Help! Ground ball (head up, chin up) cure
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Try using Jugs lite flight balls. It allows them to see the ball all the way to the glove and not worry about taking a bad bounce to the face. You can also use a face mask and catcher's chest protector for the ones who are very afraid of the ball. Once they learn to keep their eye on the ball without pulling their head, they will be able to handle those bad hops much better. I prefer all my infielders wear masks while taking hard ground balls during practice and first base when digging out bad throws but most of the girls are not a fan of them.
Have them stand behind a RR tie, 8X8 or some such obstacle and hit balls softly to them while they have to field the ball down and out front. Increase the speed of the hits slowly. Make it a game. Split the team into two groups. For every one that is fielded cleanly they get a point. Every ball that hits the RR tie gets a point taken away. The team with the most points at the end wins and gets to run the bases. Remove the obstacles and then work your way up to full speed. BTW, if for some reason they aren't wearing fielders masks, they usually help to curb the fear of taking one to the face.
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Not sure of the age but we had a lot of girls on a 9u team last year with the same problem. Body comes up ball goes through the legs. I had them start counting the bounces. Keeps their eyes on the ball last count is the one that hits the golve, don't get too hung up on getting the counts correct, the point i was trying to prove was if you focus on the ball your glove will be where you need it to be to protect you. It also got the thought of it hitting them out of their head since they were focused on counting the hops
Another BTW, Cinder blocks such as the ones they build basements on houses with are relatively cheap and lightweight. I think Home Depot has them around $2.60 apiece or so. Those work rather well and are easy to move.
