How should your hand be oriented when fielding a ground ball?
A lot of the girls try to place the back of their hand flat on the ground. To me, this gets the glove nearly horizontal, and just lets a ball with any sort of momentum roll right up the palm and over the heel.
Plus, the way they bend to get their hand that low results in their glove getting directly under their head. (Usually not the "feet wide, back straight, butt/hips down" position we've been trying to teach)
I’ve started trying to get them to point their fingers straight down, and push the glove into the ground. This still bends the finger stalls on the glove, allowing the ball to roll into the pocket, but it keeps the heel “up”, making the glove more of a trap than a ramp.
However, when discussing this with my nephew (recent HS Varsity player), he mentioned they were taught to “scoop” the ball. I may be interpreting this wrong (was hard to get a good demonstration while driving on the highway!), but the sequence appeared to be getting the feet set, then reaching fwd to scoop up the ball.
Thinking about this, it does seem to be the better way to field a ball. Many girls seem to follow a “just in time” philosophy, where there glove gets down at the last possible moment (looks like they’re stabbing at it if they’re really late). “Scooping” would encourage them to get the glove down earlier. I’m seeing this as something similar to the hitting goal of “long through” the zone, or “getting behind the ball”. But I also realize that this motion is probably best done with the back of the hand almost flat on the ground, so I may have been using the wrong solution to fix the problem.
I think if they can get the motion correct, then the issue of their head being over the glove is solved (reaching forward to “scoop” means they’re fielding out in front). But if we’re back to a horizontal glove, how do you keep the glove from turning into a launching ramp directly into their face? Is that where the “alligator” is best used? (throwing hand is palm down, above and slightly behind the glove). Part of me sees this problem eliminated by following through with the scooping motion – where it’s a reach, then lift.
But especially on IF grounders, I thought you wanted to bring the ball into your body, which would make the scoop more of a “reach out, pull back” motion vs. a “reach and lift” motion.
Am I close on any of this? Is it more style or preference than a hard and fast rule? All I do know is that I’ve overthought (and probably over-explained) this thing to death!
Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.
A lot of the girls try to place the back of their hand flat on the ground. To me, this gets the glove nearly horizontal, and just lets a ball with any sort of momentum roll right up the palm and over the heel.
Plus, the way they bend to get their hand that low results in their glove getting directly under their head. (Usually not the "feet wide, back straight, butt/hips down" position we've been trying to teach)
I’ve started trying to get them to point their fingers straight down, and push the glove into the ground. This still bends the finger stalls on the glove, allowing the ball to roll into the pocket, but it keeps the heel “up”, making the glove more of a trap than a ramp.
However, when discussing this with my nephew (recent HS Varsity player), he mentioned they were taught to “scoop” the ball. I may be interpreting this wrong (was hard to get a good demonstration while driving on the highway!), but the sequence appeared to be getting the feet set, then reaching fwd to scoop up the ball.
Thinking about this, it does seem to be the better way to field a ball. Many girls seem to follow a “just in time” philosophy, where there glove gets down at the last possible moment (looks like they’re stabbing at it if they’re really late). “Scooping” would encourage them to get the glove down earlier. I’m seeing this as something similar to the hitting goal of “long through” the zone, or “getting behind the ball”. But I also realize that this motion is probably best done with the back of the hand almost flat on the ground, so I may have been using the wrong solution to fix the problem.
I think if they can get the motion correct, then the issue of their head being over the glove is solved (reaching forward to “scoop” means they’re fielding out in front). But if we’re back to a horizontal glove, how do you keep the glove from turning into a launching ramp directly into their face? Is that where the “alligator” is best used? (throwing hand is palm down, above and slightly behind the glove). Part of me sees this problem eliminated by following through with the scooping motion – where it’s a reach, then lift.
But especially on IF grounders, I thought you wanted to bring the ball into your body, which would make the scoop more of a “reach out, pull back” motion vs. a “reach and lift” motion.
Am I close on any of this? Is it more style or preference than a hard and fast rule? All I do know is that I’ve overthought (and probably over-explained) this thing to death!
Thanks in advance for your help and suggestions.
