists on common drills to ensure players are working on quicker transitions and accurate throws. The infielders start with no gloves, progress to mini-gloves and then to regular gloves while working on different types of ground balls and hops, all while practicing the throwing transitions to different bases.
The infielders also demonstrate different flips with the glove and bare hand, and practice picking throws at their bases.
Team Drills
After working on the individual components of the infield and outfield, players come together for 10 team drills. Included are drills for throwing, infield/outfield communication, diving, cut offs, tag plays and more. Most of these team drills have a conditioning component which minimizes the need for extra running before or after practice.
In addition to drills, you'll also hear Coach Sutcliffe talk to her players about corrections they need to make, why it's important to make them and how it relates to actual game situations.
This collection of drills will help keep your practices fresh and help train your players in the key fundamentals of infield and outfield play.
100 minutes. 2015.
SD-04808C: with Christina Sutcliffe,
Northern Illinois University Head Coach;
back-to-back MAC Tournament runners-up (2013-14)
With explosive offenses becoming a softball staple, pitchers must be stronger than ever to shut down opposing hitters. Christina Sutcliffe gives you 25 drills for training your pitchers and catchers. Coach Sutcliffe shows you how to teach pitchers to use their legs and compete better, and then moves on to the catchers, focusing on framing, throwing and blocking.
Pitching
The pitching motion starts from the ground up, so Coach Sutcliffe starts her work by focusing on pitcher's legs. Coach Sutcliffe shares 10 drills that emphasize the role of the legs in the pitching motion. These drill focus on developing leg strength, staying balanced and being explosive through the pitch.
Coach Sutcliffe introduces five game-like drills that simulate the competitive pressures pitchers face on game day. These drills not only incorporate competition, they also help teach the strategy of pitching and where to throw certain pitches based on counts.
Catching
Give your pitchers the confidence to throw any pitch in their arsenal by training your catchers to receive or block (if necessary) any pitch. Catchers can help the pitchers get more called strikes by framing pitches that are close to the strike zone. Coach Sutcliffe offers three drills to help catchers make close pitches look better to the umpire. You'll also see four drills to help your catchers develop leg strength and block pitches in the dirt.
Help your catcher who doesn't have a strong arm - or make your strong-armed catcher even better - by practicing quick transitions to each base. Coach Sutcliffe explains some of the mechanics catchers need to master when throwing the ball to different bases. She explains and demonstrates three throwing drills that will help your catchers throw out runners on bunts, pick offs and steals.
Coach Sutcliffe shows you how to get the most out of your battery by having your pitchers and catchers work together and build their game from the ground up.
74 minutes. 2015.