Customer Reviews

Coaching Girls' Softball: From the How-To's of the Game to Practical Real-World Advice--Your Definitive Guide to Successfully Coaching Girls

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Thank You. I'm a father of two daughters (5 and 7) who has never coached before. Although I've played on a softball team at work, and am somewhat familiar with the game, I never actually played little league when I was a kid. With so few coaches however, one of my neighbors asked me to help her coach.

I was a little nervous about giving these girls any bad information. At this level you should just be reviewing the basics, but since I was never actually formally taught what the basics are, I didn't want to miss anything. I also didn't want to teach them something that might have the potential of hurting them by accident. After reading this book however I feel much better. It covered a lot of the things I might have overlooked, and gave me the confidence I'll need to get in front of these kids and parents and not embarrass myself.

The book was straightforward and easy to read (I got through it in about two days which was good for me.) I'd highly recommend it.

Kathy Strahan's book is one of the most recent, well-constructed guides for coaching softball to young girls. The book provides a detailed compilation of drills, skills, strategies, and other information designed to assist the coach through the process of developing the players' social, psychological, emotional, and physical abilities. It is categorized in a systematic progression which explores the characteristics of an effective leader, responsibilities of a youth coach, important issues within the sport, and how to plan and teach the basic fundamentals of the game. Some of the topics addressed within these categories include information regarding safety, liability, decision making, communication, teaching methods, motivation, dealing with parents, sportsmanship, and much more! Major points of information are synthesized into creative and insightful coaching tips, which can be easily referenced throughout the text. The author also provides sample practice plans, line-up sheets, game strategies, evaluation worksheets, and goal setting plans. Ultimately, this book will guide you toward becoming the coach that every community, league, school, and parent wants for their children!

I found this book to be invaluable for coaching young girls. I especially appreciated the sections that dealt with the psychological and social development to better meet the needs of female youth players. It was also helpful to find tips for coaching young girls for male coaches. If you coach girls softball, you will want to own this book!

I coached t-ball for the last couple of years and now my daughter just moved on to Coach Pitch softball. I didn't want to feel like a complete idiot coaching so I found this book, which seemed like the best option. For me it wasn't. This book would be great if your really doing competitive teams or maybe 10year olds and up. But we are doing community softball with girls of which some have never even picked up a ball before. This book I feel is geared toward older kids. I really wanted a book that would help me teach JUST the basics. This book really just builds on basics and what kids already know. It really goes into bunting (which isn't really aloud yet) and offensive playes and defensive plays I just hope these girls catch a ball that comes near them, how do I teach them how to run a pickle play? There are somethings that I read and I don't really understand them. It is really all about fast pitch, and I would have appreciated some tips for coach pitch, I was always third baseman never pitch and I am having a hard time finding a mom or dad to help out with that so I have to do it with no clue and not even a book that will help. Its a great second step book for girls already familiar with the game and ready for learning plays and what not, not a book for basics though.

This book has been very helpful to me, a new Little League coach. It is a very comprehensive publication to say the least. Before you get to the stuff you were probably buying this book for (i.e. drills, strategies, teaching)it delves into the things you probably didn't even consider (i.e. psychological/medical issues, motivating, discipline and dealing with parents). It has tips and suggestions all over the place for you to ponder. Plenty of illustrations and diagrams.of proper techniques for defense/defense, pitching/batting. A very useful tool.

"Coaching Girls Softball" by Kathy Strahan is a great resource for the first time coach. It does not just cover coaching the basic skills of the game, but also such topics as communication with players and parents. It has a great first aid section, and it is one of the few books I have found that covers a coach's liabilities on the field - a subject about which few want to think but everyone should be aware.

Chapters 2 and 3 are most interesting, as they discuss the physical, mental and emotion differences between boys and girls (and how that should affect your coaching style). As a converted baseball coach, I soon learned that needed to know more than "girls have cooties" to become an effective girls' softball coach. "Coaching Girls Softball" delivers the best information I've yet seen on the subject of how girls differ from boys and has been invaluable to my own growth as coach.

There are several practical guides and lists within "Coaching Girls Softball" that also set this book apart from others, and make it an excellent reference for every coach. Even though I have been coaching for a while, I still use the "time commitment calendar checklist", "first aid kit content list", and "items to include in your parent letter guide", among others, to help me prepare for each season.

Though written for the beginning coach, Kathy Strahan tends to draw from her college coaching/playing experience for specific examples in the book. This is effective most of the time, but I would have liked to have heard more "in-the-trenches" stories from her recreational league coaching/playing days since that is the target audience for the book. I think more recreational league memories would have made this book even more powerful and useful for the reader than it already is.

A novice coach could not do much better than starting with "Coaching Girls Softball" as their first reference book. Even experienced coaches will find this a great guide for season preparation.

Good product, easy to read and easy to follow...has good techniques I will be using with my players. Definitely recommend, even to players who aren't coaching just playing, reading this material will definitely strengthen your game.

When I first started reading the book, I felt is was too basic and not what I was looking for. Then as I started to dig into it a little deeper, I found useful information for coaches of all levels. As a coach in 10U rec league, it gave me some new drills, things to think about as far as practice plans and goals for the season. If you want detailed information on a specific part of the game, this is not what you are looking for. It is a good averall, cover all the bases (no pun inteneded) caoching book that I feel any coach will benefit from in some way. It is a good book to have as part of your library. I will reference it each and every season as a reminder of the basic steps you need to be a good coach.

Honestly, I purchased this book by accident. I thought I ordered a different book. I was going to return the book and get the book I wanted but I started to review the book and the book turned out be better then expected. It's a great book not just for the begining coach but its great for coaches who wants to make their coaching experiece more productive. It's a book you can go back too during the season or go over before your season is about to start. I recommend this book.

this is a good book for anyone in softball, lots of fundamentals and basics of the game and even a great book for parents of softball players to read.