Fear of the ball

[ArkFastpitch]

Over the years, I have tried several differnent methods. I've used tennis balls, wiffle balls, softees, bean bags and even a pair of socks rolled into a ball. I have even had some kids that I put their batting helmets on to play catch.
I think the main thing is to start slow and build confidence along with good glove mechanics.

 

[eric4947]

Thanks for the feedback! I tried tennis balls yesterday at practice and seemed to make some progress. I actually had one girl say she wished her dad was there so he could see her catch the ball! We broke the girls down in groups of four and It was a struggle to keep them engaged longer than 10 mins, but its something we will have to continue to do.

 

[Elk Grove Hurricane]

My DD reacts like this: if she sees a ball coming at her throwing shoulder or head, she throws her arms out to full extension and leans her head backwards, causing her to lose her balance and fall backwards. Same kid, when you throw to her backhand, stays still and reaches across her body and snags it every time. When I finally figured all this out I had her lay flat on her back on a floor, and dropped a foam ball near her head, telling her keep the arms bent and just watch for it then catch it barehanded. After a few tries her confidence went up. We moved to a very soft 8u softball and did the same thing, from maybe 6 inches. She was just so nervous at first, after a few tries I gradually dropped it from a little higher, and she managed to keep her arms bent properly. She caught every one, there was still apprehension, but no outright fear. I'm seeing some progress on the field, but we're unlearning years of fear, so it takes time.
She's the only one who can get past the mental block, but I'm hoping this teaches her that she has the physical ability and I tried using some of the philosophies I read here about teaching by observation (telling her to focus on her arm position). I only push her to face this and get past it because she loves playing the game, in spite of this flaw. You have to be relentlessly positive and encouraging, which can be tough but if she gets past this, it will be a life skill worth all of the time spent.

 

[chrispots]

This is my 3rd year at 10U travel so I understand exactly what you are talking about...I also just went through this at an even greater degree with my 6 year old and her tee-ball team last summer.

Love the rolling of the balls idea with regular balls mentioned earlier. Progress this to 1-hop, 2-hop etc. I've done this for countless hours with my team. For rolling grounders only - no GLOVE - alligator, make a sandwich, whatever floats your boat, it forces them to field the grounder in front of them (not between their legs). If you progress to 1-hop, etc add the glove. The may struggle as you increase the difficulty (short hops, moving laterally, etc).

Get them on their knees with their gloves - windshield wiper drills. Palm out, fingers up show them how a windshield wiper works with your glove hand. You are only 6-8 feet away tossing the balls to just outside their shoulders. They can't cheat with their legs (by jumping to their glove side to make the catch) and is a good way to build their confidence (and to stop the dreaded "thumb down move the glove across the body" that many new girls seem to (and makes my wrist hurt just thinking about it) . For girls who are still flinching, move to lite flite balls or softies.

Lastly, I use our jugs machine to shoot lite flights at them. For RH I start them in the left hand batter's box and shoot a ball at them at about 30mph. They simply need to reach their glove over the plate to make the catch. Then move them to the RH box and see if they can make the catch with crossing the glove over properly. For those who progress past this, I have them stand on home plate and make the catch. Within a few weeks, we were able to have the whole team do this and then repeated this with regular jugs balls.

The next progression is for grounders out of the juggs. It's very controlled this way and builds their confidence quickly. You can also control the trajectory and speed much easier than throwing or hitting grounders to them. Great for short hops and catcher drills too!

HTH