Time for some fielding tips.
Monday, January 21st, 2008I remember trying to learn to catch a ground ball. The coach would yell at me to stay down. How could I do that? I was afraid of getting hit in the face. After I got the “stay down” thing I started turning my head because that’s how I was able to stay down in the first place. Then the coach said, “Your head is wider when you turn it, keep your eye on the ball and your head is narrower and you can see where the ball goes.” All things that time and getting hit a thousand grounds ball would correct.
That takes me to the main point about all practice, repetition. You can go over the basics as often as you like, but without the grounders, you might as well fly kites. Be prepared to practice a lot!
So you’re ready to practice and you want to know the proper form to field a ground ball. An easy drill that I found useful is the Standing Still drill. The kids line up facing you, each with a ball placed about 3 to 4 feet in front of them. They start in the ready position, bend at the knees and waist, butt down, hands out in front of them. On your call, they take a short step (about 1 foot) towards the ball with their glove hand foot (that’s right, right handed throwing kids would step forward with their left foot) and a shorter step with their throwing hand foot (about 6 inches). They then bend down and pick the ball up with their throwing hand and glove at the same time. They then turn and fake a throw. The shorter step with the throwing hand foot puts them at an angle, which makes it easier to turn their body when they come up to throw.
This is a great drill for teaching kids to keep their bodies down. The lower the better.