Rock Skipping

[knightsb]

For fun and to change things up, last night I had our 12U girls meet at a lake by my house for some rock skipping. We started by doing our normal stretching routine followed by a run to get warmed up. We then gathered by the water side and I carried down a 5 gallon bucket of rocks. I asked how many had ever skipped rocks before and only a couple raised their hand. Another dad and I did a quick demonstration and then let the girls have at it. OMG, it was hilarious to watch some of the initial attempts. I never thought skipping rocks could be so difficult but these girls made it look like mission impossible. We had a completion going to see who could skip the farthest and who had the most number of skips. We gave out candy bars as the prize. The girls and parents had a lot of laughs and a lot of fun. My only regret is not getting it recorded to share to the forum. We finished the remainder of the practice working on some basic fielding and throwing. I would say that less than half were successful at skipping the rocks. My DD who is a pitcher kept trying to skip her rock like her pitching motion and I couldn’t get her to throw it more side arm. BTW my 10 year old son couldn’t resist getting in on the action. I never recalled teaching him per se how to skip a rock… it seemed natural to him.

 

[sluggers]

Hey...there is no fun in softball. If kids are laughing and enjoying themselves, then, clearly, you are not doing your job.

I never recalled teaching him per se how to skip a rock

That, in a nutshell, is the difference between boys and girls. Boys watch someone else do something and copy what they saw. Girls want to hear the instructions on how to do something.

 

[chinamigarden]

Try that with a boys 12u team and you would have had a rock fight.

 

[starsnuffer]

That sounds like a fun SB practice

 

[mad hornet]

Here's another one. Have your girls hit fungos. It's pretty comical to watch. They will toss the ball way high then try to chase it with the bat. Maybe not so much with older girls but with my 10's and 11's I'm amazed that they can hit 50+ mph fastball but look totally uncoordinated tossing a ball in the air in front of them and hitting it.

One of those serendipidous discoveries. When I first started playing as a child if we didn't have enough kids we would just hit fungos or play 500 or "first bounce or fly". You don't see many girls doing that though.

 

[quincy]

I had 10 - 12 year old boys try to hit fungos last year, it was funny. They struggled too.

 

[starsnuffer]

Yep, I did this after I "swung and missed" hitting flyball fungos and got some jeers. I let each girl take turns trying to hit fungos, they haven't complained if I wiff one since

-W

 

[99&beyond]

At the end of one of our practices we did a marshmallow drill.

You throw the marshmallow up in the air and the girl has to come in under it and catch it with/in her mouth. Much harder than it sounds and the girls were laughing so hard, but they eventually got it.

Parents were all cracking up!!

 

[tghorley]

Last fall at the conclusion of a "tuff" 12u softball practice my GDD's coach went totally ballistic on not only the girls but the assistant coaches. Everyone looked at each other in amazement as this was totally out of character for him. The parents, who where there, jaws dropped and looked at each other wanting to know what was happening.

His main gripe was they were not following his instructions and directions and he let them know in no uncertain terms. He then told them he knew exactly what they needed.

Everyone was expecting wind sprints and/or some laps. But no, he had everyone, including the assistant coaches, line up on the third base line. He then goes over to the dugout and pulls out a big boom box, one with large speakers. Then everyone was told they must follow the instructions exactly. He then hit the play button and the "Cha-Cha Slide" started playing. Everyone started laughing but he reiterated to follow the directions. After a minute it was hilarious. Even some of the parents came down and joined. Needless to say at the end no one was on cue as they were laughing too hard.

When it was over, he raised his arm, and started a circling motion. Out of the blue, here comes an ice cream truck with its jingle blaring. Fun, fun, fun for everyone. The girls are still talking about it to this day.

 

[99&beyond]

^^^^That is an awesome coach!!!