Diving drill in practice - broken thumb

[GIMNEPIWO]

I start them from their knees with a softee type ball and slowly advance from there over several practices.

Them not knowing all the basic plays is an issue ... But, as a coach your job is to keep them interested and challenge them with new drills ... If it can happen in a game you should have or make a drill for it.

 

[Lance Steckler]

we do drills every winter for diving and throwing from knees. but it's 1 person at a time, rolled ball, start from the knees, on pretty soft turf infield. and they can opt out if they wish due to knee pain, back hurting etc. i want well rounded players on my 18u teams. all players do all fielding work. OF take grounders, IF takes drop step practice, etc.

 

[Rolling Hard]

THis is good:

how to correctly dive for the ball softball at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

 

[Rolling Hard]

If he didn’t teach it correctly then that’s another issue. I would say though, that this is why I recommend teaching diving and sliding as early as possible to kids. It’s easy to get a 7 or 8 year old to dive and slide. If this team is 14U and he is still having to teach proper sliding and diving then that is a tough age to teach it at.


Once a kid proves to me that they can do it correctly I don’t do it much as a drill in practice after that. I do expect them to dive for balls as they happen though. If they don’t dive for a ball in the game then they come out of the game for a bit. Next time they usually dive.

Another skill to teach early (tougher at 14 or 15) is the catch and tumble ESPN drill. The fielder basically fakes a great catch by tumbling after the catch trying to get on ESPN. Da-da-dunt, da-da-dunt.

 

[Towny9]

Another skill to teach early (tougher at 14 or 15) is the catch and tumble ESPN drill. The fielder basically fakes a great catch by tumbling after the catch trying to get on ESPN. Da-da-dunt, da-da-dunt.

Yes! We call those web gems for the same reasoning

 

[Towny9]

Yes! We call those web gems for the same reasoning

I cannot take credit for the original idea, but when we practice headfirst, diving and sliding, we put long socks over our hands and arms. Helps a ton.

 

[BillyB]

We do some diving as well...I'm less worried about hands than collar bone/shoulder areas. Boys and girls tend to put their elbows down first instead of extending out.