A Throwback Game to Increase Your Players Competitiveness

Provided by: Softball Excellence

Want 500 ways to make your team more competitive? While that might sound like an exaggeration, this throwback game called 500 will transform even the timid.

Getting your players to compete is crucial for game success, but we all know how hard that can be to teach. So try this great game and see how much it helps.

I grew up on Joslin Court in Riverside, California, and every day after school we’d pour out onto our cul-de-sac and play 500. It was an awesome game that involved not only all 5 of us Bristow’s, but all the Hankins, all the Mooneys and all the Maradas.

Throwback Individual 500 Team Competitive Game Softball Players Hitter Fungos Outfield

Since we usually had way too many kids to play the traditional game of softball we played a super fun softball-type game called 500. It’s fun, it’s simple, it can be played with your entire team (or neighborhood) - and best of all, it’s super competitive.

So here’s how you can play 500:

Option 1 - Individual 500

• Everyone on your team grabs their gloves and goes anywhere on the field. They can go into the outfield or infield and don’t need to be at a typical position. (Red P’s in the diagram)

• One player is the Hitter. The hitter has a bat and a ball and can either toss the ball up and hit fungos (a ball that’s tossed up by the hitter and then hit by that same hitter), or they can hit balls off a batting T.

• The Hitter hits any type of ball - flyball or groundball - to the Players (fielders) who do their best to be the one to field the ball. Points are only given to the Player who fields the ball and points are awarded as follows:

500 Points Competitiveness Throwback Game Player Team Flyball Groundball Catch Miss Player Team

• When a Player gets 500 they’re up and get to come in and Hit!

• Every Player keeps track of their own points.

Option 2 - Team 500

• Split your team up into 3 or 4 smaller teams.

• 1 team is up and will be the Hitters while the other Players on all the other teams grabs their gloves and go anywhere on the field. They don’t have to stay together as a team.

• The players on the Hitting team rotate hitting balls to the fielders either off of fungo or a batting T.

• The Hitter hits any type of ball - flyball or groundball – to the Players (fielders) who do their best to be the one to field the ball. Points are only given to the Team whose Player fields the ball the same way as points are awarded for Individual 500.

Remember that the Player or Team that calls the ball must field it successfully or else they get minus whatever points (either -25 for groundball or -50 for a flyball). This prevents players from calling a ball as soon as it’s hit before they even know if they can field it or not.