Practicing Indoors: Cone Drills

By: Jen McIntyre

Originally Published in: Practice Perfect Softball - NFCA

Provided by: Human Kinetics

As we begin practice, we run and stretch as normal and then go right into our throwing progression. We emphasize footwork and receiving skills. We do a lot of around-the-horn throws, adding transitions and tags at the bases. From this point, we go into the agility portion of practice. We get creative here and get a lot out of our indoor space. We use flat cones for many footwork drills. You can emphasize drop steps, charge and throws, and change of direction in this part of your practice. The following drills are some of my favorite ones using cones (table 14.1).

FOUR DIAMOND CONES

Setup

1. Place four cones in the shape of a diamond.
2. Place one defender inside the diamond with her glove on. The cones, placed at twelve o'clock, three o'clock, six o'clock, and nine o'clock, are five yards (meters) away from the center point.

Execution

1. The defender runs in place in an athletic stance. When the coach points in a direction, the player moves to the respective cone.
2. When she retreats to the cone behind her, she must use the drop step.
3. The cone in front of her is a do-or-die grounder. The side cones are a forehand and a backhand.

Coaching Point

• • When doing this drill, the athlete is shadowing each move; no ball is being tossed or rolled.

  

   

  DROP STEP Z DRILL

  
  This drill uses cones placed in a staggered formation approximately 5 yards (meters) apart (figure 14.1).Setup

  Execution

  1. The defenders line up at the first cone, drop step to the next cone, turn and drop step to the next cone, and so on.
  2. When they get to the last cone, they must sprint back to the top.

  Coaching Point

  • This provides a good conditioning element as well.

  TRIANGLE DRILL

  Setup

  Place cone B 10 yards (meters) in front of the start line (cone A). Place cone C about 10 yards laterally from cone B (figure 14.2).

  Execution

  1. The defender starts at cone A and sprints forward 10 yards to cone B.
  2. After she gets to cone B, she immediately transitions into a slide shuffle to cone C, where she does a drop step to receive a ground ball rolled from the coach.
  3. You can reverse this drill to work on the drop step for the opposite side.

  Coaching Point

  • This drill is a good way to incorporate the forward attack movement, lateral change of direction, and drop step to increase range. Depending on how many players you have, it can also be an effective conditioning drill.