how do you catch a softball???????

[jay]

hi guys. i'm coaching a 12U fall team. i need help with something i've never actually taught before...catching the ball.

we're 4 weeks into fall practices. my prediction was that we'd have terrible pitching and hitting but would play good defense. it's been just the opposite. i have at least one stud pitcher, maybe two. a couple girls that can hit the snot out of the ball. we just can't catch the stinking thing. when we play catch/warm up at the beginning of practice balls are flying all over the place.

sooooo, any good drills for improving ability to catch the ball that you've had experience with?

thanks!

jay

 

[jamby]

Reptition, repitition, reptition and some individual instruction. Kinda seems like you have girls that haven't practiced or played or been coached up nearly enough. How experienced are you as a coach? How much do you practice each week? The best time to work on throwing is to coach them up as they are warming up. Have them take warming up more serious by giving them things to work on. Pick out the girls with the most problems and if possible have another coach take them aside and work on it. Accurate throws make catching the ball much easier. So you are saying they can't catch ground balls, thrown balls, fly balls or all of the above? Tell us what you are seeing out there from the girls. What seems to be some common mistakes?

 

[SBFAMILY]

At that age, fear and ability kind of go together. I use a tennis ball drill. I have a bucket of tennis balls and hit pop ups with a tennis racquet. You can direct the ball and they don't have to worry about getting hurt. It teaches them how to catch and use soft hands. I also use tennis balls and have them learn how to catch ground balls. I have them stand in front of a mat or fence if outdoors. Bounce tennis balls to them as fast as I can and they learn to move and work on hand eye work. If they get better and older. Go to this web site and order both of his DVD's and teach them to catch and field correctly . Howard Kobata Teaches Defensive Softball Skills Kobata is one of the better instructors that a coach can learn from. .

 

[druer]

Like SBFAMILY I agree that it is usually fear based.

I start with marshmallows. I toss them up and if the girls can catch them with their mouths they get to eat them. (Trying to them to get under the ball and see with their eyes instead of sniffing for it with their gloves away from their body.)

I progress to them catching the marshmallow with hands. If they get under it with hands down, then catch it over their head they get to eat it, but if they catch it away from their body or they put their hands up to soon they can't.

--- I tell them to work on it at home and have mom/dad toss up rolled up socks to practice getting under it and then making the catch

Next practice I progress to wiffle balls that they catch again with their hands. Again drill is to keep hands down and they say outloud "Ooooh I'm hungry" ... as ball comes down they say "No I'm not and they catch it with their hands." If they make the catch the right way they get a marshmallow.

I progress to putting the glove on and doing the same thing with the wiffle.

Final progression is using glove and catching the real ball.

Usually takes 2 practices for 9 out of 10 girls and they get over the fear because they build by habit that it's easier to catch it when they can see it, than when they try to hide from it and there is a reward for making the catch.

 

[sluggers]

You as a coach have to insist on perfection. You do this at practice and during the game. The focus is on performing the task perfectly, not on whether the batter is thrown out.

Too many times you'll see a girl field the ball terribly, and then throw the runner out. No one says anything about the mistakes the girl made. A good coach would be pointing out to the fielder that she didn't field the ball correctly.



Most coaches don't focus on the individual player enough. They hit ground balls to the masses, but they never go through one girl at a time and the problems that she might have. If Suzy doesn't use two hands, they yell at her once, and move on.

I put the players get in a line. I hit slow rollers to them and really emphasize the specific mechanics of fielding a ground ball and then throwing. I focus on one girl at a time. If a girl doesn't field the ball perfectly, she doesn't go to the back of the line. She stays there and does it again. I tell her what she did wrong, and I keep hitting her ground balls until she fields and throws the ball correctly. She might get four or five balls before I go to the next girl.

It takes a long time to get through the girls the first couple of rounds. But, they get it.

 

[BrianMonk]

At 10 and some early 12u players, do they have any confidence in the girl throwing to them? At that age, the biggest problem I've seen is really bad throwing. Just brutal. If the girl receiving has no idea where the ball is going to go, it won't be a real confidence builder. That seems to go in line with "balls are flying all over the place" during warm ups.

If that's the case, take quite a bit of time in practice to work on throwing. It's something, IMO, that isn't practiced enough.

 

[Hollyrockartist]

I put the players get in a line. I hit slow rollers to them and really emphasize the specific mechanics of fielding a ground ball and then throwing. I focus on one girl at a time. If a girl doesn't field the ball perfectly, she doesn't go to the back of the line. She stays there and does it again. I tell her what she did wrong, and I keep hitting her ground balls until she fields and throws the ball correctly. She might get four or five balls before I go to the next girl.

That is exactly what my DDs coaches do and it has worked really well with them. Believe me, none of the girls want to have to do that 3, 4 or 5 times in front of their teammates, much less another team (coaches do this, too, prior to game time). It doesn't take too terribly long for the big picture to set in with them when coaches use this drill.

Another thing our coaches do is have the girls pair up and "soft toss", close together. After several rounds of that, they move further apart, throwing a little harder, then further apart, harder, etc..

There are some on DDs team who still what I call the "bucket catch" (glove to the air). I'm not a coach, so not sure if that is used universally or not - just looks bizarre to me. DD was coached to go at the ball with her arm straight and pointed towards the ball. Once again, no expert, just sharing what she was taught on that one and it seems to work pretty well for her.

Good luck with your team! They'll have fun if you have fun!!

 

[Lozza]

Repition is all that will fix this.

I'm coaching the littlies this year and had to watch a brand new girl get smacked straight in the eye at training this week. I knew it was going to happen and there wasn't a damned thing I could do to stop it (because throwing my glove in front of her would have destroyed her confidence anyways) Didn't miss it again though!

 

[Damiansports]

I run a drill for throwing that we do when warming up. Everyone has a partner and have all the balls on one side,everyone drops the ball on the ground beside there throwing hand.The two girls on the corners yell out, ready(pick up the ball), set(get into the T position),throw. The team that drops the ball does 3 push-ups. They will learn quick.Then when they get better at it have them rotate partners.After a few weeks they will look much better"hopefully".