"Mastering these drills will arm your players with one of the biggest intangibles necessary to perform well--confidence." --Michele Smith Two-time Olympic gold medalist and Hall of Fame pitcher Michele Smith throws one right down the middle with this big collection of more than 250 skill-building drills developed especially for coaches of fast-pitch recreation league, travel ball, and high school softball players, ages eight to eighteen. Straight from the Michele Smith Gold Camps and Clinics, these drills are designed to give you all the tools you need to teach the entire range of offensive and defensive softball skills. With Michele's expert guidance and instruction, you'll coach your players to: Master the mechanics of footwork for fielding with hustleSwing for the fences and hit the fastest pitchesCatch the ball proactively and throw it quickly and accurately to its targetDefend the infield and outfield with speed and confidenceRun the bases swiftly and strategicallyRefine fast-pitch skills so they can windmill like Michele And much more

Author Biography

Michele Smith is two-time Olympic gold medalist for the U.S. National Softball Team, an ESPN softball commentator, and will be inducted into the American Softball Association Hall of Fame in 2006. A 13-year veteran of the Japan Pro Softball League, she is a sports celebrity in Japan, having pitched her team, the Toyota Shokki, to six league championships and won 6 MVP awards. In 2005 she served as the U.S. player representative to the International Softball Federation delegation to lobby the International Olympic Committee to reinstate Olympic softball. Michele organizes and runs softball clinics worldwide, including coaching clinics in cooperation with Little League. Michele has long-running endorsement contracts with leading manufacturers such as Worth (bats and gloves), Musco (field lighting) and JUGS (pitching machines), as well as a line of instructional DVDs. Lawrence Hseih (pronounce"shay") is a corporate and sports attorney in private practice. His commentary and analysis on the IOC's decision to drop softball as an Olympic sport was published in the New York Law Journal and reprinted by USA Softball, the sport's Olympic organizer in the U.S. Hsieh coaches youth softball for his daughter's team, studies tae kwon do with his son, and participates in many other sports, including swimming, SCUBA, skiing, fencing, baseball, and soccer.