Thread: Teaching sliding to an overweight youth

Any advice on teaching sliding techniques to 11-12 year olds girls that are overweight+awkward? I once saw a video where a big girl "slid" by dropping her right knee onto the base path and skidding in a kneeling posistion into the base on her right knee and left cleats. I don't want to exclude the girl(s) from any drills but at this point - well - its just scary.

I would teach them the same way I teach every kid. Not sure what the diff would be.

Originally Posted by chinamigarden

I would teach them the same way I teach every kid. Not sure what the diff would be.

I agree. At 11-12, unless the field is fairly loose, not many run fast enough to slide more then a foot or so.

Originally Posted by HornetsCoach

Any advice on teaching sliding techniques to 11-12 year olds girls that are overweight+awkward? I once saw a video where a big girl "slid" by dropping her right knee onto the base path and skidding in a kneeling posistion into the base on her right knee and left cleats. I don't want to exclude the girl(s) from any drills but at this point - well - its just scary.

I have had the same problem. We used a sliding board mat helped them very well.

Try a slip-n-slide party first to get the rythm/timing down.

I use a slip and slide as well to teach sliding.

A large piece of cardboard (minus any staples) and use it on grass.

I coach 10U and I resolved this year that every one of my girls would a) know how to slide, and b) not be afraid to slide. I’m happy to say I was successful, for the first time ever. Here’s what I did:

First, I spent about 20 minutes talking about sliding. Why you do it, when you do it, why it’s important, etc. I made sure they all mentally bought into the concept. This was actually done during a previous practice that was rained out (thus the 20 minutes). I also had each girl sit down in a figure four sliding position and scoot themselves across the floor, just to get the feel of it. We discussed safety, keeping your head up, keeping your hands up, keeping the front leg slightly bent, heels out, toes up, etc., and the reasons why. I let the girls ask questions and then quizzed them at the end.

Next practice, first thing, I took them to “the hill”. It’s the steep grassy hill beyond the outfield fence – the same one we use to torture our football players at the end of football practice, LOL. I had them start out at the top of the hill, and take three exaggerated steps in slow motion down the hill, left foot first, then on the fourth step they pushed off with their left foot and came down into a figure four sliding position, right leg out. Some of the girls really struggled with this, so we kept at it until they could all do it. They were all wearing pants and uncleated shoes. Anyone with cleats was made to remove them. They were also instructed to wear pants to every successive practice, no exceptions.

Next, I had them speed it up to regular walking speed. Again, we kept at it until everyone could do it.

Next, I had them speed it up to a jog. Same four steps, until everyone could do it.

Last, we had a contest to see who could slide the furthest down the hill in one slide. The girls had a blast. Then we took the field and had our regular practice.

At the end of practice, I had the girls line up at home plate and run the bases. When they got around to home plate, they had to slide. I held out my glove in an imaginary tag for them to slide under. We did this until each girl had slid across home plate five times. They were tired, dirty, and happy.

At the next practice, the girls were hopping up and down asking me if they could slide some more. So we had another contest, right in the infield. Who can get the dirtiest in one minute, and all you’re allowed to do to get dirty is slide. What a sight to see nine girls running all over the infield sliding like crazy.

At the end of practice, we ran the bases again. This time they had to slide into every base (except first), then slide across home plate. They all did great so we only went around once.

We haven’t worked on the pop-up slide, and some of the girls are still sliding a little too early, or too late, but I’m happy to say every girl can slide, and doesn’t hesitate to slide when the situation calls for it.