If you visit any college softball program or hitting facility in the country, you are going to witness thousands of softball players performing an impressive number of softball hitting drills.

Their goal is to improve what is considered to be one of the most difficult skill to master in sports - hitting a softball. Trying to hit a small object traveling quickly with a bat is difficult.

To become a skilled hitter, you must spend hours and hours refining your swing. This is accomplished using a great variety of softball hitting drills that work on different things.

You can choose from hundreds of different softball hitting drills. Selecting the most appropriate drills can be confusing for players, coaches, and parents.

Here are 6 factors to consider when you have to choose effective softball hitting drills:

1) Know the purpose - You must select a drill based on what you want to work on or where you are in the development of your swing. Each drill must have a specific purpose and be in line with your goals. Performing a drill for the sake of doing a drill is counterproductive.

2) Must be challenging enough - You must choose a drill that represents a challenge. That means that it isn't too easy or too difficult. Athletes love challenges and a good challenging drill will definitely help them improve their hitting. If it is too hard, they will get frustrated and get nothing out of it. If it is too easy, they will get bored quickly and loose focus.

3) Vary them but not too fast - Variety is the essence of motivation. In order to stay motivated, you need to introduce new drills on a consistent basis. New softball hitting drills are important to stay motivated. On the other side, you must make sure you don't change them too quickly. You must have enough time to get used to each drill and get the most out of it.

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4) Know the possible variations - Each drill usually have a number of possible variations that can be introduced. This is important because sometimes you will need to make the drill a little more challenging or a little easier based on the skills of the batter.

5) Know the common mistakes - When using a drill on a regular basis, you'll notice that players tend to make the same mistakes on the same drills. Knowing the common mistakes of each drill will help you better explain them and avoid a huge waste of time by having your players perform drills incorrectly.

6) Know alternative drills - For a variety of reasons, certain athletes will not get certain drills. In these cases, instead of both getting frustrated with the lack of success, you should be able to pull out a new drill of your hat that works the exact same thing. In other words, for each aspect of hitting you want to work on, you should know at least 3-5 drills that work that specific aspect. This will help you add variety but also allow you to change a drill if it is not working for someone.

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Marc Dagenais, MHK, CSCS, is a softball speak performance coach that helps softball players and coaches become more successful. Visit our Softball Drills Directory at: http://www.softballperformance.com/softball-drills

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