Help!!!

[WTYA_FP_DAD]

Ok all, I need some help. I have a 10 yo DD who has a very, very bad habit that we need to break ASAP. When she catches a ball, whether I am throwing it back to her, another coach throws it to her, or one of the girls on her team throws it, she exhibits this bad habit. She catches the ball, with the glove open to the sky, her fingers pointed to where the ball is coming from. It appears to me that she sometimes even shrugs her shoulders up and ducks her head back, almost as if she is afraid of the ball. She just started pitching this fall and we are doing winter pitching practice in the local school gym right now and this habit is being noticed. DD really likes to pitch, but obviously, she needs to learn to catch the ball properly before she will be able to pitch in our more competitive spring league. Does anyone have any ideas of drills or things i can do to help her break this habit and get her glove in the proper position?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I had a little boy come to lessons yesterday. I guess he is 8. He was doing that, even after being corrected several times. I finally said, "You do that again and you are running laps." He never did it again.

Also, when I am playing catch I tell the girls to give me a target. (This puts their glove in the correct position.) Then, I have them put their bare hand on and behind their glove. I am only about 20 feet away, so I can usually hit this target w/o them having to move.

 

[sluggers]

You teach her how to catch a ball.

You tell her:

(1) Catch the ball with two hands.
(2) Fingers down if the ball is below her waist.
(3) Fingers up if the ball is at or above her waist.

Then, you stand about 30 to 40 feet from her and throw the ball *OVERHAND* to her. You do so gently, but without an arc. You first throw the ball clockwise around her body (left shoulder, left knee, right knee, right shoulder), so that she has to move her glove to catch the ball. When she gets the idea, then you throw the ball in random places around her body. Put some at her ankles, put some 1 foot over her head. At some point, you have to start throwing the ball (gently, of course) at her head--if you don't teach her, she'll get with a line drive. Insist upon perfection.

Don't make it easy on her. If she misses the ball, then have her go and get it.

You aren't going to do this in 15 minutes. My guess is that it will take about 1 hour a day of pitch-and-catch for a week.

 

[playball13]

Try playing catch without a glove, obviously don't throw it hard but keep it high. Stress catching with 2 hands and fingers toward the sky. Or catch it like a football player, form a square with the thumbs touching and pointers touching. Be sure the elbows are bent and she catches with soft hands. A lot of girls that catch with the palm up will try to catch at an arms length with stiff arms.

Once the glove is on use Sluggers advice about tossing the ball around the perimeter of the body.

 

[3'sDad]

If she is afraid of the ball, perhaps learning to catch witha glove on using a whiffle ball to start, progressing to a Sof-Tee training ball, then to the regular softball. I've doe this progression with some of my kids who were not great with the glove. Worked well.