Reviews (5)

New Edition of this Book
I'm a multi sport athlete who trains all year round regardless of what sport I play. I bought a few of these Ultimate Guide to Weight Training books, and they definitely helped me train specifically for the different sports that I play. Then about a year later I received an email from amazon that there was a new edition out.These upgraded editions are even better than the originals, with more articles and a lot more sport-specific information. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who plays a lot of sports or wants to specifically focus on training for one sport in particular.

Helpful workout program
With help from this workout program I gained baserunning speed and an increase in bat head speed.This program is written very clearly and easy to follow.

Suprised
I have to admit, I never thought something like this would work.But, I was proven wrong. I just thought I would give my recomendation for this book, and thanks to Robert Price for helping me with my game. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Baseball - General    2. Bodybuilding & Weight Training    3. Health & Fitness / Exercise    4. Sports    5. Sports & Recreation    6. Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General    7. Sports & Recreation / Bodybuilding & Weight Training    8. Training    9. Exercise    10. Health & Fitness    11. Physical education and training   

Reviews (4)

Great Book!
This book is another great in the series of A Baffled Parent's Guide.These books are thorough and complete - a coach's bible, especially a new coach.The book covers everything from basics of the game to working with the children and dealing with the parents.I highly recommend books from this series.

good book for beginning coaches
I have yet to coach a girls' softball team, but I am really interested in doing it.This book has some great advice on how to handle beginner players and their parents.The thing about this book that I found great was that it told you some characteristics to look for when selecting a pitcher, something that I would not have had a clue about doing.Highly recommended.

Excellent for beginner or experienced coach
This is an AMAZING book! Even if you have never coached,played, or even heard of softball, it helps you out. It breaks every aspect of the game down and puts it in simple terms so you can explain it to your team. It gives you practice advice and schedules as well as drills you can use for team members to improve, or establish, softball skills. It also gives you advice on how to become the best coach, dealing with gender issues and how to handle difficult parents.This book is a MUST for EVERY coach! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coaching    2. Coaching - Baseball    3. Football - General    4. Parenting - General    5. Softball    6. Softball for children    7. Sports    8. Sports & Recreation    9. Youth league softball    10. Football codes    11. Sports & Recreation / General    12. Sports coaching    13. USA   

Subjects:  1. Baseball - General    2. Batting (Softball)    3. Coaching    4. Softball    5. Softball for women    6. Sports    7. Sports & Recreation   

Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Baseball    3. Baseball - General    4. Baseball fields    5. Design and construction    6. Landscape    7. Landscape Architecture And Design    8. Maintenance and repair    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Softball fields    11. Sports & Recreation    12. Architecture / Landscape    13. Landscape art & architecture    14. Sporting venues   

Reviews (11)

The Definitive Handbook for High School Fastpitch Coaches
I have coached for over ten years now and have found this book to be the most comprehensive, theoretically sound, user friendly coaching handbook on the market.Veroni has organized the information most effectively using charts and diagrams in addition to her commentary.This is THE book to purchase for both the beginning or experienced high school coach.

For Youth Softball - Good Reference
This book is comprehensive and is aimed at the coach of a team consisting of younger or much younger players. Kathy Veroni sounds like a tough, fair, and thorough coach. Imagine driving a group of late-arriving players 10 miles out of town and telling then to jog back to practice. No wonder West Illinois U has a great softball team. Great for High School Coaching
This is a very well laid out book and easy to follow.I would highly recommend this book for coaching high school or college age girls.Might be a little deep for younger athetes but could be adapted.Many drills are included in this book, and I found the philosophies especially interesting.Brought out a lot of simple points I had never thought of before. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Baseball - General    2. Coaching    3. Coaching - General    4. Softball    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. Baseball    8. Sports coaching   

Reviews (14)

Fast Pitch Softball:The Windmill Pitcher
Review:The Windmill Pitcher
Best material I've used
I have a collection of tapes from various people.It would seem that video would be the best medium for this kind of instruction.Maybe it's because I viewed and re-viewed the tapes so often, but I honestly got more detail out of this book than anything else I've used.The discussion of each piece of the mechanics along with drills I haven't seen on any tape was very, very helpful. Excellent and Informative
I keep this book with me all the time during softball season ! I have been coaching for 9 years and and have learned quite a few things from this book. It's nice to be able to go back to it and review. It covers the windmill pitcher from A to Z. Very Very Good ! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Baseball - General    2. Pitching (Softball)    3. Softball    4. Sports    5. Sports & Recreation    6. Baseball    7. Sports & Recreation / General   

Subjects:  1. Coaching    2. Racket Sports    3. Softball    4. Softball for women    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. Training   

Reviews (2)

THE CHAMPIONSHIP SOFT BALL HITTING SYSTEM/ LOU. SLUG FASTPIT
THE BOOK I WOULD RATE AS EXCELLENT. THE VIDEO AS LISTED IN YOUR ,(WAS ALSO BOUGHT BY )LISTING MISLED US TO BELIEVE THIS WAS A FASTPITCH HITTING VIDEO. IT IS NOT AND THEREFORE A WASTE OF MY MONEY.

Terrific book for any youth, high school, or beginning coach
Very comprehensive book. I learned something new EVERY chapter! It will be on my desk and passed along to my players for years to come. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Reference    2. Softball    3. Softball for women    4. Sports    5. Sports & Recreation    6. Sports & Recreation / Baseball / General   

Reviews (4)

A Good Guide for a New Coach
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. Outstanding Read
Kathy Strahan has done an excellant job at presenting all aspects of coaching in a very easy to understand approach. Excellent Guide For Coaching Youth Softball
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! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coaching    2. Coaching - Baseball    3. Softball    4. Softball for women    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. Baseball    8. Sports & Outdoor Recreation    9. Sports & Recreation / Baseball / Coaching    10. Sports coaching   

Reviews (5)

Another Great Baseball Tale
John H. Ritter returns with another great baseball fable, this time adding the elements of jazz music and a little more romance. Just as in THE BOY WHO SAVED BASEBALL, there is still a bit of possible magic and some very quirky and entertaining characters, including a protagonist on a mission, Andy Ramos.According to Andy's heartthrob, Glory Martinez, when the moon looms large during a daytime baseball game, it is what fans call "a baseball moon."
An instant baseball classic
The finest contemporary author of baseball books for teens has written not just another baseball - or, in this case, softball - book; rather, a multilayered and thoroughly engrossing love story starring two 15-year-olds determined that this will be their "breakout summer."
Another Hit
Thank you John Ritter again, for another great book.I highly recommend "Under the Baseball Moon." to everyone, whether they are a musician, softball player, lawyer, mom, dad, student...and everyone else too, mainly because it is just plain fun to read a good book.
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Subjects:  1. Children's 12-Up - Fiction - General    2. Children's 9-12 - Fiction - General    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    4. Fiction    5. Juvenile Fiction    6. Musicians    7. People & Places - United States - Hispanic/Latino    8. Softball    9. Sports & Recreation - Baseball    10. Trumpet    11. Juvenile Fiction / Sports & Recreation / Baseball   

Reviews (1)

Exactly what I needed to get in shape for softball
Let's face it, I'm a soft lump right now and 10 weeks away I start my 3rd season of softball (co-ed work league).Last year I was fat, slow, had a mediocre to poor season AND pulled a hammy during play offs.Since then I gained 10 lbs.
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Subjects:  1. Baseball - General    2. Bodybuilding & Weight Training    3. Softball    4. Sports    5. Sports & Recreation    6. Training   

Reviews (6)

Great book on basic drills
This is a good book on the basic and advanced drills for girls learning softball. Highly suggest it.

Excellent resource for all levels of coaching
I have assistant coached my daughters' ASA teams for the past six years, and now I'm an assistant coach of my oldest daughter's jr. high team. I've pretty much learned along the way, picking up ideas and drills from the excellent coaches around me. But I just recently picked this book up and am excited about what I see. It's basic enough for the have-no-clue-but-want-to-learn coach, but there are so many drills here that even experienced coaches will pick up some new ideas. I especially like how the coach is fundamentally sound--the advice can therefore be trusted. I am going to be keeping this book nearby over these next seasons, and perhaps some of these drills will help the girls I coach to be even that much better. I am highly recommending this book for all of us who hope to gain just an inch of an advantage over those who rely merely on gut instinct.

Great For The Novice; Even Better For The More Experienced
"Softball Skills & Drills" by Judi Garman is a valuable book for any softball coach or player. I have to admit that I am an inexperienced softball player, who has recently joined a league for recreation. Because I had little knowledge of the game, I bought this book because it is advertised on the cover as "The best book on the basics of the game." In retrospect I think that claim may be a bit of an overstatement because the book does assume a general working knowledge of the mechanics and rules of the game of softball. While these fundamentals are explained in pieces throughout the book, I would have really enjoyed a more thorough overview before Garman raced into chapter one, "Catching." Don't get me wrong: this is a great book, but absolute beginners may also need an even more basic text.
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Subjects:  1. Coaching    2. Reference    3. Softball    4. Sports    5. Sports & Recreation    6. Training    7. Baseball   

Reviews (2)

More than 48 gameline drills specifically designed to speed up skill learning and improve performance
Softball Fundamentals: A Better Way To Learn The Basics truly lives up to its title as softball expert Rick Noren takes the reader all facets of this popular team sport. The twelve "reader friendly" chapters comprising Softball Fundamentals include: Throwing; Catching; Fielding Fly Balls; Fielding Ground Balls; Playing Catcher; Pitching; Hitting; Bunting and Slap Hitting; Baserunning; Sliding; Offensive Tactics; and Defensive Tactics. Enhanced with more than 48 gameline drills specifically designed to speed up skill learning and improve performance, Softball Fundamentals should be on the instructional reference shelves of every school and community library Sports collection -- and read by novice softball players of all ages and both genders .
More than 48 gameline drills specifically designed to speed up skill learning and improve performance
Softball Fundamentals: A Better Way To Learn The Basics truly lives up to its title as softball expert Rick Noren takes the reader all facets of this popular team sport. The twelve "reader friendly" chapters comprising Softball Fundamentals include: Throwing; Catching; Fielding Fly Balls; Fielding Ground Balls; Playing Catcher; Pitching; Hitting; Bunting and Slap Hitting; Baserunning; Sliding; Offensive Tactics; and Defensive Tactics. Enhanced with more than 48 gameline drills specifically designed to speed up skill learning and improve performance, Softball Fundamentals should be on the instructional reference shelves of every school and community library Sports collection -- and read by novice softball players of all ages and both genders .
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Subjects:  1. Baseball - General    2. Softball    3. Sports    4. Sports & Recreation    5. Football codes   

Reviews (32)

Must read
Set just after World War II, Bat 6 addresses racism through the eyes of 12 year old girls.Although it's juvenile literature, the theme of this book is very mature.It should be required reading for pre-adolescents!It's great food for thought and discussion.

A Fun Story that Deals with Some Important Themes
Bat 6 is such a great example of point of view in a book. The story is told from many different perspectives that come together to paint the whole picture. The story develops the characters of Aki and Shazam the most, leading up to their confrontation in the game. Wolff makes Aki into a very sympathetic victim, but also creates a sympathetic and complex protagoinst with Shazam. The story exposes shortcomings in religion and in the USA. It provides a great introduction into the Japanese internment during WW2 and racism towards Asian-Americans. It makes a profound statement about the absurdity of war and the need for peace. Also, the story raises moral dilemmas about what is right and wrong. This would be great to integrate elements of thater and character analysis with the teaching. An easy read and fun story that also brings up some important and heavy issues.

6th Grader's Review
This book is about two girl baseball teams. Both teams have a new girl on their team. This story takes place a few years after World War 2. Both teams are really looking forward to the big game, Bat 6. In every chapter different girls from one team talk and give their opinion about the things that happen during the book. One conflict is racism between Americans and Japanese.One character that was interesting to me is Shazam. Shazam is a girl who is on one of the baseball teams.She was interesting to me because of how much racism she had towards Japanese people.
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Subjects:  1. Children's 9-12 - Fiction - Historical    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    3. Children: Grades 3-4    4. City and town life    5. Fiction    6. Historical - United States - 20th Century    7. Juvenile Fiction    8. Social Issues - Prejudice & Racism    9. Social Situations - Prejudice & Racism    10. Softball    11. Sports & Recreation - Baseball    12. United States    13. World War, 1939-1945    14. American history: postwar, from c 1945 -    15. Fiction dealing with specific issues    16. Juvenile Fiction / Historical / United States / 20th Century    17. USA   

Reviews (1)

Great Advice From "The Greats!"
This book is a must for those coaches whom are just starting their coaching journey. You receive priceless advice from todays all time greats of the game. This is the WHOS WHO of todays softball coaching world. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Coaching    2. Coaching - Baseball    3. Softball    4. Softball for children    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation   

Reviews (2)

Very strongly recommended
Drawing upon his more than 60 years of experience and expertise as a player, coach and umpire, Smitty Smith has written the definitive instruction guide for players of fast pitch softball. This is an invaluable guide to developing young men and women into seasoned players and winning team members. From making the most of practice and preseason games, to the best way to approach post-season tournaments, Fast Pitch Softball Fundamentals is a very strongly recommended compendium of insights, advice, observations, tips, and techniques will material assist any coach and any team member to maximize their performance and do their best!
A world of softball knowledge
You'd have to go to hundreds of clinics to get the information and ideas nicely encapsulated in this little book. Easy and enjoyable reading.Called "fundamentals" of fastpitch - the ideas are both fundamental and advanced.Highly recommended for beginning as well as advanced coaches, players, parents. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Field Sports    2. Reference    3. Softball    4. Sports    5. Sports & Recreation    6. Coaching    7. Sports & Recreation / Softball   

Subjects:  1. General    2. Sports    3. Sports & Recreation   

Reviews (3)

It Was Awsome
I loved this book.It was so interesting.Once I started reading it I could barely put it down.I play softball and I pitch.Allie is a really great pitcher.I hope that more people read this book.I can relate to both Allie and Molly.If you haven't read this book I highly recommed it.Kathy Mackel is an amazing author and I hope she writes a sequel to this book!It was AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, did this book jazz our 10 year old softball player!
I purchased this book based on Amazon's recommended readings and readers' book reviews.I didn't expect it to be such a hit, but our 10 year old daughter couldn't stop reading it, talking about it, and reading parts tome.Like Molly, she's lived in the shadow of her siblings attleticprowess, and is only now coming into her own.There are far too fewengaging books about girls and athletics out there, but this one iscertainly at the top of the list.At my daughter's urging, I read it, and(like her) couldn't put it down.This book deals with all the issues inkids sports -- overpowering parental interest, the effects of a starathlete on the rest of the family, the emotions of competition, and--mostimportantly--how kids just want to play sports for fun and have funplaying. Highly recommended by two generations in out family!

Wonderful story with a message about true victory
My two daughters, age 10 and 11, and I read this book together during our own softball season.We couldn't wait for the next chapter to tell us what happened to Allie and Molly and their respective softball teams.The message about what it takes to be the best-at softball, at being a sister,at being a friend, at being Dad and coach-were excellent.We highlyrecommend this book and have given it to friends.A must-read for youngfemale athletes!!!Lori ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 9-12    2. Children: Grades 3-4    3. Fathers and daughters    4. Fiction    5. Sibling rivalry    6. Sisters    7. Social Issues - General    8. Softball    9. Sports & Recreation - Baseball    10. Juvenile Fiction / General   

Reviews (4)

Best Fastpitch Pitching Resource Available
This is by far the best resource for learning the mechanics of windmill pitching.It's great for beginners and advanced pitchers.

Good for an established pitcher
Cheri Kempf has written a fine book for the established female pitcher. She also makes a few attempts to relate her wisdom to the coaching of the beginner, but that is where I find this book most lacking. My daughter just began pitching this year, and I'm really searching for something that gives instruction from day one. Kempf gives numerous drills that are wonderful for correcting mistakes in the established pitcher's form, but I just felt that it lacked the beginning steps that I was looking for.
Excellent mechanics for the fastpitch student
Without a doubt, the finest book I have ever read dealing with the accurate approach for the fastpitch female pitcher. By follwing the detailed analysis that Cheri brings from her many years of experience, one can see the kinetic breakdown of the pitching motion in step by step form. I have picked up many ideas and pointers to use with my daughter, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone serious about the proper mechanics of fastpitch softball pitching. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Basketball - General    2. General    3. Pitching (Softball)    4. Softball    5. Softball for women    6. Sports    7. Sports & Recreation    8. Football codes   

Reviews (5)

Super Drill Book
Jacquie Joseph's Defensive Softball Drills is a compilation of some of the most basic skills necessary for development of a successful defensive player.The drills emphasize proper fundamentals and are adaptable to players of all skill levels.I use the drills in the book with my high school players as part of my defensive drill period, and our team is as solid defensively as any.

An axcellent place to start off your season
I coach girls 19u and used this book to set up my practices. I found the drills very good and helped to teach the girls ball control. I found that alot of the drills help shape the skills of the players. By the end of ourseason the girls were showing skills they themselves never knew they had. Ifeel this book made me an effective coach.

Excellent drills
Where do you go for softball fielding practice drills when you're a coach trying to teach certain skills?After looking at many sources, my vote is for this book.Dozens and dozens of great drills for every position.Thegirls on my 10U team loved the drills, had fun and learned a lot. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Baseball - General    2. Coaching    3. General    4. Softball    5. Sports    6. Sports & Recreation    7. Training    8. Baseball