Looking for a way to make practice more fun and yet improve your team defense, then try a little Backwards Softball.
If it’s hard for you to imagine how you could possibly play softball backwards, then let me show you – check it out!
Watching your team play frontwards softball can be bad enough at times, never mind trying to envision what the backwards version would be like. But you might be surprised to see just how much better they’ll think through the strategy of the game simply by having everything turned around backwards.
Backwards Softball is part game and part defensive practice. What starts off as super “weird” and “hard” and “confusing”, quickly becomes a terrifically fun way to increase your player’s concentration and strategic thinking.
Here’s how you play:
- 9 defensive players on the field, but they play on the opposite side from where they usually play.
- The bases actually change as well: 1st base becomes 3rd base, 1st base becomes 3rd base, and 2nd base – well it stays 2nd
- The Catcher is the pitcher and the Pitcher catches (off to the side).
- The Catcher will toss from behind a net.
- Everybody will put their gloves on their opposite hand and play lefthanded (if they’re right handed, and right handed if they’re left handed).
- The offense still hits the ball and runs to 1st base – except 1st base is now what is normally 3rd base.
- Play for 3 innings (or for a certain amount of time) and the team with the most runs wins.
- Because everything is so switched around from “normal” softball, your players will be forced to talk to each other more, and louder – which is a great by-product of this game, on top of how fun it is!
- It’s a pretty simple – but not easy – way to get your team to have some fun, put everyone on fairly even footing skill-wise, and also get players thinking strategically by reversing everything and challenging themselves mentally!
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Players that hit, will hit on their normal side or will they switch also. For example, right handed batter hits from the left side n the left handed batter will hit from the right side
Hitters will switch as well. So rightys are now batting lefty and leftys batting righty. It switches everything up and while it’s super hard and fun, it also forces your players to REALLY concentrate – which makes them better!