Product Description

Looking for the ultimate softball “how-to” book to help you learn and master the essential skills? Softball Skills & Drills covers all the essential fundamentals to build strong individual players and winning teams. Written by one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history, Softball Skills & Drills shows you how to perform and improve hitting, bunting, slap hitting, baserunning, fielding, throwing, pitching, and catching skills.

Author Judi Garman has more than 30 years of experience, more than 1,100 victories, and a spot in the National Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. She has proven that she has what it takes to win consistently. Now, Garman shares her formula for developing the fundamentals and winning through the 170 detailed drills in Softball Skills & Drills.

Softball Skills & Drills gives you more than just Xs and Os. This practical handbook is loaded with tips to speed players’ skill development. And check the back of the book for information on ordering the companion video series to see the techniques and drills in action.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #167693 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780736033640
• BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed

Review
"

”A great resource for any coach or player who is a student of the game. Take advantage of learning from one of the game's finest coaches!”

Mike Candrea
Head softball coach
University of Arizona

”Judi Garman is truly one of the pioneers in the game of softball. We can all learn something from those who contributed to the growth of the game as we know it today.”

Teresa Wilson
Head softball coach
University of Washington

""This book is a great tool for any coach or athlete who seeks the necessary information to improve their game. Coaches can choose from a variety of drills to customize their athletes' training programs. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to better their knowledge of the game.""

Michelle Venturella
2000 Gold Medal Olympian
United States Women's Softball Team

From the Publisher
”A great resource for any coach or player who is a student of the game. Take advantage of learning from one of the game’s finest coaches!”

Mike Candrea Head softball coach University of Arizona

"This book is a great tool for any coach or athlete who seeks the necessary information to improve their game. Coaches can choose from a variety of drills to customize their athletes' training programs. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is trying to better their knowledge of the game."

Michelle Venturella 2000 Gold Medal Olympian United States Women’s Softball Team

”Judi Garman is truly one of the pioneers in the game of softball. We can all learn something from those who contributed to the growth of the game as we know it today.”

Teresa Wilson Head softball coach University of Washington

About the Author
Judi Garman is one of the most successful softball coaches in NCAA history. After establishing the softball program at Cal State Fullerton in 1980, Garman collected 913 wins and only 376 losses for a winning percentage of .708 and retired as the nation’s winningest coach with more than 1,100 career wins.

During Garman’s career at Cal State Fullerton, the Titans participated in postseason play 18 out of 20 seasons. Her teams won or shared eight conference titles and seven regional championships. They won the NCAA championship in 1986; finished second in the Collegiate World Series in 1981, 1983, and 1985; finished third in 1982 and 1987; and fifth in 1995. While coaching at Golden West Junior College from 1975 to 1978, Judi’s teams won four consecutive national titles.

She served as president of the National Softball Coaches Association (NSCA) from 1990 to 1991. In 1993, she was elected to the NSCA Hall of Fame. In 1995, she was the recipient of the Woman of Excellence in Sports award.

As a player, Garman was a Canadian all-star outfielder and member of two Canadian national championship teams. She also was a member of the Saskatoon team that represented Canada at the world championships held in Osaka, Japan, in 1970.

Now that she has retired from coaching, Garman maintains an extensive clinic-speaking schedule, spreading her softball knowledge around the world. Besides softball, she enjoys golfing, fishing, and snow skiing. She lives in Palm Springs, California and Aspen, Colorado.

Customer Reviews

This is a "must have" book for the softball coach
I used to attend Judi Garman's softball clinics at Cal State Fullerton in the 1980's. I never went away sorry about the time spent there. Judi is a veritable fountain of knowledge about the game. Softball Skills and Drills draws from Judi's life-time of coaching experience. You'll not only find skills and drills in this book. You'll find strategy, both for offense and defense. Check out the chapters on slap-hitting and bunting. If my house was on fire, and there were only two books on fastpitch softball I could rescue, it would be Softball Skills and Drills by Garman and Fastpitch Softball: the Windmill Pitcher by Barry Sammons. If you're into fastpitch, you gotta have this book.

Best Fundamentals and Drill Book I've Seen
I agree with the previous post - this is a must-have book for softball coaches. Just the section on proper throwing technique was worth the cost of the book. Garman does an excellent job of putting into words all of the things I knew how to do by muscle memory but couldn't succinctly describe to my players. The accompanying drills make sense and reinforce the fundamentals I'm teaching. I'd recommend this book for coaches of all levels and experience.

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.

What the book does do superbly is to break down all the fundamental skills of the game of softball and give easy to comprehend (if not to execute, sometimes) explanations, tips, and techniques related to these skills, as well as sets of drills designed to develop those skills. In reading the book (from the viewpoint of a neophyte player) I couldn't help but believe that the single best audience for this book would be coaches. This book would be a positive treasure trove of information for coaches at any level of competition.

I think this is an excellent book, and would have given it five stars if not for the omission of a general introduction, overview, and strategy section that would really help those who need the most basic "basics of the game." As it is, I would like to give it four and a half stars, because it really is an excellent text.

Highly recommended to softball players and coaches everywhere.